Defines social rhetorics as emphasizing the inherent ideological nature of language. Discusses the assumptions of three pedagogies associated with social rhetorics: collaborative writing, writing across the curriculum, and cultural studies. Describes the teacher's role in each pedagogy. (HB)

Describes a classroom exercise designed to heighten student interest in and understanding of political labels. Presents a survey to help students place themselves on the political spectrum. Suggests that discussion following such a survey will help students understand peoples' reactions to change. (DK)

Discusses five children's books with a multicultural perspective published to commemorate the Columbus Quincentenary. Finds that the books maintain a deeply Eurocentric bias; bury all wrongs in a distant past; and do not escape the hierarchial, elitist, and individualistic attitudes embedded in contemporary society. (SR)

Longitudinal data on 171 low-income home buyers and 101 low-income renters in Baltimore (Maryland) are used to compare community and social participation. Results indicate that home buyers were more likely to join neighborhood or block organizations but not necessarily to be more active social participants. (SLD)

Discusses political education in the postwar Federal Republic of Germany. Describes a U.S. led reeducation program founded upon principles of denazification and democracy and examines German responses. Identifies the influence of the Soviet Union upon West German education. Analyzes the growth of political education in the 1960s, its maturation,…

Examines career orientations in young women from high- and low-SES backgrounds, using a longitudinal data set collected from 1973 to 1982 which was analyzed using LISREL modeling. SES distinctions emerged in political attitudes, occupational interests, senior school achievement, and professional attainment, as well as motivational tendencies and…

Data from the 1969, 1975, and 1984 Carnegie surveys of college faculty demonstrate that the distribution of political orientations among faculty changed minimally during that time period. Analyses by disciplinary political context and type of institution show that the incidence of leftism has been exaggerated in the literature. (Author/SV)

Shares the views of one professor of reading in Berlin on reading instruction in Germany both before and after the reunification of Germany. (MG)

Explores some implications of the redefinition of ethnography as discursive practice, of ethnography as "writing the other." Asserts that a central problem in discourse theory is the relationship between discourse and nondiscursive "reality." Argues ethnography is discursive rather than empiricist. Asserts that conflictual social theories produce…

Discusses the religious political right's views and their implications for education. Describes the cognitive and moral development of children, and the context best suited for ethical instruction. (DB)

Studies the value of television commercials and political debates as sources of information about candidates. Reports that respondents who viewed both kinds of messages state that advertisements provide more information on issue positions. Concludes that debates are more effective in improving candidate name recognition and knowledge of party…

Examines the goals, methods, and effects of four current deliberative civic education programs, with an in-depth analysis of one: the National Issues Forums (NIF). Shows that NIF can bolster participants' political self-efficacy, refine their political judgments, broaden their political conversation networks, and reduce their conversational…

Explores relations between political orientation and cognitive style among Israeli university students. Finds that intolerance of ambiguity contributed significantly to political orientation and that the political Left showed more complex cognitive styles than the Right. Notes implications for testing competing hypotheses about cognitive style and…

Discusses Margaret Gills's theory of two discourses operating in "the politics of literacy": (1) the discourse that stresses a broad ranging notion of literacy and warns against a narrow, functional definition; and (2) the discourse that argues that Australia is in the middle of a major literary crisis. Asks what problem the National…

Presents a series of e-mail conversations between the two authors as they debate some of the "sacred cows" of writing instruction in elementary language arts: (1) Do teachers need to be writers?; (2) Do students need to keep journals?; (3) Is writing a political act?; and (4) Do students need to publish their work? (SR)