The United States is in the midst of a profound transformation the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Industrial Revolution, when America's classical colleges adapted to meet the needs of an emerging industrial economy. Today, as the world shifts to an increasingly interconnected knowledge economy, the intersecting forces of technological…

Many countries whose economies are in transition have initiated ambitious education reforms intended to modernize their education systems to better respond to the needs of new social and economic realities. Albania is a good example of a society that is emerging from a closed planned socialist system and moving fast to an open society and…

Most of the social and economic policies in the U.S. do not explicitly address or take into account the growing importance of families as sources of human capital and determinants of individual success. Even the small subsets of programs that we conventionally frame as part of "family policy" are often based on long-defunct assumptions…

For the first time, researchers, policymakers and practitioners across the world will have access to a comprehensive mapping of research evidence and policy strategies about education and poverty in affluent countries. Although there is widespread agreement that poverty and poor educational outcomes are related, there are competing explanations as…

Despite their highly divergent situations, young people largely share the same values, ambitions, and difficulties. Despite the more complex social and economic context in which young Europeans are currently living, they are well equipped to adapt. National and European policymakers must facilitate this process of change by making young people…

In responding to political, social, and ethical issues, college trustees have three essential responsibilities: (1) to examine critical trends and influences outside the institution; (2) to translate this knowledge into institutional policy; and (3) to monitor the institution's social, political, and ethical performance through recurrent…

The relationship between learning and continuity and change in adult life was explored in a study involving 140 in-depth biographical interviews of adult learners in 3 different areas of England and case studies of 6 adult learners. The study methodology was based on a triangular conceptualization according to which personal identity, human…

State boards and schools need to reframe how they view the role of public education. The time children spend in school cannot be kept separate from everything else happening in their lives. The National Association of State Boards of Education Study Group believes that academic achievement is linked to the development of the whole child and that…

The focus of the curriculum in the elementary schools today is on reading, writing, and mathematics, an emphasis reinforced by state competency testing programs. This trend is lamented by science and social studies educators who argue that one of the major goals of today's education should be to produce citizens who are technologically literate.…

The mere act of living in today's society is dangerous to the health and well-being of children and adolescents. The concept of the socially toxic environment is offered as a parallel to the environmental movement's analysis of physical toxicity. Social life is more risky than it was just 40 years ago, and the level of social and cultural poison…

This document consists of papers that were presented at the 1991 and 1992 annual meetings of the Midwest Philosophy of Education Society. The book is divided into four sections. The first is composed of the society president's address at the 1992 meeting and a response to that address. The presidential address discussed chaos theory and the…

Discusses the time focused theoretical interpretation of adult education in relation to the integrative achievement of postsecondary education. Contends that a systematic temporal analysis of postsecondary presupposes the clarification of categories such as events, personal time structures, and synchronization. (CFR)

Asserts that education means the transmission and reception of knowledge, abilities, skills, and consciousness so that individuals can become effective members of society. Discusses the failures of the educational system of the former Soviet Union. Describes a preferred type of schooling for Russian society in the 21st century. (CFR)

This report uses newly developed techniques of statistical analysis to assess the separate and joint influences of home, school, and neighborhood in Lothian (Scotland, United Kingdom) and to show that deprivation in each of these areas depresses young people's educational attainment. The results reported here come from the first phase of a…

This report examines the problem of the pervasiveness of politics in today's higher education, particularly in the humanities, and argues the need for college and university campuses to return to seeking the truth and telling it rather than straying into the position that the aim of education is for students to become politically transformed. Too…