Japanese social values make education the central focus of most young people's lives, and make effort the most effective means of achieving success. Japanese education aims at egalitarianism, student motivation, and moral development. Some elements of Japan's educational success may be exportable, but others are too culturally determined. (PGD)

Described is the need for the development of innovative continuous programs that reach minority students at an early age. The importance of mentors for minority students is stressed at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Reasons for the underrepresentation of minorities in the sciences and engineering are discussed. (KR)

Discusses the popularity of smoking in the twentieth-century United States and the government's attempts to educate the public to the health risks of tobacco. Examines the surgeon general's reports, the tobacco lobby's response, and the use of mass media advertising by both. Suggests that the United States needs to rethink the nature of behavioral…

Video games are neither neutral nor harmless but represent very specific social and symbolic constructs. Research on the social content of today's video games reveals that sex bias and gender stereotyping are widely evident throughout the Nintendo games. Violence and aggression also pervade the great majority of the games. (MLF)

Today, 10.6% of children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade in the U.S. are foreign-born, and 1 in 5 are children of immigrants. Public schools represent the setting where many of the acculturative struggles of immigrant children unfold, having traditionally served as a vehicle of socialization and "assimilation" of immigrants in the U.S.…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest discusses the nature of narratology and how it relates to language arts instruction. The digest first defines narratology as the structuralist study of narrative aimed at understanding how recurrent elements, themes, and patterns yield a set of universals that determine…

Environmental planning requires more than finding the right technology and a source of funds. Planning involves consideration of the social, cultural, economic, and natural environments in which the project occurs. The challenge is to develop sustainable food systems that have reasonable production but do not degrade the resource base and upset…

The paper examines the cultural and economic aspects of the status and role of women in Australian culture and their affect on mothers of disabled children. Changes which incorporate the feminist perspective are recommended at the policy, regional/local, and individual service delivery levels. (DB)

The aim of this seminar was to draw attention to the necessity of a fundamental reform in school curricula to make them more adapted to the diversified challenges of the 21st century and to determine what concrete actions should be taken to achieve this goal. Another objective was the intellectual preparation of countries concerned for…

This paper discusses the key issues and concerns in the Cambodian government's efforts to implement three priority education policies for 2006-2010: ensure equitable access to education; increase quality and efficiency of the education services; and promote institutional development and capacity building for decentralisation. This paper identifies…

As "mind" is a cultural achievement, newborns enter the world without minds. Life experiences profoundly influence the mind. The social culture provides conditions for the growth of mind and the direction it takes. As informal education is inadequate to fill social needs or actualize children's potentialities, societies create schools. Since a…

European studies can provide a solution to several of the issues raised in Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind." European studies pursue the academic quest for what is truth, what is goodness, and what is beauty. In seeking to answer these questions, the Greeks were among the first to explore many of humanity's problems and…

This monograph addresses issues of concern to primary health care practitioners, policy makers, and evaluators wishing to broaden access to quality substance abuse prevention services for Pacific Islanders. It is devoted exclusively to health issues affecting Pacific Islanders, who often lack access to comprehensive health care because of…

This article offers guidelines for developing a national climate for creativity and invention. It recalls the post-Sputnik climate in the United States and notes evidence of Japan's increasing commitment to creativity. It recommends encouraging students to imagine themselves as inventors, providing early training in inventing skills, and…

This paper examines the conditions of three public postsecondary institutions that support the persistence and development of Chicano students around San Diego (California): a community college campus, a state university campus, and a University of California campus. A 99-item, mailed questionnaire was completed by students who self-identified as…