This study examines how socio-political divisions--particularly race/ethnicity and religion--were related to democratic civic engagement (DCE) in three divided societies: Northern Ireland (NI), South Africa (SA), and the United States (US). Adolescents exposed to well-evaluated, parallel civics curricula reported significantly greater civic…

Bullying and cyber bullying are important issues in schools, not only in the United States but in many other nations. In this article, the author recommends sites that he thinks would be helpful for teachers and schools combating bullying and cyber bullying. These recommended sites provide teacher lesson plans and other resources dealing with…

In the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2000, debate about Arab education as the new apparatus for religious fanaticism used by Arab extremist groups to entice hate and violence against the West took prominence in Western discourse. Considerable ink was spilled confusing hostile narratives in Arab curricula and the metaphors of identity…

"Cultural literacy" has been hotly debated ever since E.D. Hirsch Jr.'s best seller of that name injected the desideratum into the culture wars in 1987. Today religious illiteracy is at least as pervasive as cultural illiteracy, and certainly more dangerous. Religious illiteracy is more dangerous because religion is the most volatile…

As we think about current religious diversity and conflict in U.S. schools, it is important to note that religious conflict is not a new phenomenon in the history of U.S. schooling. This article briefly outlines the current and historical connections among religion, ethnicity, and K-12 education in the U.S. in order to note its persistence as well…

This article reports on a lawsuit filed by Michael A. Newdow, a California atheist, on behalf of his daughter, against inclusion of the words "under God" in public schools' recitals of the United States Pledge of Allegiance. He said that the words "under God" represent "religious dogma" that is needlessly divisive.…

On May 3-4, 2003, the Foreign Policy Research Institute held its tenth History Institute for Teachers. Forty-two teachers from fourteen states participated in a weekend of lectures and seminars, featuring seven outstanding scholars. Although Muslims define themselves and the Christian West in terms of religion, Western countries view relations…