Recognizing the value of studying U.S. history and the contribution of the textbook to the curriculum, Gagnon examines five leading U.S. history textbooks with regard to two questions: (1) how helpful are these books for teaching democracy's ideas, practices, and adventures in the United States, and (2) what might they add to promote political…

Seven articles discuss censorship, intellectual freedom, and information policy in the context of federal and state legislation, humanism and the religious right, technological advancement, the author's point of view, current school policies, and the Library Bill of Rights for elementary and secondary schools. (CLB)

Self-administered questionnaires were used to investigate the affective, cognitive, and behavioral political orientations of 150 Mexican American parochial high school students. Variables included attitudes toward and knowledge about Mexican, Chicano, and American political systems. Results showed acculturation having an important mediating role…

Provides a brief historical and conceptual background for understanding the challenges which the "new" immigration places on traditional approaches to social/political/civic education. Includes summaries of other articles on immigration in this issue. (JDH)

Reviews the history of Chinese immigration to the United States and provides a facsimilie of a form used to document immigrants under the Chinese Exclusion Act. Teaching suggestions are included. (JDH)

A study on the political consciousness of family groups in Warsaw confirms that current political events may be an important agent of political socialization. The rise of Solidarity and other events of 1980-81 influenced, in different ways, the perception of social differentiations among teenagers and their parents. (Author/CS)

Eleanor Roosevelt broke the rules of race relations when she became friends with a leading Black woman, Mary McLeod Bethune, founder and president of Bethune-Cookman College. Without the mentorship of Mary Bethune, Mrs. Roosevelt may not have understood the southern mentality, White or Black. (RM)

Faculty surveys of the honorific academies and of American professors indicate that the former are more liberal politically than the latter, including those at the most distinguished institutions. Theories of intellectual creativity and political socialization are applied to these findings. Available from Elsevier Publishing, 52 Vanderbilt Avenue,…

The four political attitudes studied involved political interest, political alienation, racial equality, and the Vietnam war. Schooling effects influenced political interest and anti-Vietnam war attitudes but not political alienation and feelings about racial equality. (CS)

An alternative is presented to counter current radical arguments that the schools cannot bring about social change because they are instruments of capitalism. The works of Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, and Louis Althusser are discussed. Henry Giroux's "Ideology, Culture and the Process of Schooling" provides an alternative to cynicism.…

The law is seen as the single most powerful social force preserving and legitimating the prevailing distribution of power in U.S. society. Questions of social justice ought not to be irrelevant or peripheral to the study of law. Meaningful and enduring change in legal education is seen as illusory. (MLW)

Points out dominance of political as opposed to other types of history in General Certificate of Education (GCE) and Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE) papers, considers alternative approaches to the content of those papers, and suggests means of implementing the suggested changes. (CM)

Describes a survey of Israeli high school students to determine the books they considered most impressive in developing national and civic values. Reports that the majority of books selected were fiction and were perceived as very useful in developing national knowledge and less useful in developing civic values. (MKM)

Traces the emergence and tenuous survival of social studies as a school subject in Hong Kong, 1971-present. Begun by the colonial government for political socialization purposes, social studies was reoriented to prepare students for their future as Chinese citizens. However, adoption of social studies and how it is taught has varied widely in Hong…

Comparative education can contribute to democratization by addressing four issues: declining democratic practice and civic participation in the industrialized world, reasons why education does not resolve this problem, impact of economic globalization on education and on democratization, and the urgency for comparative research on cultural…