Describes several grassroots initiatives in the Asian region that are concerned with raising the self-awareness of underprivileged rural workers through educational processes that differ from conventional formal methods. (JOW)

The dot-com crash of 2000-01 provides unique opportunities for historicizing what Manuel Castells calls the information age. This age is characterized by the dominance of information capital, a regime of accumulation organized around networks of computers and other information technologies whose production is partly centered in Northern…

The realities of the changing economy include social as well as political polarization of socio-economically diverse groups. The roles and issues of disadvantaged persons in the work place and in national economic schemes are the subject of growing interest among economic planners, politicians, educators, and human resource development…

Educational issues need reexamining, according to this author, to find the proper role for education in a new international economic order (NIEO). In the first part of this essay, the author questions older theories of education and development--which saw education as furthering national development by supplying trained manpower--and discusses…

This report identifies a set of research questions for linguistics related to the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) launched by the National Science Foundation to increase understanding of the nature and causes of problems related to improving human resources. It is argued that the broad scope of linguistic inquiry in the United States has…

Disadvantaged adult students need special support and clear pathways to economic self-sufficiency. Programs that support them require clear data and information about their success to move forward.

The United States is faced with two serious economic problems: declining productivity growth and rising unemployment. These problems have become severe in the last decade. Both problems are caused by a number of factors, but experts fail to agree on which factors have most contributed to the problems. This paper examines the relationship between…

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Social Responsibilities Discussion Group was officially established in December 1997 to address the role of libraries in society. The group is initially concentrating on the following themes: equality of access to library collections and facilities; the growing gap…

The South can move out of the shadows of the harsh economic realities of the last 15 years and into the sunshine of developing new strategies to take advantage of the region's strengths. These strengths include a vast wealth of natural resources; a Sunbelt location; and most important, a huge reservoir of undeveloped human capital. The road to…

A 38-member Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) advisory committee was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor to review the country's employment and training policy, especially as focused in the JTPA, and to make recommendations for improvement. The committee found that two interdependent problems face the United States: a widening gap…

The role of education in development is discussed in this paper as one of a number of issues in education in developing countries, including recent changes in population and technology that render traditional methods of imparting instruction inadequate. The concept of distance education is presented with reference to specific applications in Asia…

Beyond the nine years of compulsory education, Taiwan has the following two additional streams in the educational system: general academic education (GAE) and technological and vocational education (TVE). TVE has the two key features of a complete system to ensure students' horizontal and vertical mobility and a main schooling stream, parallel to…

A strong vocational education program is essential for national economic recovery and growth. It is in the national interest to ensure that vocational education programs are of sufficient scope and quality to meet national skilled workforce requirements and alleviate the critical shortages of trained workers facing business, industry, and the…

This study focuses on the role of the federal government in reducing persistent joblessness that prevails at relatively high levels even during periods of high employment or prosperity ("structural unemployment"). While the problem of cyclincal joblessness dominates public policy discussion at the present time, structural unemployment is…

Increased international competition, rapid technological innovation, and profound demographic changes have all created an urgent need for a skilled and capable work force. The work force development system that has been assembled over the years in the United States is extensive; however, the goals and services provided by a wide range of public…