Passed in November 1994, California's Proposition 187 was intended to deny public school education and health care to undocumented immigrants and their children. The rhetoric of current anti-immigrant hysteria has shifted from that of recent decades and relies on both racist and sexist imagery. This narrative shift, with its emphasis on women and…

Personal narratives of California teachers in linguistically diverse classrooms portray four models of bilingual education: ESL, sheltered English, and peer tutors; ESL, sheltered English, and some or adequate first-language support; and bilingual education including native-language instruction. Reflects on negative teacher attitudes, hidden…

This article discusses the resistance of many students who have taken Advanced Placement English in high school to college freshman-year English composition requirements. Concepts of adherence and opposition to authority are applied to help understand these students. Recommendations for helping these students develop their thinking and writing are…

In a speech on minimum competency testing, the author discusses four issues which are still unresolved. The first is the need to recognize the political overtones which gave impetus to the competency movement as a reaction against the perceived failures of the schools and teacher education institutions, rather than as a concern for student…

Multicultural education shows promise for reducing tensions between diverse ethnic, racial, religious, and national-origin groups. Schools, in conjunction with individuals, families, communities and the media, should develop and implement multicultural programs which will foster more positive attitudes. (MH)

Describes the harmful effects of administrators' attitudes of denigrating education, scholarship, and professional activities of the faculty in community colleges and suggests that the faculties counteract this pervasive influence by doing their own research. (EL)

Indicates the need for a return to some basic interpersonal communication within a school system, to eliminate negative attitudes. Specifically, talk yourselves up, publicize school events in local media, get on Board of Education agenda, invite parents in more often, and look for good things happening within your school. (MH)

Despite the evolution of software for computer-assisted language learning (CALL), teacher resistance remains high. Early software for language instruction was almost exclusively designed for drill and practice. That approach was later replaced by a model in which the computer provided a stimulus for students, most often as a partner in games.…

Presents a humorous speech given to high school English teachers on two serious subjects: externally imposed standards and standardized testing, and anti-intellectualism in the classroom and in the culture. Argues that English teachers themselves are responsible for some of the anti-intellectualism they encounter by teaching literature in an…

The phenomenon of negative geography--the assertion that any location is better than the one selected--is discussed and ways in which this approach differs from traditional geography methodology are analyzed. Case studies of two citizens' groups which protested the relocation of a city mission and halfway house in their neighborhoods illustrate…

Responds to a college student's criticism of a professor's grading policies and teaching methods, considering political correctness and the meaning of grades. An underlying concern is the issue of the teacher's homosexuality. Argues that the student's letter is symptomatic of the college's attempt to suppress oppositional pedagogy. (SLD)

In these addresses and panel and workshop presentations, experts from business, congressional, union, academic, and nonprofit association sectors provide a look at part-time employment issues of concern to workers, employers, and public policy officials. They describe the place of part-time workers in today's labor force; the needs of older…

The efforts of the foreign languages department at the College of St. Thomas to introduce a new major in international business illustrate the psychological barriers to innovation. Neither the college's business department nor the local multinational corporations took international business very seriously, and the new endeavor was received with…

Most of the arguments lodged against minimum competency testing are really observations about the abuses of testing. Blacks and other minority groups are understandably mistrustful of recent developments in minimum competency testing--possible grounds for legal challenges include the adequacy of the phase-in periods; the match between tests and…

Despite a growing trend toward retention in grade of low-achieving students and apparent public support for the practice, many educators and psychologists disagree with the perception that flunking is an appropriate response to poor academic performance. Research reported in the past two decades indicates that grade-level retention produces little…