Both the American author, L. Frank Baum, and his Brazilian counterpart, Jose Monteiro Lobato, created children's books that featured alternative worlds, peopled by characters who fascinated many generations of young readers. The authors were both born in the second half of the nineteenth century into families of privilege, and both enjoyed idyllic…

Considers the interrelationship between ownership and manipulation of information, arts education, and the expansion of electric and information sources. Explains various ways that information can be controlled or restricted. Discusses problem areas of copyright and access and includes several suggested approaches. (MJP)

America's leading historian of education recounts a lifetime in the cause of responsible school reform. Diane Ravitch's blow-by-blow description of run-ins with Afrocentrist firebrand Leonard Jeffries, misguided feminists at the AAUW, the language sensitivity police, and others offers a fascinating perspective on how the education establishment…

This essay proposes instances of how Anglophone popular culture can offer a place for nurturing critical encounters in the context of learning English. It delineates the theoretical bases that reveal popular culture as a fundamental indicator of society and, using Anglophone movies and stories, analyzes the pedagogical possibilities for…

Discusses the failure of Joe Bob Briggs' parody of "We Are the World" in terms of the development of the communal sense that creates a set of group norms, which in turn create "phantom constraints" of which the parody's author may not be aware.(NKA)

This article was based on the author's field study of the Iraqi Literacy campaign in late 1979 and on his follow-up work in 1981. The author spent several weeks interviewing campaign officials, administrators, teachers, and students throughout the country. The article presents the campaign's political philosophy, design, and strategies. (SSH)

This report was based on the author's study in China in 1980-81 and on the findings of other observers, Chinese data, and analyses of the post-Mao adult education system (1977-1982). It focuses particularly on the shifts in adult education priorities and programs and on the political and pedagogical debates. (SSH)

Children's publicness is undergoing a substantial change. "Scripts" created by the media and involving intensive consumption influence when, where, and how children's publicness occurs. Particularly important are attempts to develop new ways of integrating medial, sensual-active, body-, space- and group-related actions. This article…

Asserts that the writers and producers of the television documentary, "The Valour and the Horror," provided a false impression of an event to fit preconceived and erroneous interpretations of history. Points out specific examples of inaccurate historical presentations and provides contradictory historical interpretations. (CFR)

This publication presents manuscripts and research reports by graduate students. Accompanying papers from their mentors establish a context for the student papers. In this double volume the works are organized by sponsoring university. Student papers presented are: (1) "Looking, Talking, and Experiencing Art with Preschoolers" (Shari…

This book explores factors that contribute to antisocial behavior among students and reviews the literature on preventing and responding to antisocial behavior. Chapter 1, "A Culture of Violence," links the widespread perception that school violence is increasing to a broader culture of violence. Schools are increasingly turning to…

The articles in this journal issue reflect the theme of "passages." Five articles contain teachers' reflections and descriptions of the following forms of passage: (1) passing from the classroom to motherhood and back again; (2) passing from academe to the world of work--the retraining of literature professors; (3) ways in which students gain…

Maintaining that profound transformations over the last 30 years in the way children look and act are connected to many troubling social problems, this book demonstrates how anticulturalism--the belief that children are autonomous, independent individuals discovering their own reality and that development occurs best independent of or in…

Romance novels have become increasingly popular and sexually explicit, in part because women may gain a sense of self through reading them and perhaps in reaction to the patriarchal structure of society. Women may seek escape and a sense of self-identity through the novels'"larger-than-life" characters and predictable endings. Readers of…