Biological determinism represents a pseudo-scientific inquiry that is ultimately used to foster a scientific rationale for the maintenance of classism, racism, and sexism in general. Genetic diversity is an inescapable fact, but it is cultures that human brains have created that most severely limit potential. (SLD)

Notes that the current national priority of character education has its origins in early childhood and concept of nature versus nurture and sources of human knowledge, placing early childhood educators at the center of the debate. Highlights articles in this special issue, which provides introduction to moral development application and cultural…

Argues that science, like any other human activity, is limited by the culture and the age to which it belongs. Examines the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station's conclusion that the IQs of young children were affected by specified environmental conditions in light of shifting perceptions of reality in the 1930s and 1940s. (Author/BE)

Notes that preschool compensatory education has not resulted in any appreciable, durable gains in I.Q. or scholastic achievement. Posits that compensatory programs remedied deficiencies in knowledge but not in cognitive processes. Suggests further research into the nature of intelligence and its malleability. (PGD)

Discusses the reasoning and strategies of the biological approach to sex differences research. Refutes Rogers' and Walsh's (1982) perspective that, because biological and environmental factors are intertwined in the development of the nervous system, the biological contribution cannot be studied profitably. (CMG)

This study of creative genius argues that creativity can best be understood as a Darwinian process of variation and selection. The artist or scientist generates a wealth of ideas, and then subjects these ideas to aesthetic or scientific judgment, selecting only those that have the best chance to survive and reproduce. The book draws on the latest…

This book calls into question the degree to which early childhood experiences affect psychological development, critiquing three related myths: (1) personality is formed by early childhood experiences; (2) mental disorders are caused by early childhood experiences; and (3) effective psychotherapy depends on reconstructing childhood experiences.…

Refutes six common misconceptions about Piaget's theories, including their educational implications; Piaget's position on heredity v environment; and the relationships between developmental stages, age, and brain growth spurts. Condensed from "Impact on Instructional Improvement", Winter 1981, p7-11. (SJL)

The special needs of gifted children are examined within the context of a democratic philosophy of education. (LH)

Criticizes claims in "The Bell Curve" that a high value for heritability of intelligence constrains the extent to which environmental changes can increase intelligence. Cites adoption studies and the increasing intelligence of successive cohorts of U.S. children as evidence that intelligence can increase substantially without heroic…

Posits that an evolutionary perspective can unite the study of the typical development for and individual variation within a species and that environments within the normal range for a species are required for species-normal development. Individual differences in children reared in normal environments arise primarily from genetic variation and…

Cites recent research indicating positive aspects of adoption for children. Examples from the life of congressman Jim Lightfoot are used to exemplify these positive aspects, which include increased self-confidence and affection for adoptive parents. (BC)

Describes higher levels of morality by contrasting Kohlber's Cognitive Developmentalism and Dabrowski's Positive Disintegration. It argues that far from being a gift, high-level morality is a function of the whole person. It is something chosen and striven for, and the result of compassion and some kind of disintegration. (Author/CR)

Reviews works of several eugenists and student classifiers, focusing upon how earlier notions of differential biological worth were refined and reintroduced as bases for educational policy. Proposes that contemporary educators' emphasis upon student classification ignores historical relationships between biological determinism, student…

In "Emile," Rousseau recognized the educational value of Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe." Despite this, and despite some common ground between these two writers, their differences in educational outlook outweigh their similarities, especially in the educational debates of their age concerning Nature and Nurture and Private and Public…