Research on the effects of mass schooling on social cleavages in Africa ignores descent-based hierarchies despite their affecting 218 million people on the continent. In contrast, I show how pursuit of social mobility and honor to overcome descent-based discrimination underpinned Haalpulaar parents' and youths' engagement with secondary school in…

Conventional expectations about subcultural groups can be undermined by unusual performances of some individual members. Several recent movies have concerned people of exceptional ability who unexpectedly excelled at prestigious centers of learning. "The Man Who Knew Infinity," "The Imitation Game," and "The Theory of…

Studies of socialization from a stratification perspective stress that while people accept socialization in a broad sense, individual behavior is affected and controlled by special strata relationships and strata culture. This paper sees rural college students as a subculture group and describes their new cultural experiences and the development…

To be culturally responsive teachers, we must first have an understanding of other cultures and how students from these cultures differ from one another. As we consider the many cultures represented in our classrooms, we might also consider students with disabilities as a cultural group. Within any main culture are subgroups differentiated by…

This special issue of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching seeks to explore conceptualizations of culture that address contemporary challenges in science education. Toward this end, we unite two theoretical perspectives to advance a conceptualization of culture as a complex system, emerging from iterative processes of cultural bricolage,…

Given the flexibility to revise their academic goals under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a vast majority of the states that received federal waivers are setting different expectations for different subgroups of students, an "Education Week" analysis shows. That marks a dramatic shift in policy and philosophy from the original law.…

The influence of contemporary feminism in the classroom and on campus is widespread, and student clubs, women's centers, and women's studies departments often exclude women who hold traditional views. In this article, the author takes a look at how this influence evolved and describes the very successful actions she took as a student to challenge…

This paper describes the learning statuses of Asian students, and connects their individual learning status with their cultures, attitudes, histories, family relations, etc. It also focuses on a wide range of aspects as academic performances, learning attitudes, cultures, race relations, schoolings, learning strategies, obstacles, etc., thus…

Understanding allyhood as a developmental process will allow educators and program directors to reach a broader number of students with more powerful outcomes in line with student learning and development goals. Designing programs that promote ally development as a component of social justice education will allow programs to tailor ally…

After the Baby Boomers came the Gen Xers, and now it's the Millennials, or that population cohort born between 1982 and 2001. Exceeding the Boomers in sheer numbers, they are becoming a moving force in all sectors of society. Exhibiting a set of core traits significantly at odds with their predecessors, they are sometimes referred to as the "next…

This article charges student affairs professionals who work with student leaders to become more intentional in how they and their students create and contribute to community. Towards that end, this article delineates a process called "community-praxis" that teaches students how to talk about, think about, and do community. Organization…

The Jewish student population has received little attention on campuses and has indicated their disappointment with college administrators and faculty who do not understand their identity. Jewish undergraduates face many identity issues related to being Jewish, yet they have limited opportunities to learn about the impact of religion on their…

This article discusses how the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) accountability mechanism of No Child Left Behind makes use of supposedly objective standardized test scores to describe schools in a certain way when the very same results could serve to draw very different conclusions. Examining the proficiency scores of students from a specific middle…

The "culture of drinking" on U.S. college campuses has recently gained widespread national attention. A report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) notes the disturbing consequences of drinking on campus each year: 1,700 college student deaths from alcohol-related causes; more than 500,000 unintentional injuries; more…

Discussions on teaching and learning within theological seminaries often center on the question of student diversity, focused primarily upon issues of race, gender, and ethnicity. At the same time that seminaries are challenged to deal with a multitude of pedagogical suppositions emerging from increasingly diverse learning goals, seminaries must…