Within Canada, the examination of stratification and mobility has traditionally been related to both class and ethnicity. Previous research has not examined the theory that educational institutions may be, in part, perpetuating the vertical mosaic, because teachers assume that children from certain ethnic groups can learn more and faster than…

Given the assumption that children learn societal values in schools, textbooks and teaching manuals were reviewed to determine their effects on immigrant and minority-group children. The study was limited in three ways: (1) only primary through eighth-grade materials were reviewed; (2) only the immigration period (1880-1920), the post war period…

Educational failures in the United States are attributed to family problems, low I.Q. and poverty. In Australia, the ancient behavior of walkabout, where early Australians leave their camps at certain seasons of the year to look for food, is given as the reason for believing that Aborigines are uneducable and unemployable. The explanation works…

Psychological research on race and ethnic stereotypes and attitudes has been carried out from two points of view -- a social learning view and a psychodynamic view. Neither of these grasp essential components of young children's ethnic attitudes or prejudices, nor do they detail the major developmental factors leading to the growth of tolerance…

Reports on a study of 71 British secondary teachers about bullying in their schools. Finds that, in schools where students report high rates of bullying, teachers were more likely to perceive behavior as bullying and observe bullying. Also finds that most believe that there were typical victim personalities. (CFR)

Validity of auto-stereotypes and heterostereotypes of Japanese and Americans is reflected in the rank-order correlations of "own" and "other" judgments for 110 Japanese and 169 U.S. undergraduate students and is found to be a function of the similarity of the 2 cultures when reacting to an episode. (SLD)

This report compares the findings of a recent ethnographic study of a multiethnic urban high school to some of the highlights of a series of ten-year-old ethnographic studies on court-ordered desegregated school settings. The study of the multiethnic urban school employed an ethnographic design whereby a participant-observer interviewed students…

Since ethnic studies in schools is an integral part of the larger social system in this country, its current status, problems and strengths must be examined within the total social context. Ruling groups determine the formulation and dissemination of knowledge (particularly negative social science research about ethnic groups and the poor). This…

Reviews research about racial, ethnic, and sexual stereotypes in elementary science textbooks. Describes the demographics of the United States population as of 1980. Compares these demographics to representations in textbooks. Recommends three corrections that need to be made if schools are to attend to the social message in curricular materials.…

Data collected from 55 Mexican American women (1974-1979) show their distribution (largely due to ascribed characteristics and lack of sponsorship) in public school organizations. They teach Hispanic students; are administrators of special projects; "straighten out" problem Hispanic schools as elementary principals; attain only a few secondary…

Reports on a study investigating how Americans respond to English as a Second Language (ESL) speech depending on the non-native speaker's accent and whether there were errors in the ESL speech. Findings indicate that Americans exhibit different cultural prejudices towards different foreign speakers depending on the accent of the speakers. (50…

Compared Comorian and Algerian 10- and 11-year-old immigrants' attitudes toward school, friendship nominations, and friendship quality. Found that ethnic origin was a factor in choosing friends; positive friendship quality associated with better attitudes toward school; and in-group friendships were more common and of higher quality than those…

Examined low socioeconomic-status (SES) preschool classrooms for teacher perceptions of children and teacher/child interactions as a function of ethnicity. Hispanic teachers described Hispanic boys as having high levels of difficulty; they engaged in high levels of interaction with them. Perceptions of girls were more positive and less influenced…

Recent research has documented silence/reticence among East-Asian international students, including Chinese students, in Western/English classrooms. Students' communication competence and cultural differences from the mainstream Euro-American society have been identified as two primary barriers to participation. Placing emphasis on individual…

A group of six feminists undertook this study because they felt it important that people learn about racial and sexual discrimination in textbooks used in Baltimore City and other U.S. schools. The task force chose five series of basal readers widely used in Baltimore. These series are used in most, if not all, Elementary Secondary Education Act…