A study was conducted to analyze the content of stories in several basal reading systems widely used in primary grade reading instruction. The investigation was in terms of the relative frequency of main characters who are elderly, the portrayal of elderly characters in relation to other characters in the stories, the incidence of aging themes,…

A study of over 200 personal narratives, in which college freshman writers related their experiences of achieving literacy, offered insights into cultural differences in attitudes toward literacy. The activity of becoming literate was fundamentally the same for males and females, but the myths they used to understand and explain their experiences…

In view of the increasing interest in the mass media's role in the creation, maintenance, transformation, and celebration of whole cultures, the Australian experience with nationalistic mythmaking in film and television should be examined. Research reveals that Australians prefer watching Australian programs to watching British or American…

The research goal was to identify factors affecting mathematices participation and achievement in adolescents, and to offer explanations for sex differences in mathematics behavior from adolescence onward. Subjects (n=1605) were Afrikaans-speaking seventh and ninth grade students, 80 percent of whose parents also participated. Students were…

Although education, as an activity mandated, sponsored, and supervised by the capitalist state, is as much an apparatus of the state as any other state agency, it is far more democratic, open to change and innovation, and subject to potential community control than any other state apparatus. To understand education's function in a capitalist…

The Village College is a uniquely English institution, yet it may be a viable model for rural education in some parts of the United States as well. If so, four adaptations seem paramount: attitudinal restructuring, institutionalization of adult and community education, a demography capable of supporting the effort, and a new model of educational…

Research and intervention on burnout have focused on the worker and the work setting. Since these factors are influenced by social, political and economic forces in society, alienation or burnout in the human services requires critical examination in a larger context, especially the history of the human services prior to 1976 when concern about…

Attitudes of youth (ages 14-21) toward fertility expectations and women's roles are examined for consistency (e.g., whether high career expectations are correlated with a desire for fewer children). Approximately 12,000 White, Black, and Hispanic youth rated their attitudes toward statements that a woman's place is in the home, employment of wives…

A fundamental problem in social cognition and person perception is the issue of consistency in impressions. Some conditions encourage people to stereotype others while other conditions encourage people to abandon their stereotypes. A study was conducted to identify the different kinds of eliciting conditions for piecemeal vs. stereotype processing…

A community-focused health promotion program for older adults was planned and implemented in Fairfax County, Virginia. A needs assessment was conducted to determine the social health problems and behavior patterns of the older adults in the community. After analysis of factors that may impinge upon the decision-making processes of those who might…

The major theme of American childhood in the 20th century has been the rise and then the beginning decline of modern childhood. The term "modern childhood" refers to a particular constellation of adult attitudes and institutional arrangements, the heart of which is the belief that children should occupy a world of their own, separate from the…

This paper examines the effects of schooling on political socialization and presents a theoretical perspective on the learning of civic norms which will provide insight into both the limits of schools' current efforts at instilling civic norms and the potentialities of new approaches. Norms are defined as personally binding conceptions of right…

Because of the built-in stereotyping and derogation of women that exists in the English language, the classroom teacher must face the task of finding practical answers to three popular attacks against research on sexism in English: language is a rather minor and irrelevant issue; there is no need to change language from the way it has always been;…

Courts have been set up primarily to deal with offenders and may not be responsive to the needs of victims of crime. Most research on the relationship of crime victims and courts focuses on the effects of victim characteristics upon the disposition of cases by the courts, the reactions which victims have had to their experiences with the law and…

A contemporary theory of behavior is that faulty patterns of thinking divide the criminal from the noncriminal. The causation of school violence is children choosing to be violent; and the problem of school violence is acceptance of their choice. Short-term control measures are adherence to systematic school rules, use of technology, security…