The U.S. Air Force attempts to minimize racial and sexual discrimination by incorporating federal laws into its infrastructure and by exercising consistent enforcement of these laws. This leads to a development of cross-cultural communication among various subcultures within a multi-ethnic environment. The Social Actions Office at each Air Force…

Faults of special education include its medical view of disability, its arbitrary division of students into handicapped and nonhandicapped, and the resultant separation between general and special education. Disabled adults are becoming less tolerant of an educational system that fails to recognize the capabilities of handicapped students.…

The thesis that Mexican Americans share a monolithic, "pathological" subculture that causes difficulties Mexican American children may have in adapting to Anglo society is challenged, using data from studies of Mexican American families and youth. Origin of the theory that all Mexican Americans share a negative subculture is detailed,…

A ten-year research effort, conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), explored the relative merits and failings of different national systems of education in the United States and in Western and Eastern Europe. The first section of this report deals with trends in American education as seen…

This paper explores the ideological changes which have influenced American education during the past 25 years. Gradual shifting of values and fluctuating attitudes are examined in the broad areas of authority, educational theory, the idea of merit, and moral perspectives. It is pointed out that public disastisfaction with the schools has been felt…

This paper describes the social context for and the provision of child care services in Scandinavia. Particular emphasis is given to Denmark and Sweden. Occasionally, comparisons are made in the paper between Scandinavian countries and the United States, and differing attitudes toward the poor are pointed out. In the Scandinavian countries…

A critical ethnographic study followed six preservice teachers throughout their teacher education program at a medium sized state university in West Virginia. This segment of the study situates their student teaching experience within a broader social context and addresses the ways, as well as the extent to which, the student teachers' experiences…

A model is proposed and tested which suggests that students who come to school with more positive attitudes toward the political system generalize these attitudes to the school as a substitute political system. In turn, they seek out involvement in extracurricular and governance activities in the high school. To test this model, two attitude…

Collectivist versus individualistic attitudes in China and the United States are compared with particular emphasis on the effects of these attitudes on educational objectives and practice in China. Individualism is interpreted to include attitudes such as personal liberty, individual initiative, moral relativism, and self-direction. This…

The paper develops a theory of political alienation based upon interactions among three antecedent conditions. Political alienation is interpreted as combining feelings of inefficacy, discontent, cynicism, estrangement, and hopelessness. The factors evaluated for their contribution to political alienation are: (1) critical perceptions of…

A study was conducted to supply data on the characteristics of young adult Chicanos compared with their Anglo peers. A stratified random sample of undergraduate Mexican-American (N=153) and Anglo (N=148) students was taken at the University of Texas, El Paso, where one third of the students enrolled have a Spanish surname. A self-devised…

Educational policy in West Germany determines the goals and functions of the nation's educational system and focuses the system to meet society's demands. The educational system includes the public schools, vocational training, continuing education, and the universities and aims to prepare people for responsible citizenship. West Germany's reform…

A university professor and director of a writing program found many examples of what he terms "colonialism" during his thirty years of teaching experiences in countries around the world. One such example was a former pupil in Hong Kong struggling to make her students memorize a poem called "London Snow" ("snow" is an…

Following a brief discussion of what is currently being taught in social studies, the major propositions of a radical perspective that has emerged among academics are examined. According to the radical perspective, the ultimate social ideal and the purpose of education is the emancipation of all people. Social studies should concentrate on ideas…

This paper offers an explanation for the rise of radical, social movement activity among youth in the United States in the 1960s and for the decline of such activity in the 1970s. Mannheim's theory on generations is used to explain this phenomenon. Mannheim argued that the major historical events of an era will profoundly shape the political and…