Student teachers from Indiana University's Cultural Immersion Projects, who had been placed in K-12 schools on the Navajo reservation and in seven foreign countries, critically reflected on their home cultures, identifying key elements that defined who they were and shifts in their perceptions about home based on their experiences in culturally…

This paper attempts to assess the influence of development communication theory on the planning and implementation of technical assistance projects in the Third World that utilize mass communication as an agent of change. Like political development theory, communication theory has often been applied in an ethnocentric manner in less developed…

This paper describes the process and content of The Columbus Project, designed to provide an opportunity for preservice teachers to explore in depth the complexity of intercultural encounter. The project required students to gather and analyze data from schools, libraries, the media, and interviews with children, to ascertain how the story of the…

Recent advertising research has suggested that to gain initial entry into and retain continual success with a targeted audience of consumers, it is wise to mirror the attitudes and desires of those consumers. This has proven effective in the United States, where companies such as Chevrolet, Levi Strauss, and Coca-Cola have successfully catered to…

Arguing that consultative and authoritative frameworks for rural development programs allow those in a superior position to define development priorities and to determine when and to what extent those in subordinate positions can participate, this paper outlines the need for participative-group management of such projects. The paper notes that…

Black student alienation in liberal arts colleges is discussed. A study was conducted of eight four-year liberal arts colleges in the Midwest. Respondents included 267 black students, nearly 60% of all black students enrolled. A standard alienation scale measured feelings of powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, cultural estrangement,…

A typology of ethnic education programs is suggested and a case study is presented where separate education for an ethnic group has been used to maintain and defend a separate ethnic identity. The typology rates ethnic education programs both by degree of normative and structural change being sought and by degree of control by ethnic groups.…

This paper reviews the current status of Asian Americans in the U.S. schools from perspectives of textbook content and teaching methods. The author points out that findings of a survey of the 1950s and early 1960s textbooks reveal limited inclusion of references to anything Asian. This lack of interest can be seen, also, in American society, as…

This paper documents American discrimination against Chinese and Japanese groups from the 1850s through the 1940s. Social prejudice against these groups began in the late 19th century when the demand for Chinese labor in California lessened but the immigrants remained and were seen as a threat to American laborers. Japanese immigrants who were…

The Native Studies curriculum has an important role to play in the development of meaningful community control for Native American education. Native Studies may legitimately take many forms and employ many methods; the essential element is that educators adopt a clear and consistent attitude toward Native Studies based on respect for Native people…

The paper discusses the impact of a semester-abroad political science program on the attitudes and behavior of college students. Participants included 52 students in a 1977 Kent State University Geneva Semester Program. The hypothesis was that positive attitude changes on worldmindedness would: (1) occur among students participating in the study…

These reports deal with language as a whole: its nature, its history, its relationship to culture, its acquisition, the immediate uses to which it can be put, and the development in students of an appreciation for the ability to use a foreign language. The book is divided into three main sections: Acquisition, Application, and Appreciation. For…

Prior to an intensive 3-day conference, position papers were prepared by a select group of Mexican American scholars, representing the areas of history, anthropology, bilingualism, sociology, political science, education research, psychology, and cultural arts. Under suggested guidelines, selected Mexican American educational leaders reacted to…

This document contains three papers on global knowledge transfer issues and human resource development (HRD). "Indigenizing Knowledge Transfer" (Gary N. McLean) explores examples of HRD in which ethnocentric perspectives predominate and argues that, unless a HRD develops a global perspective, efforts to transfer knowledge within academia…