Despite the Soviet emphasis on character education, communist "vospitanie" had little lasting influence once political enforcement was removed. Between 1988-92, the juvenile crime rate rose 50 percent. American educators should be cautious about promoting lists of virtues that serve a political agenda or are justified primarily on…

Essay on school reform argues that quality teachers are key to successful reform, not reform rhetoric by state governors and U.S. Presidents. Asserts that primary mission of schooling is to provide students an educational apprenticeship in democracy. Qualified, caring, competent teachers are essential to accomplish this mission. (PKP)

Political controversy over curriculum is as old as public education. When early educational researchers tried to "take the schools out of politics," they merely replaced working-class political influence with business and upper-middle-class influence. Nongovernmental and professional influences on U.S. curriculum are as fragmented as…

Reviews the accomplishments, goals, and problems of the commission during its first ten years. (IRT)

The two biggest educational issues facing China are critical and related--how to provide for equality of educational opportunity and how to maintain an intellectual community that is both "red" and expert. (Author/IRT)

Battles over education during past four years have shown that Congress and President must achieve some level of agreement to accomplish anything and that adequate funding must be provided to back up any legislated policy change. President Clinton should write coherent action plan to initiate national apprenticeship program, align existing federal…

The ESEA is a case study of institutional intransmutability. Analysis of its first ten years reveals much about the intricate interrelationships that form the American educational system and link it with the rest of society. Those revelations could provide guides for effective action. (Author/IRT)

The intensive drive to promote national standards and assessments has gathered support from unproven connections between U.S. economic success and the nature of learning in schools. Now that teachers are being challenged to produce a bottom-up sea-change in their own classrooms, Uncle Sam's presence in the back of the room may be a growing problem…

A comparison of content and procedures for teaching morality to the young in countries with contrasting political systems. (Author)

Warns that successful transplantation of the British teacher center idea to America may involve a redistribution of power within the traditional educational structure. (Author/JH)

An examination of debilitating conflicts among researchers, reformers, and practitioners and the ethnics with which they deal in the school decentralization/community control arena. (Author)

Control over local schools, even in the heartland, no longer rests securely in hands of local communities. Since passage of Colorado's first state finance law 17 years ago, power has shifted inexorably from the school board meeting room in Colorado Springs to state house in Denver. However, state's demands for local accountability outstrip demands…

The issue is what the schools can and should do to achieve what we proclaim to be our historic political goals: freedom, equality, justice, and community. (Author/IRT)