Expands an earlier study of educational stratification in Russia by analyzing cohorts who completed their education during the late-Soviet and post-Soviet years, when enrollments contracted. Provides information on the Russian educational system and discusses enrollment contraction and educational inequality. Presents and discusses the results.…

The institutional divisions between academic and technical education at the secondary level in France are analyzed. A brief account of the development of French technical education is also provided, and how pressures from certain social groups have affected both academic and technical education is discussed. (RM)

The development of educational aspirations in high school students is represented in a causal model, measuring influence of referents at two points in time. Changes in effects of causes is central. Data suggests influence changes over time, parents exhert greatest influence, sex differences in decision-making processes are manifest. (Author)

This paper is based on a subsample (500 Budapest teachers) of a national survey of 1500 Hungarian elementary and secondary (academic and technical) school teachers. Among the conclusions: ...teachers' pedagogical activities and their social consequences remain separate, and the social implications of their daily work are...hidden from them."…

The argument is advanced that the level of university student political activity in a society tends to reflect the degree of which the student social status is developed and formulated as a social type. Also considered are the historical and recent positions of students in the United States. (Author/DB)

Examines the effects of social influences on undergraduates' decisions to leave or remain at the university where they began their higher education. Reports that, with other variables held constant, effects of social influences on students' persistence remained significant. Finds that parents and peers have stronger influence than faculty on the…

Using the third wave of the Philadelphia Teen Survey, estimates cross-classified two-level models to see how much between-census tract and between-school variability exists in the timing of youth's sexual initiation. Attempts to assess the extent that race and normative environments of schools account for between-school variability in the timing…

Using transcript data from 1,700 California high school students, this study investigated the influence of students' background characteristics on course placement in mathematics and science. Results showed course placements varied substantially across the four schools surveyed. Variations were explained in part by differing curriculum…

Most athletes enter college with optimistic and idealistic goals and attitudes about their impending academic careers. However, athletic, social, and classroom experiences lead them to become progressively detached from academics. As a result, they abandon their earlier aspirations and expectations and gradually resign themselves to inferior…

This paper assesses how race and sex act to determine the educational performance and career aspirations of over 3,000 students in 23 public schools in Mississippi. Data are compared with results of Wisconsin research concerning the dynamics of early achievement processes for whites. (Author/AV)

Advances the position that schools prepare students for the future through socialization. Argues that personality traits, rather than skills, are the determinant of labor market success. Shows that parental economic status is passed on to the children. Explains that the heritability of IQ is unimportant as a factor for future success. (CAJ)

This article examines the role of friends in girls' and boys' advanced course taking and explores whether friends' characteristics are particularly important for girls' math and science attainment. With the use of data from Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Heath, the results indicate that…

Advanced capitalist societies are now in a period of protracted social crisis. This article discusses the basic impetus for educational reform initiatives in this time of crisis from an historical materialist perspective and, in particular, identifies the major social forces influencing educational restructuring efforts. (RM)

Reports on a study of student characteristics and the school organization to confirm the findings of previous studies on the importance of individual characteristics to track placement. Concludes that systematic differences among schools suggest that track placement is more complex than previous research has shown. (CFR)

Discusses group problem solving processes, how status can harm group problem solving, and how the politeness of students' criticisms reflects status. Reports on analyses of the determinants of group solutions, perceived leadership, and biased evaluations during collaborative problem solving in which students attempted to solve an algebra problem.…