This paper reviews the history of the placement of mentally retarded students during the first half of this century. In 1900, it was generally assumed that custodial care of feebleminded persons was necessary to protect society. Severely retarded students were regularly excluded from public school attendance. Soon school officials began adopting…

A 15-year study of Amish schools in the United States and Canada found that the number of Amish schools has grown dramatically from 1940 through the present. The Amish provide formal schooling only up to the eighth grade, after which adolescents are engaged in mastering a trade before entering into adulthood. The Amish once supported public…

Discusses how the histories of people, ideas, and concepts can be useful for the improvement of education today. Examples of historical analyses of curriculum development, compulsory education, vocational education, and teachers' roles are included. Historical studies comparing stated educational goals to actual outcomes are discussed. (AM)

Discusses issues surrounding the development of mass compulsory schooling and explores the possible development of a theoretical framework for analyzing the effects of such schooling. Concludes that compulsory attendance laws make little difference in rates of school attendance. Rather, social conditions create the environment in which laws become…

Presents an overview of the educational system of the Bedouin Arab minority in southern Israel. Inequities between the Jewish and Arab schools include (1) inadequate school facilities; (2) an insufficient number of qualified teachers and administrators; and (3) an unacceptably high student-to-teacher ratio. A clear reform policy for Bedouin Arab…

Expounds why and how music education at the preschool level has developed in Denmark and whether it should be a part of a formal national curriculum. Addresses the role of legislation in this process and the major schools of thought in music instruction as a context for understanding the development of this curriculum. (CMK)

In 1910 in the United States there were more than thirteen million foreign-born men, women, and children. More than four-fifths of those who arrived in that year were from southern and eastern Europeans countries and other countries in which the percentage of illiteracy is very large. Nearly three million of these foreign-born men, women, and…

Among the more relevant questions in educational research is how the governments and policy-makers in transition countries address the high educational inequality inherited from the past and what policies they develop in order to reduce the strong effects of the background family and the type of school on students' achievements, their aspirations…

As the first year of the Sixteenth National People's Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as the first year for the new government, the year 2003 witnessed new events and new expectations in Chinese society. The universalization of compulsory education and the elimination of adult illiteracy made new advancements. Secondary…

A two-week exchange lectureship at the Russian Diplomatic Academy in Moscow is described by the American exchange professor. The focus of the lectureship was the vital role which public education has played historically in shaping the United States. The lectures were designed around three main themes in American education: historic purposes…

This article examines the evolution of informal rules that guided urban school authorities in dealing with difficult pupils. It argues that special classes, special curricula, and lowered promotion standards served to preserve school order after the establishment of mandatory attendance laws. (JDH)

The influences of the federal, state, and local governments are viewed in their historical relationship to university and school practices. Education in the Colonial period of American history, the 1800s, and the twentieth century is discussed. (JN)

While the impact of schools in colonial America was soft before the mid-eighteenth century, devotion to education was strong and self-evident. By the early nineteenth century, schooling was well on its way to becoming universal for most children. As the nineteenth century wore on, the state became more and more involved in schooling. As taxation…

Analyzes establishment of compulsory moral and civic instruction in France at the turn of the century using the recently developed research techniques of social history. Maintains that the application of social history techniques will provide new insights into historical and educational research. Includes an extensive bibliography of primary and…

Since 1985, a group of scholars has formed the School Expansion Workshop to examine empirical evidence for causal theories of school expansion. This book contains a collection of articles that are the result of the workshop's annual meetings. Specifically, the book asks, What forces are driving the spread of mass schooling? The preface, by Bruce…