The traditional college required remedial reading course has many shortcomings: students are stigmatized by forced placement and resent the course; dropout rates are higher; and high-risk students who take the course take longer to complete degrees and take longer to shed the high-risk label. The skills taught tend to be speed, vocabulary, and…

Outlines development of library education in Japan, highlighting its inception in 1903, the Japan Library School (1951; presently at Keio University), the University of Library and Information Science (1979), federal legislation including the Library Law (1950) and School Library Law (1953), and the "Standards for Education for…

Discusses why most colleges have dropped a foreign language requirement and what should be done to reestablish and solidify the place of second language programs in a required curriculum. (EKN)

Liberal Arts undergraduates at the University of Minnesota must complete at least two courses which focus primarily on Blacks, American Indians, Asian Americans, and/or Chicanos. The consideration that went into shaping and adopting this controversial requirement are recounted and analyzed. (Author/VM)

Responses from 31 of 40 home economics teacher education programs indicated that most require courses in human development and family resource management; fewer than 50% specify family life content. Family life topics taught include life management, marriage, early pregnancy, AIDS, and work and family. (SK)

Presents the case for allowing college students with a learning disability who are unable to meet foreign-language requirements even with special instruction to substitute related courses. Discussion is in the context of the 1998 Guckenberger v. Boston University federal lawsuit. (DB)

Two studies examined students with learning disabilities who were allowed to substitute other courses for the college foreign-language (FL) requirement. Both studies found similar demographic, cognitive, academic achievement, and FL-aptitude profiles for the students. Article concludes that educators should not assume that students with LD require…

Discusses possible effects of California's new remediation policy on disadvantaged students attending the state's public universities. The policy requires freshmen to successfully complete remediation courses within a year of enrollment and is intended to blend compassion with tough standards. Although more freshmen are completing remedial…

Investigates the content and structure of the undergraduate curriculum in psychology by analyzing 500 college catalogs. Reveals that introductory, statistics, and a capstone are the common required courses, laboratory experiences are not integral to required courses, prerequisites are recommended, and the traditional model is the most popular…

Geoscience departments with graduate programs were surveyed to determine the courses required of entering graduate students. Most geologists consider the core curriculum to be that which is required or recommended by most graduate programs. In addition to geology courses, two semesters of calculus, physics, and chemistry were required by more than…

Reports and analyzes the consequences of a university's abolishing any required writing course, using the case of the Director of Writing at Portland State University. Discusses effects on assessment, funding, service, and staff and staffing needs. (SR)

This article focuses on attempts to introduce elements of sustainable development education into the curriculum of one of the largest Russian universities. At St. Petersburg State University, compulsory courses relevant to sustainable development have been introduced or modified in 14 faculties out of 20 during the last decade. Examples of…

In an effort to infuse professional and preprofessional academic programs with liberal arts learning, this project at the University of Baltimore (Maryland) resulted in the establishment of a required liberal arts core curriculum for upper division students. The project provided funding for three activities: interdisciplinary team teaching of the…

Enrollments in counselor education programs have been declining in recent years. In order to examine the effect on declining enrollments of the recent trends toward professionalism for counselors, surveys were mailed to 100 randomly selected counselor education programs and to 10 additional programs randomly selected from programs accredited by…

The degree of consensus between undergraduate program directors and deans/directors of master's degree programs on the priorities for content of the professional foundation courses in social work education is studied. The findings suggest agreement on the elements that should be included in the professional foundation. (Author/MH)