Attempts to persuade students that government is ever benevolent are self-defeating; civic education and problem solving suggestions are made. (MF)

Analysis of 238 variables pertaining to 170 polities indicated that linguistic heterogeneity could not independently predict either gross national product or civil strife, with the former primarily accounted for by modernization and industrialization variables, and the latter by long- and short-term deprivation and inadequate coercive power. (14…

Presents study results exploring the potential of a civics curriculum in developing a willingness to acknowledge the civil liberties of unpopular groups. Includes an overview of research on political tolerance and literature focusing on the shortcomings of traditional civics curricula. Argues that adolescence is an ideal period for teaching issues…

Principal issues are: evaluation of laws; effecting changes in law; meaning of order, relationship of law and order. Primary tasks for elementary schools are: fostering understanding about language for clear, consistent, and cogent discourse; communicating accurate, comprehensive information about the issues; and, providing participative…

Survey of students (grades 6-12) reveals that those who were heavy viewers of crime shows were more likely to have anticivil libertarian attitudes. Results indicate that television entertainment may be an important source of political learning. (PD)

The sources of student discontent are the major concern of this paper. (DM)

The social/political issues facing university English departments in South Africa include problems of identity and definition, the need for instruction within the context of social and political history, the problems of cultural relativism, the corrosive implications of Black subordination, and the complex alternatives of private and public…

Reports a survey in which American, British, and German adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 were asked to weigh the merits of two potentially intrusive laws and to state whether or not individual freedoms ought to be respected. (JM)

To preserve and protect the civic values and principles of the Constitution, educators must develop in students a deeper understanding of and a commitment to these values. To do this, educators should confront students with cases in history and current events involving fundamental paradoxes of U.S. constitutional government. Students should be…

Examines the contributions of the "Frankfurt School" members to the development of critical theories of social education in the United States. Drawing from their sociohistorical analyses, Horkheimer, Marcuse, and Adorno theorized that the dominance of scientific, rational thought in the twentieth century was leading to highly technological,…

Reports questionnaire data from 1384 children in grades five through nine. Reveals that political socialization of attitudes toward free speech apparently does occur during late childhood and early adolescence. (JM)

Seven historical purposes have been proclaimed in American education since the turn of the century. The four familiar purposes are the American "quadrivium." They lead in different directions: one leads to academic discipline, one to social efficiency, a third to individual development, and the fourth to vocational competence. The three more…

A study assessed the conditions under which secondary school curricula have an impact on students' political attitudes. Civil liberties issues were discussed in experimental groups. When teacher credibility was high, students' political attitudes were noticeably affected. (AV)

This discussion of human-rights education suggests that educational goals should include the acceptance of the idea of equal opportunity and inalienable human rights. Course content should instill concern with experiences drawn more from students' immediate social experience than from textbooks. More advanced students need courses in global…

This book presents more than 200 photographs along with a chronological record from the "Ming Pao News," covering the events in People's Republic of China from the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, which precipitated the Chinese student democratic movement, to the crushing of the movement at Tiananmen Square by the Chinese army on…