Vocational Education can play a key role in revitalizing the American economy particularly through research and development in four areas: economic development and productivity, equity and access, youth employment, and energy. It can enhance productivity by identifying innovative vocational education programs successful in enhancing community and…

The compulsory system of education is criticized on the grounds that it has become a regimented "universal trap" antithetical to democracy. In contrast to the Jeffersonian concept of education in the service of citizen initiative for the preservation of freedom, current compulsory education is a tool of industrialism and of a rigidly stratified…

Has vocational education been responsible for the unemployed youth in our nation today? No, the vocational education community is not responsible for youth unemployment rates, the shifting labor market demands, the baby bulge, women in the labor force, the oil embargo, or the economic recession. Then what role does the vocational education…

This volume contains reactions to the career education concept as proposed by the U.S. Office of Education from a panel of 23 educators, practitioners, businessmen, and students representing such disciplines as anthropology, law, political science, sociology, mathematics, vocational education, psychology, philosophy, and counseling. The Foreword…

Postmodern social changes, ways these changes have contributed to the assumption of additional child-rearing functions by schools, and the modeling role of Catholic and other religious schools are discussed. Controversies in secular and religious schools arise from the transition from modern to postmodern values, not from parents'/schools' bad…

Worker displacement is a priority human resource issue that must be resolved to improve economic productivity, to further revitalize the American economy, and to cope with growing international competition. The work force and work place of the 1980s are undergoing changes that could result in ever larger scale joblessness. These changes include…

Efforts of immigrant and minority youth to make the school-to-work transition successfully are adversely affected by social, psychological, cultural, familial, and individual factors. Complicating their struggle to attain a sense of competence and personal identity, which is common to all youth, are "outsider status," language problems,…

This report presents a review of the historical background, progress, and problems associated with the development of collaborative efforts between vocational education and various sectors of the defense establishment. Through extensive document review, supplemented by telephone and on-site discussions with educators and employers, the benefits…

Demonstrates how three groups--professionals, parents, and children--relate to each other concerning the responsibility of children's education. Proposes specific categories of accountability that each group must assume for the home-school partnership to develop. (MM)

Suggests that educational researchers need to (1) expand schooling beyond the narrow interests of the marketplace; (2) view multiculturalism as central to democracy; (3) refuse to equate nationalism and monoculturalism; and (4) substitute community, solidarity, and public responsibility for emphasis on choice and individual competitiveness. (SLD)

This report presents 28 conference papers, which represent different thematic and scientific perspectives designed to create an educating city theory. The translated titles of the articles include the following: (1) "Foreword" (P. Maragall); (2) "Introduction" (J. Trilla Bernet); (3) "Conceptual Itinerary Through the…

The United States Department of Education and the American Vocational Association have undertaken a study to define the role of vocational training in job development. The literature and conversations with people involved in job development programs have shown that regional economic growth, including increases in employment, depends on five key…

Discusses realities that challenge middle level education, including changes in social, economic, and political life which are threatening children and affecting their lives. Asserts that local communities should reflect on the implications of these realities for their middle level programs and plan ways to address these problems. (SD)

The civic values of democratic societies and the responsibilities of educational institutions to transmit these values to succeeding generations are discussed. Free societies cannot survive unless the values upon which they are grounded are fully comprehended and practiced by each generation. But each generation must also transmit those values…

Drawing on the writings of scholars in the field, this report presents the case for increased parental control over the education of children. It begins by maintaining that the American public school has fallen from favor mainly because of a decline in academic achievement and the replacement of the teaching of basic skills with social…