Explores how ideas of political economy shaped the culture of U.S. high schools in the nineteenth century and discusses reasons for the creation of high schools. Stresses the role that textbooks and the high school curriculum played in disseminating the economic, political, and social values of the time to students. (CMK)

This student newsletter issue speaks to the subject of baseball. The first article, on who rules baseball, discusses the problems that the developing sport had with gambling, and the struggle between the owners and gangsters for control of the game. The article describes the scandal involving the Chicago White Sox in the 1919 World Series and the…

This study developed an index of communal school organization and used this measure to focus on specific features of high schools as social organizations. The philosphical and social perspectives of the school as a community are explored, focusing on the school as a social organization consisting of cooperative adults who share a common purpose…

Designed to help secondary students recognize that a country's music both reflects and reinforces cultural values, this unit involves students in comparing the music of the United States, China, and Japan. The unit could be used as part of an Asian history or Western history course. The approximate time required for the unit is 12 class periods.…

This paper presents an outline of the purpose and methodology of a proposed study to investigate the teaching of black literature in selected secondary schools in Virginia. Black literature will be defined as fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction written by black American writers. The use of black literature in the curriculum of the selected…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Mark Schorer, Maxwell Geismar, H. L. Mencken, Rebecca West, Sherwood Anderson, Constance Rourke, Robert Morss Lovett, Joseph Wood Krutch, Vernon L. Parrington, T. K. Whipple, Walter Lippmann, E. M. Forster, Ford Madox…

Data culled from five 1980s studies show that youth today are committed to rewarding careers, good jobs, traditional values, marriage, and family. They are fixated on personal bread-and-butter issues and turn away from community and group problems. (RM)

Pride can be taken in the performance of secondary education in America's first 200 years, but new social and political conditions demand drastic reform in structure and program format (consistent with the body of public opinion) to better adapt secondary education to present and foreseeable future social conditions. (MB)

States that Swiss youths perceive society as valuing performance and success above independent, enlightened youth. Contends that these societal values lead to passivity and resignation among students. Recommends listening to students and using the classroom as a place for building trust and problem solving. (NL)

Reports survey results which questioned biology teachers concerning evolution. Data from the surveys suggest that a majority of biology teachers moderately stress evolution and that most have worked out an effective accommodation between their teaching responsibilities, their own philosophy, and the mores of the community. (KO)

Gathered data on arcade use in adolescents (n=460). "Regular" arcade visitors varied sufficiently from the more "casual" visitors in their orientation to, and experience in, arcades. Regular visitors were more likely to score positively on indices screening for addiction. Raises questions about children's access to potentially…

Explores the importance of race in the United States as a means to questioning the necessity of affirmative-action laws. Presents different perspectives on the pros and cons of affirmative action in hiring practices and educational admissions. Asserts that the laws prohibiting affirmative action in Washington and California demonstrate the…

Two studies examine qualities capturing adolescents' images of ideal bodies for both genders. Data from questionnaires and discussions of photographs indicate that body-image ideals are multidimensional, show systematic gender differences, and become more conventional with age. Adolescents' own body mass links systematically to body-image…

The concept of ideological thinking should be introduced to secondary students. The need to attend to ideology has been the concern of many social studies educators. Suzanne Helburn stresses the need for the social studies to focus on powerful organizing ideas, of which the concept of ideology itself is one of the most powerful. Maxine Greene and…

Developing language habits in students leads to discussion of their self esteem as well as to the values of the dominant society. (JH)