This article looks at the evolution of the social studies curricula in Pakistan, which are of critical importance in shaping the outlook of many young Pakistanis, who are affected by this polarised discourse. The author argues that this trend of polarisation springing from dynamics of education also effectively contributes to a widening social…

The enormous changes that took place on American campuses during the 1960s not only opened those campuses to new constituencies and new ideas, but also created a powerful conservative movement that sought to reverse those changes. Along with the rising cost of higher education, the right's campaign against the academic reforms of the sixties has…

The hope that young people would accept and quickly learn Western ideas and democratic principles rather than just economic and technological achievements occupied a key place in the conceptions of the liberal and democratic parties in Russia. The possibilities of the modernization of Russian society and its economy were associated directly with…

This project offers a close look into the meaning-making practices of the Bulgarian socialist state with regard to the conception and enactment of childhood. Held for the first time in 1979, on occasion of the UN declared "International Year of the Child", the International Children's Assembly "Banner of Peace" emerges as a…

Traces the evolution of Portuguese national identity, 1926-74, in relation to its African colonies, particularly Mozambique, to demonstrate that colonialism enforces values, identities, and "hierarchies of domination" within the colonizing society as well as between colonizers and colonized peoples. Examines the role of education in…

The introductory essay in this volume examines the relationship between philosophy and common sense as these pertain to educational administration, and suggests that philosophy should become a form of critical self-reflective decision-making that occurs within the domain of social action and does not stop with the achievement of clarity of…

Reports excerpts from a discussion meeting held by a scientific council on problems of youth policy in the USSR in 1990. Discusses the problems of restructuring the Soviet education system in keeping with the goals of Perestroika. Includes comments on socialism, curriculum, and the goals of the education system. (DK)

Describes politically driven, educational changes in Nicaragua, 1979-93, since education was used first to promote social change and later to restore elements of the previous status quo. Discusses the church-state relationship, curricula and textbooks, recent moves toward site-based management, funding of higher education, and the possibility of…

The introductory essay in this volume argues for the importance of the original critical theory developed by the Frankfurt school (The Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany) in developing a critical foundation for a neo-Marxist theory of radical pedagogy. Accordingly, it begins by defining the aims of the Frankfurt school and then…

Economic change in China is coming about through wide-ranging economic reforms, is taking place at an unprecedented pace, and is affecting the lives of many of the inhabitants of the world's most populous nation. However, the attempts to reform the political process have been slow, like the attempts to reform the Chinese press. The Chinese press…

This article examines the reflection of national goals and ideologies in the civic education curricula of Mainland China and Taiwan. A comparison of junior secondary school textbooks from the 1950s and the 1990s shows how the curriculum embodies the states' changing national priorities and justificatory ideologies. Specifically, in the early…

Elected president of Iran in 1997, Khatami promised to bring about political reform, freedom, and religious democracy. He charged schools with creating moral, politicized, and empowered individuals with a strong Iranian-Islamic identity, but capable of relating to the West. While reflecting some of Khatami's goals and values, schools continue to…

Discusses child welfare within the context of social contract theory, developed by Hume, Locke, and Rousseau, and covenant theory, namely, the insistence upon the intergenerational and communal bases of life chances. The two theories are compared and contrasted, and eight regulative principles of political covenant are proposed to benefit the…

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a national catastrophe and the major news story of the year, was the first national labor strike in U.S. history. Because of the ideological bias of the press, specifically its implicit commitment to capitalism and to objectivity (itself a "myth" of social order), newspapers of the period could be…

The evolution of cadre (political elite and bureaucratic functionaries) education in China from 1949 to the present was evaluated in terms of leadership development and the underlying interests of the Chinese Communist Party as it integrates more fully into the world economy. Historic achievements include: (1) increased knowledge about market…