Community development-oriented service learning (CDOSL) is an approach to service learning that integrates service with the school curriculum and the local community development agenda. This study examined the positive impacts that CDOSL has on rural students and communities. Surveys and case study research were conducted with 145 students,…

Although the economic expansion of the 1990s was felt even in small towns and rural areas, events in recent months point out that the economic health of rural America remains fragile. Rural manufacturing has suffered sizable employment declines in recent months and only modest expansion has occurred in the service sector--the lifeblood of rural…

A widening skills gap is at the heart of many of the major economic and social challenges the United States faces today. Too many Americans lack the basic skills and educational attainments required by a postindustrial economy. This places severe limits on the American economy to innovate, grow, and compete in the global marketplace. It…

Changes in women's lives and voices are both cause and effect of larger economic, social, and political processes. Women today live longer, have fewer children, are more likely to be literate; they are also likely to have some control over fertility, to work outside the home during part of their life, and to have political and legal rights more…

In the face of changing agriculture, an aging population, and the outflow of citizens seeking livable wages, rural Southern communities are challenged with how to enhance their economies to insure long-term business viability. Home-based businesses are an effective aspect of rural economic development. They allow flexibility and choice of work…

This working paper is a product of a regional study in industrial South Wales of the determinants of participation and non-participation in post-compulsory education and training, with special reference to processes of change in the patterns of these determinants over time and to variations between geographical areas. Discussion begins with an…

This research discusses the relationship between the migration of skilled professional and managerial workers from Canada to the United States, the so called "brain drain," and seeks to determine if and how the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (F.T.A.) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) may have affected bilateral flows…

This paper investigates the effect of automation on the occupational demand for labor using modern econometric demand theory. The empirical results demonstrate the strong effects of innovative activity in the telecommunications industry. Technical change was capital-using and labor-saving, with the labor-saving impact being felt most severely by…

The mission of the university is to increase human capital in all its dimensions, or value added to human capital through production of valid knowledge. Education and research are by-products, representing learning and discovery. Teaching is a distribution process within education. Distribution of research occurs through products such as public…

Examines the determining factors for earnings for 457 graduates of two small liberal arts institutions. Finds that human capital variables are significant determinants of compensation while gender, networking, motivation, corporate size, and organizational differences are also significant variables. Reports that the most important determinant of…

Discusses the nature of the mind and education. Suggests that society learns more from mistakes than from simply replicating the mind of the teacher in the students. Expresses hope that the next century will be one of maturity in which society is able to see that old knowledge no longer applies to a changing world. (DK)

U.S. education faces productivity and efficiency crisis. Because local, state, federal budgets are limited, schools must accomplish more with less. Few U.S. youngsters see themselves as workers or their school performance as greatly affecting later life. Teacher and student expectations are unreasonably low. Because schools cannot provide social…

Does living in a neighborhood with a high school affect children's decision to continue their schooling? A study of over 300 fifth graders and their parents in three Mexican cities found community residence is a significant predictor of desired schooling, even with comprehensive controls for child and family traits. (39 references) (MLH)

Analysis of data on approximately 14,000 individuals in 43 Mexican villages examined how gender relations and expectations differentiate male and female patterns of Mexico-to-U.S. migration. Education and migration were related positively for women but negatively for men. Age, marital status, and social networks also had differential effects on…

Supporting a "structural relational" view of small business success, data from 423 small business owners in Iowa suggest that links between owner characteristics, social relational processes, business structure, and success operate differently depending on urban-rural location and owner sex. Female owners had more professional training…