The purposes of this study are to describe and evaluate the ways in which social conflict associated with racial, economic, political and ecological policies and practices are presented in social studies textbooks for grades three, five and nine. Using a five-step content analysis scheme fifty-eight textbooks adopted for 1971-72 by eight states…

This course of instruction, intended as an elective course for grades 10 through 12, is one of a series of curriculum guides revised to fit the quinmester administrative organization of schools. The principal goals of the course are to: 1) motivate students, soon able to vote, toward participation in the American political process; and, 2) teach…

The intent of this brief paper is two-fold: (1) to review selected past studies and discuss what is believed to be misdirections in their focus and inadequate methodology and (2) to report a series of studies that attempt to counter these shortcomings. It is held that, by focusing on discrete components, such as curriculum, and using limiting…

In the 1930s, Mexican rural schools became arenas for cultural politics--the process of articulating and disputing definitions of culture, from national identity to the broader sense of social behavior and meaning. Created in 1921, the Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP) set up federal rural schools to nationalize and modernize rural peasants.…

The best expression of a people's ideals is to be found in their literature, and there is no better or more effective means of disseminating these ideals among the masses of the people than through the right use of the best of the literature in the schools and elsewhere. The great struggle in which the United States is now engaged for the…

IN 1970, ability tracking of students at one high school was more strongly associated with political beliefs and participation than was students' socioeconomic background. Participation in an alternative school program in 1979 appeared to have the same effects on political attitudes and behavior than ability tracking did in 1970. (Author/MJL)

Contends citizenship education should teach a living U.S. Constitution, rather than a blueprint for government. Stresses teachers' responsibility to instruct students about responsibilities as citizens as well as rights. Argues citizenship education, specifically, and social studies, in general, must teach individuals how to live together with…

Examines six elementary social studies textbook series for the absence or presence of multicultural perspectives. Identifies Houghton Mifflin and Macmillan as opposite ends of the spectrum. Houghton Mifflin displayed a global-humanistic perspective while Macmillan favored a nationalistic, exclusionary approach. Includes examples from both. (MJP)

Surveys levels of political tolerance among 152 U.S. government teachers and 96 social studies coordinators in Texas. Investigates attitudes toward various groups (e.g., neo-Nazis), and whether respondents felt that even disliked groups should be accorded their civil liberties. Concludes majority of these educators practiced what they taught.…

Excerpts chapter five from Ele Monoszon's "The Establishment and Development of Soviet Pedagogy." Examines general problems, objectives, principles, and methods of the Soviet pedagogical theory of upbringing. Notes research and theories of key Soviet educators in the 1970s and 1980s. (CH)

A study compared the historical awareness of 2,000 East and West German children in the sixth, ninth, and twelfth grades. Because of differing school systems and the general design of the study, researchers analyzed ninth grade data. The study was conducted during the disintegration and reunification of Germany. Students from the two regions…

This paper describes social and political education in the Netherlands ("maatschappijleer") since the introduction of the subject in 1968. Points discussed include historical developments, the national curriculum project for "maatschappijleer," goals and content, government educational policy, and the position of East-West…

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…

Although subtle compared to the politicization of education in a totalitarian state, American education has been politicized, with liberal ideologies affecting both curricula and teachers. This gradual politicization of the classroom will, if left unchecked, lead to infringements on individual freedom and the right to the pursuit of happiness.…

This paper analyzes the development of private education in Chile since the military coup of 1973, in the context of the military regime's neoconservative political and ideological aims. Despite these professed aims, copious evidence is presented to suggest that the need of an authoritarian state to maintain "national security" by…