This discussion is divided into two chapters: Dominant Social Definition of Early Childhood and The Predominate Definition of Early Childhood and Social Learning. The first chapter has the following divisions: (1) The child as intellectual learner and artistic creator, (2) The naive science and naive art, (3) The "cultural" market of early…

Educators are acutely aware of the statistical gaps in achievement between different racial groups. Considering the rapidly changing racial composition of student populations, how can educators reach a level of cultural proficiency necessary to eliminate this disparity? Examining the achievement gap through the prism of race, this comprehensive…

In Canada and elsewhere, the shift from more horizontal models of governance and toward a more organized, diverse, and empowered civil society has sparked renewed interest in citizen involvement. The various dimensions of citizen involvement in policy processes are as follows: (1) mobilizing interest; (2) claims making; (3) knowledge acquisition;…

This document contains action paper reports from an international youth assembly that was held to enable young people from around the world to discuss a variety of social and economic issues and develop a common vision and plan of action. The report by the Committee on Youth Employment and Education examines the current state of education, its…

As part of its mandate to help the European Commission (EC) define, provide, monitor, and evaluate support to vocational education and training (VET) in regions outside the European Union (EU), the European Training Foundation (ETF) provided assistance to the following areas in 2002: Central and Eastern Europe; the New Independent States and…

Representing an important University of Colorado effort to relate university research directly to social policy and practice, this book examines several decades of indicators that reflect changes in children's behavior as well as social-environmental factors that influence their development. Articles in the book provide a volume overview and…

This paper compares the influence of state policies on gender roles and women's empowerment in China, India, and South Korea. In 1950, these newly formed states were largely poor and agrarian, with common cultural factors that placed similar severe constraints on women's autonomy. The three countries followed very different paths of development,…

Globalization is an evolving concept characterized by economic, technological, social, and political dimensions. Vocational education and training (VET) practitioners and the VET system must make more conscious efforts to lead thinking about the social dimension of globalization. The mission of Australian VET today is largely couched in economic…

This book addresses the role that rural schools can play in promoting community and developing a community-oriented world view. Specifically, this book suggests that rural schools, through concerted pedagogical and curricular attention to the dynamics of their particular place, can rekindle community allegiance and can nurture the fulfillment that…

The pessimists' view is that the U.S. family is collapsing; on the other hand, optimists view it is as merely diversifying. Too often, both camps begin with an ahistorical, static notion of what the family was like before the contemporary period. Noting that the actual complexity of our history gets buried under the weight of an idealized image,…

This book contains the following papers about the history and role of Australia's mechanics' institutes and schools of arts: "'The Light of Heaven Itself': The Contribution of the Institutes to Australia's Cultural History" (Candy); "Dispelling 'the Stagnant Waters of Ignorance': The Early Institutes in Context" (Webby);…

This book takes stock of the existing socioeconomic knowledge about a range of the core social issues of the information society. Chapter 1, "Information Infrastructures or Societies?" (Ken Ducatel, Juliet Webster, Werner Herrmann), is an introduction. Part 1, "Space, Economy, and the Global Information Society" looks at the processes of economic…

This study describes and analyzes certain population, labor, and education issues in oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The countries profiled are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (also known as the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries). Since the discovery of oil, these countries transformed themselves…

These 28 essays recount popular education's history and its multiple uses in the labor movement today: to organize the unorganized, to develop new leaders and activists, and to strengthen labor and community alliances. They explore its other facets: theater and culture, economics education, workplace safety and health, and classroom use and…

This paper uses personal profiles to highlight major events across the past five decades that have affected the lives of individuals with mental retardation and their families. Each of the scenarios provided represents a creation of prototypical families, communities, school climates, issues, and social attitudes during a particular decade.…