This critique of "Writing to Read," a computer-based reading and writing program, uses aesthetic criteria and artistic criticism. Observations of kindergarten and first grade classes are described; education as art is considered; the issues of time and control are examined; and the aesthetic criteria of balance and coherence are…

Argues that a major factor for student dropouts is lack of self-esteem, and shows the therapeutic value of art activities. Describes a self-portrait lesson with 15- and 16-year-old juveniles in a detention center. Decries the lack of attention to art in the schools. Suggests allowing students to practice right-brain drawing can improve…

Presents three works of art that examine issues of exhibition, display, culture, and access in contemporary museum practices. The works include four black mannequins dressed as security guards, a room-size installation consisting solely of objects related to the artist, and a poster highlighting the general exclusion of women artists. (MJP)

Commentaries from 10 researchers concerning "Alcohol Abuse in Urban Indian Adolescents and Women: A Longitudinal Study for Assessment and Risk Evaluation" (R. Dale Walker and others). Reviewers commend the project for adding to the sparse longitudinal research on Indian peoples, while also pointing out problems and issues specific to…

One of the most enduring concerns of government and educational planners in developing countries is how to reduce rural-urban inequalities in educational provision. The aim is to ensure that all children have equal access to education of good quality irrespective of region, ethnicity and social class. This paper critically examines the provision…

The public profiling of schools as "effective schools", based on Grade 12 results, has resulted in a jingoistic race by many public schools to get their names on the "public notice board" of effectiveness recognition. Besides creating a skewed perception of school effectiveness, this public profiling of schools as effective…

This language arts unit of study for high ability learners in grades 5-6 highlights persuasion in oral and written form, focusing especially on oral communication. Emphasis is placed on providing evidence for opinions. Students must cite passages from literature to defend their points of view in discussion as well as in written arguments.…

In November 1992, the Ford Foundation published a study entitled "State Higher Education Systems and College Completion," which argued that states that relied heavily on community colleges in their postsecondary educational system, such as California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, were not efficient in producing bachelor degree (BA)…

An interesting approach to the topic of women and literature is to see if the real working roles of women have been reflected in fiction. As delineated in novels, women are seen engaged in: (l) farm labor; (2) jobs that are extensions of their nurturing roles; (3) factory work--especially in the early textile and clothing mills; and (4) housework…

Modern black poetry has emerged as an art form whose viewpoint (theme), style (structure), and language (diction and usage) focus on a particular kind of sensibility and consciousness in conflict with the world in which the poetry moves. The black aesthetic addresses the consciousness of blackness and deplores traditional poetic niceties in favor…

This collection of abstracts is part of a series providing continuing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 23 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the rhetoric of scientific controversy; (2) Erving Goffman's interactional theory of communication conduct; (3) a phenomenology of feminism; (4) a…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 21 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) Victorian ideology and British children's literature from 1850 to 1914, (2) a comparison of passages from books for adults and for children, (3) the use and…

The document is a transcript of the radio program, "Options in Education," for the week of July 4, 1977. Broadcast by member stations of the National Public Radio System, the program is an electronic weekly magazine devoted to the coverage of news, features, policy, and people in the field of education. The issues highlighted in this…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 13 titles deal with the following topics: confessional rhetoric in the poetry of Anne Sexton, rhetorical criticism, the Hippocratic oath, messages communicated through team sports as a medium of social interaction, the silent…

Individual approaches to the reading and study of 14 modern poems that have proved their worth and appeal to adolescents are offered in this publication. The poems--by such poets as Marianna Moore, Stephen Spender, W.H. Auden, Wallace Stevens, and Robinson Jeffers--are reprinted; and each is followed by a discussion in which a high school teacher…