This volume contains 12 papers originally presented at the 14th Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education in 1999. The symposium explored contemporary issues of ethnic, cultural, and national identities and their influence on the social construction of identity. Papers include: (1) "Reconceptualizing Ethnicity and Educational Achievement" (Douglas E. Foley); (2) "Confucianism and the Educational Process: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and Chinese American Identity Development in Education" (Vivian Ota Wang); (3) "Multicultural Identities and the Adaptation of Young Immigrants in Israel" (Gabriel Horenczyk and Uzi Ben-Shalom); (4) "Buraku Students and Cultural Identity: The Case of a Japanese Minority" (Hiroshi Ikeda); (5) "Culture, Race, and Ethnicity in Education in South Africa" (Crain Soudien); (6) "Teachers, the South African State, and the Desegregation of Schools in the 1990s" (Volker R. Wedekind); (7) "Demographic Diversity and Higher Education Reorganization in South Africa: The Applicability of U.S. Models" (James B. Stewart and Fatima Abrahams); (8) "Education and Identity within a Psychological and Sociocultural Context" (Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke); (9) "Educational Reform and Language Issue in Ukraine" (Petro P. Kononenko and Ivan Z. Holowinsky); (10) "Local Identity and National Systems: The Case of Wales" (John Fitz); and (11) "Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in China" (Teng Xing and Weng Yanheng). Information on the contributors as well as an author index and subject index are included. (Individual papers contain references.) (SM)