In order to understand the context of the role that human rights should play in civic education in the United States, the era in which those rights were first debated (1789-1790's) must be examined, as well as contemporary political and education trends in the United States and the world. Human rights were at the heart of the democratic…

The question, "Who will bankroll poetry?", succinctly embodies what is now a widespread recognition that the humanities may have more to lose in the current budget wars than either the sciences or a number of technical fields. The only budget war that can unite individuals, rather than divide them, is one arguing that too much is being…

For years, libertarians had fought laws and policies barring Communists from teaching as direct assaults on the First Amendment, while supporters of loyalty programs had painted all Communists as mental slaves of Moscow. In 1952 the Supreme Court upheld New York's 1949 Feinberg Law, which required detailed procedures for investigating the loyalty…

A content analysis of four Washington state newspapers published in 1948 reveals that they did not provide fair coverage of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee's investigation of communist infiltration at the University of Washington. (FL)

As a student at Mercer University (Georgia) from 1888-91, William Kilpatrick observed that teachers and pupils stood in opposition to each other and that cheating was a "natural process." The granting of honors was viewed by Kilpatrick as detrimental and as a way of pitting students against each other. Kilpatrick also advocated the…

Just more than twenty years ago, the author had the privilege of directing a National Academy of Sciences panel that issued a report entitled "Scientific Communication and National Security," known informally as the Corson Report, after Dale Corson, the panel's chair and president emeritus of Cornell University. Thus, for him, today's discussions…

The launch of "Sputnik" in 1957 sparked a crisis in American education. Suddenly threatened by superior Soviet technology, progressive educators' concern for children's preferences, health, and adjustment in school yielded to public demands for more basic learning and academic skills. Congress soon passed the National Defense Education Act,…

Two international diplomats from the Soviet Union and the United States focus on the need for a treaty to ban the use of radiological weapons. Radiological weapons are those based on the natural decay of nuclear material such as waste from military or civilian nuclear reactors. Such devices include both weapons and equipment, other than a nuclear…

In this article, the authors use visual communications as a way to illuminate race relations and higher education from 1944 to 1960. They analyze photographs, and also draw on the history of graphic design to discuss the style of the publications in which they are placed. The pieces that they analyze are historical-drawn from the papers of the…

The past decade has seen a resurgence of scholarship on world literature. The best-selling successes of "Great Books" arguments contained in Azar Nafisi's memoir "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and in Dai Sijie's novel "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" seem to mirror, on the popular front, this scholarly return to the question of world…

Favorably reviews "The Other Side," a global conflict resolution simulation available for high school social studies classes. Maintains that this program is well worth the time and effort required to integrate it into the study of modern history and international relations. (JDH)

Reviews and analyzes a key legislative initiative following World War II which sought to assign to the federal government a role in gathering and communicating scientific and technical information to private industry. Creation of the Office of Technical Services and its eventual transformation to the National and Technical Information Service is…

When a Soviet note dispatched to Britain, France, and the United States in 1958 was termed an ultimatum by the "Lion" (the New York "Times"), most of the press followed suit, although other explanations of the note were available; this pattern illustrates the phenomenon designated as the "jackal syndrome." (GW)

This unit is part of a continuing series on current foreign policy issues. The first section asks students to join the debate on U.S. policy toward Russia and its neighbors in the former Soviet Union (FSU). Background readings provide information to help students address policy issues and include: (1) "Two Centuries of U.S.-Russian…

These materials explore the decisions that face the United States as a result of the changes in the past decade in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The background readings allow students to examine such questions of values and foreign policy as: (1) Should the United States remain committed to its Western European…