Explores the meaning of understanding and the importance of teaching for understanding. Typical classrooms do not give sufficient presence to thoughtful engagement in understanding performance. How to teach for learning is reviewed, focusing on both teaching and assessment. The need for generative knowledge is discussed. (SLD)

Contrasts the author's experiences teaching mathematics in Russia and as an immigrant to the United States. The author is particularly critical of the emphasis on grades and formal records in American higher education. American education is often guilty of confusing good grades or a degree with competence. (SLD)

This article argues that it is essential to improve the U.S. health care system and to cut costs. If unchecked, health care costs could rise to 20% of the gross domestic product by the turn of the century, leaving substantially fewer financial resources for other costs such as education. (SLD)

This article profiles Han Dongfang of China, winner of the 1993 George Meany Human Rights Award given by the AFL-CIO. An organizer of the first democratic labor organization in the People's Republic of China and advocate of individual freedom, Dongfang has faced persecution in China and remains a stateless person. (SLD)

Presents the case against private school choice, exploring myths and facts about public and private education. Private school choice would not increase accountability and would not bring about healthy competition for students. In addition, private schools do not outperform public schools to the extent one would expect. (SLD)

Disadvantaged children's problems receive little if no attention by intellectuals and policymakers because of broad forces such as racial conflict, feminism, and the culture of individual rights. Personal responsibility and social and economic policies that support the family are strategies for helping economically, educationally, and emotionally…

Citing examples from the author's third grade mathematics classroom, describes problems stemming from the use of concrete objects (e.g., fraction bars, base-10 blocks, and popsicle sticks). The vignettes show the fallacy of assuming that students will automatically draw the conclusions that their teachers want simply by interacting with particular…

Presents two lesson plans exemplifying analytical geography. The first lesson shows how medical geography can be used to track the silent route of cholera. The second lesson about the Bermuda Triangle is an exercise in fundamental mapping skills and teaches children a valuable lesson in double-checking facts. (RLC)

Four groups' ratings of students on 15 attributes seen as key to performance on the job and in higher education indicate a wide gap between what students and their parents think of students' preparedness for jobs and college versus what their employers, college professors, and admissions officers think. (RLC)

Describes the author's recent visits to school-based community service programs in different parts of New York City and reviews the educational literature to highlight the value of community service for middle schoolers. Illustrates ways that community service activities counteract students' negative self-concepts. Argues for service learning for…

The Japanese education system provides a model for American school reform that effectively links school with entry into the workforce. Japanese schools maintain close relationships with businesses that expect teachers to nominate high-achieving students for jobs after graduation. (FMW)

Compares the traditional textbook-based elementary science teaching method with the following innovative approaches: (1) Inquiry; (2) Science-Technology-Society (STS); and (3) Conceptual Change. Argues that the Conceptual Change approach has the greatest impact on student thinking and permits teachers to focus on important aspects. (FMW)

A teacher in an inner-city London school describes how she involves low income, minority group students in learning classics such as Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." Emphasizes cooperative learning and active student involvement using their urban background. (FMW)

Wiktor Kulerski, Deputy Minister of Poland's Ministry of Education, and Andrzej Janowski, a Vice-Minister of Education, members of the Solidarity union's teachers branch, discuss their involvement with the union that forced democratic reforms in Poland's Communist government and ensuing changes in the Polish social studies curriculum. (FMW)

Discusses reforms of the traditional elementary school curriculum in the "History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve" (1987). Emphasizes a history-centered curriculum drawing widely on the social sciences and humanities and involving students in developmentally appropriate activities. (FMW)