An indigenous Peruvian sociologist of the Arakmbut people describes his educational experiences, including Harakmbut education for survival in the Peruvian rainforest, primary education in a village school with a national "Spanified" curriculum, scholarships that enabled an academic secondary and higher education outside the rainforest, struggles…

The value of historical descriptive analysis in comparative education is highlighted by the method's application to schooling in Burma, demonstrating how control over schooling relates to state legitimacy. Supervision of Burmese education by Theravada Buddhist monasteries--Sangha--was undermined by 19th-century British colonial administration. The…

Taiwanese teachers enjoy higher occupational prestige and greater job satisfaction than teachers elsewhere. These outcomes are attributed to favorable government policies in teacher education and schooling over past decades. Cultural, historical, and political traditions have shaped the high social status of Taiwanese teachers. The effects of…

An overview of Mexican history since the Revolution (1917) examines the centrality of the middle class in the development of the corporativist state and its recent unraveling, the role assigned to and played by education within the corporativist political configuration, and how a corporativist state conditions educational systems and practices. A…

Analyzes ways in which Latin American countries have addressed curricular regulation from the late 19th century to the present, focusing on education reforms during the 1990s in Argentina. Examines textbook policies over time and the tensions between recent decentralization policies and increasingly centralized educational assessment. (Contains 28…

Explores issues of academic freedom and autonomy in various systems of higher education in Latin America, with emphasis on the Brazilian case. Analyzes the issues of financial and administrative autonomy and tensions between the universities and the state during three historical periods: 1920s-50s, 1960s-70s, and 1980s-90s. (Contains 28…

The Nordic tradition of folkeoplysning (Denmark, Norway) or folkbildning (Sweden) is a form of adult education--"people's enlightenment"--linked to the emergence of democracy. Differing social, political, and cultural emphases attached to "folk"/"people" in various European languages have implications for the role of folkeoplysning in the…

An ethnohistorical study of a small rural elementary school in Trinidad and Tobago during the colonial period (1931-53) examines four ideologies--mental discipline, social efficiency, humanism, and child study--that underlay curriculum planning and pedagogical practices and converged to maintain the colonial state. The postcolonial persistence of…

Education of African Americans in the U.S. South and Black South Africans during the periods of segregation and apartheid, respectively, were similar in both the nature of school oppression and the ways that oppressed communities sought to use education to promote racial advancement. Survey, interview, and focus-group data reveal similarities in…

Examines the intellectual arguments and thinking that might have accorded primacy to English in Trinidad and Tobago in the colonial period, and the ways in which formal schooling inculcated and imposed English. Draws on school records and evaluations of the curriculum and student performance to analyze how managers policed the English-language…

Traces the history of nonformal education in Latin America since the 1920s, highlighting community-based programs, literacy education, vocational training, extension education, popular education, community schooling, and female-dominated social movements. Suggests citizenship education, the needs of indigenous populations, and urban youth…

Notes changing concerns in the field of comparative education that led to the birth of the journal Comparative Education in 1964. Discusses Nigel Grant's contributions on the journal's editorial board for over 30 years, his role in enlarging awareness of comparative studies as pivotal to developing educational policies, and his sensitivity to the…

Outlines several ways of looking comparatively at democratic educational systems. Examines narratives of democratic education in American educational history; nation-building as a primary policy objective; and conceptual weaknesses of the model of elite, mass, and universal education. Sees current trends toward educational efficiency and quality…

Traces the status of comparative education within educational studies since 1945. Compares the development of educational studies as a university subject and the role of comparative education in educational studies in four leading Nordic universities: the University of Copenhagen, University of Stockholm, University of Helsinki, and University of…

Reflects on Nigel Grant's contribution to the development of comparative education as a scholarly field, as a researcher, writer, and teacher of countless students. Discusses the history of university scholarship and the teacher-student relationship since the first European universities, contemporary debates about the purpose of education, and the…