This article presents findings from 12 months of ethnographic observations of nonformal adult education classes offered by an internationally funded nonprofit, referred to in this article as Comunidades de Poder (CDP). The primary objective of this article is to examine the various contextual factors that influenced CDP teachers' instruction…

The rapid decrease in gender inequality in education over the past several decades in China has drawn significant attention in the existing literature. Several factors have been proposed or examined to explain this decrease. However, few studies have examined this topic from the perspective of the changing job structure and skill requirements in…

This study provides insights about attitudes toward heroes and role models in Germany and Israel. We expected German and Israeli school textbooks and teachers to provide varying renditions for the traumatic effects of World War II and the Holocaust, and for students to express different attitudes about the role of heroes in their lives. In…

In societies following a meritocratic ideal, educational certificates and examinations play a key role in allocating life chances to individuals. Procedures for allocating life chances need to be perceived as fair by those concerned if examinations and certificates are to possess legitimacy. This article traces and compares basic conceptions of…

Education systems worldwide have served as a nation-building apparatus and national consciousness facilitators since the appearance of the modern nation-state. With the emergence of globalization in recent decades, however, a growing presence of cosmopolitanism and internationalization can be traced in education policy and school curricula.…

This study proposes an elaboration of the human development capability approach by theorizing empowerment capabilities as an essential aspect of the education of excluded village girls. Seeking to explain Chinese village girls' demand for schooling, the article identifies intangible and instrumental capabilities that have often been…

Most existing research indicates that working students perform more poorly than do full-time students on standardized achievement tests. However, we know there are wide international variations in this gap. This article shows that national and international contexts help to explain the gap in the academic performance between working and nonworking…

Expanding numbers of researchers are focusing on the scale and impact of private supplementary tutoring. Such tutoring is widely called shadow education, since much of its curriculum mimics that of regular schooling. Although shadow education has expanded significantly worldwide and is now recognized to have far-reaching significance, research…

The Education Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education (UPE) states that "by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling." The 2008 midterm Global Monitoring Report claims that "A country's distance from UPE appears most clearly in terms of the…

Many nations make use of a "personal statement" (or equivalent) in their higher education admissions system. This article examines how statements differ according to applicants' educational background. Among the indicators used are fluency of expression, quantity and quality of workplace experience, and extracurricular activity.…

Random selection is a fair way to break ties between applicants of equal merit seeking admission to institutions of higher education (with "merit" defined here in terms of the intrinsic contribution higher education would make to the applicant's life). Opponents of random selection commonly argue that differences in strength between…

This special issue introduces a set of article addressing the question of what "fairness" means with respect to the distribution of access to higher education. Articles herein address the criteria that "should" be used to allocate funding, offers of admission at selective institutions, and conceiving and assessing …

This study identifies a theoretical mechanism that could potentially affect public university admissions standards in a context of demographic change. I explore how demographic changes at a prestigious public university in the United States affect individuals' evaluations of college applications. Responding to a line graph that randomly…

The study investigates the chances of gaining admission to Georgian higher education in relation to residential origin. The analysis of broad trends is combined with details from an in-depth individual-level inquiry. Qualitative data on the entire population of 150,000 applicants over the period 2005-9, together with interview data from a…

This article studies the educational strategies adopted by university students from different class backgrounds in a Scandinavian welfare regime. Studies show distinct differences among classes relating to economic considerations, risk-averse behavior, and patterns of socialization among university students. We investigate these differences…