The Bicentennial celebration can help us to reevaluate our responses to cultural diversity and to build on these valuable strengths for a more equitable future. (MM)

A brief review of educational history in America leads up to a Bicentennial reflection that the task of educators is to release children's intellectual capacity through language, creativity, and democratic living. (MM)

Five criteria are discussed for selecting curriculum materials for Bicentennial celebration and study that will encourage valuing and inquiry and enrich historical perspective. Several bibliographies and sources for other instructional materials are included. (MM)

The textbooks used by public schools generally reflect the values and essential priorities of that society, and in cases of value and attitude conflicts arising in curriculum design, textbooks are apt to become prime targets for criticism. (MM)

The history of curriculum development provides insight into the problems of improving instructional content and classroom learning experiences. (MM)

A discussion of the professional status of teachers outlines six criteria that could be used to judge the level of professionalization teachers have attained. (MM)

A short essay inspired by a "Report to the Board of Education" by the Superintendent of Schools, 1884, New Haven, Connecticut. (MM)

To be educationally sound, the flow of cultures into the United States must be viewed multidirectionally, not as a unidirectional, east-to-west phenomenon. (MM)

Social studies educators in the coming years should concentrate on the humanizing elements of the curriculum to ensure that programs are social and humane. (MM)

Changing social context and changing curriculum have brought the parochial and the public schools closer together. (MM)

The value of curricular theory lies not in its specificity but in the questions it generates. (MM)

The basic question, "What is normal?" is being asked again to account for some of the changes that have come about in the maturation and development of today's youth. (MM)

The evaluation process does not need to be translated into grades. It is time that we found an alternative to grading. (RC)

Letter grades or an equivalent rating system serve a natural, logical, and perfectly defensible function in evaluation and reporting. (RC)