Demographic changes in population continue to bring children of different cultural backgrounds to classrooms. This article provides suggestions teachers and counselors can use to bridge cultures. Using the parable of a medicine tree, it explains how no society can endure without caring for its young. (Author/JDM)

Without open conversations between Blacks and Whites, society will be unable to face the problems that continue to divide our diverse communities. Article argues most Blacks are reluctant to communicate across the racial divide, and most Whites only encounter sanitized relationships with middle class Blacks. Survival of the emerging multicultural…

Author recounts his personal experiences growing up as a youth of color and subsequent work as a youth counselor. Argues that all young people choose purposive behavior based on competing inborn motivational systems. Fear in any degree is an innate protective mechanism, but racism is an irrational fear. Provides strategies for confronting…

Many programs for troubled youth have large populations of youth from racially diverse backgrounds. Article provides commentary on the issue of race relations and fostering understanding among the races from two students (one White, one Black) from an alternative school. The discussion offers principles for building racial harmony in schools.…

Successful teaching in urban schools requires identifying the powerful prejudicial forces that are part of the way many educators think and communicate about students from diverse backgrounds. This article describes how student teachers were assisted in reflecting upon six prejudicial mindsets that are commonly expressed by teachers who are…

Author reflects on forty years of experience writing about the civil rights movement. The Institute for Healing Racism, a grassroots movement for participants of diverse backgrounds to study racism and to help discover the oneness of humankind, grew out of the author's concerns. The principles and processes of the Institute are described.…

Teachers from a dominant cultural background identify giftedness in students from nonmainstream cultural backgrounds in different ways. Article describes ideas about giftedness in five nonmainstream cultures: African American, Latino, immigrant Asian, Native American, and low-income White. Professionals need to do more to tolerate such…

Strategies to halt school violence can fail if they do not embody core values that embrace nonviolence and challenge hostile, disrespectful acts. The process of creating a school that values nonviolent expressions of aggression and fights hostile attitudes and behaviors encompasses four stages. Article describes these stages for creating and…

Article describes "Reality Rub" Life Space Crisis Intervention that was used to untangle a problem caused when a youth attributed hostile intentions to innocuous comments by a peer. This incident helps explain the taxonomy of processes that can lead students to distort social perception and cognition. This abuse of reality is seen when a student…

Examines racial factors within the juvenile justice and mental health systems that contribute to the overrepresentation of African American men and boys in correctional facilities. Recent efforts by lawmakers and academic institutions to address these inequalities are highlighted. Creation of the National Center on Education, Disability, and…

Contends that point and level systems constitute a powerful culture in education and treatment environments and deprive youth of normative needs. Offers recommendations that move away from these systems and towards practices sensitive to cultural differences. Point counting and record keeping can be replaced with individual goal plans for each…

Article describes two organizations, the Latin American Youth Center and the Asian Pacific Development Center, that have a number of programs that foster relationships among youth and families of various races and cultures. It presents ways in which they work towards helping families adjust to U.S. culture. (Author/JDM)

Compares Staub's perspective regarding development and encouragement of altruism with existing information about school bullying. Recommends suggestions for bullying intervention culled from research on the development of altruism. Reports that during bullying episodes, the degree to which a student is altruistic will predict whether that…

Research and experience has shown that allowing children and youth to feel that they are contributing members of their communities, they are less likely to exhibit rebellious or delinquent behaviors. Describes three model programs that employ the principle of generosity as a key component of interventions for troubled children and youth.…

At an educational facility for at-risk youth, data on the use of punitive behavior management techniques was gathered before, during, and after staff training in the use of more positive approaches for responding to disruptive behavior. Discusses the shifts from reactive management of disturbing behavior to positive interactions between staff and…