Modernization of the United States during the nineteenth century involved both the heavy mechanization of agriculture and the gradual expansion of agricultural settlement. Each of these changes reduced the economic role of children in society and, thereby, altered the need and demand for education. (RM)

The historical relationship between technical change and school expansion has been dependent on a particular institutional structure of schooling. However, without the causal role of technical change at critical periods, the continual spiral of school expansion could not have been sustained. (RM)

Vocational education, as a share of secondary education, has declined in almost every educational system since 1950. The history of vocational education and the relationship of its decline to the desires of countries to produce a more standard level of education in line with egalitarian principles are discussed. (Author/IS)

A national study showed that increased exposure of White pupils to Black pupils substantially affects the demography of school systems and leads to reductions in White enrollment. However, White enrollment losses appear to be short term, limited primarily to the year a desegregation program is implemented. (Author/RM)

Discusses the polarized educational system that emerged in Great Britain between 1770 and 1850, based upon student mentality levels. Explains that the differing treatment of higher and lower mentalities was incorporated into a system of separate schools. Describes the system as an institutionalization of the mental and manual divisions of labor…

Discusses the availability of school enrollment data from 120 countries for the period 1870-1980. Concludes from the data that growth in education was steady prior to 1940 and increased sharply after 1950. Suggests that the emergence of the nation state model and the centrality of education in the model contributed to the acceleration. (SG)

Analyzes educational participation in the southern United States in 1910. Argues that the social organization of production and the policies of local government affected the supply and demand for education. Concludes that both plantation agriculture and manufacturing employment are negatively associated with school enrollment rates. (RW)

Discussed are the different ways the term "brain dysfunction" was interpreted and advocated by special educators, parents, persons concerned with social problems, and other groups urging that the condition be recognized through federal legislation. (Author/RM)

Focuses on mental tests, test developers, and the social and historical context in which mental tests were developed in the United States and England. Suggests that the tests were produced in an intellectual and social climate heavily influenced by eugenicist theory and that more attention should be paid to research which casts doubts on the…