To combat the problem of teenage pregnancy, public health clinics have made birth control counseling and free contraceptives available to minors and many public schools have implemented sex education programs. Despite the development and implementation of these programs, teenage sexual activity and pregnancy have increased. The increase in…

In essential-schools philosophy, the purpose of education on the individual level is to instill intellectual and moral discipline. On a societal level, education's purpose is to transmit the essential portion of total heritage to students. Technocratic rationality is the belief that bureaucrats and administrators decide policy about the goals of…

The effects on children of the increase in single parents is no longer much debated. They do less well in school, are less likely to graduate, and are more likely to be involved in crime, teen pregnancy, and other behaviors that make it harder to succeed in life. Research at the Brookings Institution shows that social mobility is much higher for…

With the passing of the Gun Free School Act of 1994, the 1990s bore witness to the birth of zero-tolerance policies. During the remainder of that decade, several school shootings occurred that solidified zero-tolerance in schools across the United States. With the possibility of threats constantly increasing, school personnel having a thorough…

In the article "Cohort Effects on Non-marital Fertility," in this issue of "Social Forces," Jean Stockard employs a novel strategy for disentangling cohort, period, and age effects on the non-marital fertility ratio. In a model with fixed-effect controls for age and for time period, the author documents evidence for three cohort-specific factors…

As a Family and Consumer Science educator at Union City High School in Union City, Pennsylvania, I have heard and seen a great deal. I have been teaching for 24 years at this rural Pennsylvania Middle/High School where teen pregnancy has always been a problem. Teaching students abstinence as the only method of birth control has been a major…

Urges school administrators to act now to establish innovative programs dealing with teen pregnancy and parenting problems. Argues for school-based clinics or special schools offering comprehensive health services such as birth control information and devices, referral, and childcare. Cites successful approaches in Fresno, California, and several…

Questions appropriateness of controversial issues such as birth control, euthanasia, moral and religious questions, values, and venereal disease in social studies curricula at the junior high and high school levels. (DB)

A critical issue at the turn of the century was the women's role in urban America. According to numerous "experts" of that time, the very future of the nation depended upon the successful resolution of this "woman problem." The family was in a state of decline and the falling white Anglo-Saxon Protestant birth rate was considered tantamount to…

Access to and availability of contraceptive methods in stores play an important role in the prevention of AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, and other sexually transmitted diseases. Although teens are generally knowledgable about birth control, many encounter barriers when attempting to obtain contraceptive. Forty-five drug stores and 15 convenience…

This monograph focuses on men's potentially positive role in family planning. In addition, it identifies reasons why so few organized family planning programs have targeted men as clients and why men have so often played a peripheral or negative role in family planning. The document is presented in seven chapters. Chapter I introduces the topic…

Recent research has studied the link between schooling and income. Evidence indicates the strong relationship found between level of education and lifetime earnings levels. Labor economists have designed studies and measured educational outcomes to differentiate between earnings associated with innate ability and earnings associated with…

Noting that characteristics such as attachment, honesty, self control, sportsmanship, generosity, and courage may be nurtured or thwarted by parents, teachers, or society, this book examines the roots of male character from birth to late adolescence. It maintains that particular intrinsic biological drives combine with parenting styles and…

Since people's mental makeup is, to a certain extent, based on what they have read and how it has been incorporated into their lives, it is not surprising that considerable attention is paid to what children read. As a consequence, children's books tend to be highly moralistic. Many realistic books today attempt to teach children how to cope with…