The approaches of 111 Thai and a matched set of 111 U.S. community mediators are investigated. Results show that Thai mediators are more apt to be assertive in their mediations; they put disputants together, demand concessions, criticize disputants, and threaten them more frequently than do U.S. mediators. Thai mediators more frequently seek…

The infant, early childhood and early school programs of the religious communal organization called the Society of Brothers are described in relationship to the basic beliefs of the Society, and to the fact that most of the children in these programs will remain in a Society community after childhood. Begun in 1920 as a reaction to a world that…

This research studied the new childrearing values and practices which are emerging among humanistic communal parents. Thirty-three parents from seven share-the-land cooperatives in northern California and southwestern Oregon were interviewed. Questions were asked about experiences related to childbirth, the nature and sources of child care…

THIS PAPER OUTLINES THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, GOALS, INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND, AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES OF THE KIBBUTZIM IN RURAL ISRAEL WHILE CONCENTRATING ON THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS. THE KIBBUTZIM EMPHASIZES CONTINUOUS, LIFE-LONG EDUCATION FOR ALL MEMBERS BASED ON THE NEEDS OF EACH MEMBER AND HIS COMMUNITY. THE AIM OF EACH PROGRAM IS…

Israel is a society with a considerable tradition of social planning and centralized decision making. The government, consequently, was in a position to undertake far-reaching decisions concerning population redistribution. The instrument to accomplish population redistribution was to be a network of small and medium sized urban settlements,…

In a recent survey, various methods used by kibbutz teachers in evaluating student academic progress included: (1) formative vs. summative evaluation; (2) goal-related evaluation; (3) individualized evaluation vs. uniform standard evaluation; and (4) informal evaluation. (JN)

The six articles in this issue are devoted to discussions of Ukranian educator A.S. Makarenko. His theories of collectivist social upbringing and labor education, his pedagogical views, and his views concerning student self-government are discussed. (KC)

The Great Leap Forward disaster, characterized by a collapse in grain production and a widespread famine in China between 1959 and 1961, is found attributable to a systemic failure in central planning. Wishfully expecting a great leap in agricultural productivity from collectivization, the Chinese government accelerated its aggressive…

This review of the literature about fictional and actual utopian communities focuses on parents and children in American utopias. Introductory comments explore the history and defining characteristics of utopias. The next section highlights references to women, children, education, and parenting in several fictional utopias, including Plato's…

This paper summarizes the history of rural communities (moshavim and kibbutzim) in Israel and attempts to rehabilitate those that have experienced difficulties. The first section of the paper outlines the context of these communities, most of which are cooperatives. Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, most of the communities…

Between 1973-1979, the elementary educational system in rural areas of Poland has been reorganized into a system of collective commune schools; students commute or are bused to the schools. Since September 1973, 944 new collective commune schools have been set up. A study of the data indicates that the process of setting up collective commune…

A nine-member Study Mission was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and visited China in 1975 to study Chinese approaches to agricultural and rural development in depth; to analyze the commune experience as an example of integrated rural development; and to try to determine in what ways the Chinese development…

This paper presents some background information and a brief report on the progress of the first two and one-half months of the Synanon study of the social behavior of communally-reared children in which an attempt is being made to apply ethological methods of observation and analysis to human infant behavior. The children range in age from 6 to 40…

This paper provides a descriptive summary of the historical development, the basic features, the organizational structure, the patterns of child-rearing and education, and specific research findings concerning the Kibbutz Movement in Israel. Four main types of collective settlements are described, along with the main characteristics and tenets…

Israeli Kibbutz and city children, age 8-11, were compared in three experiments in which cooperative-competitive behavior was assessed. City children from the United States were also included in Experiment 3. In Experiments 1 and 2, groups of four children played a cooperation board game in which children represented only themselves in one…