It has been exactly twenty years since the term "university rankings" came into being in China, and people have become relatively rational about the process, after an impetuous beginning. In a sense, the appearance of university rankings in China indicates the birth of something new, or the beginning of social voices in higher education…

According to the annual United Nations declarations based on the Human Development Index (HDI), Canada remains one of the best places in the world in which to live. Ironically, this declaration of socio-economic superiority does not extend to the young people in the society. Although post-industrial societies like Canada and the United States may…

After finishing her undergraduate degree in English, the author's first employment was in an academic department at her alma mater. At a large public state institution, the salary scale for non-academic appointees was--and remains--woefully low. Knowing that monetary compensation wasn't the source of staff satisfaction, her chairman made a…

In recent years, a concatenation of fears, pressures, and agendas has produced a new round of testing in the form of high school exit examinations. There has not, however, been an accompanying rush to see whether the exams do any good. No state has attempted to validate its test against external criteria: given the hyperbole surrounding the tests…

William Gibson's 1984 cyberpunk novel "Neuromancer" continues to be a touchstone in cultural representations of the impact of new information and communication technologies on the self. As critics have noted, the posthumanist, capital-driven, urban landscape of "Neuromancer" resembles a Foucaultian vision of a panoptically engineered social space…

In the United States and around the rest of the world, there is a renewed focus on ensuring that schools are providing students with the skills necessary to compete in the global economy. High-quality summer learning programs are an ideal vehicle to help students gain content knowledge and develop innovative skills: they provide time for…

Paintings emerge from a culture field and must be interpreted in relation to the net of culture. A given culture will be implicated by the sign system used by the painter. Everyone agrees that in Chinese landscape paintings, the most important cultural bond is to ancient Chinese Taoism, and to a lesser degree, to Confucianism. Obviously, then, the…

This article discusses the dearth of qualitative and quantitative research in "Religious Education." There is a growing concern in educational journals that the field must respond to the needs of practitioners and publish what has been called "really useful knowledge" (Johnson 1988, 21-22). In "Religious Education," 86.5% of the published articles…

Does a movement for the creation of institutions for the care of small children aged between two and six years constitute a political movement? This movement was closely connected to the democratic movement of the 1848-49 revolution in the German States. It was also, as the author will argue, a movement that was an essential part of the emerging…

Describes the use of life histories as a means for making sense of personal events and their application to education. Distinguishes three models for the use of life histories in education: the biographical model, the autobiographical model, and the dialectical model. (22 citations) (MAB)

The struggle against violent extremism is the most significant national-security challenge of the 21st century. It is the challenge that makes all the threats Americans face that much more dangerous. The ungoverned spaces, urban slums, and impoverished regions of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, along with the poorly integrated immigrant…

Provides an analysis of the 1982 Yugoslav Festival, a little-known event in the U.S. despite its 22 years of existence and international character. Describes the festival's significance: (1) inclusion of all the arts, both performing and visual; (2) participation by children as well as presentations by professional companies; and (3)…

Summarizes the conclusions reached by 336 people representing 22 Catholic educational organizations during a Delphi exercise sponsored by the Catholic Education Futures Project. Presents the participants' consensus concerning technological influences on society, the future of the Catholic Church, religious education, Catholic schools, education in…

Using a political economy approach, the low participation of older adults in formal higher education can be explained by contextual issues such as public policy on aging, higher education's role in transmitting ideology, and the effects of social stratification by class, gender, and ethnicity. (Contains 22 references.) (SK)

In this article, the author questions why the resegregation of U.S. schools into two systems--one poor and urban and one well-off and suburban--has remained unnoticed by the public and policy makers. As for state and national policy makers, they have diverted attention away from the deep political, social, and economic forces that have conspired…