Population Education in the United States

Abstract

With the increased societal awareness of environmental issues, social scientists have expanded their examination of environmentally related topics. One component of this expansion has been the generation and growth of social theory which has the human-environment relationship at its core. This study is a further test of one of these theories, the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). Using survey data, the relationship of the NEP to knowledge of environmentally relevant issues is examined. The results show ecological worldview as measured by the NEP scale has an independent influence on net environmental knowledge of other sociodemographic characteristics.     

Academic versus vocational education in the United States

Starting from the statistically supported trend of post-secondary education in the United States from the academic to the vocational area, this author investigates:

1. the causes of this wide swing of the pendulum towards vocational education;
2. the resulting assumption that education is merely a preparation for an occupation and has no intrinsic value. Three main reasons are given for this development: First, the effort made by schools and universities to fulfil their certification function has resulted in their giving precedence to selection rather than to the education of pupils and students and to equalization of opportunities. Second, the general tendency of society to exclude youth from responsible participation in the life of adults is leading to a change in the societal work process and to a gradual breakdown in the family structure. The third factor is the increase in juvenile delinquency and criminality.

     

Teacher education in the United States of America

Teacher education in the United States, and undoubtedly in other countries as well, is more profoundly affected by shifts and developments in the wider intellectual and social world than by any changes, no matter what their magnitude, in educational theory and teaching techniques. Current practices in the preparation of teachers, therefore, cannot be understood without references to such external influences as, to cite only a few, the teacher shortage of the fifties and early sixties, the post-sputnik anxiety about how well our schools were doing, the efflorescence in the behavioural sciences, the so-called explosion of knowledge in all fields, and the concentration of educationally disadvantaged children in the central cities. Once it is assumed that teacher preparation reflects changes in the broader world, any attempt to outline recent trends and developments inevitably becomes arbitrary and partial. However, the factors enumerated and discussed below are, at least, germane to the problem. Dr. Schaefer has been Dean of the Teachers' College at Columbia University in New York since 1963. This article consists of extracts from a paper presented by the author before an expert committee which met at Unesco to consider problems of general primary and secondary education.     

Preschool policy and bilingual education in the United States

In 1976, Head Start introduced a “Strategy for Spanish-Speaking Children.” The strategy provided support in four areas of activity, which included: (1) Basic and applied research on the developmental progress of Spanish-speaking children; (2) Regional Resource Centers intended to provide access to bilingual/bicultural materials and assistance in their implementation; (3) Head Start staff training; and (4) Curriculum model development in two languages, permitting individualized instruction in either language, and incorporating multicultural resources that facilitate cognitive and social growth.The most significant outcome of the strategy for the Spanish-speaking has been the curriculum development effort and its accompanying evaluation. The remainder of this paper will describe the curriculum development effort, th evaluation results, and some policy implications for national efforts in bilingual education.     

Speech education in the United States college of discipline

Defining gastronomic reference or mention of what public figures eat, as synecdoche, this essay illustrates how synecdoche contributes to public figures, public images and argues that synecdoche deserves attention as an important political trope.     

美国职业教育的认知和感悟

具有良好的体系,完备的功能、多元化的方式这就是美国职业教育。美国从事职业教育的学校紧贴社会需求设置课程及时调整专业类别,重在就业的岗位知识和技术技能的培训,学生根据劳动力市场变化需要选择自己的专业方向。当前我国的职业教育发展存在两种不同的取向。一方面人们认为职业教育就是就业教育,另一方面受发达国家职业生涯教育、关键能力等职业教育理念的影响,以及迫于我国现实的就业压力,人们认为职业教育要以人为本,不仅要满足于学生职业生涯规划发展的需要,还要加强职业素质及关键能力的培养,培养具有发展潜力的综合素质较高的高技能人才。     

Mathematics education in the United States: past to present

This article presents a historical review of mathematics education since the late 1950s in the United States. Three themes are used to organize the literature reviewed in the article: (a) broad sociopolitical forces, particularly highly publicized educational policy statements; (b) trends in mathematics research; and (c) theories of learning and instruction. At times, these themes coincide, as was the case in the 1990s. In other cases, such as the recent push for educational accountability, these themes conflict. Nonetheless, the themes go a long way to explain the serpentine nature of reform in the United States over the last 45 years. This article also attempts to account for developments in special education as well as general education research, something that does not appear in most historical presentations of mathematics education.