Higher education and UK elite formation in the twentieth century

This study examines the proposition that mass higher education is, in practice, less a network of more or less homogeneous activities than a series of concentric circles in which elite institutions remain at the centre, but are surrounded by increasingly wide bands of universities and colleges, that are less and less likely to set graduates on the road to elite status the further they are from the centre. After a brief review of the classical and subsequent literature on elites and elite formation, the empirical study uses data from the very long established annual publication Who’s Who to make a quantitative analysis of the higher education background of all 120,000 Who’s Who entries born in the twentieth century. It finds that Oxford and Cambridge remained the dominant route to elite status throughout the century, though their share fell from about a third to about a quarter of the total. There were big rises in the contribution of other leading universities that have come to be known as the ‘Russell Group’. An analysis by main occupational categories shows that the political elite broadened its educational catchment area more than other groups. The so-called ‘public’ (i.e. independent) secondary schools also continued to make contributions much larger than their numbers warrant. The main conclusions are that Bourdieu’s notion of ‘symbolic capital’ offers a useful contribution to the interpretation of the continued dominance of well-known high status universities, and that while there was considerable change throughout the century, in general it followed the British tradition of being evolutionary and slow. In policy terms it concluded that the present government is justified in seeking both to widen participation generally and simultaneously to increase the number of people from modest economic and social backgrounds who attend the high prestige universities.     

Women's schooling and religious affiliation in Malawi at the end of the twentieth century

This paper examines the association between religious affiliation and women's schooling in Malawi. Using data from the nationally representative 2000 Demographic and Health Survey, results show that there are substantial differences in the acquisition of schooling by religious affiliation. More nonreligious and Muslim women reported that they had never been to school compared with women from Church of Central African Presbyterian and Catholic denominations. Further, our findings suggest that a woman's schooling is strongly influenced by her urban childhood residence and an increase in age at first marriage. These findings are related to the association of Christian groups with Western societies and religions that emphasize evangelization and recourse to schooling. Recommendations for further direction in research are discussed.     

20世纪中叶美国对泰国的政治介入

20世纪中叶,出于冷战格局的需要以及对泰国军人独裁统治的不安,美国积极介入泰国政治生活,极力帮助泰国军人集团组建政党筹备大选,对其进行军事保护和经济援助.与此同时,泰国奉行一边倒的亲美政策,成为美国在东南亚地区的桥头堡和马前卒.至此,泰国军人集团的执政地位得以合法化,美国在该地区的影响力进一步扩大,亚洲紧张局势持续升级.     

Educating Immigrants in the Netherlands: Migration flows and educational policy in the twentieth century

The first part of this article describes some general tendencies in migrant and school populations in Western Europe. Then it focusses upon some specific migration flows in the Netherlands in the twentieth century. A distinction is made between three migration parameters: colonies, labour force, and asylum. The second part of this article discusses the policy initiatives taken to educate the different migrant groups and their offspring. A distinction can be made between the first 70 years of the twentieth century and the remaining decades. In the first part of the century the education of immigrants was in the hands of private initiatives set up by churches, welfare institutions, migrant organisations, and employers. Later the Dutch government became a major player.

     

A narrative review of Greek myths as interpretative metaphors in educational research and evaluation

This paper reviews a series of Greek myths put forward as cultural narratives that could be used as metaphors or interpretative similes for explanatory and evaluative purposes in educational research and evaluation. These myths have been used in educational research literature, and most of them were found by carrying out an exhaustive search of that literature. In particular, the paper discusses Procrustes, referring to the use of arbitrary evaluative standards; the myth of Mentor, the embodiment of the researcher as facilitator/improver for new, inexperienced researchers; Prometheus, or the archetype of the self-sacrificing researcher; Periphetes, representing the evaluator who is cruel through incompetence; Sisyphus, symbolising the researcher’s anxiousness to achieve his goals; and Ulysses, an archetype for qualitative research.These myths are still absolutely relevant today, after more than 20 centuries, and can be used as powerful explicative frameworks of phenomena in the field of educational research and evaluation. By using myths to interpret educational phenomena, one reconnects contemporary qualitative educational enquiry with its ancient predecessor forms of meaning making.     

中国神话与希腊神话之异同

中国神话与希腊神话都产生于人类的初始阶段,反映了早期人类生活和认识的过程,所以具有相同点:但又因两国的地理环境和历史演进不同,中国神话与希腊神话又有许多不同之处.     

中国神话与希腊神话之异同

中国神话与希腊神话都产生于人类的初始阶段,反映了早期人类生活和认识的过程,所以具有相同点:但又因两国的地理环境和历史演进不同,中国神话与希腊神话又有许多不同之处。     

从《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》看公元前5世纪希腊的神祗观

古希腊诸邦中无论是军政大事还是普通民众的日常生活都与神祗息息相关,随着公元前5世纪社会经济和哲学思想的发展,希腊神祗观念也发生了显著的变化,甚至出现了新旧两种观念的冲突.修昔底德的<伯罗奔尼撒战争史>为我们了解公元前5世纪希腊的神祗观念提供了宝贵的资料.     

Mental testing and educational streaming in Ontario and Denmark in the early twentieth century: a comparative and transnational perspective

ABSTRACT

This article compares and contrasts the use of mental testing and the formation of educational streaming in Denmark and Ontario during the interwar years. In this sense, the article adds nuances to the meaning of internationalism as well as contributing to our knowledge about how ideas of testing practices circulated among countries and continents. One way ideas and practices circulated was via informal networks promoted by the education traveller. Key proponents of mental testing in both Denmark and Ontario travelled to continental Europe, England, and the United States studying and observing the practices and institutional arrangements associated with educational streaming. Our main findings are that the processes used to implement mental testing in the two countries differed significantly. Mental testing was implemented much later in Denmark than in Ontario. This was due to different contextual, cultural, and historical factors that promoted changes to the existing system, or, alternatively, represented a barrier or even obstructed changes to it. Nevertheless, mental testing was implemented in both education systems as a relatively coherent technology rooted in transnational movements and exchange, but was attended by highly different practices and local meaning-making.     

Books and baths and run all the way: The cultural formation of female primary teachers in the early twentieth century

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of female primary teachers in the development of a national system of education. Their preparation at the various training colleges as well as the academic and cultural environment of these institutions is examined. More specifically, the role of extra‐curricular activities, particularly sporting endeavours, in the formation of female primary teachers is assessed. The paper suggests that the traditional picture of restrictions on females in the sporting arena may have to be modified. Finally, the importance of teachers in passing on cultural and sporting traditions is discussed.     

Establishing a custom of proving in american school geometry: evolution of the two-column proof in the early twentieth century

Having high school students prove geometrical propositions became the norm in the United States with the reforms of the 1890's — when geometry was designated as the place for students to learn the art of demonstration. A custom of asking students to produce and write proofs in a two-column format of statements and reasons developed as the teaching profession responded to the demands of reform. I provide a historical account for how proving evolved as a task for students in school geometry, starting from the time when geometry became a high school subject and continuing to the time when proof became the centerpiece of the geometry curriculum. I use the historical account to explain how the two-column proof format brought stability to the course of studies in geometry by making it possible for teachers to claim that they were teaching students how to prove and for students to demonstrate that their work involved proving. I also uncover what the nature of school geometry came to be as a result of the emphasis in students' learning to prove by showing that students' acquisition of a generic notion of proof was made possible at the expense of reducing students' participation in the development of new ideas. I draw connections between that century-old reform and current reform emphases on reasoning and proof. I use observations from history to suggest that as we carve a place for proof in present-day school mathematics we must be leery of isolating issues of proving from issues of knowing.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The writer and the reader inCarrie's War

Barbara Freedman has for several years been a combination children's librarian/branch library manager. She authors theDraw Me a Story series of draw and tell story collections, as well as articles on children's literature and programming, and conducts workshops on children's programming techniques.