EVALUATION AND THE HUMANITIES

This paper arises out of a concern that, in spite of the amount of work which has been done in the area of evaluation in the humanities, there has not been enough clarification of the kind of ‘knowledge’ or ‘experience’ which the humanities may be said to yield. It is of vital importance that more of this essential clarification be done before continuing to develop new methods or techniques.     

THE HUMANITIES AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN TRANSITION

The humanities and the social sciences particularly suffered under communism because of the susceptibility of their disciplines to political and ideological manipulation. Nevertheless, in some of them the intellectual climate was more liberal in the Academy than in the universities. With transition, a much reduced research staff has adopted new approaches to research and to the definition of areas of research, one of which is a reevaluation of the recent history of the Czech Republic. A major task of the humanities and the social sciences is permanent reflection on the human condition.     

THE CHURCH AND THE COLLEGE STUDENT

Katharine Drexel was an important educator who taught profound lessons to the Roman Catholic Church and American society about the responsibility of privilege and the irresponsibility of prejudice. As a professed nun dedicated to the education of Black and Native Americans, she taught both intentionally and by example. Religious educators, seeking to educate for peace and justice, often point to Katharine's life work as an example of the application of Catholic social teaching. This article argues that Katharine's educational import in regards to Catholic social teaching goes much deeper than the concrete examples of her life's work. By studying Katharine's life, religious educators can illustrate the foundational attitudes and habits necessary for the principle of social justice to take root. This will be articulated in terms of underlying emphases found in aspects of Katharine's story: emphasis on totality, on clarity of vision and purpose, on evangelization, on family ethical formation, on moral education, and on Eucharistic spirituality. A corresponding action for religious educators will be suggested.     

文科试验班、"国学班"和跨学科的综合课程班

本文在总结北京大学举办文科试验班经验的基础上,提出了文史哲共同举办国学班的想法,并介绍了欧洲的“波隆尼亚进程”计划对大学教育朝向跨学科综合教育方向改革的意义。     

马克思主义科学与人文辩证关系观

马克思恩格斯认识到科学技术是生产力,是最高意义的革命力量,同时也看到了其负面作用。因此,他们从科学与人文辩证关系上提出“自然科学是关于人的科学”的观点。毛泽东着重强调科技的社会正面功能,指出自然科学是人们争取自由的一种有力武器。邓小平提出“科学技术是第一生产力”,并提出要使科学与教育、社会科学与自然科学协调发展等观点。江泽民指出“科学技术是先进生产力的集中体现和主要标志。”并提出建构世界科技伦理体系的主张及哲学社会科学与自然科学“四个同等重要”思想。胡锦涛提出包含科学与人文协调发展含义的“科学发展观”及“建构和谐社会”主张。中国马克思主义者继承并进一步发展了-5克思主义经典作家科学与人文辩证关系观。     

OLDER WOMEN,THE STUDENT ROLE AND MENTAL HEALTH

Returning women students over 50, although growing in number, have been largely ignored as a unique group by both educational gerontologists and scholars interested in non‐traditional women students.

Matched groups (N = 106) of student (outwardly oriented) and non‐student (home oriented) women (mean age = 55.67, s.d. = 5.25) were compared on measures of subjective age and attitudes toward age, perceived happiness and satisfaction, perceived physical health, number and severity of depressive symptoms, self‐esteem and autonomy. The student group was found to report better health, fewer and less severe depressive symptoms and higher autonomy.

Psychological transitions facing mid‐life women are discussed. Possibilities of educational participation as preventive of mid‐life depression for women are discussed. Future longitudinal, cohort‐sequential research should focus on mid‐life and older women students as a unique group.     

试论学校与学生的法律关系

学样与学生的法律法律是近几年学术界和司法实践关注的一个重要问题。笔者认为：学校与学生关系的实质是一种隶属型的教育管理法律关系，它既不同于严格意义上的行政法律关系，也不同于民事法律关系，它有其自身的特点。司法和学术界提出的监护关系，平等关系等观点是站不住脚的。     

THE ASSOCIATION AMONG STUDENT SUCCESS IN COURSES,PLACEMENT TEST SCORES,STUDENT BACKGROUND DATA,AND INSTRUCTOR GRADING PRACTICES

Growth in the use of testing to determine student eligibility for community college courses has prompted debate and litigation regarding over the equity, access, and legal implications of these practices. In California, this has resulted in state regulations requiring that community colleges provide predictive validity evidence of test-score?based inferences and course prerequisites. In addition, companion measures that supplement placement test scores must be used for placement purposes. However, for both theoretical and technical reasons the predictive validity coefficients between placement test scores and final grades or retention in a course generally demonstrate a weak relationship. The study discussed in this article examined the predictive validity of placement test scores with course grade and retention in English and mathematics courses. The investigation produced a model to explain variance in course outcomes using test scores, student background data, and instructor differences in grading practices. The model produced suggests that student dispositional characteristics explain the high proportion of variance in the dependent variables. Including instructor grading practices in the model adds significantly to the explanatory power and suggests that grading variations make accurate placement more problematic. This investigation underscores the importance of academic standards as something imposed on students by an institution and not something determined by the entering abilities of students.     

STUDENT RIGHTS, CLARENCE THOMAS, AND THE REVOLUTIONARY VISION OF EDUCATION

A bstract .  In his concurring opinion to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Morse v. Frederick , Justice Clarence Thomas argues that the Tinker decision, which granted students constitutional rights in public schools, should be overturned on originalist grounds. In this essay, Bryan Warnick, Bradley Rowe, and Sang Hyun Kim make the case that Thomas's originalist analysis is inconclusive. Instead of looking at court decisions relating to public education starting in the middle of the nineteenth century to establish original meaning, as Thomas does, they argue that a better strategy involves an analysis of educational ideas circulating closer to the time of constitutional ratification. Using this strategy, the authors show that many prominent educational writers (a) believed that it was important for students to learn to act independently and to value their constitutional rights, and (b) believed that students learn best by imitating civic examples. These two ideas work together in early American educational thought to imply that schools should exemplify the sort of respect for self-governance and individual rights that is present in the larger constitutional order. Thus, Warnick, Rowe, and Kim argue that there are originalist reasons for supporting student rights that Thomas ignores. In the end, this analysis not only highlights the limitations of originalist interpretative strategies, it also reminds us, more broadly, of a way to reconcile liberty and order in civic education.     

KNOWLEDGE AND PROPOSITIONAL FORM: WAYS OF EVALUATING IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

In attempting to understand what we are doing in assessing and evaluating in the Arts and Humanities, it is necessary to clarify and rethink some basic concepts. Amongst these the notion of knowledge and what is involved in knowledge is important, as is our understanding of propositional form. This paper also proposes that 1t would be useful to reconsider the view that there is a necessary dichotomy between the Sciences and the Arts and Humanities.     

STUDENT NEEDS AND THE AUTHENTICITY OF ESP MATERIALS

A model of student needs determines the specifications of an ESP syllabus. When there is little likelihood of the student practicing his profession in anything other than his native language, the student is communicative needs in English may be limited to the study of his academic specialism. The student's professional target is one important feature that the materials writer has to take into account. But the ESP expert's notions of appropriate professional behavior do not necessarily correspond with the student's expectations. We argue that the student needs ESP materials that help him make this transition. The efficacy of ESP materials should be measured by the degree to which the student recognizes their relevance to his immediate needs.     

民间美术与天地鬼神

民间美术始于原始巫术，生成于人类蒙昧时期，是一切造型艺术的原始母体。民间美术长期以来相伴是地鬼神观念、使役于宗教和封建迷信。它通过艺术形象的描绘，表达对不可知的神灵精神的敬畏与祈求，也借助天国境界寄托某种理想观念，或借助神灵驱邪扼鬼，更有利用神话传说、民间故事的描绘歌颂祥和美满的生活及劳动与爱情。其间亦有不少警喻劝世的充满人情味的作品。民间美术的美学价值就在于它的人本精神的表达。     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT ATTRACTION TO AN ENGLISH COURSE: THE ASSOCIATIONS AMONG STUDENT GENDER,THE GENDER OF THE AUTHOR OF ASSIGNED READING,AND THE STYLE OF READING

This article reports the results of a factorial experiment that investigated the reactions of male and female students to a hypothetical English course offered at the community college level. The participants (N = 136) consisted of students enrolled in English 101 courses at four community colleges in a southeastern state. The independent variables were gender of the student, gender of the author assigned, and the type of reading assigned (narrative, expository). The dependent variable was a composite rating of student attraction to the English course. Females rated the course more favorably than males, and testing detected an interaction effect between gender of the student and the gender of the writer. Females preferred female authors, and males were attracted to male authors. There also was an interaction effect between gender of the author and style of writing. Participants preferred female authors and expository style. The findings have practical implications for educational programs, English instructors, and future research.