COUNSELLING FOR TOLERANCE

With the duties and responsibilities of the counsellor in mind and the pressures upon him or her, this article begins by considering the fine line between active tolerance, based on firm personal values, and passive tolerance, viewed by the author as more a form of valueless moral neutrality. Not only must the counsellors of today face clients with diverse cultural backgrounds as well as situations which challenge their own standards, they must also deal with the widely held belief that problems which appear not to be suitable for legal intervention should be solved by counselling. Understanding that the western notion of tolerance first developed in regard to ideas rather than actions, it becomes possible for counsellors to be compassionate while adhering to a conviction that some ideas are better than others and that certain actions must be avoided altogether. Generally speaking, there are two approaches to counselling: therapeutic or psychological, on one hand, and philosophical, on the other. The latter is best directed at the problems of ordinary people who need help with a problem such as personal loss, an overwhelming feeling of guilt because of an action one regrets, the fact that one will soon die ‐ as in the case of persons diagnosed for AIDS. Finally, the tolerant counsellor living in a diverse society can become a vehicle for imparting tolerance and understanding to others.     

Profiles of Parenting for Low-Income Families and Links to Children’s Preschool Outcomes

Parenting is a multidimensional construct that includes practices, attitudes, and emotional capacity. The aims of the study were to examine variation within parenting through a person-centered approach and the extent to which child and family characteristics were associated with profiles of parenting as well as the link between parenting profiles and children’s preacademic skills, language, and behavior outcomes in preschool. This study used data from low-income, ethnically diverse, preschool-aged children (n = 740) and their parents (n = 713) who were participants in a network of high-quality early care and education programs across the United States. Latent profile analyses uncovered four parenting profiles: (1) low enrichment, conflict-oriented, and distressed parent; (2) average enrichment, conflict-oriented, and distressed parent; (3) low to average enrichment, emotionally close, and low distressed parent; and (4) high enrichment, emotionally close, and low distressed parent. Child (age, minority status) and parent (family structure, home language, maternal age, level of education, school/training status, and depressive symptomatology) characteristics were predictive of being in a particular parenting group. Further, parenting profiles were predictive of children’s preschool outcomes. Implications for intervention and programming are discussed.     

The Implications of Culture and Identity: A Professor's Engagement with a Reform Collaborative

In this study, part of a larger United States project investigating K16 teachers and science reform, we seek to understand how a science professor's participation in a large-scale reform effort affects her conceptions of teaching, teachers, and reform. The topic in this study concerned how the professor's teaching identity was modified and created by the reform effort as she mediated her participation. A multiple-method approach utilizing (a) semi-structured interviews/correspondences with four students and the professor, (b) classroom observations, and (c) field notes, comprised the data collection. Results indicated that, although the professor was inclined to try out new teaching strategies in her classroom, the project failed to create pedagogical dissonance thus leading to her lack of desire to accommodate a more inquiry-based pedagogy.     

Perceiving the Affordance of Contact in Fourand Five-Month-Old Infants

The focus of this study was on the ability of infants to perceive whether an object is positioned at a distance that would make contact possible. As a toy was presented, sometimes within and sometimes beyond reach, the initiation of reaching and leaning forward was scored. Infants were divided into leaning and nonleaning groups. Both leaning and nonleaning 5-month-olds changed their behavior dramatically when the object was placed beyond, as opposed to within, reach. The nonleaners showed a decline in reaching when this boundary for contact was crossed. The "leaners" did not; rather, they began to lean forward. These results suggest that 5-month-olds use information for the affordance of contact. 4-month-olds provided less evidence that arm length regulates reaching. 5-month-old infants acted as if they not only had some sensitivity to the absolute distance of an object but also to the effect that leaning forward has on their ability to make contact with a distant object.     

The value of institutional research in the assessment of institutional effectiveness

A survey of 167 institutions engaged in the regional reaccreditation process between 1987 and 1992 revealed that the presence of institutional research activities was positively related to the institution carrying out a systematic assessment of institutional effectiveness. Institutional research activity was more predictive of assessment efforts than was the type of governance (public or private), the level of degree offered, or enrollment size. An alarmingly low proportion of institutions had begun to define outcomes at the time of the survey—a first step in the development of assessment procedures. Even fewer had identified ways of measuring outcomes. Budgets and staff expertise were felt to be adequate for current responsibilities but insufficient to assume responsibility for assessing institutional effectiveness. Institutional research activity is urgently needed in order to support the data collection efforts required by institutional assessment mandates. Whether these activities are conducted by institutional researchers or are dispersed across the campus, they provide the underpinnings for assessment.     

The OCLC Network of Regional Service Providers: The Last 10 Years

Developed in the early 1970s, the alliance between the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and its regional service providers is a strategic partnership that has survived for over 30 years. Originally created by OCLC to help it efficiently reach out to libraries in other states beyond its initial Ohio focus, this alliance is now starting to transform into a new structure. This new structure as well as other changes in the relationship between OCLC and its partners will have an impact upon all of the organizations involved.     

Evolution of an academic–public library partnership

A partnership to improve access to health information via an urban public library system was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2011. A multiyear project was outlined that included an information needs assessment, a training class for public library staff, information kiosks at library branches for delivering printed consumer health materials, and a series of health-related programming. The partnership evolved to include social service and community organizations to carry out project goals and establish a sustainable program that met the health and wellness interests of the community.