Jewish Education and American Jewish Education,Part II

In this series of articles, I explore the history of Jewish Education magazine with particular emphasis on its intersection with the history of American Jewish education and American Jewish life more generally. I isolate major themes and issues that preoccupied the magazine's editors and writers, and analyze how their discourse sheds light on their individual aims, values, and philosophical outlooks, as well their collective efforts at educational reform. I am particularly interested in elucidating how Benderly's disciples sought to reinterpret their mentor's vision in a changing American Jewish environment and why this vision was at best only partially realized.     

Level of deprivation does not affect degree of discounting in pigeons

Two experiments tested the effects of food deprivation on discounting in pigeons. An adjusting-amount procedure was used to estimate the subjective value of food at delays ranging from 1 to 24 s. Experiment 1 compared pigeons’ discounting of delayed food reinforcers at 75 %–80 % and 90 %–95 % of free-feeding weight. Experiment 2 compared discounting under 1- and 23-h food deprivation. In both experiments at both deprivation levels, discounting was well described by the hyperboloid discounting function. No systematic effect of level of deprivation on degree of discounting was observed in either experiment. This finding is consistent with the view that pigeons’ choices are controlled by the relative, rather than the absolute, value of reinforcers.     

What lexical decision and naming tell us about reading

The lexical decision (LD) and naming (NAM) tasks are ubiquitous paradigms that employ printed word identification. They are major tools for investigating how factors like morphology, semantic information, lexical neighborhood and others affect identification. Although use of the tasks is widespread, there has been little research into how performance in LD or NAM relates to reading ability, a deficiency that limits the translation of research with these tasks to the understanding of individual differences in reading. The present research was designed to provide a link from LD and NAM to the specific variables that characterize reading ability (e.g., decoding, sight word recognition, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) as well as to important reading-related abilities (phonological awareness and rapid naming). We studied 99 adults with a wide range of reading abilities. LD and NAM strongly predicted individual differences in word identification, less strongly predicted vocabulary size and did not predict comprehension. Fluency was predicted but with differences that depended on the way fluency was defined. Finally, although the tasks did not predict individual differences in rapid naming or phonological awareness, the failures nevertheless assisted in understanding the cognitive mechanisms behind these reading-related abilities. The results demonstrate that LD and NAM are important tools for the study of individual differences in reading.     

Single‐sex schooling and labour market outcomes

One quarter of the 1958 British Birth cohort attended single‐sex secondary schools. This paper asks whether sex‐segregated schooling had any impact on the experience of gender differences in the labour market in mid‐life. We examine outcomes at age 42, allowing for socio‐economic origins and abilities measured in childhood. We find no net impact of single‐sex schooling on the chances of being employed in 2000, nor on the horizontal or social class segregation of mid‐life occupations. But we do find a positive premium (5%) on the wages of women (but not men), of having attended a single‐sex school. This was accounted for by the relatively good performance of girls‐only school students in post‐16 qualifications, not by the wider range of subjects studied by both girls and boys at single‐sex schools. Men’s labour market attainments were more closely related to attending private schools and to parental class, suggesting that the intergenerational transmission of advantage, while not related to coeducation, is related to gender.     

The militant‐moderate agitator: Daniel O'Connell and catholic emancipation in Ireland

An analysis of O'Connell's campaign for Catholic civil rights in the early nineteenth century demonstrates the use of antithetical, militant‐moderate, agitational strategies. By provocation and coercion he induced Parliament to accede to Catholic demands, while at the same time he controlled his turbulent followers with moderate strategies. O'Connell's rhetorical choices were effective because 1) he personified Irish needs and attitudes, and 2) his militancy coincided with English images of Irish disloyalty.     

Continuing professional and career development: the doctoral experience of education alumni at a UK university

This article reports on a study of alumni who completed their doctorates 2, 5 and 10 years ago at a Graduate School of Education in the University of London (n=162). It investigates the circumstances within which these research students started and completed their research and how they have subsequently used their studies, showing the particular place of the Ph.D. and the new Ed.D. in professional development in the field of education internationally. It questions current national proposals to ‘improve’ doctoral ‘training’ in the UK by enhancing students' employability and suggests that policy should be based on the actual employment and other life needs of postgraduate students in different disciplines. It argues that research students are paying for the privilege of satisfying their intellectual curiosity and making an original contribution to knowledge and are as concerned with personal growth as with vocational development.     

Prenatal Risk and Infant Regulation: Indirect Pathways via Fetal Growth and Maternal Prenatal Stress and Anger

Pathways from maternal tobacco, marijuana, stress, and anger in pregnancy to infant reactivity and regulation (RR) at 9 months of infant age were examined in a low‐income, diverse sample beginning in the first trimester of pregnancy, with fetal growth and postnatal stress/anger as potential mediators, and infant sex as a moderator. Participants were 247 dyads (173 substance‐exposed infants). There were no direct effects of prenatal risk on RR and no moderation by sex. However, there were significant indirect effects on RR via poor fetal growth and higher postnatal anger. The study adds to the sparse literature on joint effects of tobacco and marijuana, and highlights the role of fetal growth and maternal anger as important pathways from prenatal risk to infant RR.     

Gender differences in academic and social behavior of elementary school transfer students

This study describes a tutoring program designed to help children in grades 3 through 5 who underwent an unscheduled school transfer. We examined gender differences in self-concepts, academic performance, teacher evaluations, and peer ratings. Gender differences were found in several measures, although gender did not substantially interact with the intervention. As expected, female transfer students reported lower self-concepts than males; teachers reported that boys were more popular; peers also rated boys as more aggressive and girls as more likable. Findings suggest that preventive interventions for transfer students need to account for effects of gender.