The Famous Five and the Autotopographical Two: Interpreting Blyton Across Differences of Time,Space, and Race

This article presents a small case study of two childhood readers of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series, who meet in a research project devoted to a different but related topic. One is Indian by birth and background, the other, Canadian. Their experience of this series is separated by distance (many thousands of miles), time of reading (nearly fifty years), and divergent racial and cultural perspectives. Yet both include Blyton in what Alison Waller calls a “lifelong reading act,” and both recall the experience as one involving enthusiastic personal engagement coupled with the questions and assumptions of an outsider to the Englishness of the books. Their common experiences and memories provide a language for exploration that sheds light on many components of the experience of reading fiction. Their responses to online images of the Five’s favourite location for adventure, Kirrin Island, showcase both commonalities and distinctions in reading processes. Three themes are explored in depth: reading as an outsider, good enough imagining, and the interactions of reading and memory.

     

Supporting the activity choices of two-year-olds

The participation of children under the age of three in center-based child care programs is a growing phenomenon. This increase has raised questions about which type of program is best for these children. The curriculum for infants and toddlers has received considerable attention over the last decade. As a result, the activities and experiences planned for infants and toddlers have been clearly defined (Honig, 1974; Honig and Lally, 1981; Lally and Gordon, 1982). However, the differences between young toddlers, preschoolers, and two-year-olds are less discernible, which has made it difficult for child care workers to plan environments which are developmentally appropriate for two-year-olds. Consequently, two-year-olds may spend time in programs where the curriculum may be more appropriate for younger toddlers and preschoolers.Margaret King is Associate Professor, School of Home Economics, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. Anne Oberlin is Master Teacher, Ohio University Child Development Center, Athens, Ohio. Terry Swank is Assistant Teacher, Ohio University Child Development Center, Athens, Ohio.     

Metropolitan school desegregation and parent and student attitudes: A longitudinal case study

This study examines changes in the attitudes of parents and students coincident with desegregation in a new single unified school district, with reassignment of both suburban white students and inner-city minority students. Data are presented for the year immediately preceding desegregation implementation and for three years following implementation. The final sample presented includes only those parents and students for whom complete data were available for each of these four years. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to examine overall changes in racial and educational attitudes across time and to determine the differential impact of several intervening variables, including race, sex, child's grade level at the time of desegregation, which of five former school districts the families were in prior to desegregation, and the parents' perceived social status. Overall changes were found for several parent and student attitudes, largely during the first year of desegregation implementation. Several of the intervening variables were also significantly related to attitude changes, notably race and child's initial grade level.     

Relative academic performance of college transfer students at The University of Calgary

This paper compares academic achievement of The University of Calgary undergraduate population with that of transfer students from Alberta community colleges for the four academic years 1968–1972. The comparison is made using four measures: percentage distributions of student grade point averages, percentage distributions of grades, course grade point averages, and withdrawals. The measures were taken along several dimensions, including faculty of student registration, year of student academic program, and academic discipline and level of courses taken. Transferring students do not succeed academically as well as the total university student population. For example, in 1971/72 the average grade points achieved in all courses was 2.49, while the college transfer student subset achieved only 2.33. The corresponding figures for 1970/71 were 2.45 versus 2.24; for 1969/70, 2.41 versus 2.23; and for 1968/69, 2.38 versus 2.16.