全球幸福指数,从改变自己开始

国民生产总值到底能衡量什么? 怎样才算改善全人类的生活?早在1968年,卓有远见的罗伯特·肯尼迪就对"国民生产总值"这个标准进行了最有力的抨击——国民生产总值衡量了所有的东西,唯独没有衡量的是那些使生命真正有价值的东西.这很荒唐吧?我们衡量社会进步的最重要的标准,衡量一切,唯独不衡量让生命有意义的东西?我相信,如果肯尼迪今天还在世,他一定会要求我们这些统计学家到社会中去,找到究竟是什么让生命有价值.重新设计国家核算系统,让它建立在那些重要的东西上,例如:社会的公正、可持续性,还有人民的幸福.     

Playing to Learn: an overview of the Montessori Approach with pre‐school children with Autism Spectrum Condition

This article explores some of the literature concerning the effectiveness of the Montessori educational approach for children with ASC within an English school context. Firstly, there is a discussion, including a short historical review, regarding the ideology of inclusion and how it has impacted upon mainstream education. Also, how this can be facilitated using play‐based approaches such as Montessori. Secondly, various models of disability are identified in order to highlight how they have informed societal attitudes towards people with disabilities. There is a brief history of ASC detailing how a child with this disability may be affected on a daily basis and the effectiveness of alternative play‐based educational approaches such as Montessori in helping children with ASC to develop the appropriate skills they need in order to self‐regulate and thus modify their behaviour. Furthermore, the value of play‐based curriculums in supporting a child diagnosed with ASC throughout the learning process is also evaluated. The summary highlights the need for more evidence‐based studies to be undertaken in order to assess whether the Montessori approach is a valid alternative in teaching pre‐school children with ASC.     

LATENCY‐AGED CHILDREN'S VIEWS OF AGING

This study investigated the contents of children's attitudes toward the elderly and compared these attitudes with the children's attitudes toward young people.

The Children's Views on Aging (CVOA) questionnaire was administered to 256 latency‐aged (8‐10 year‐old) children. The children were white and black, male and female, and came from both rural and urban backgrounds.

The children's responses to the CVOA were analyzed quantitatively using chi‐square and t‐tests. The results showed that children had some negative perceptions of the aging process, but positive views of the older person. Comparison of the children's attitudes toward older people and young people showed that the children's attitudes were more negative toward older people in the potency dimension of attitude but more positive toward older people in the evaluative dimension. The findings suggest that children's attitudes toward aging are complex and diverse. Important implications for educational practice are discussed.

This study formed part of Ronald Marks’ doctoral dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh, 1980.     

Really Useful Knowledge: The New Vocationalism in Higher Education and its Consequences for Mature Students

This paper offers a discursive analysis of the position of mature students vis-a-vis higher education and its increasingly necessary linkage with industry. Longstanding questions are raised as to what higher education is actually for: intellectual expansion, or merely to prepare young people for work? If it is the latter, then where does this leave mature students, who have less 'career'time left to use their degrees, and may simply be studying because of an interest in a given subject?