Reinforcing contingencies for sex-role behaviors in preschool children

Two groups of disadvantaged Afro-American children, a total of 30 boys and 25 girls, mean age about 42 months; and two groups of middle- and upper-middle-class children, most of them white, 35 boys and 31 girls, mean age about 44.5 months, were observed for patterns of sex-role-characteristic behavior and peer and teacher response to such behavior. At all times, the children in the two experimental groups were being taught by seven women and seven or eight men, about half of whom were Afro-American, half white-Anglo, and who were mixed in the two schools by race but evenly divided by sex. Boys engaged in 16% sex-characteristic behavior, 5.7% cross-sex behavior. The same figures for girls were 18 and 6%. There were no pattern or percentage differences by race or social status of children. Women teachers gave most of their sex-role connected rewards for feminine behavior to both boys and girls. Men teachers rewarded more equably, masculine behaviors for boys, feminine behaviors for girls. Children rewarded mainly their own sex, and gave rewards for sex characteristic behavior. The pattern was even clearer for boys than for girls. In Discussion, comparisons are made with other somewhat similar studies.     

Winning Is(n't) Everything: The Paradox of Excellence and the Challenge of Organizational Epideictic

Encompassing both the controlled messages of values advocacy and less explicit rhetorical actions such as philanthropy, community programs, and volunteerism, organizational epideictic affirms common values. This essay argues that such common values are problematized by the presence of paradox even in seemingly innocuous epideictic subjects. Through a case study of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's “Stay in Bounds” program teaching children to be good sports both on and off the field, the essay demonstrates the challenges of organizational epideictic through the paradox of excellence. It also provides suggestions for the management—but not elimination—of paradox in organizational epideictic, particularly directed at external publics.     

A comparison ofCebus albifrons andSaimiri sciureus on oddity performance

Four squirrel and four Cebus monkeys were trained on five-trial oddity problems. Two of each species were then given problems where the odd object was reversed randomly on Trials 2, 3, or 4. They were then given one-trial oddity problems. All reached criterion in initial training. One Cebus reached criterion in reversal training, but the others showed significant improvement. All monkeys receiving one-trial oddity training responded correctly on 80% of 40 consecutive problems within 80 problems. No reliable differences were seen between the species. Discussion concerned the measures required to conclude that an animal has the oddity principle, and it was suggested that no nonprimate has been shown to master oddity.     

Resisting the Tick Box: Reflexive Use of Educational Technologies in Developing Student Identities and Challenging Higher Education Constructions of Disability Based on Notions of Conformity and Consistency

For many students, impairments such as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, epilepsy, or diabetes have the potential to vary in intensity, and thus impact, on participation in learning activities and on self-perception/identity. This article considers some of the factors that may be of influence on the ways in which students with such fluctuating or recurring impairments enact identity within higher education in the United Kingdom. In particular, the article highlights the potential role of higher education discourses based on notions of consistency and conformity in constructing disablement in finite ways. It also reviews the potential for reflexive use of communication technologies in offering students ways of promoting or masking selected aspects of identity. The article concludes with some insights into possibilities for the use of online communication modes in offering flexibility and autonomy in managing student identity and challenging institutional discourses of disability as fixed or finite.     

The impact of society on educational technology

Much has been written about the impact of the new technologies on society by Jacques Ellul, Stafford Beer, and many others. But there has been very littleanalysis of the reverse—the impact of evolving commercial, political, and institutional interests, and their ideologies, on the development of technology. Educational technology in particular has been and is being shaped by these societal forces.
This article presents a theoretical perspective on the interaction and gives several instances of cultural impact on the development of computer/video-mediated educational technology in the US, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Increased awareness of societal shaping should lead us to new research areas, and ultimately to more democratic, more fruitful, and more viable educational innovations.     

A childbirth educator speaks out for increased advocacy for normal birth

Upon noting that, over the years, normal birth has become less and less a cultural norm in the United States (where cesarean births now approach 30%), a childbirth educator speaks out to say it is time for normal-birth advocates to organize in order to increase efforts at social marketing of normal birth as a cultural norm.