Benefits for immigrant-origin and nonimmigrant-origin youth of discussing immigration in gender and sexuality alliances

In a time of unprecedented polarization in the United States, particularly concerning immigration, schools are uniquely positioned to help students understand the consequences of drastic policy changes. Beyond formal settings such as social studies classes, extracurricular activities may be important for fostering discussions about sociohistorical and policy issues. Such discussions could serve to empower youth from marginalized populations and raise their critical consciousness. Yet the potential outcomes of discussions in these extracurricular settings have not been studied in depth. Using data collected in school-based Gender-and-Sexuality-Alliances (GSAs) throughout Massachusetts during the periods leading up to and following the 2016 US Presidential election, we examined whether discussions of immigration issues in GSAs were associated with greater empowerment and critical consciousness among 580 youth (M _Age = 15.59, range = 10–20 years). Multilevel structural equation models showed that the frequency with which youth discussed immigration, relative to their fellow members, was positively associated with residualized change in perceived peer validation for members in general and with residualized change in hope for immigrant-origin members only. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find significant associations for critical consciousness. Findings suggest how groups addressing issues of equity and justice can promote members' empowerment.     

Getting animals to understand the experimenter’s instructions

A general procedure is described whereby animals may be trained to understand certain instructions posed by the E. Animals trained in this way could then provide the answers to some questions that have often been dismissed as anthropomorphic and untestable, such as: Are conditioned reinforcers sought or avoided because of what they signal or for their own sake? Can animals distinguish between “before” and “after”? Can they recall? Special emphasis is paid to some issues in the learned taste aversion literature.     

PRESIDENTS’ VIEWS ON CURRENT AND FUTURE ISSUES FACING THE COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGE

This study provides a foundation for discussion of major issues facing community colleges in America. The purpose of the study was to ascertain how many community college presidents rank order issues facing their institutions, now and five years hence. Additionally, the study sought to more comprehensively examine recent literature about issues facing community colleges for purposes of comparison with the findings of the study, and for explication of issues identified. The data for analysis were collected from a population survey of all public and private community college presidents listed in the Education Directory of Colleges and Universities, 1981‐1982. Issues used in the survey were identified a priori, from a review of the literature, and were validated using a panel of community college presidents. The major findings were that both public and private community college presidents agree that the top issues facing their institutions five years hence are: financial support for institution, achieving institutional mission, and maintaining enrollments. Other major current issues include faculty and staff relations, planning and administering the budget, governing board relations, administrative team relations, state relations, public and community relations, and program development and evaluation. Additionally, questions were raised in the study regarding “presidential priority rankings of issues,” based upon directions suggested in the literature review about what issues seem most pressing in the decade of the 1980s.