Education and colonial language policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

In Latin America governmental responses to the language issue have ranged from suppression of non-European languages to active promotion of at least a limited bilingualism. The thesis of this article is that the inconsistencies are primarily a function of economic and social struggles among contending national elites with the common goal of compelling subordinate groups to adapt to the behaviors and expectations of the elite groups. Not until the nineteenth century witnessed a shift to capital-intensive modes of production did the schools become a major locus for implementation of governmental policy. Then the schools were called upon in a direct and massive way to augment traditional forms of social control.

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Zusammenfassung In Latein-Amerika reichte die Reaktion der Regierungen auf sprachliche Probleme von der Unterdrückung nicht-europäischer Sprachen bis zur aktiven Förderung wenigstens einer begrenzten Zweisprachigkeit. Dieser Artikel vertritt den Standpunkt, die Gegensätze seien hauptsächlich bedingt durch wirtschaftliche und soziale Kämpfe zwischen wetteifernden nationalen Führungsschichten, die alle das gleiche Ziel verfolgen, untergeordnete Gruppen zu zwingen, die Verhaltensweisen und Erwartungen der Führungsgruppen zu übernehmen. Erst als sich das 19. Jahrhundert allmählich auf kapital-intensive Produktionsweisen umstellte, wurden die Schulen in höherem Masse Zuchtstätten der Regierungspolitik. Danach wurden sie unmittelbar und massiv aufgerufen, traditionelle Formen der Gesellschaftskontrolle zu verstärken.

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Résumé En Amérique Latine les réponses gouvernementales à la question du langage sont passées d'une suppression des langages non-européens à leur promotion active, ou du moins à un certain bilingualisme. La thèse de cet article est que ces inconséquences sont avant tout fonction des luttes économiques et sociales entre les élites nationales en présence dont le but commun est de contraindre les groupes subordonnés à s'adapter à leurs manières d'être et à leurs expectations. Ce n'est qu'après que le dixneuvième siècle ait été le témoin d'un glissement vers des méthodes de production à haute teneur en capitaux que les écoles sont devenues le locus principal de mise en oeuvre de la politique gouvernementale. On a eu, alors, recours aux écoles d'une façon directe et massive pour augmenter les formes traditionnelles de contrôle social.

     

World enough and time: The work of Mollie Hunter

The work of Mollie Hunter is published and read throughout the world. She won the Carnegie Medal in 1974 forThe Stronghold, and she was the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecturer in 1975, travelling in the United States for six weeks giving a series of addresses that have been collected inTalent Is Not Enough (Harper & Row, 1976).Peter Hollindale is Senior Lecturer in English and Education at the University of York, and author ofChoosing Books for Children (Elek). He has lectured widely in children's literature at colleges of education and in-service courses for teachers. He contributed an article on John Masefield toCle 23.     

School Effects in Scottish Secondary Schools

The present paper examines whether there is significant variation in schooling outcomes between Scottish secondary schools, and if so, how much is associated with pupil intake, and how much is associated with the schools they attend. It also examines whether schools vary in their effectiveness for different types of pupils, and whether schools tend to be superior, or inferior, across three different outcome measures. The study employed a subsample of data from the 1977 Scottish School Leavers Survey on over 700 pupils from 15 schools in one administrative division. These data were linked to data on the verbal reasoning quotients of the pupils, derived from a test administered to them before they entered secondary school. For each of the 15 schools we estimated the expected scores on measures of English, arithmetic and overall attainment for pupils with below average, average, and above average ability, controlling for pupils’ verbal ability, gender, prestige of father's occupation, mother's education, and number of siblings. The study shows there was wide variation in schooling outcomes between secondary schools in the division, even after controlling for family background characteristics and pupil ability prior to entering secondary school. There were few schools that were particularly effective for low ability pupils, but not high ability pupils and vice versa. Schools tended to be effective, or ineffective, across all three outcome measures.     

Interaction of sample dimension and sample-comparison mapping on pigeons’ performance of delayed conditional discriminations

Coding strategies developed in the acquisition of delayed conditional discriminations can be assessed by independently manipulating sample and comparison memory load. Two stimulus dimensions that can affect memory load were examined: Number of stimuli in the sample and comparison sets (two vs. four) was manipulated between groups in a 2×2 design, and discriminability of sample and comparison stimuli (hues vs. lines) was manipulated between counterbalancing subgroups and within subjects. The results indicated large effects of sample discriminability but not of comparison discriminability, evidence for retrospective coding. There was also a significant effect of number of stimuli in the comparison set (although only with hard-to-discriminate samples) but not of number of stimuli in the sample set, evidence for prospective coding. These findings suggest evidence for retrospective coding with easy-to-discriminate samples, independently of number of stimuli in the comparison set, and evidence for prospective coding with hard-to-discriminate samples.     

A Global Developmental Trend in Cognitive Processing Speed

Children respond more slowly than young adults on a variety of information-processing tasks. The global trend hypothesis posits that processing speed changes as a function of age, and that all component processes change at the same rate. A unique prediction of this hypothesis is that the overall response latencies of children of a particular age should be predictable from the latencies of young adults performing the same tasks--without regard to the specific componential makeup of the task. The current effort tested this prediction by examining the performance of 4 age groups (10-, 12-, 15-, and 19-year-olds) on 4 different tasks (choice reaction time, letter matching, mental rotation, and abstract matching). An analysis that simultaneously examined performance on all 4 tasks provided strong support for the global trend hypothesis. By plotting each child group's performance on all 4 tasks as a function of the young adult group's performance in the corresponding task conditions, precise linear functions were revealed: 10-year-olds were approximately 1.8 times slower than young adults on all tasks, and 12-year-olds were approximately 1.5 times slower, whereas 15-year-olds appeared to process information as fast as young adults.     

STUDY COURSE PROVISION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY

This paper describes the origins, development and characteristics of a study course for teacher‐education and industrial‐design undergraduates. Starting from identification by a handful of staff of a range of student needs, the course developed an informal, gaming approach that encouraged pooling of and reflection on a wide range of participants' study practices. This approach was found to require, and indeed to prove inseparable from, a broader reflection on the roles and rules, processes, products and assessment of undergraduate study. Staff — staff and staff — student negotiations, stimulated by the processes of planning, delivering and reflecting upon this course, come to be seen as constituting a promising kind of staff and curriculum development.     

Knowledge acquisition by computerized audiovisual feedback

The present article gives an outline of the state of art in computer assisted intervention by learning-concomitant differential feedback. Based on the spectrum of possible meanings and interpretations given to the concepts ‘interaction’ and ‘interactive’ this concept is elaborated and illustrated by prototypical theoretical approaches. Based on our own empirical findings arguments are given showing that sophisticated audiovisual interactive new technologies can properly be used even on the small machines available in schools if the content materials and the flow of control given to the learner are carefully designed and based on principles of cognitive science.

     

The quality of learning in Nigerian primary education

The speed with which UPE was introduced to Nigeria has meant enormous problems of both a logistical and educational nature. After six years many have proved all but impossible to overcome. While generalising may be wrong, it is questionable whether the government's objectives for UPE can be achieved. Vast regional discrepancies of implementation have meant that the reduction in the previous imblance of opportunity is unlikely. A high rate of unemployment and disaffection among terminal primary leavers will offset the concept of UPE as an investment. Grassroots support will weaken if primary schooling offers no tangible returns. A further problem is present. The curriculum of UPE has been inappropriate for a system which is terminal for the majority. Basic skills are often unlearned. The national curriculum has not been sufficiently localised and, with staff and material shortages, has been impossible to teach. In current conditions it is academic and certificate-orientated. There is an urgent need to review the structure of primary education before it is too late. A community base might be considered in the face of weakening government funding but the redesign of the curriculum is an essential prerequisite. The content and quality of education is as important as the logistics of its provision.     

Improvements in equity in the participation of young people in higher education in Australia during the 1980s

This paper addresses the question of the extent to which there were improvements in equity in the patterns of participation of young people in higher education in Australia during the 1980s. Data from theYouth in Transition longitudinal surveys of Australian youth are used to assess the effectiveness of the Labor Government's equity initiatives since 1983 in this area. The conclusion is that participation by young people in higher education in Australia did generally become more equitable under Labor during the 1980s, though differences in higher education participation rates persisted between certain sub-groups of the population.