Rethinking Remedial Education and the Academic–Vocational Divide: Complementary Perspectives

This article is concerned with the social organization of mediation in learning environments. It seeks to further articulate the sociocultural notion of mediation in sociointeractional terms, combining insights from the sociocultural approach to cognition and the microinteractionist, especially ethnomethodological approach to social activities. A microanalysis of mediation in communicative 2nd-language classroom activities where the task at hand is the management of interaction itself is presented. The microanalysis stresses the fact that patterns of social interaction, tasks, and social contexts emerge from locally accomplished socioculturally shaped collaborative activities. The analysis serves as a basis for developing a pluridimensional notion of mediation-in-interaction, which accounts for its reciprocity-based, context-sensitive, and culture-related nature.     

Immigrant Occupational Composition and the Earnings of Immigrants and Natives in Germany: Sorting or Devaluation?

In this article, the influence of immigrant occupational composition on the earnings of immigrants and natives in Germany is examined. Using data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel Study and the German Microcensus, several relevant concepts are tested. The notion of quality sorting states that the differences in wages that are associated with the immigrant share within occupations are due only to differences in qualification requirements. Cultural devaluation assumes a negative influence over and above that of quality sorting. The findings indicate that both processes are at work. Additional analyses reveal that the impact of immigrant occupational composition is largely restricted to white‐collar occupations, which underlines the importance of considering historical differences between occupation types in classic migration destinations such as Germany.     

Education for the love of the world: Hannah Arendt’s philosophy of education and communication studies

Amidst a challenging moment of transition in American higher education, this article uses Arendt’s examination of American educational institutions and her reflections on the human condition to develop a philosophy of education that speaks to communication studies. Sharply critical of the unreflective emphasis on newness and normalization that she saw in American schools, Arendt suggests an alternative philosophy of education grounded simultaneously in the contemplation of tradition and the pursuit of natality through the active life of labor, work, and action. Together, tradition and natality open a new approach to communication education in the liberal arts tradition that challenges educators and students alike not only to understand the world around them but also to take responsibility for its renewal.     

Adolescents’ Use of the Internet for Sex Education: A Thematic and Critical Review of the Literature

ABSTRACT. A thematic and critical literature review was conducted to determine what is known about adolescents’ experiences with online sex education. Four major themes could be discerned from the literature, revealing that: (a) adolescents report engaging with sex information online; (b) adolescents are interested in a number of topics, including sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy; (c) the quality of adolescent-targeted sex information online can be lacking, but adolescents can evaluate these sources; and (d) Internet-based interventions can increase adolescents’ sexual health knowledge. Inconsistencies in the literature are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.     

Education in times of conflict and the invisibility of disability: a focus on Iraq?

Education has come to be a key focus of the humanitarian response of international agencies in countries affected by conflict, but disabled children tend to be excluded from these education initiatives. Yet the reconstruction process can provide governments with a unique opportunity to reassess the way they educate disabled children, and consider moving towards more inclusive educational approaches. Indeed, crises can be seen as opportunities to ‘build back better’. A review of the limited literature is followed by an account of a disability study in Iraq, and reflections on the way forward for collaborative research on educational reconstruction in post-conflict societies.     

Saving for Children’s College Education: An Empirical Analysis of the Trade-off Between the Quality and Quantity of Children

This paper examines the effect of children’s college expenses on household savings. The theoretical model introduces life-cycle savings into the quality–quantity model of fertility and derives predictions for the impact of expected expenses on parents’ savings. Using the actual amount of parents’ financial support reported in the Survey of Consumer Finances, the empirical model estimates the expected expenditures on children’s college education and investigates the effect of expected expenditures on parents’ savings. The results show that parents’ support for each of their children’s college expenses decreases with the number of children. The results are consistent with the predictions of the life-cycle theory of saving and consumption that households save in advance for expected expenses to smooth their consumption.

Programming for Immigrant Women in Canada: Is Entrepreneurship Neglected?

This study examines the demand and supply dynamics of entrepreneurship support services for new immigrant women in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), Ontario, Canada. Empirical evidence presented in this study reveals significant unmet needs for entrepreneurship support services. Major reasons for the inability of settlement agencies to meet the entrepreneurship needs of new immigrants include prioritization of other support services and lack of funding. The study identifies unfamiliarity with the Canadian environment, discrimination, business regulations that are difficult to satisfy, and unlikely tendencies of the immigrants to ask for support as some of the key challenges to entrepreneurship among immigrant women. However, these challenges may be ameliorated with enhanced entrepreneurship and language training, information awareness campaigns and more funding, among other factors. The findings have practical implications for accountable governments and non‐governmental organizations as they design and/or redesign immigration and settlement policies to facilitate integration of new immigrants.     

Allocation of resources in asymmetric competitions: How do the weak maintain a chance of winning?

To maintain a chance of occasionally beating a stronger player in a competition waged over several fields, a weaker player should give up on some of the fields and concentrate resources on the remaining ones. But when do weak players actually do this? And which fields do they give up when the fields differ in their likelihood of being assessed? We report an experimental study of resource allocation in which asymmetric pairs of players compete over asymmetric fields. Symmetric players and symmetric fields are used for control. We find that players behave as follows: (1) Average wins are the same in the symmetric and asymmetric fields conditions and correspond to relative player strength. (2) The proportion of fields given up on decreases with a player’s greater relative strength, increases for asymmetric field likelihoods, and increases when competitions are framed in meaningful context; this proportion is related to wins. (3) When field likelihoods are asymmetric, players’ resource allocation is correlated with likelihood. Wins generally increase with that correlation but the relation is different for players of different strength. (4) The proportion of fields given up on and the correlation with likelihood change with experience towards the values corresponding to higher wins.     

Immigrant voter turnout and time: Does period of arrival matter more than length of stay?

Research shows that the longer immigrants have been in their settlement country, the more likely they are to vote. This study examines whether when immigrants arrived, rather than how long they have resided, is the critical determinant of their electoral participation. Using Canadian data covering a 45-year time span, this study demonstrates that the apparent relationship between immigrants' length of residence and their propensity to vote in elections is a result of the enduring influence of the historical period in which immigrants arrived in Canada. The results have implications for how researchers interpret immigrant adaptation to new political settings.     

Variation in the Relationship Between Education and Marriage: Marriage Market Mismatch?

Educational expansion has led to greater diversity in the social backgrounds of college students. We ask how schooling interacts with this diversity to influence marriage formation among men and women. Relying on data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3208), we use a propensity score approach to group men and women into social strata and multilevel event history models to test differences in the effects of college attendance across strata. We find a statistically significant, positive trend in the effects of college attendance across strata, with the largest effects of college on first marriage among the more advantaged and the smallest-indeed, negative-effects among the least advantaged men and women. These findings appear consistent with a mismatch in the marriage market between individuals' education and their social backgrounds.     

Whose Responsibility is it? A Call for the Integration of the Knowledge of Substance Misuse in Social Work Education,Practice and Research

This commentary is based on the review of two articles written by Hutchinson and Allnock (2014a; 2014b) presented in this journal issue. The commentary reviews the two articles and other research on the integration of substance misuse in social work education, practice and research. Four lessons are presented in terms of how to enhance the knowledge and skills around substance misuse by creating stronger links between social work education, practice and research.     

Does Size Really Matter? On the Relationship between Immigrant Group Size and Anti‐Immigrant Prejudice

Group threat theory understands prejudice as a manifestation of the threat, either actual or assumed, that minority groups pose to majority groups. This theory is often operationalized by analyzing the impact of group size on anti‐immigrant prejudice. We test this hypothesis with a new dataset documenting 487 effects of group size on prejudice provided in 55 studies. More than half of these results show no relationship and the remainder shows both positive and negative relationships. Three explanations for this divergence are that there are (1) differences in the measurement of prejudice and immigrant group size across studies; (2) differences in the model through which size is hypothesized to lead to prejudice; and (3) differences in the geographic unit of analysis at which these relationships have been considered. Our analyses support the measurement explanation: results vary across studies because they reflect different measures of group size and prejudice.     

Sociologization,Pedagogization, and Resociologization: Has the Post-war Japanese Sociology of Education Suffered from the Galapagos Syndrome?

When considering the trends in the Japanese sociology of education over the 70 years since the end of World War II, there have been several significant changes in the nature and social position of the sociology of education within the academic history of expansion and development. These changes can be further understood by focusing on: (i) the relationship between the sociology of education in Japan and research trends in Western sociology; (ii) the relationship between the sociology of education and pedagogy in Japan; and (iii) the relationship between the sociology of education and changes in Japanese society itself. This paper focuses on these three relationships to provide an overview of the characteristics and the future direction of post-war Japanese sociology of education. The keywords of this paper will be sociologization, pedagogization, resociologization, and the Galapagos syndrome. The post-war Japanese sociology of education has not suffered from the Galapagos syndrome. However, it is evident that it lacks transmission of research results to other countries. So, the future task for Japanese researchers in the sociology of education is to demonstrate the significance of their research on Japanese education to international sociology of education markets. To achieve a more generalized perspective and regain a sense of equilibrium within the Japanese sociology of education, a “resociologization” will be required for the sociology of education in Japan, though the Japanese sociology of education especially seems to be experiencing a pedagogization.     

Specialisation and training for fire-fighters driving heavy rescue vehicles: consequences for the development of operators?

This work was undertaken in France at the request of a local fire and rescue school in order to conduct an analysis of driving two types of heavy rescue vehicle with a view to improving training. This study took place in a context of specialisation: the drivers of these vehicles will henceforth only perform this type of task. Consequently, specific training has been designed in advance. Our study concerns the improvement of this training, taking account of the particularities of driving these vehicles in emergency situations typical to the profession of fire-fighters. The results stress first that driving of rescue vehicles in emergency situations is a multidimensional collective activity. Driving strategies identified share certain common objectives: "optimising trajectories", warn other road users, anticipate their behaviour and leave room for manoeuvre to counter and react to any unexpected behaviour. They include risks management for the potential victims of the incident and the risk of accidents during the journey. These initial results help identify certain recommendations for the training courses dealing with driving vehicles in emergency situations. They also provide a warning concerning the possible consequences of driver specialisation.     

Does an Immigrant Background Ameliorate Racial Disadvantage? The Socioeconomic Attainments of Second‐Generation African Americans1

Although there is a growing literature on the socioeconomic circumstances of the second generation, this issue has not been systematically considered for African Americans. To help fill this research gap, we investigate the extent to which the socioeconomic attainments of second‐generation African Americans differ from mainstream (i.e., third and higher generation) African Americans. Using data from the Current Population Survey and the 2000 Census, our results indicate that the schooling and wages of second‐generation African Americans consistently exceed those of third‐ and higher generation African Americans. Our findings also reveal that second‐generation African Americans do at least as well as whites in terms of years of schooling, but wage differentials differ significantly by gender. Second‐generation African‐American women earn wages that are at least as high as comparable white women, but second‐generation African‐American men earn wages that are, on average, about 16% less than measurably comparable white men. While no one theoretical perspective can account for all these results, they nonetheless indicate the continuing significance of racial disadvantage for African‐American men, including those with an immigrant background.