The Function of the School in Social Homeostasis*

L'organisation sur une tres vaste echelle d'un systeme d'education public obli-gatoire est un phenomene relativement recent; plusieurs societes s'en sont passe. On pent s'interroger alors sur les fonctions de l'ecole dans la societe moderne. La plupart du temps on emet l'idee que l'ecole prepare l'individu a interioriser les niveaux d'abilite et de competence exiges par une societe moderne complexe industrialisee. L'ecole sert egalement a niveler les chances de reussite et de progres des individus. Cet article affirme que les ecoles ne remplissent aucune de ces fonctions pour justifier leur existence. Elles remplissent plutot une fonc-tion instrumentale reliee a l'insertion des adolescents dans la societe. Les adolescents de classe moyenne et bourgeoise ne peuvent integrer la societe globale tant et aussi longtemps qu'ils n'ont pas appris a respecter les normes de con-duite de l'homme moyen. A l'inverse, les jeunes de la classe ouvriere sont con-sentants a. reconnaitre ce respect pour leurs coutumes comme etant une egalite sur le plan des chances economiques. Compulsory public education on a massive scale is a relatively recent phenomenon; many societies have existed without it. This raises the question of what functions are performed by the schools in modern society. It is usually argued that they produce the requisite levels of skill and competence required by a modern, complex, industrialized society and that they serve to equalize opportunity for achievement and advancement on the part of everyone. This paper contends that schools do not perform either of these functions as the primary reasons for their existence. Rather they serve an escrow function in relation to the young in society, the condition being that middle-to-upper status youth not be released into society until they have learned to defer to “common-man” norms of behaviour; while working-class youth, reciprocally, tacitly agrees to accept this deference to their folkways in lieu of equal economic opportunity.     

The implementation of motor learning principles in designing prevention programs at work

Occupational therapy practitioners offer services to workers in the workplace to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), to help the injured worker restore function, and to recover capacities needed to return to the job. Despite the existence of some evidence about the efficacy of prevention programs, there is uncertainty and even disagreement among health professionals, about the outcome of prevention programs for people with MSDs. It is proposed that principles of motor learning can assist the therapist in structuring prevention programs to facilitate the workers learning of correct movement patterns. This paper discusses basic concepts of motor learning emphasizing characteristics of the learner, the type of task, the structure of practice and application to prevention programs at work settings. We present a four-stage model for prevention programs based on principles of both motor learning and ergonomics. This model coincides with the broad perspective suggested in current occupational therapy models which focuses on the person, the environment, the occupation and their effects on occupational performance.     

Systems engineering: A problem-solving approach to improving program performance

Evaluation methodologies have generally emphasized the measurement and assessment of program merit, as reflected by the achievement of program objectives. Less attention has been devoted to analyzing and explaining the reasons for deficient performance and, more importantly, what needs to be modified to improve performance. While evaluators do identify performance problems, the identified problems are not always analyzed. Consequently, the information reported to decision makers may be incomplete, inconclusive, and of limited utility in the decision-making process. This article describes an evaluation methodology based on problem solving techniques which can be effective and efficient in defining and analyzing problems which impair program performance. The model can be applied in evaluations where the purpose is to provide decision makers with information and recommendations to improve program performance and provide an alternative to those evaluation models which emphasize the assessment of program merit. The model also provides a potentially unique cost/benefit methodology for estimating the potential worth of improving program performance (i.e., solving the problem).     

Basic indicators for identifying types of age structure]

Problems of population aging in China are considered in the light of the adoption of a policy of one child per family. The possibility of inadequate labor force resources and a ratio of elderly population too great for those of working age is considered. Methods of estimating population age structure are presented, and the economic problems of both aging and youthful populations are discussed.     

Inequalities for Expected Current Record Statistics

In this article, we obtain sharp distribution-free bounds for the expected value of the gap between the current records and record values as well as upper sharp bounds for the spacings between any two upper current records. We also present two-sided bounds on the errors in approximating the means of current records by inverse hazard functions.     

Some results on the mean residual waiting time of records

Often, in reliability theory, risk analysis, renewal processes and actuarial studies, mean residual life function or life expectancy plays an important role in studying the conditional tail measure of lifetime data. In this paper, we introduce the notion of the mean residual waiting time of records and present some monotonic and aging properties. Sharp bounds for the mean residual waiting time of records are also investigated.     

Testing for spherical symmetry via the empirical characteristic function

Kolmogorov–Smirnov-type and Cramér–von Mises-type goodness-of-fit tests are proposed for the null hypothesis that the distribution of a random vector X is spherically symmetric. The test statistics utilize the fact that X has a spherical symmetric distribution if, and only if, the characteristic function of X is constant over surfaces of spheres centred at the origin. Both tests come in convenient forms that are straightforwardly applicable with the computer. The asymptotic null distribution of the test statistics as well as the consistency of the tests is investigated under general conditions. Since both the finite sample and the asymptotic null distribution depend on the unknown distribution of the Euclidean norm of X, a conditional Monte Carlo procedure is used to actually carry out the tests. Results on the behaviour of the test in finite-samples are included along with a real-data example.     

流散与文化认同——《奥斯卡·瓦奥短暂而奇妙的一生》评析

多米尼加裔美国作家朱诺·迪亚斯的小说《奥斯卡·瓦奥短暂而奇妙的一生》以多米尼加共和国遭受的殖民侵略与独裁统治为背景,描写了多米尼加流散群体受到的历史与现实的创伤。小说中过去与现在交替、人物的"缺失"与"再现"并存,不仅重塑了多米尼加共和国历史以及奥斯卡家族历史,还展现了流散者在美国遭遇的文化冲突与边缘化境遇。种族、阶级与文化差异以及无法逾越的他者身份造成流散者的文化归属与认同陷入困境,而多元的文化背景使杂交性的文化认同成为渴望寻找自己文化定位的流散者的一种生存选择。     

Demographic aspects of abortion

The author discusses the need to emphasize the use of contraceptive methods in Poland, where women's desired family size is 2.0 to 2.2, and this number is realized by the age of 30-35. It is asserted that a higher cultural level, which includes a more sophisticated attitude toward sex, would eliminate the need to pass antiabortion legislation.