Deterred by debt? Young people,schools and the escalating cost of UK higher education

Popular commentaries lament that reforms to the financing of Higher Education (HE) in the UK will operate as a significant deterrent to HE participation amongst students from less advantaged backgrounds. This view of debt as a deterrent is powerful and exists not only at a societal level, but also, as we show, is present in schools. Our data reveal, however, that these ‘debt commentaries’ play out very differently across schools according to the nature of their catchment and the sorts of views staff hold about pupils in relation to their fear of debt. Furthermore, students’ views on debt largely contradict these popular ‘debt-as-deterrent’ narratives and instead are often characterised by acceptance, ambivalence and at times positive orientations towards the prospect of debt. These findings vividly illuminate both the regional and institutional specificity of staff and student decision making in relation to ‘debt’, hence they have substantial implications for HE funding policy specifically and debates about widening participation in HE more generally, where ensuring greater equity in the scope of choices young people have when it comes to choosing a university is a pressing concern.     

高校基层团组织规范化建设“最后一公里”实践探索

共青团是党领导的先进青年的群众组织,是党的助手和后备军。高校团组织承担着围绕学校党政工作大局,促进青年学生健康成长发展的任务。加强基层团组织规范化建设是从严治团最关键的一个环节,本文在充分调研的基础上,总结目前高校基层团组织规范建设实施过程中存在的问题,并提出相应的对策,为全面贯彻落实从严治团提供参考依据。     

赫斯和青年马克思的人道思想对比

赫斯和马克思是生长在同一个时代和社会背景下有着相近思想兴趣的两个人,因为都有着对当时社会中人类苦难的特别关注与极度怜悯,而有了寻找苦难根源及寻求改变当时人类苦难之良方的志向,他们一生都在为人类的解放而奋斗;可以说"人道问题意识"是他们心头共同的用一生的行动探寻和思索的问题意识。如果再追问他们是如何探寻"人道问题"的,则发现他们一直在试图克服"受苦者的目光",即试图解决人的个体存在与类存在之间的矛盾。     

Young adults’ hopes for the long-term future: from re-enchantment with technology to faith in humanity

Recent scholarly research has claimed that young people are predominantly concerned with their immediate ‘horizon of planning’, resulting in an outlook upon the future that is dominated by present-day concerns. By distinguishing between choices and plans, on the one hand, and hope and faith, on the other, this article analyses how young people relate to the future through their attitudes about responsibility and technology in order to complicate this narrative. The data are drawn from an interview project in which 28 young adults (aged 18–34) discuss both their own future and a general idea of the future of society. Two key findings are discussed. Firstly, respondents are found to place faith in the potential of technology to mitigate future predicaments, and secondly, respondents are found to ascribe mystical or magical qualities to technology. Drawing on these findings, this article suggests that the oft-cited attitude that technology will develop in time to meet the needs of the future does not simply signify a deferral of responsibility onto future generations. Instead, by drawing on scholarship on re-enchantment it is argued that for young adults technological development can represent a refuge of faith and hope for the future.     

三次党内集中学习教育活动的回顾与思考(英文)

21世纪以来,中国共产党相继开展了农村三个代表重要思想学习教育活动,以实践三个代表重要思想为主要内容的保持党员先进性教育活动和深入学习实践科学发展观活动。通过这三次活动,广大党员、干部受到深刻的马克思主义教育,进一步增强了对三个代表重要思想的认识。这三次活动对于在新的历史起点上推进党的建设的伟大工程,具有十分重要的启示意义。     

The limitations of using school league tables to inform school choice

Summary. In England, so-called 'league tables' based on examination results and test scores are published annually, ostensibly to inform parental choice of secondary schools. A crucial limitation of these tables is that the most recent published information is based on the current performance of a cohort of pupils who entered secondary schools several years earlier, whereas for choosing a school it is the future performance of the current cohort that is of interest. We show that there is substantial uncertainty in predicting such future performance and that incorporating this uncertainty leads to a situation where only a handful of schools' future performances can be separated from both the overall mean and from one another with an acceptable degree of precision. This suggests that school league tables, including value-added tables, have very little to offer as guides to school choice.     

Parental same-sex relationships, family instability, and subsequent life outcomes for adult children: Answering critics of the new family structures study with additional analyses

The July 2012 publication of my study on the outcomes of young adults who report parental same-sex relationship behavior raised a variety of questions about the New Family Structures Study and my analyses and interpretations of it. This follow-up article seeks to address a variety of the more common criticisms that have been raised, to offer new commentary and analyses, and to pose questions for future analysts of the NFSS and other datasets that are poised to consider how household dynamics are associated with youth and young-adult outcomes. The new analyses I present here still reveal numerous differences between adult children who report maternal same-sex behavior (and residence with her partner) and those with still-married (heterosexual) biological parents. Far fewer differences appear between the former and several other groups, most notably never-married single mothers.     

民主革命时期中共关于民族自治自决与联邦制的构想

中共在建党后的一个时期,强调以自治自决和联邦制解决国内的民族问题。进入抗战时期,中共主张国内各民族团结抗日,积极进行了关于建立少数民族自治区的探索,但在国家结构形式问题上并未放弃联邦制的构想。这主要体现在中共"七大"和政协会议上提出的关于联邦制的明确主张。内蒙古自治政府的建政理念显然也受到了该理论框架的影响。在确定新中国建国方案的过程中,基于长期的多种构想及其实践,做出了慎重的选择,决定采用单一制的国家结构形式,并最终放弃了联邦制的主张。     

百年中国共产党独特性的解释进路、表现向度与生成逻辑

和其他政党相比较,中国共产党具有不同于一般政党的独特样态,它们集中诠释着党的独特优势和优良品质。党的独特性蕴含在党的历史使命与行动价值之中,同时也通过具体的政党行为映现出来。党的独特性主要表现为具有彻底的自我革命性、博大的人类情怀、超越自我的牺牲精神、高度的政党纯洁性以及非凡的红色政党气质等。党的独特性的生成具有复杂性,是内在与外在因素、历史和时代环境以及国内和国际条件等共同作用的集合体。党的独特性源于无产阶级政党的特殊基因,是对党的百年政治实践的能动反映,是党持续拓展政党功能的集中显现,更是党有效应对百年复杂世界体系的结果。     

中国共产党“中华民族多元一体”话语的构建历程及其逻辑--以《人民日报》文本为中心的考察

"中华民族多元一体"是中国共产党政治话语体系中的一个重要概念。经过新民主主义革命时期的萌芽和20世纪90年代的孕育,中国共产党在2005年的中央民族工作会议上正式提出"中华民族多元一体"话语。随着中国共产党中华民族观念和理论的变迁,"中华民族多元一体"话语的内涵也日趋丰富和完善,2014年中央民族工作会议后成熟定型。不同时期,中国共产党通过大众传媒将"中华民族多元一体"的政治话语转化成大众喜闻乐见的生活话语,从而塑造大众的中华民族观念,有利于维系民族团结和国家统一。中国共产党"中华民族多元一体"话语的构建遵循话语生产以问题为导向的实践逻辑、话语传播从学术到政治再到大众的延展逻辑、话语内涵从单一到复合的发展逻辑。