Search

Occupational science is a new scientific discipline that is defined as the systematic study of the human as an occupational being. A doctoral program in occupational science has been established at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. With its emphasis on the provision of a multidimensional description of the substrates, form, function, meaning, and sociocultural and historical contexts of occupation, occupational science emphasizes the ability of humans throughout the life span to actively pursue and orchestrate occupations. In this paper, occupational science is described, defined, and distinguished from other social sciences. A general systems model is presented as a heuristic to explain occupation and organize knowledge in occupational science. The development of occupational science offers several key benefits to the profession of occupational therapy, including (a) fulfillment of the demand for doctoral-level faculty members in colleges and universities; (b) the generation of needed basic science research; and (c) the justification for and potential enhancement of practice.

Analysis of a large, nationally representative survey shows that family size exerts a substantial negative influence on the probability that a child will attend secondary school in Thailand. The primary mechanism underlying this effect is most likely the dilution of familial resources available per child associated with larger numbers of children. The extent and the level of schooling at which this effect operates vary with the household level of wealth and with rural or urban residence. Because fertility decline is leading to a major increase in the proportion of children who come from small families, falling birth rates contribute to increasing educational attainment in Thailand.

The material comprised 2679 secondary school pupils (1959 girls and 1020 boys) from several Polish big cities, among whom 1281 pupils took up the old school program and 1968--the new program. The present studies were initiated in school year 1985/86 and were completed in 1989/1990. The psychophysical load of pupils was evaluated by means of a standard questionnaire comprising 77 questions grouped into problems, allowing us to determine the pupil's psychophysical load associated with school education, extra school occupations, daily time-table, situation in the class and family as well as psychic general feeling. The overall score obtained for all answers informed about the total psychophysical load. Answers to selected questions objectively specified the prevailing load-causing situations, as well as estimated the subjective feeling of the burden of these loads. The results led to the following conclusions: both prior to and after the introduction of changes in school programs (educational reform), the overall psychophysical situation of girls and boys deteriorated with years of school education. Introduction of changes in school programs has led to an increase overall psychophysical load of pupils in all classes compared, with the exception of the final class (before the examination for the secondary-school certificate). After the educational reform, the load was heaviest in the second class of secondary school. The psychophysical load of girls exceeded that of boys. Likewise, the loads associated with the objectively prevailing load-causing situations as well as those associated with subjective feeling of the burden of these loads were heavier in girls than in boys, both before and after the introduction of changes in school programs.

The decline in the number of births in the U.K. during the 1970s means that there will be fewer young people leaving school each year during the 1990s than there have been during the last 20 years. It does not necessarily follow, however, that the demand for places in institutions of higher education will fall, since many factors other than the numbers involved affect this demand. This paper discusses recent projections of the demand for higher education during the 1990s, highlighting the differences between them and stressing the uncertainties involved in any projection exercise. It concludes with a discussion of which other groups in the population might be targeted by universities and polytechnics anxious to maintain or increase their student intake.

The changing nature of public schools in America reflects an increasing demand for accountability in public institutions. One outgrowth of this change is the "agency" orientation of the school. This orientation requires schools to participate fully in the larger social service network supporting many of America's students. The teacher's role in this new school environment is discussed and strengths and weaknesses of current training of teachers is highlighted. Particular emphasis is placed on the changing nature of the entering teaching major. Teacher thinking styles that promote success in general, and success in health teaching in particular, are identified. The need to make incoming teachers aware of the "realities" of the teaching environment is discussed. Person-environment fit issues are reviewed in terms of their implications for teacher training. The importance of the teaching minor is discussed focusing on the new demands of health educators in schools, and recommendations are offered to increase the potential success of the health educator as a change agent.

The quality of institutional administration and the competence of its academic leaders are considered to be crucial elements in the continued progress of optometric education. Educational leadership to meet the need for ongoing, guided, systematic educational planning is underscored. Such planning, in turn, depends significantly on the emerging role definition of the optometrist as a primary care practitioner.

For the first time in the nation's history, it is now certain women will soon constitute a significant professional resource, not only qualitatively, but quantitatively. Unprecedented rising enrollment in professional training extends across the entire occupational spectrum: the elite professions, business disciplines, and doctoral programs including engineering and the sciences. Minority students are also rapidly increasing their share of professional enrollments which already approaches their proportion of the population. Unexplained is the fact that minority women are enrolling in top-level training much more rapidly than minority men as compared with majority students.

Individuals' attitudes were assessed toward various groups of children. In study 1 the respondents were 65 male and female teachers from across the state of Kansas. In study 2 the respondents were 89 men and women in attendance at the 1978 International Conference of the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities. In both studies the evaluations of the labels "gifted children," "normal children," and "physically handicapped children" were found to be significantly more positive than the evaluations of the labels "mentally retarded children," "learning disabled children," and "emotionally disturbed children." These results seem to indicate that definite negative stereotypes are held toward the latter three groups of children. In study 1 these findings were found to occur generally regardless of the respondents' sex, age, educational level attained, and amount of previous mainstreaming experience.

Preschool and kindergarten programs have changed focus from an emphasis on play to an emphasis on formal academics. This trend is evaluated in light of research on children's development and learning. An alternative model of a developmentally appropriate program for young children is discussed.

Mongolia has long been associated with isolation from the western world. Sandwiched between Russia on the north and China on the south, it is little known and little understood. Now split into two separate nations, Inner Mongolia is under the control of Red China, and Outer Mongolia under the control of Russia. Outer Mongolia has a population of 1.3 million and is about one-fifth the size of the United States. Education follows the Russian (communist) model and, of course, has a Five-Year Plan. Since World War II the literacy rate has jumped to 90%, and has received recognition by UNESCO for its efforts. Mongolian schools are on a two-track system, one for those going into trades or agriculture, and the other for those going on to higher education and the professions. Considering the Mongolian economic structure, its geography, and the nature of its people, it can be said that they have done a good job of educating their people.

Conflict between school systems and their communities is part of American history. Much of the conflict is symbolic, the school being the stage for the acting out of deeper clashes. Several hundred teachers in the north Florida area were polled in 1977 and 1978 to identify areas of conflict between schools and community. The issue which evoked the greatest dissension was the question of responsibility for the children of the new American underclass. Data were tabulated and analyzed in the light of historical patterns developed by the author, and the conclusion drawn that school-community conflict will persist with regard to the teaching of underclass children because the public has no clear perception about who is responsible.

Until recently the transition from adolescence to young adulthood has not been clearly delineated in North America. However, secondary education has come to formalize this transition in ways that exemplify the patterns of segregation, transition, and incorporation that make up Van Gennep's rites de passage. Adolescents, who are defined as socially immature, are segregated in high schools where they are formally socialized for the responsibilities of adult life (transition). During this period of formal socialization, adolescents are expected to remain at home, economically dependent upon and accountable to their parents. The high school graduation ceremony is a ritual that marks the incorporation of the graduates into young adulthood. This nearly universal graduation from high school for the middle class and much of the working class has come to mean that high school assumes the characteristics of age-grade rites de passage throughout much of society.

In 1969, the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health made recommendations to government to improve the nation's posture relating to nutriture. Among these were specific calls for improved nutrition education programs, including the use of the mass media, and improvement in ways of meeting the food needs of low-income families. Congress has since passed legislation addressing some of the recommendations, and the USDA has expanded and initiated new programs to implement them. These include the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), Special Supplemental Feeding Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Food Stamp program, Commodity Supplemental Food program, and the Nutrition Education and Training program (NET). The USDA has set forth eight objectives to be met in the 1980s as it moves ahead as the "lead" agency for nutrition research, Extension, and nutrition education.

Distinction is drawn between research on learning processes among children in schools and the impact of schooling on students' academic and socioemotional development. Schooling and the learning environment are considered within an ecological/transactional framework. The research on school effectiveness and teacher effects is summarized. Interventions directed at the social regularities of the schooling environment are proposed as strategies to improve the learning environment of the school and optimize student outcomes.

After a long and protracted history of quasi-professional assistance to forensic and clinical pathologists, mortuary technicians are gaining recognition and an improvement in status in an unusual and unique vocation.

While many groups agree that there is a need for schools to give some value training, particularly to adolescents, there is much disagreement as to how this should be done. Two positions on value training seem to be most prevalent today. One has often been identified with Kohlberg--teaching moral reasoning. The other position, supported by most conservative groups in this country today, calls for the teaching of traditional values. Proponents of these two positions have strongly criticized each other's methods and philosophies. This paper examines both positions and attempts to establish a significant common ground. In doing so, it is hoped that educators will be encouraged to incorporate elements of both ideas in the moral education process.