Rights,responsibilities and regulation – the three Rs of education: a consideration of the state's control over parental choice in education

Education is both a right and a responsibility. International instruments such as the International covenant on civil and political rights and the International convention on the rights of the child affirm the right of all children to education. This right is spelt out in the education legislation of all states and territories in Australia. Education is not only free but is compulsory for all children between certain ages. The obligation is imposed on parents (in accordance with definitions contained therein) to ensure that their children are both enrolled at and attend school. However, parental choice of education provider is allowed within each jurisdiction by way of state, private or church schools, all of which are registered and regulated to varying degrees by the state. The legislation of each jurisdiction also makes some degree of provision for parents who choose to opt out their children from any formal education setting and to educate them at home. Home education is also subject to state regulation. The assumption by the state of the responsibility for education guides this policy and legislation. The argument for state control of all education, no matter how and by whom it is provided, is that the state has an overriding interest in ensuring the economic well-being of its citizens and the growth of its intellectual capital. The state acknowledges that the responsibility for education is shared with parents, primarily by providing penalties for parents who fail to ensure enrolment and attendance of their children at a school. There is evidence that more and more parents in developed countries worldwide are choosing to educate their children at home, and anecdotal evidence suggests that Australia is part of this trend. To this end, this article critically examines the balance and relationship between the exercise of parental choice and responsibility in education, and state regulation and control. It does so by examining the means by which the legislation of different jurisdictions allows for choice in the exercise of the right to education, with particular reference to home education, places limitations on that choice and imposes control on the delivery of education outside state schools.     

The State,Identity, and the National Question in China and Japan,by Germaine A. Hoston

Abstract

This very dense book represents a significant effort to come to terms with the “national question” in radical discourse—the meaning of the nation in relation to, or in opposition to, the state—through the prism of the adoption of Marxist ideas in China and Japan in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is a critical problem inasmuch as issues of state-building in China and of state hegemony in Japan have dominated the recent histories of those two countries.     

COMMENTARY ON "FAMILY BRIDGES: USING INSIGHTS FROM SOCIAL SCIENCE TO RECONNECT PARENTS AND ALIENATED CHILDREN" (WARSHAK, 2010)

This commentary reviews the goals, structure, and content of the intensive educational intervention described by Warshak (2010); raises concerns; considers the meaning of "success" in child alienation cases; and makes suggestions for future research. Titled Family Bridges: A Workshop for Troubled and Alienated Parent-Child Relationships, the program is a rigorous and disciplined approach designed to help participants repair severely derailed parent–child relationships. Family Bridges uses evidence-based instruction principles to maximize learning and create a safe atmosphere enabling the alienated child(ren) and rejected parent to be, and work, together. The multimedia materials selected for the 4-day program draw from social science research and focus on multiple and universal processes by which distortions of perception, memory, and thinking occur; negative stereotype formation; the impact of high conflict on children and parent–child relationships; effective communication and dispute resolution; and parenting skills training. Based on a small and diverse sample of families, Family Bridges demonstrates considerable promise as one type of intervention designed for these severely troubled relationships. Concerns include the cost of the intensive intervention, the absence of a parallel program for the favored parent, and whether the program can be replicated effectively. The family psychology and law fields would benefit significantly from research that evaluates Family Bridges and other educational and therapeutic interventions designed to help alienated children repair and strengthen balanced relationships with both parents.     

Reviews

Carroll Estes and Meredith Minkler, eds.: Critical Perspectives on Aging: The Political and Moral Economy of Growing Old. Amityville, New York: Bay wood Publishing Company, 1991.

Christina Laurell and Mariano Noriega: La salud en la fabrica: estudio sobre la industria siderúrgka en Mexico. Mexico, D.F.: Ediciones Era, 1989.     

Scavenging behavior of Lynx rufus on human remains during the winter months of Southeast Texas

Animal-scavenging alterations on human remains can be mistaken as human criminal activity. A 32-day study, documenting animal scavenging on a human cadaver, was conducted at the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science facility, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas. A Stealth Cam Rogue IR was positioned near the cadaver to capture scavenging activity. An atypical scavenger, the bobcat, Lynx rufus, was recorded feeding on the cadaver. Scavenging by bobcats on human remains is not a predominant behavior and has minimal documentation. Scavenging behaviors and destruction of body tissues were analyzed. Results show that the bobcat did not feed on areas of the body that it does for other large animal carcasses. Results also show the bobcat feeds similarly during peak and nonpeak hours. Understanding the destruction of human tissue and covering of the body with leaf debris may aid forensic anthropologists and pathologists in differentiating between nefarious human activity and animal scavenging.