SEX EDUCATION LEFT AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE SCHOOL DOOR: STRICTER REQUIREMENTS FOR PARENTAL OPT‐OUT PROVISIONS

Current state law creates the risk that, if sex education is not provided to a child in public school, no similar instruction will be given to the child. Legislatively enacted opt‐out provisions give parents broad control over their child's education by granting them the option to have their child excused from any sex education requirements within a public school's curriculum. Through public school sex education, professionals provide youth information aimed at protecting them from the dangers of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). A stricter statutory opt‐out provision should be enacted by state legislatures that only allows parents to excuse their child from sex education after a parent attends a 90‐minute STD prevention course and receives the instructional material used in the school's sex education curriculum. Parents should be provided up‐to‐date information and a structural framework designed by the school to encourage them to discuss with their child the many sexual issues addressed within a school's sex education curriculum.     

高等职业教育国际化限制因素分析及对策

经济全球化、市场国际化的倾向,决定了高等职业教育的发展必须走国际化的道路。但高等职业教育国际化的进程中存在着一些我们必须面对的限制因素,如何有针对性地化解这些限制性因素是高等职业教育国际化所面临的首要问题。     

教育、法制与精神文明建设

教育是精神文明建设的基础工程,是促进社会全面进步的重要手段。法制是社会主义精神文明的重要标志,是精神文明建设的强有力保障。正确运用教育和法制,可确保精神文明建设的健康发展。     

Cost‐Effectiveness of Early Childhood Interventions to Enhance Preschool: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Head Start Centers Enrolling Historically Underserved Populations

We evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of two early childhood interventions that use instructional coaching and parent coaching as levers for improvement. The study design allows us to compare the individual effects of each intervention as well as their combined effect on student outcomes. We find that teachers receiving instructional coaching improve their use of evidence‐based instructional practices, while families receiving parent coaching show increases in numerous responsive parenting behaviors associated with positive child outcomes. Both interventions demonstrate positive impacts on students, but only parent coaching shows statistically significant effects across a range of student outcomes. Instructional coaching alone is substantially less costly and may therefore be the most cost‐effective of the three treatment conditions; however, small sample sizes limit our ability to reach definitive conclusions. Policy simulations suggest that implementing these interventions could raise the overall cost‐effectiveness of Head Start by at least 16 percent.     

Identity beyond borders: national identity and the post-colonial alternative

The study examines national identity in school curricula against the backdrop of globalization and its forces to create a universal global identity beyond particular affiliations. To that end, the study examines the problematic nature of Western notion of identity formation, and simultaneously asks whether political socialization in the nation-state school system is conducive of the development of cosmopolitan identity, an identity beyond national borders. Jordan, Israel, and Palestine are the three-case studies discussed in this article. Theoretically, the study contributes to the ongoing scholarly debate concerning the question of identity, political socialization, globalization, and nationalism. I make use of postcolonial theories to demonstrate the shortcomings of the logocentric way of theorizing identity as a binary twin, rooted in the relational formation between Self and Other, and search for alternative strategies to identity formation.     

The Labor(s) of Degrowth

The degrowth debate so far has lacked a clear vision of what social subjects, and which processes of political subjectivation, can turn its vision into a political strategy. In this contribution to the debate on degrowth and eco-socialism, I point to the place of labor in the politics of socio-ecological revolution, arguing that degrowth should aim for a truly democratic, workers’ controlled production system, where alienation is actively countered by a collective reappropriation of the products of labor and by a truly democratic decision-making process over the use of the surplus. Such strategy must be based on an extended concept of class relations that goes beyond the wage labor relation, and toward a broader conception of work as a (gendered and racialized) mediator of social metabolism. I conclude that ecosocialist degrowth should take the form of a struggle for dealienating both industrial and meta-industrial labor.     

Restraining Gulliver: Institutional reform and the strengthening of state capacity and compliance

Governance in the developing world is fraught with problems of corruption, weak institutions, and inadequate expertise among bureaucrats. Failing to enforce laws and regulations is one way in which these problems manifest themselves. In this paper, we evaluate changes across three institutions charged with oversight or administration of labor justice in Mexico. We find that both autonomy from the executive and professionalization are necessary to improve compliance with labor law over time. Our study shows that professionalization can occur in several ways, including through training, merit hiring, and introducing experienced external administrators. The implications of the study are that reforms that increase the independence and legal authority of oversight institutions should be complemented by efforts to strengthen the professionalism of bureaucrats.     

Governance gaps in eradicating forced labor: From global to domestic supply chains

A growing body of scholarship analyzes the emergence and resilience of forced labor in developing countries within global value chains. However, little is known about how forced labor arises within domestic supply chains concentrated within national borders, producing products for domestic consumption. We conduct one of the first studies of forced labor in domestic supply chains, through a cross‐industry comparison of the regulatory gaps surrounding forced labor in the United Kingdom. We find that understanding the dynamics of forced labor in domestic supply chains requires us to conceptually modify the global value chain framework to understand similarities and differences across these contexts. We conclude that addressing the governance gaps that surround forced labor will require scholars and policymakers to carefully refine their thinking about how we might design operative governance that effectively engages with local variation.     

思想政治教育在现代国家建设中的软实力价值

思想政治教育作为人类社会客观存在的实践活动,在现代国家建设中具有重要的软实力价值.政治认同感的培育、文化竞争力的提升、社会的有效整合、国民素质的提高、民族精神家园的建构等都离不开思想政治教育.当前,加强和改进思想政治教育,是提升我国国家软实力,实现软实力和硬实力协调发展的重要措施.     

农村教育：问题与对策

随着我国农村经济状况的不断好转,农村教育环境和水平也在不断地提高,但我们必须清醒地认识到农村教育还存在投入不足、与城市教育差距加大、教师整体素质不高等问题。为此,我们应增加多元化教育投入,改善分配体制;认真落实国家各项政策,提高教师素质;净化社会风气,为学生提供良好的学习环境。