Showing papers by "Robert J. Havighurst published in 1976"

Education Through The Adult Life Span.

Abstract: Education has uses in every stage of the life cycle. For the most effective adult education, or lifelong education, it is useful to keep in mind two aspects—the instrumental and the expressive. Cer...

The Relative Importance of Social Class and Ethnicity in Human Development

Abstract: Human social and cognitive development is largely an outcome of the child-rearing practices of the cultural subgroups which make up a modern complex society. The social classes are the most pervasive

Choosing a Middle Path for the Use of Drugs with Hyperactive Children

Abstract: Hyperactivity is a set of behaviors found in a small group of children, the major symptoms being \"an increase of purposeless physical activity and a significant impaired span of focused attention which may generate other conditions such as disturbed mood and behavior within the home, at play with peers, and in the schoolroom.\" This description was published by the Office of Child Development of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1971. This condition is not closely associated with measured intelligence. It is generally diagnosed in children of normal or slightly below average IQ. And in these cases the intelligence test performance was probably influenced by the learning difficulties the child had experienced in school. The child's high degree of physical activity and distractibility would tend to hold back his growth in reading and other school subjects, and this, in turn, would reduce his score on most intelligence tests. Hyperactivity is diagnosed in boys about four times as often as in girls. It is also diagnosed relatively frequently in children from middle-class families. This may be due to the concern middle-class parents have over the school achievement of their children. If the child is not doing well in school, the teacher may report that he is restless, does not work quietly at his seat, and disturbs the class. This leads the parents and the teacher to check with the pediatrician, who may suggest hyperactivity as a condition that might be alleviated by medication. If the same kind of behavior is exhibited by a child of a lower-working-class family, it may be interpreted by the teacher as \"natural,\" and the parents may not be alerted to it. The diagnosis of hyperactivity generally places a child in a category of \"learning disability\" (LD), as contrasted with \"mentally handi-

Individual and Group Rights in a Democracy.

Abstract: The decade of the 1970s is experiencing an uneasy equilibrium among three sets of rights—those of the individual, of heretofore disadvantaged groups, and of social institutions designed to serve a postindustrial society. Conflicts over rights become settled, balancing these three sets of rights. No one of them has been chosen for preference by American society.

Educational Policy For the Large Cities.

Abstract: In order to rebuild the inner city, we must solve the problem of educating children in the inner city schools. Bloom's findings suggest a solution to this problem: all children can master ordinary school curriculum and therefore a strategy of equal end products is viable.