This article examines the measurement, antecedents, and consequences of social capital in high schools.

No discipline has had the impact on Western education in the last fifty years that economics has. Not only have the aims of education been narrowed to focus more on preparing people for their economic role, but the schooling system itself has been reorganized to reflect this way of thinking about the world. Economists Randall Nielsen and Janice Kinghorn here provide an immanent critique; that is, they challenge the above from within, more particularly from within the field of economic development. They explain that the assumptions of growth accounting that created earlier models of economic development (and current schooling) have generally failed on their own terms: their thin conceptualizations were inadequate to deal with exchange relationships in complex social and political environments.

A report of a year-long ethnographic study of 14 high school students' experiences as they became involved in the work of an environmental management organization. Analyses focus on the power dynamics that limited the students' growth and participation.

A case study examines the integration of academic and occupational education in community colleges. Consideration of benefits and obstacles suggests that this reform has potential for improving both general and career-related education.

The authors explore three assumptions in educational finance litigation: that dollars make a difference in outcomes, that courts and policymakers can develop standards for an "adequate" education, and that litigation will lead to equity in finance.

An examination of Chicago's governance reforms of the 1990's as one case of corporate influence.

This article discusses examples of sharp inequalities in school financing. It argues that the goal of educational equality does not confront the basic cause of educational inequality; fear of school integration perpetuates the existence of a multiplicity of school districts, which substantially increases the burden to fund education and ultimately costs society.

A comparison of the organizational and curricular dimensions of school-based and work-based preparation for jobs in the United States and Germany.

President Clinton's proposed youth apprenticeship for non-college-bound students may not equalize educational opportunities or improve economic prospects for poor and minority students but may reproduce inequities. One democratic alternative is to offer an education that equips students with specific vocational skills and abilities.

The United States has no systematic procedure to help secondary students transition from school to employment. That lack most adversely affects poor and minority students. This article examines successful school to work transitioning in Japan and Germany and notes that businesses and governments must recognize their responsibilities in preparing youth to make the transition.

An argument against Krashinsky's "Why Educational Vouchers May Be Bad Economics."

A review of the economic assumptions underlying arguments for and against school vouchers.

There are generally three types of workplace education: the largely unstructured experience of working; the more or less structured training or education in processes and products specific to the company; and training or education in more general principles or practices that are in some way necessary to the job but are also transferable to other jobs and other pursuits. Clearly the experience of working is itself a learning experience. We see universal evidence of this in the widespread requirement of experience as a condition of employment. When Henry Ford told his recruiters not to discriminate in hiring, he was expressing his conviction that everyone was equally inexperienced in the new requirements of assembly-line production. But now, work experience is almost always desirable and often imperative.

If democratic workplace theories now popular in Scandinavian countries were to be widely applied in the United States, major changes would be necessary in education. To produce workers able to participate in problem solving and decision making, the schools would have to liberate learning from authority-bound, drill-oriented practices.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the educational development of youth cannot succeed solely through the efforts of the schools. Learning must be enhanced through exposure of young people to a variety of opportunities to test themselves in the community and in the workplace alongside supportive adults. Schools must find ways of working together with other organizations in the community to make this possible. It is in the context of such issues at the forefront of current events that riffs yearbook examines the relationships between education and work.

As a means to some historical perspective on American attitudes toward education and work, this chapter compares arguments of that earlier era with contemporary views as reflected in President Carter's Youth Initiative of 1980. Three issues are singled out: (a) equality of opportunity and a more democratic system of education, (b) the relation of education to economic growth and productivity, and (c) the control of vocational training.

It would be a mistake to assume that a framework for thinking about past and present vocational education grew solely, or even mainly, out of political revolution or the desire to reject pre-revolutionary patterns of education or training. It also grew out of a revolution in thinking about the human condition and the promises which could, in fact, be included in the blueprints for the hopes that each generation had for the next.

A description of vocational education in foreign countries cannot come from a single mold. Differences among the countries are substantial in matters of clientele, expectations, educational methods, organization, and administration. It is best to consider countries individually, to relate full-time vocational education in regular schools to the national system of initial occupational skill training, and to confine the discussion to young people of upper-secondary age who have not been in the labor force.

The trends in the demand for workers at various skill levels and in the patterns of their training interact with such demographic factors as the age distribution of the population, labor force participation rates, levels of achieved schooling, and the special position of minority groups in such a way as to produce some general, if speculative, implications.

This chapter will attempt to place licensing into perspective for the vocational educator. It will explain the differences between licensing and certification, how the licensing system works, requirements for licensure, the social consequences of licensure, and implications of licensure and certification for vocational education.

Since the beginning of the 1960s manpower policy in the United States has taken on an affective quality reflecting concern for a work force which has not only occupation-specific skills but also personal commitment to work, positive self-concepts as effective workers, and employability skills, including skill in searching for work and in adjusting to a new job.

This chapter examines literacy acquisition in vocational programs. Three conclusions are reached. First, the literacy needed for employability probably differs from the literacy needed for further education. Second, current vocational and occupational training programs, while concerned with the acquisition of basic skills, have yet to demonstrate substantial attention in actual instructional practices or much success in improving basic skills. Third, recent research on effective instruction, motivation for learning, and the nature of skilled reading offers new ideas that could be applied to improving literacy for employability among youth.

In this chapter the equity and work establishment effectiveness of secondary vocational education for youth in general and for selected youth subgroups are assessed. We address three sets of questions that we would expect to be relevant to the Policy debate or the reauthorization of the federal Vocational Education Act.

We describe briefly each of the three major sectors, detailing how each works, for whom, and within limits of available data, how well, and at what cost. We then assess the strengths and weaknesses of past research and suggest ways of improving future research efforts.

This chapter focuses on the connections between high rates of unemployment and alienation among black youth. It will suggest that, rather than seeing joblessness as a product of alienation, black youth express high aspirations that are only gradually eroded as the realities of unemployment rates in the range of 30 to 40 percent hit home for them.