Academic Categories Research Articles

Toward a politics of consumption

academic categories and concepts that organize the study of mass have been monolithic. Either mass production enables unprecedented scales of corporate manipulation whose terminal agenda is fascism, or mass consumption offers a populist promise of socialist democracy. Intellectuals have been caught between the bleak despair of Horkheimer and Adorno's culture industry and the naive ebullience of de Certeau's everyday life. Methodologically, this has meant either collecting material whose ideology is so transparent as to render interpretation redundant or speculating on consumer behavior for which evidence is always lacking or insufficient. Speaking metaphorically, one could claim that critics of American mass must trace a narrow dialectical path between two valleys of

Diagnosis Based on the WISC-III Processing Speed Factor

The primary intent of this research was to determine whether the Processing Speed Factor scores of the WISC-III would distinguish between groups of clinically referred children. A total of 311 elementary, junior high, and senior high students were grouped according to ADHD, VMI, behavioral, low academic achievement categories, and physical health problems or absence of such problems. Multiple comparisons using the Newman-Keuls and multiple regression techniques indicated that processing speed was a significant diagnostic factor differing between clinical groups. Anderson's (1992) model of the cognitive architecture of the mind was used to explain the specfic findings.

Understanding Paul West (review)

Reviewed by: Understanding Paul West Arthur M. Saltzman David W. Madden . Understanding Paul West. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 1993. xii + 171 pp. $29.95 cloth. "Language is a mystery from which we can make mysteries that were not there before, skulking in the matrix like penicillin, but came into being with us, evincing our uniqueness. To use language thus is a reverent homage to our predecessors, who come to life in every tone we muster." So writes Paul West, whose loyalty to the lavish is everywhere evident in his fifteen novels to date, but also demonstrated in short stories, literary criticism, memoirs, and biographical sketches, all of which evoke West's sense of wonder at his "blessed membership" in "a universe absolutely pumped cramful of marvels." His full-throatedness and celebration of eloquence stunningly refute minimalist examples of diminished expectations, which West most famously disdains in his essay "In Defense of Purple Prose," a testimony and a contribution to linguistic energy and abundance; for West, language that is "revved up, ample, intense, incandescent or flamboyant" is language purpled—not bruised by abuse but restored to its rightful, royal status. A British-born writer writing in America, multi- and cross-generic in his enterprises, West has proved especially resistant to academic categories, but it seems clear that West belongs in the same resonant fellowship as Stanley Elkin, William Gass, and John Hawkes, to name three writers with similarly self-conscious commitments to style and who campaign for the [End Page 386] ongoing richness and relevance of fiction at the level of the sentence. What is surprising, however—inexcusable, in fact, to a reviewer who has so often been left breathless with admiration after a virtuoso passage—is that Paul West has received far less critical attention than they. This would be reason enough to congratulate David W. Madden for his introduction to the complex, various pleasures of this under-attended author in Understanding Paul West, the first book-length treatment of West's work. As guest-editor of the section of the Spring 1991 Review of Contemporary Fiction devoted to Paul West, Madden staked his claim as chief proponent and regulator of West's reputation. Understanding Paul West complements that collection with a systematic investigation of the principal fiction, beginning with the earlier forays into realism (most notably in the Alley Jaggers Trilogy), moving through the overtly experimental novels of the 1970s (including Caliban's Filibuster and Gala), and then considering the dense historical novels of the 1980s (if such a designation could sufficiently prepare for the complex charms and challenges of The Very Rich Hours of Count von Stauffenberg, The Place in Flowers Where Pollen Rests, or The Women of Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper). Madden is more than equal to the task. He does an excellent job of balancing plot analysis, explication of themes and issues, and attention to West's own commentary in a way that allows Understanding Paul West to accomplish the avowed goal of the series to provide guides for students and nonacademic readers without shortchanging the breadth of innovation under discussion. In addition to focusing on West's polymathy—the research informing the novels ranges from World War II military strategies to nineteenth-century crime tabloids, from Hopi lore to astrophysics—Madden finds in the fiction a fundamental interest in the development and justification of the role of the artist, as well as a preoccupation with the price and the rewards of aesthetic enchantment. Madden treats these general themes as touchstones throughout the book to help correlate the individual analyses of remarkably diverse texts. Happily, even within the confines of the series format, Madden not only manages to do justice to the scope of West's output but also quotes liberally from his subject in order to offer a taste of the stylistic intrepidness that is West's signature achievement. I suspect that many devotees of Paul West know him through his nonfiction; Words for a Deaf Daughter and Out of My Depths: A Swimmer in the Universe, for example, have been no less significant contributions to his reception, nor are they any less attuned to the lyrical possibilities of prose than the...

Minimum Competency Testing: Assessing the Effects of Assessment

Abstract Minimum Competency Testing (MCT) is an attempt to establish minimal acceptable levels for educational attainment. MCT is mired in controversy. This research aimed to answer five principal questions: 1) Has MCT increased academic performance among high school students? 2) Does MCT, over time, affect achievement? 3) What role does remediation play in the potential for academic improvement of students in MCT programs? 4) Does MCT differentially and negatively affect achievement among minority students? And 5) Does MCT implementation increase the likelihood of dropping out of school? Based upon this research the following conclusions were advanced. MCT differentially affected high and low achievers. While MCT serves to decrease the likelihood of a student scoring in the lowest academic categories, it does so at the expense of those who might score in the highest. The presence of these requirements also serves to decrease the likelihood of a student scoring in the highest categories. Thus, MCT by rais...

The Growing Gender Gap in Black Higher Education

Thirty years ago, black men who finished high school were far more likely to go on to college than were black women. Now, black men are falling far behind black women in almost every measurement of progress in higher education. In fact, as black women surge ahead in almost all academic categories, black men are faring far worse than they were several decades ago. The growing gender gap presents a serious problem, and nobody appears to have the slightest idea what to do about it.

Educational Outcome of Neonatal Intensive Care Graduates

Studies of developmental outcome of neonatal intensive care unit graduates have generally been limited to the first 2 to 3 years of life, with outcome determined by psychometric tests. This study followed neonatal intensive care unit graduates born 1975 through 1983 (n = 457) into the public school system and compared their educational outcomes with those of newborn nursery graduates (n = 656). Outcomes were evaluated by placement in four academic categories: regular classroom, academic problems, speech/language impairment, and major impairment. Educational outcomes for children of both groups were essentially the same. Their placement in the four academic categories were equally affected by nonmedical variables, primarily income (below/above poverty level), race, and sex. Seventy percent of poverty-level children were in one of the three problem categories, compared with 40% of children above poverty level. Neither neonatal intensive care unit treatment nor low birth weight were major predictors of educational outcome. The only clear-cut neonatal intensive care unit effect occurred among children born with sensory or physical impairments. Therefore, in order to reduce poor educational outcomes, follow-up and intervention programs should be targeted primarily to children with diagnosable handicaps and from minority, low-income families.

A Comparative Study of Dropout at an Integrated University: The 16 Personality Factor Test

The dropout problem is an old one, and so is its study (Schreiber, 1968). Many researchers (e.g., Ayers, Bashaw, and Wash, 1969; Brown, 1960; Centi, 1962; Cronbach, 1950; Grace, 1957; Johnson, 1954; Russell, 1968; Summerskill, 1962) have explored several aspects of this problem including the intellectual, emotional, motivational, interpersonal, and attitudinal characteristics of dropout and nondropout students. The plethora of studies leads one to ask why continued investigation into the area of dropout is necessary when there are already more than a thousand references available. Various individuals would answer this question differently, but certainly there would be agreement that continued research would serve at least four important purposes: (1) it would give additional reliability to the dominant factors found to cause dropout across geographical and social conditions; (2) it would improve the effectiveness of psychological measurements by removing sampling error, faulty items, incorrect inferences, and over-generalizations; (3) it would reveal the relationship between old and new findings; and (4) it would provide educators and counselors with up-to-date information about the retention and withdrawal of students. Numerous studies using personality traits, age, sex, race, health, parental occupations, geographical area, and so forth, as independent variables are necessary until complete understanding is achieved. If research is limited, conclusions must be also, and the application of such conclusions potentially dangerous in some situations considering the changing environment of the schools and the students themselves. The purpose of this study was to compare the scores obtained on the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) by students constituting three academic categories: good, dropout, and probationary.

The President's Page: AGU and AGI

The last decade has produced a new perspective of science. The Apollo 11 view from Tranquillity Base dramatically reinforced the knowledge that our one earth is all we have; the deep‐sea cores brought up by the Glomar Challenger gave us new insight into the history and the workings of that earth, and the recent worldwide concern with pollution and our needs for energy and raw materials made us all aware that, we must learn much more about our earth and apply that knowledge with better judgment.Item: Only a few years ago, every geologist ‘knew’ that geophysics was only a part of geology; on the other hand, every geophysicist ‘knew’ that geology was only a part of geophysics. But now, with our new perspective, the boundaries implied by the old academic categories are fading away, and in every field we find growing stress on the interdisciplinary approach.

Criteria and practices for awarding faculty rank in special academic categories

Criteria and practices for awarding faculty rank in special academic categories