Fundamental Beliefs Research Articles

Reforming Schools: A Comparison of Chinese Urban vs. Rural School Principals’ Values, Views & Visions

Abstract Principal as the key to school reform has been a frequently discussed topic in the research literature. However, few studies have investigated principals’ own values, views and visions and how these may affect reform in their schools. The study reported in this paper intends to fill this void. It is a joint effort by American and Chinese education scholars to explore and examine the profiles, preparation and perspectives of urban and rural principals in China, based on the conceptual framework and research methodology of the American national Study of the Education of Educators and the earlier comparative study of Chinese, American and Australian school principals. A comprehensive principal survey was administered to several hundred urban and rural school principals in China and interviews were conducted with selected principals. Our study findings reveal both similarities and differences in values, views and visions between urban and rural school principals, and a huge gap in the quality and equality of education between urban and rural schools. Although Chinese principals are in general progressive and liberal in their fundamental beliefs and values, they perceive great difficulties in realizing their visions for ideal schools and recognize major obstacles to reform because of the existing school conditions, the national examination system, and certain policy restrictions on their autonomy and decision-making power in schools. Findings from this study provide special insight to policy makers and education reformers and urge them to create necessary policies, improve conditions, and increase autonomy and decision-making power for principals to manage and effect changes in their schools, especially those in rural and minority areas.

Christian universities as moral communities: Drinking, sex, and drug use among university students in the United States

ABSTRACT We examine the effects of religious educational context, Christian fundamentalist beliefs and religiosity on alcohol use, sexual activity, and illegal drug use. Respondents are 3610 university students at six public state schools and six private schools, three of which are affiliated with conservative Christian denominations. Data were gathered from 2010–2013 and done via face-to-face distribution and collection of response. Religious context – enrollment and study at a Christian school – has the strongest negative association with deviant behavior. Religiosity is less important, and Christian fundamentalist beliefs are very weakly associated. Results support the idea of Moral Communities in which place, practices and beliefs strongly discourage deviant behavior among respondents in an explicitly religious academic environment.

Creating the Creation Museum: How Fundamentalist Beliefs Come to Life, by KATHLEEN C. OBERLIN

Creating the Creation Museum: How Fundamentalist Beliefs Come to Life, by KATHLEEN C. OBERLIN

Through the Eyes of Another: Using a Narrative Lens to Navigate Complex Social-Ecological Systems and to Embrace Multiple Ways of Knowing

Many social-ecological issues are characterised by a multiplicity of stakeholder voices with often fundamentally divergent values, beliefs or worldviews. Those differences in perspective can be also viewed as different narratives on individual, community and cultural scales that both express and reinforce people’s identity, value system and manifested behaviours. Navigating between those narratives requires approaches that facilitate the co-existence of multiple ways of knowing. The currently dominant knowledge production system of Western scientific knowledge often fails to meet those challenges due to its positivist and reductionist tendencies. However, embracing a co-existence of knowledges isn’t just necessary from a pragmatic perspective to adequately engage in those situations, but also represents an ethical imperative that includes acknowledging the colonial and oppressive history of Western scientific knowledge toward other knowledges, especially regarding Indigenous knowledge production systems. We propose adopting a narrative lens as a metaphor for embracing multiple ways of knowing and being as narratives play a key role for human cognition, communication and in shaping and expressing fundamental values at different levels. Using an example of contested narratives from a fisheries management conflict, we illustrate how narratives can help to develop a richer understanding of social-ecological conflicts. We also reflect on some narrative discourses commonly used in marine science that stem from the binary nature-culture divide prominent in Western scientific knowledge and discuss their implication for hindering sustainable ocean governance. Furthermore, we demonstrate how storytelling methods can be used to surface and share those narratives and to unravel the underlying values and fundamental beliefs and to re-shape them. The narrative lens we propose is suitable under multiple simultaneous disciplinary homes including Indigenous methodologies and systems thinking. They share the key features of having a holistic and relational approach that recognises the co-existence of multiple ways of knowing and being and use self-reflection as key for critical engagement with the situation and to surface and acknowledge one’s own internal narratives. This represents no exhaustive review of narrative inquiry, but a reflective journey illustrating how engaging with narratives can facilitate knowledge co-existence including different ways of relating to human and non-human beings.

The social constructionism paradigm in research on old age and ageing

Research methodology has recently been reduced to using research methods and techniques that are perceived only as ready-to-use tools. Paradigmatic issues become of secondary importance and left unsaid in research work or replaced by a multi-paradigm approach characterised by pluralist ontology and epistemology. The paradigm consists of assumptions and fundamental beliefs and represents a worldview that defines the nature of the world. It helps to justify the use of selected methods and techniques. The article aims to present the social constructionism paradigm and its application in old age and aging research.

The essential values of HBP surgery in my life

Essential values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization. It guiding principles dictate behavior and can help people understand the difference between right and wrong. Positive values help person to determine if they are on the right path and fulfilling their goals by creating an unwavering guide for living a good life and negative core values may be driven by self-interest or greed. There are many different examples of essential values, depending upon the context. Everyone one has their own valuable things which are important in the way of live and work. In the HBP surgery field, I would like to prioritize 8 essential values such as knowledgeable, passion, collaborative, innovative, progressive, openness, excellence, and leadership. I'd like to talk about some of them in this talk that dictate how life should be lived based on my experience.

Kritik Metafisik Terhadap Kesemertaan Pemahaman atas yang Fisik

Science, technology, that now tends to be materialistic, offers humans how to get a truth. It is ironic that such science, tends to reduce other factors that already exist in the world of human understanding. As a result, with all its ambitions, science tries to con- vince humans that some of its fundamental beliefs are a deception. But in fact science, technology has limitations in explaining the truth. This limitation is often closed tightly with opinions so that humans lead to dryness of understanding. There is an effort, more useful to view life or other basic understanding is more lively.

Is There a Public–Military Gap in the United States? Evaluating Foundational Foreign Policy Beliefs

The presumed “gap” in fundamental foreign policy beliefs between what Huntington (1957) described as “liberal society” and the “conservative military mind” lies at the core of research on civil–military relations. However, we still know surprisingly little about the precise nature of differences between the two groups’ core foreign policy orientations. This study presents the first empirically grounded evaluation of the public–military gap. We deployed a unique survey to directly compare the views of 470 active-duty US military officers against a representative sample of the American public. Our study included beliefs concerning the appropriate role of military force and of US engagement in global affairs, the likely direction of US national security in the coming decade, and the causes and costs of future military conflicts. While we confirm aspects of Huntington’s dichotomy, we also observe critical differences between the two groups that diverge from the traditional conceptualization of a “civil–military gap.”

دور النبوءات في إرهاب داعش

Purpose: This study aims to reveal how ISIS exploits apocalyptic prophecies stated in the Qur’an and hadiths to find new recruits and legitimize its ideology. The study tries to identify how sensitive issues of Islam are misinterpreted to mislead and terrorize young Muslims. It also elucidates how the misuse of innocent verses and hadiths leads to terrorism in the hands of people with fundamentalist beliefs. Approach: All issues of two ISIS magazines, namely, Dabiq and Rumiyah, were reviewed, and the related articles were selected, examined and compared with traditional Sunni Islam’s eschatology. In addition to the content analysis of the two magazines entitled with the apocalyptic names, previously written literature was also examined for this study. Findings: ISIS used eschatology to persuade Muslim youth to immigrate to its so-called lands and fight for its lofty cause. The terrorist group tried to realize this goal mainly by reinterpreting prophetic promises of Islam for its ends in the media. The analysis shows that ISIS did not serve religion but benefited its radical ideology. However, time has shown that ISIS’s brutal cause was far from the Islamic faith, as none of ISIS’s apocalyptic prophecies came true. Originality: While there are many studies about ISIS, few or none of them analyzed how the movement deceived people with apocalyptic ideas, which need to be considered during an examination of the conflicts in the Middle East, where states (e.g., Israel) or regimes (e.g., Iran) are founded on the basis of apocalyptic prophecies. ISIS was another trial that failed. By not examining the core of ISIS ideology stemming from the distorted interpretation of Islamic prophecies, gray zones would be left in the literature. This study makes that zone clearer.

NATURE AND MAN: SOME IDEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

This paper presents an anthology of debate on nature and man’s responsibility for it. Different perspectives are presented which constitute the lenses of man’s conceptual and symbolic creations: mythologies, sciences, philosophies, theologies and even language. It is these conceptions which constitute man’s experience that form the basis of his dealings with nature. These conceptions represent a dialogue that we all need to engage in about nature as everyone’s business – not just that of specialists and intellectuals. This anthology is therefore offered in the belief that the present state of our environment demands that we reexamine our fundamental beliefs which underlie our treatment of the natural world. Article visualizations:

Differences and similarities between the later-Wittgenstein’s philosophy of religion and the Islamic mystical tradition

ABSTRACT Despite all fundamental divergences, the similarities formed between some interpretations of the later-Wittgenstein’s philosophy of religion and the tradition of Islamic Mysticism (Sufism), can yet be philosophically recognized. These basic analogies are as follows: 1) The inextricability of belief and practice and the priority of practice over knowledge 2) The characterization of the core religious beliefs as the primal ground of man’s perception and understanding, in contrast to the view that considers fundamental religious beliefs as theoretical conclusions derived from purely rational courses of reflection 3) A new practice-laden narrative of religious realism. Given that, one can even shed a new Wittgensteinian light on even the most abstract and metaphysical elements of the mystical worldview. If fundamental religious beliefs are interpreted not as metaphysical doctrines but as a set of descriptions arising from a specific form of practical life, then the ability to see a sort of transcendent and sacred unity in the whole universe will be based on a way of purposive engagement and wayfaring in the natural and social world.

Understanding the Obama Administration’s Syria Policy

President Obama’s Syria policy and his decision not to intervene in Syria had long been criticized by the US political elites, scholars, and pundits. Most of the explanations of the US policy towards the Syrian civil war are based on realpolitik arguments. Realpolitik explanations of foreign policy analysis tend to overlook other key factors that play a vital role in foreign policy decision making processes. Therefore, these studies fail to explain Obama’s Syria policy adequately. This article aims to provide a more comprehensive explanation of Obama’s Syria policy. I argue that Obama’s Syria policy can be better explained by two other approaches: mass politics and psychological and cognitive approaches. After a thorough examination of relevant literature and President Obama’s interviews and speeches, I argue that President Obama chose not to intervene in Syria because US public opinion was extremely reluctant to send US troops to Syria, and there was not an effective interest group that could impact the public opinion and the administration’s policies. Further, President Obama’s beliefs and attitudes also played a vital role in determining his Syria policy. First, Obama’s fundamental beliefs shaped how he approached the Syrian crisis. Then, his interaction with several actors and crises affected his attitude towards Syria and how the situation should be handled. His speeches and interviews show that Libyan intervention affected his perceptions. Therefore, he did not implement the same option in the Syrian case. Likewise, Obama’s categorization of the Middle East leaders and threats affected his Syria policy. Last but not least, diplomatic encounters and his personal experience also played a role in determining his Syria policy.

Bumpy moments: A potential method to uncover teachers’ beliefs in the context of Indonesia education

Teachers’ belief is an element that influences teachers’ decisions in their activities in the classroom. Researchers have formulated theories to conceptualize teachers’ knowledge and a fundamental belief in their teaching and developed methods to unpack them. ’Bumpy moments’ has been indicated as a potential method to uncover teachers’ belief in their natural setting. This study aims at developing an understanding of primary school teachers’ beliefs which underlie their decision in their classroom setting. The research used bumpy moments as a method. One primary school teacher who participated in this research were videotaped while she was teaching. The researchers and teacher watched their recorded teaching and the teacher was interviewed by using unstructured interview protocol. The research question was answered by running qualitative research to the primary school teacher. The research demonstrated that there are teacher beliefs held by the teacher. This can be seen in 1) beliefs in experience and ability in using media and methods in teaching, 2) beliefs in good teaching skills because understanding the students 'emotional dynamics in class and understanding the students' thought processes in learning, 3) beliefs in experiences in learning pedagogical knowledge in teaching. Bumpy moments methods were a potential method to be developed in Indonesian contexts.

Face mask use during the COVID-19 pandemic—the significance of culture and the symbolic meaning of behavior

During public emergencies, a door can open on the fundamental elements upon which a society's social order is built. The Covid-19 pandemic has opened such a door in societies worldwide. We outline in this commentary some of these social elements and how they may have influenced face mask use during the early stages of the pandemic. The purpose is to expand the perspective on mechanisms that are relevant to consider in pandemic response planning. Our look at these fundamental elements showed that latent aspects of the dominant culture and various symbolic meanings of behaviors can reduce adherence with public health recommendations if they are overlooked in the strategic health plans. We conclude that when policymakers decide non-pharmacological interventions during pandemics, they should take into account fundamental attitudes and beliefs that may influence population behavior. This will require paying attention to variations in things like culture and symbolic meanings of behavior.

Identification and Ranking of Core Values in Family Medicine: A Mixed Methods Study From Ukraine.

Introduction/Context: The term core value (CV) can be defined as fundamental beliefs or principles, guiding one's behavior in a social context. Though core competencies of family medicine (FM) have been clearly defined by WONCA, there has been an ongoing debate on what the CVs are for family doctors (FDs). Ukraine is a developing country in the middle of Europe with a population of 43 million inhabitants, gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukraine is a low-income country, developing a modern European healthcare system, especially regarding FM. To implement WONCA standards, it is mandatory to assess the ongoing understanding of CVs in clinical daily practice among active FDs, working in different countries of Europe including Ukraine.Research questions: How do Ukrainian FDs (Delphi group experts) define the CVs of FM in Ukraine and how important are these CVs to a wider population of Ukrainian FDs in their everyday practice?Methods: A mixed method study was conducted in two steps during August and September 2020 in Ukraine. The first part was a qualitative Delphi round (three rounds) design among 20 Ukrainian FDs who were familiar with teaching and terms like CV. A consensus list of six CVs has emerged from the Delphi round study. The second part was a quantitative survey among Ukrainian FDs, who were not specially used to discussing CVs. The consensus list of those six CVs was then submitted to 2000 FDs (randomly selected) who were not involved in the Delphi team, to rank those values from one to nine, according to the importance from their personal point of view. Demographic characteristics have been assessed for all the participants of the Delphi round and quantitative survey.Results: Twenty FDs were involved as experts in the first Delphi round, whereas only five experts continued their participation in the second and the third rounds of the survey. The following six CVs emerged from the Delphi round: comprehensive approach, care coordination, first recourse, continuity of care, integrated approach, and patient and family centered care. The final sample consisted of 375 FDs (19% response rate). There were 323 (88.7%) female and 34 (9.3%) male FDs in the sample. The mean age of the participants was 44.6±13.5 years.Discussion/Conclusion: Defining CVs for FM by Ukrainian FDs in a given socio-economical and historical-cultural setting is crucial to optimize primary medical care and to guarantee an appropriate and successful implementation of WONCA standards as well as CVs in different countries including those where reformation of the health system is ongoing.

Edukacja obywatelska przez sztukę – rola teatru polskiego

The main purpose of this analytical paper was to highlight the ideas and phenomena in Polish theatre with regard to their role in civic education, and to determine the original qualities and peculiarities of this area of education through the arts. To that end, Fernand Braudel’s the longue durée (long-term) perspective was adopted and a problematized approach to chronology was used as the principal research method, which allowed to present issues related to development and importance of this substantial trend in education through the arts, which due to its artistic and social importance surely deserves the most important place in the history of Polish theatre. What I construe as civic education theatre is theatrical realization (using a specific language) of a system of values promoting public-spiritedness (the raison d’être of any human community) which is cultivated and enhanced by a given society and which impacts the spiritual life of its members. The analyses performed have shown that this prominent trend in the Polish drama and theatre, prevailing every now and then, and willingly used until this day, abounds in specific values of enormous importance embedded in the history of the Polish culture and the Polish spirit, created by outstanding artists; it is a legacy having no equivalent in other countries. Over the centuries, it has served as the foundation of the nation’s spirituality, becoming the platform for civic political discourse, a symbol of the Polish cultural community, a means of transmitting historical tradition, a significant component of cultural identity, a substitute for social and political life, building self-knowledge and aspirations of a national community. Moreover, a concise review of historical traditions and peculiarities of civic values promoted by theatre in the Polish culture confirms the relationships between the arts and history of different nations, between Polish cultural tradition and our tragic history, between the nation’s identity and human independence in personal and social terms. The analyses are performed in the spirit of education interpreted as a totality of values promoting and protecting public-spiritedness; regarding the examined theatrical trend as the major tradition in the history of Polish theatre; fundamental belief in the national and social function of the Polish theatre; consequently, understanding contemporary theatre as the outcome of the cooperation between progress and tradition. In view of the ongoing globalization and unification processes, awareness of the uniqueness of the major trend in the history of the national theatre and irreplaceable values Polish society may contribute to the multi-cultural European community appears to be one of the major challenges faced by Polish culture and education.

Interpretation, confidence and application of the standardised terms: Identified, Probable, Possible, Exclude and Insufficient in forensic odontology identification

Forensic odontology identification scales are used to express certainty of identifications of deceased persons. These standardized scales are assumed to convey unambiguous expert opinions and facilitate communication between forensic odontologists and end users. However, to date no studies have investigated how the experts interpret and use these scales.Forensic odontology identification scales are used to express certainty of identifications of deceased persons. These standardized scales are assumed to convey unambiguous expert opinions and facilitate communication between forensic odontologists and end users. However, to date no studies have investigated how the experts interpret and use these scales.This paper aims to examine the interpretation of the DVISYS forensic identification scale and choices of the levels in the scale subsequent to, and derived from, comparison of pairs of dental radiographs by extending the analysis of the data collected in the study by Page and Lain et. al. 2017.The studied variables: self-reported confidence, forced binary decision of match and non-match, choice of level in the DVISYS scale (Identified, Probable, Possible, Insufficient and Exclude) were further analysed in this study using mixed models for relationships between the choices of level in the identification scale and the fundamental beliefs of likelihood of identification.The results of this further analysis showed that the reported confidence of the decisions was correlated to the difficulty of cases, and as confidence decreased the use of less definitive terms (‘Probable’, ‘Possible’ and ‘Insufficient’) increased. ‘Probable’ and ‘Possible’ were used mainly in underlying beliefs below that of ‘Identified’ whereas ‘Insufficient’ was used mainly to convey a sublevel of ‘Exclude’. The use of ‘Insufficient’ in this study was not consistent with the prescribed definition of the term.The participants of the original study were not aware of the difficulty grading of the cases nor were required to grade them, however the reported confidence was systematically correlated to difficulty. Furthermore, indicated confidence level was correlated with choice of level on the scale in general, but the interpretation of the definition and application of the terms varied.The findings reported here contribute to the foundational knowledge of factors governing the interpretation and application of the DVISYS forensic odontology identification scale and suggest that this scale may need to be modified.

A Global Perspective on the COVID 19 Crisis and an Ontological Theology Perspective

This article asks whether human history has any bearing on understanding and interpreting the Covid 19 pandemic. It seeks to examine the historical and present circumstance to identify possible causes, dangers, responses and solutions. It more importantly seeks to respond to the question, is there a possible conjuncture with an ontological theology view of God and the world? The aim of the first section is to present a succinct overview of pandemic themes and in the second, to articulate three significant responses from the ontological theology perspective. This view has for primary focus the reality of the Person of God with emphasis on being and existence, both His and ours in general and specifically in times of crisis. Where is God? Why is this happening? What is He saying? Why does He not intervene? Crises evoke fundamental belief questions. The article therefore, seeks to demonstrate the validity of a cohesive connection between the divine, transcendent and eternal with humanity and human history.

Issues and Identity Crisis: African Adventism’s Self-Awareness among Cultural Diversities

Adventism in Africa has become the centre of global Adventism in terms of its membership. The dreams of western missionaries and local pioneers have become greater realities far beyond their imaginations. But it is never a time for celebration, instead a moment of reflection over collective responsibility to confront the still bewildering setting of the denomination in Africa. This paper ex-amines issues at the heart of African Adventism. The denomination struggles with several issues that put its identity in crisis. The paper recommends a close reconsideration of fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a way to address the distressing situation of African Adventism.

Financial statement users’ institutional logic

In this paper, we investigate what we call “financial statement users’ institutional logic,” defined as users’ expressed fundamental views and beliefs about accounting information. We analyze users’ comment letters to standard setters in response to the proposed standards on lease accounting to identify the dimensions of the institutional logic that underlie their views on accounting information. Our qualitative analysis identified and validated ten principal dimensions, namely economics and substance, due process issues, measurement, readiness and relevance for use, conceptual foundations, clarity, presentation and disclosure, cost-benefit issues, comparability and consistency, and financial statement manipulation. Quantitative analyses revealed that four of these dimensions, i.e. due process issues, readiness and relevance for use, comparability and consistency, and cost-benefit issues, occupy a medium or large amount of space in users’ comments and are referred to in strong terms, while economics and substance and measurement, although also widely discussed, are addressed in weaker terms. Overall, our study begins to fill a gap in the literature by providing insights into users’ views on accounting information. These insights challenge the “homo economicus user” currently constructed in standard-setting debates.