Personal Worries Research Articles

Commentary

Three ways to consider Tocqueville and Democracy in America are illustrated by papers here presented. Edward Gargan’s succinct essay invites us to the French milieu in which he was struggling to compose the first volume of Democracy in America. Cargan reminds us of the visions of hope and of disgust initially ignited by reports from the New World. Particularly, Gargan notes the hostility to what were deemed to be the excesses of American democracy then made use of by the more or less restorationist beneficiaries of the July Monarchy. Gargan appreciates that, as Cushing Strout phrased it in a fine essay, Tocqueville was looking at America and thinking of France. Robert Bcllah makes use of Tocqueville as a cautionary tale for contemporary America. Bellah reminds Americans of what he and his colleagues in Habits of the Heart consider as the need as well as the periodic desire we have to behave like citizens, to transcend solipsistic individualism, and what Tocqueville termed “mere mammon worship and the petty personal worries which crop up in the course of everyday life.” Sheldon Wolin does something quite different. Boldly, he seizes on Tocqueville’s way of seeing, his creation of an imaginary past and an imaginary future, to ask to what extent has America in fact become more egalitarian, more democratic, as Tocqueville had anticipated.

Commentary

Three ways to consider Tocqueville and Democracy in America are illustrated by papers here presented. Edward Gargan’s succinct essay invites us to the French milieu in which he was struggling to compose the first volume of Democracy in America. Cargan reminds us of the visions of hope and of disgust initially ignited by reports from the New World. Particularly, Gargan notes the hostility to what were deemed to be the excesses of American democracy then made use of by the more or less restorationist beneficiaries of the July Monarchy. Gargan appreciates that, as Cushing Strout phrased it in a fine essay, Tocqueville was looking at America and thinking of France. Robert Bcllah makes use of Tocqueville as a cautionary tale for contemporary America. Bellah reminds Americans of what he and his colleagues in Habits of the Heart consider as the need as well as the periodic desire we have to behave like citizens, to transcend solipsistic individualism, and what Tocqueville termed “mere mammon worship and the petty personal worries which crop up in the course of everyday life.” Sheldon Wolin does something quite different. Boldly, he seizes on Tocqueville’s way of seeing, his creation of an imaginary past and an imaginary future, to ask to what extent has America in fact become more egalitarian, more democratic, as Tocqueville had anticipated.

Assistance with learning competence and decision-making in schools and further education

Abstract 721 first-year university students were asked about the amount of help they had received or might have received at their pre-tertiary institutions in developing their learning competence and in course/university/career decision-making. Over all items, nearly 30% felt they had been helped minimally, 40–45% slightly to moderately, and nearly 30% moderately to very much. They felt they had been helped most with learning competence concerns, less with their career and educational decision-making, and least of all with handling distracting personal worries. There were no significant differences by sex or by type of institution previously attended. The correlation between perceived amount of help and A-level scores was not significant. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the possible contribution of learning competence to attainment and the need for realistic educational and career decision-making.

A study of engineering undergraduates as learners

Abstract The findings are reported of a study of 267 first-year University of Aston engineering undergraduates regarding their sense of competence as learners and also the amount of learning competence and decision-making assistance they received from staff at their pre-tertiary institutions. The data indicate that about 17 per cent of students felt moderately to very competent as learners, 7 per cent felt less than competent, whereas the majority perceived they had limited competence. Individual learning competence items are presented and discussed. The educational assistance data suggest that schools and further education staff are of limited help to many pupils and students, especially in handling educational and career decisions and distracting personal worries. Some suggestions are made for improving the learning competence of engineering students.