Secondary Education; Secondary School Students; Withdrawal (Education) IDENTIFIERS Reform Efforts

This paper addresses the notion that persons at risk of failure to achieve an adequate education are in that position partly because of their social circumstances, i.e., their ethnicity, culture, language, or economic status. It discusses the impact of culture on what one does and how one does it, addresses the manner in which culture frames as well as enables one's feelings and thoughts concerning what one does, and examines the question of what mechanism of culture serves as the vehicle and context for human activity. Based on this analysis of cultural influences and their relationships regarding academic achievement, several implications for educational reform are examined covering: (1) the limitations of reform in school governance alone; (2) the limitations of the manipulation of standards and accountability based on educational achievement tests data; (3) the applicability of principles of social justice, i.e., the distribution of equity; (4) the pedagogical principles of adaptability and complementarity; and (5) concern for diversity, pluralism, context, and perspective. (Contains 26 references.) (GLR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. kA.