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Homelessness has emerged on the public agenda of economically advanced nations but not all such issues become recognized as "legitimate" social problems. National politicians and policymakers have an interest in defining the problem narrowly in order to avoid response and implied criticism of existing policies and institutions. Local officials and social agencies prefer a broader definition in order to obtain resources for policy and program implementation. This paper examines the progress of homelessness as a social issue in Canada. Chapter 1, "The Politics of Defining a 'New' Social Problem," discusses how politics, not the "objective reality" of homelessness, determines its status on the public agenda. Chapter 2, "Two National Governments: The U.S. and Canada," compares the debate over the definition of homelessness in the two countries, and demonstrates the extent to which the governments are attempting to narrow that definition. Chapter 3, "Local Initiatives: Three Examples from Toronto," reviews the following recent studies by local government and social agencies in Toronto (Ontario): (1) Metro Toronto's Study of the Homeless; (2) The Social Planning Council of Metro Toronto; and (3) The Single Displaced Persons Project. Chapter 4, "The Future of Homelessness as a Social Problem," discusses the following common themes in the definition of homelessness: (1) national scope; (2) long-term duration; (3) complex, multidimensional nature; and (4) the need for political commitment. A list of 43 references is included. (FMW)

Some of the public policy problems currently facing the United States, which have been created by a reawakening to the real multiethnic character of society, are explored and developed in great detail in this paper. The analysis is confined to domestic affairs, but the significant impact of foreign affairs on ethnic group identity and intergroup relations in America is stated. A listing of central issues dealt with include the following: (1) quota and affirmative action--the most dramatic and most far-reaching in its implications; (2) ethnic studies--with the current rising demand of white ethnic groups to be included in the curriculum revision, there is real confusion among educators as to how to respond to the new surges and militancy that have arisen; (3) bilingual education--Spanish speaking groups have long perceived bilingualism as a key to their survival, and Chinese demands are currently litigating in the Supreme Court; (4) government reorganization--overlooked in the past is that there is no plan for the reorganization of municipal power which does not affect ethnic group relations quite dramatically; (5) racism--it has the most devasting consequences on intergroup relations in America; and (6) group identity--it has extensive public policy ramifications and is seen as deserving serious attention. (Author/AM)

Legislative and professional medical committee developments in graduate medical education needs and directions are reviewed in this background paper. The Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee (GMENAC) represents a critical nonregulatory step in the establishment of goals for the training and differentiation of physician manpower. It is responsive to the intents and judgments expressed by many public and private bodies in recent years and provides an opportunity for the identification and development of issues of concern to the public and the profession. GMENAC will be able to highlight issues in the development of national health insurance that relate to graduate education, and to present strategies to HEW for consideration in the planning of new health manpower legislation that will be in its early conceptual stages in 1978 and 1979. (Author/LBH)

Although the progress toward poverty reduction remains sluggish, other dimensions of social welfare in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region show signs of improvement. Adult literacy and school enrollment rates, life expectancy at birth, access to safe water, and nutrition indicators are improving. However, other factors demonstrate that many problems persist, especially the inequality between rich and poor. This report analyzes the evolution of poverty and inequality in the LAC region from 1986 to 1996 with projections to 1998. It reviews the policies which have been advocated or implemented to reduce poverty. The report combines: (1) the results of new empirical work using household surveys from 12 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela); (2) short theoretical developments, some of which introduce new research techniques; and (3) a review of the literature on issues related to poverty, inequality, and social policy in LAC. Chapters three through six follow the framework proposed in the forthcoming World Development Report 2000-2001. The framework identifies three essential elements for poverty reduction: (1) opportunities for the poor and investments in the human capital of the poor; (2) security through social safety nets; and (3) empowerment. Contains extensive tables and figures and 213 references. (BT)

This paper examines the state of current research on ethnic minorities and their children and discusses areas in which further study is needed so that effective policy guidelines may be developed within the framework of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. A number of examples of ethnic minority situations are presented to illustrate the particular problems faced by families, children, and youth of ethnic minorities and indigenous and tribal peoples. It is commonly held that the solutions to the problems of these groups lie in their ability and willingness to adapt rather than in actions by the dominant societies. After a description of the ways ethnic minorities are usually categorized (territorial minorities, ethnic and cultural minorities, immigrants and refugees, and indigenous and tribal peoples), the paper surveys theoretical approaches to the study of ethnicity and examines the issue of cultural values in relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Further research is needed not only to develop the most effective policies for improving the situation of minority children but also to contribute to creation of a world in which cultural diversity can lead to greater tolerance and equal human rights. (Contains 69 references.) (SLD)

Major arguments and background of the worldwide land reform debate are reviewed. In developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the control of farmland remains a principal key to wealth, status, and power. Rural landless peasants at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, estimated by the World Bank at more than 600 million people, are unable to meet basic needs such as food, fuel, shelter, education, health care, and family planning. Review of international agricultural output data indicates that the economic case for land reform often rivals the social case for redistributive policies. Not only do grossly skewed land ownership and oppressive tenancy conditions have social consequences, they also result in a system which uses land and capital less efficiently than small family farms. In addition to increased crop output, the economic case for land reform also rests on self-propelled economic development, full employment, and political and economic stability. However, although United Nations officials and diplomats from developing countries realize the contribution that land reform can make to agricultural progress, land reform is generally avoided by political maneuvering. The conclusion is that if developing nations combine land redistribution with population stabilization and intelligent use of foreign capital, they will generate more equitable and efficient land use. (Author/DB)

Existing programs and needs for adult basic education (ABE) in British Columbia were assessed. A research committee examined adults' educational opportunities up to and beyond literacy levels. ABE was found, in general, to be an area of neglect and low priority. Adult needs remain high; for instance, census data reveals that nearly half a million adults have not gone beyond grade 8. Many family and psychological problems are associated with illiteracy. Nevertheless, present educational practices, such as inequitable tuition policies, inhibit adults' efforts to return to learning. Social and economic costs incurred through the educationally disadvantaged individuals' unemployment and welfare status are high. The Ministry of Education plays a minimal role in ABE services provision. The federal Department of Manpower has influenced educational practices throughout the provinces, but provisions have tended to be spasmodic. Each year ABE involves approximately 500 courses, 6,000 students, and 500 instructors throughout the province. The main prerequisite for closing the gap between needs and ABE provisions is an integrated and systematic approach. Although many goals and recommendations have been formulated, the principal recommendation is to regard ABE as an integrated system to aid in the amelioration of provincial problems in such areas as unemployment and social welfare. (CSS)

Although progress has been made in combatting the most visible and easily controlled forms of pollution (exhaust, industrial waste, sewage, etc.), other pollutants have been largely ignored. Pollutants which are uncontrolled and which are increasingly recognized as dangerous include carbon dioxide, toxic substances such as dioxin, mirex, lindane, mercuric oxide, lead and mercury, and nuclear wastes. Reasons for lack of success in removing these and other pollutants include the following: (1) pollution control efforts have gone into solving those problems which appeared most solvable, (2) more public expenditures have been aimed at correcting problems which have technical solutions, and (3) some important pollutants cannot be controlled by any known technologies. Analysis of data regarding pollutants indicates that uncontrolled pollution exacts real costs on health and property and that cost-effective investment in abatement equipment can yield measurable net benefits. The conclusion is that controlling pollutants will require fundamental changes in life-styles and common business practices. (Author/DB)

The opinions of nearly 17,000 college-bound and noncollege-bound high school seniors concerning a wide range of issues of both personal and social significance were surveyed in 1979 at the end of the senior year. Developing successful personal relationships, particularly a good marriage and family life, ranked at the top of freshman goals in life, and satisfaciton and success in work were also central concerns. In large proportions they preferred marriage, wanted children, and seemed willing to accommodate the needs of those children. Students' ratings of very important aspects in a job and of the desirability of different work settings are considered. Highest ratings were assigned to jobs that are interesting and make use of a person's skills. The most preferred work settings are those that provide the greatest independence and involve the least external control. The majority of the high school student respondents were employed and most were making fairly good money. While the students had positive expectations for their own future, they were considerably more pessimistic about how things will go for the country and the world over the next five years. Specific problems they are worrying about are summarized. The national issue that has been of greatest concern to recent high school classes has been crime and violence, and an issue that historically has been of less worry, the energy shortage, has reached a level of comparable concern. Drug abuse, pollution, and economic problems rank next among student concerns. Slightly less often on the minds of seniors are the issues of possible nuclear conflict, race relations, hunger and poverty, and population growth. Their views on national defense and the military, politics and the system, and their ratings of institutions in society are also addressed. (SW)

Originally prepared for the Science Council of Canada, this document presents a rationale and general framework for a science and society curriculum for Canadian students. Pointing out ways in which citizens are scientifically illiterate, it argues that science education must address social issues and prepare individuals to make social and political decisions. Section one identifies three broad topics which should guide the development of a science and society curriculum: the characteristics of science, the limitations of science, and the place of science in Canadian society. Recognizing the student as a consumer of science education with individual needs, section two elaborates on four fundamental issues for consideration in developing a curriculum: different kinds of knowledge developed from science education, different roles that graduates will play in society, different ways graduates will use knowledge developed from science class, and decision-making processes used in resolving science-related social issues. The final section discusses the characteristics and limitations of science which must guide the development of a curriculum. (DC)

Urban school superintendents from Pennsylvania and New Jersey met to consider issues related to the improvement of urban secondary schools. Although the public is pessimistic about all urban public schools, it regards secondary schools with particular pessimism. There are 70 urban high schools in New Jersey and 81 in Pennsylvania. Superintendents grouped their problems into the three areas--expectations, resources, and education. Expectations concern not only the expectations teachers have for their students, which are often entirely too low, but also the expectations the public has of its school systems. Discussants unanimously agreed that resources for quality education in inner-city high schools are insufficient, but their definition of resources was broader than mere budgetary considerations. Because they did not imagine that either expectations or resources would improve greatly, superintendents acknowledged that they need to work with what they have and focus on education through professional development and improving the public's understanding of urban realities. Recommendations for helping urban secondary schools centered around these areas. (Contains 24 references.) (SLD)

In an effort to address the needs of the increasing number of children who are coming to school with physical and emotional health conditions that prevent them from learning to their full potential, school systems have begun to alter the scope and nature of their school health services. Given their direct access to children, families, and school personnel, school nurses are in a unique position and have the skills and knowledge to improve children's health and their ability to learn. In order to effectively meet our nation's challenges and to best safeguard the health of its students, school nurses must have an expanded scope of practice, manage diverse client needs as well as students with more complex health problems, and become key players in the integration of various health care delivery models into the school setting. This paper describes the challenges and issues being faced today by school nurses, examines their roles in new health service delivery models, and offers recommendations for improving and expanding school nursing services. Following an introduction on trends for the future of school nursing, the paper is divided into brief chapters: (1) history of school nursing; (2) school nursing practice today; (3) two models of health service delivery; (4) futures of school nursing; (5) recommendations; and (6) model programs. Contains 28 references. (TJQ)

This analysis is the third in the Center's series on child poverty in America. The first part of this study is a historical view of trends in child poverty by race and Hispanic origin for children in families below the age of 18 years. The second part presents projections of child poverty rates and levels for the three largest racial groups to the year 2010, based on Census Bureau poverty data. Increasing numbers of corporate leaders are recognizing the critical importance of healthy, well-nourished, and well-educated children for the viability of the work force. There is growing concern over recent findings on the relationships of poverty-related conditions such as undernutrition and social deprivation to cognitive deficits and academic failure. It is also recognized that without healthy and productive families, children in poverty experience diminished opportunities through cognitive impairment, inadequate education, lack of basic skills, reduced job performance, and increased morbidity and mortality. Projections suggest that if current trends continue child poverty will increase dramatically for White, Black, and Hispanic American children. By the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, half of all Black children and more than half of all Hispanic American children will be impoverished. Three tables and six figures present information about poverty trends. (Contains 25 references.) (SLD)

The processes by which mentors might improve the self-esteem of economically vulnerable African American male youth are explored, drawing on previous research. The combination of biological, behavioral, and societal factors faced by young black males is complex, and has implications for identity processes. The initial longitudinal study of urban children in Atlanta (Georgia) assessed self-esteem on two occasions separated by 3 years for a group of children aged 3 or 5 years at the first testing and a group aged 7 or 9 years at first contact. The total sample was 384 at time 1 and 150 at time 2. This research points to specific aspects of the development of African American males that are relevant to the creation of mentoring programs. There is a discrepancy between the youths' more general self-esteem and their specific perceptions of themselves as less competent students than girls. A second issue is that of the males' perceptions of themselves as significantly less healthy than females. Findings suggest that interventions proposed should start early and continue in developmentally specific and appropriate ways, with an emphasis on competence as it relates to school and with awareness of racial and social issues, as well as coping patterns. (SLD)

American companies currently spend $15 billion a year on marketing and advertising to children under the age of 12. Annually, children influence $500 billion in spending on fast food, junk food, toys and other advertised products, and the average child sees thousands of ads on television alone. From video games and the Internet to cell phones and iPods, new and emerging media are changing the ways in which advertisers reach consumers. On July 20, 2006, Children Now hosted a conference in Washington, D.C., that brought together the nation's leading children's media executives, policymakers, academics and advocates. The full-day conference explored how new advertising and marketing methods are being used to reach children. It also examined what is on the horizon and possible steps to better ensure children's well-being in a rapidly evolving media environment, including potential policy and voluntary industry solutions. The report includes highlights from addresses by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Sam Brownback, and comments from FCC Commissioners Michael J. Copps, Deborah Taylor Tate, and Jonathan Adelstein. Two panel discussions are summarized: (1) Surveying the Landscape: Advertising and Marketing to Kids in the Digital Age; and (2) Strategies to Address Advertising and Marketing Concerns. Following the conference, Children Now charted a five-year agenda, including research and policy goals, and ways to work together with media, advertising, food and other industries to achieve voluntary change. (Contains 3 endnotes.) [Additional support provided by the Otto Haas Charitable Trust.] ["The Future of Children's Media: Advertising" is the first in a series of national Children Now conferences that will proactively address pressing issues in the media environment that can have both positive and negative implications for children. The conference structure is based on the belief that, in order to create a healthy and diverse media environment, children must both be provided with content that supports their healthy development and protected from potential harm.]

This paper examines two aspects of teen childbearing in the United States. First, it reviews and synthesizes the evidence on the reasons why teen birth rates are so uniquely high in the United States and especially in some states. Second, it considers why and how it matters. We argue that economists' typical explanations are unable to account for any sizable share of the geographic variation. We describe some recent analysis indicating that the combination of being poor and living in a more unequal (and less mobile) location, like the United States, leads young women to choose early, non-marital childbearing at elevated rates, potentially because of their lower expectations of future economic success. Consistent with this view, the most rigorous studies on the topic find that teen childbearing has very little, if any, direct negative economic consequence. If it is explained by the low economic trajectory that some young women face, then it makes sense that having a child as a teen would not be an additional cause of poor economic outcomes. These findings lead us to conclude that the high rate of teen childbearing in the United States matters mostly because it is a marker of larger, underlying social problems.

The racial achievement gap in education is an important social problem to which decades of research have yielded no scalable solutions. Recent evidence from "No Excuses" charter schools--which demonstrates that some combination of school inputs can educate the poorest minority children--offers a guiding light. In the 2010-2011 school year, we implemented five strategies gleaned from best practices in "No Excuses" charter schools--increased instructional time, a more rigorous approach to building human capital, more student-level differentiation, frequent use of data to inform instruction, and a culture of high expectations--in nine of the lowest performing middle and high schools in Houston, Texas. We show that the average impact of these changes on student achievement is 0.276 standard deviations in math and 0.059 standard deviations in reading, which is strikingly similar to reported impacts of attending the Harlem Children's Zone and Knowledge is Power Program schools--two strict "No Excuses" adherents. The paper concludes with a speculative discussion of the scalability of the experiment.