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An Israeli study investigated high school students' perceptions of mathematics, English, Hebrew, and Arabic. A questionnaire measured affect, worth, gender typing, and perceived attributes contributing to success in each subject. Results indicated ethnicity more than gender affected students' perception of subject matter. (SM)

Investigation of the ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions of Jewish and Arab high school students in Israel showed that both groups' perceptions corresponded remarkably to objective reality in direction, although not in intensity, with the Jewish majority accentuating the differences and the Arab minority attenuating the differences. (Author/CB)

The choice to learn Arabic or French as a second foreign language in Israeli schools is influenced by a number of variables that relate to social contexts (families, schools, status of language in society) and individual differences (student's abilities, attitudes, and motivation). The text books for students of Arabic were found to underscore this perception by being confined entirely to Arabic as the language of Arabs and their culture and by ignoring the very rich Judeo-Arabic culture-which includes a large body of literature-that is the heritage of a large part of Israel's Jewish population. "Nationist" interests-pragmatic concerns of the state--strongly support the study of Arabic among the Jewish population in Israel. Yet, despite the societal needs for knowledge of the Arabic language-for communicating with and understanding the wider environment, as well as for serving Israel's needs in the areas of government, the military, and academia-French has competed with Arabic for the foreign language student. Arabic and French students were almost identical in their responses to items related to the classroom context, i.e., the amount of time invested in studying the language, and the degree of participation in class. The presence of a sizable group of target language speakers in the case of Arabic has resulted in a higher endorsement of integrative goals for the study of Arabic.

The research on the influx of more than 400,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel has ignored the adolescent population. The struggle of the adolescent to integrate into the majority culture and the relationship of this struggle to language are the central concerns of this article. The demands of adolescence and the search for identity are complex issues under the best of conditions. The pressures of a new culture as reflected in the acquisition of language and the relationship of the adolescent immigrant were investigated in this study of adolescent immigrants who had been in Israel from three to 30 months. Our findings indicate that the need to establish one's identity has serious implications for the manner in which adolescents see themselves and the manner in which they present themselves to the society at large. These findings could have practical implications in a world where movement across borders and cultures is commonplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One finds in history many varieties of religious crises, especially in the so-called superior or cultural religions. The purpose of this article is to study the various forms of religious crisis which follow from an emancipation from the grip of religion, as these forms occur in a pattern of social and religious living. The author first asks the question: where and under what conditions does the conscious confrontation of unbelief and faith occur, where and how does it become a force in history? It would seem that the phenomenon is peculiar to the West. En order to understand it, the author begins with an analysis of the components of ≪ Israel-Christianity ≫ which are the antipodes of emancipation. He then studies the forms taken by religious crisis in the century of the Illumination and, more particularly in contemporary culture. In the latter he distinguishes the works and persons that have left their marks on it, and the factors which compose it: the breakdown of an ancient culture, perception of the fact in our time, the resistance of religion, the atrophy of the religious conscience. As a result of this analysis, the author concludes that the fact that religion has been attacked constantly and in its very foundations, has in fact placed it in a position that is much more definite and much healthier. Besides, the modern criticisms of religion bring to the kernel of the question under discussion no new element. The novelty is in the manner used for the attack, and the means employed, which are far more massive than any hitherto availed of. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary An Ashkenazi Jewish Israeli family with two children affected with severe xeroderma pigmentosum was investigated. A son, XP12TA, developed skin cancer at 2 y and died at 10 y. A daughter, XP25TA, now 24 y old, was sun protected and began developing skin cancers at 10 y. Their cultured skin fibroblasts showed reductions in post-ultraviolet survival (11% of normal), unscheduled DNA synthesis (10% of normal), global genome DNA repair (15% of normal), and plasmid host cell reactivation (5% of normal). Transcription-coupled DNA repair was normal, however. Northern blot analysis revealed greatly reduced xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C mRNA. A plasmid host cell reactivation assay assigned the cells to xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C. Cells from both parents and an unaffected child exhibited normal post-ultraviolet-C survival and normal DNA repair. Sequencing the xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C cDNA of XP12TA and XP25TA revealed a homozygous deletion of two bases (del AT 669–670) in exon 5 with a new termination site 10 codons downstream that is expected to encode a truncated xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C protein. Sequence analysis of the xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C cDNA in cells from the parents found identical heterozygous mutations: one allele carries both the exon 5 frameshift and an exon 15 polymorphism and the other allele carries neither alteration. Cells from the unaffected brother had two normal xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C alleles. This frameshift mutation in the xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C gene led to reduced DNA repair with multiple skin cancers and early death. Sun protection delayed the onset of skin cancer and prolonged life in a sibling with the same mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]