Local Wisdom, the Muslim Community and the Strengthening of Pancasila Ideology in Bali

Studies on local wisdom, the dynamic practices of the Muslim community as a minority, and the Hindu majority in Bali are few. These kinds of studies are significant, concerning existing local wisdom. Spiritual values and noble cultural values need to be understood with societal development. Official religions often cause community fragmentation. There are several questions. First, how does a community adapt local knowledge to local wisdom? Second, what forms of tolerant spiritual and religious practices should be prominent concerning the influence of Islam? The majority of Balinese Hindu traditions and religion are different. Third, how do Bali’s communities interpret local wisdom with religious tolerance and moderation? Pancasila ideology in Indonesia’s national life is not only for the present; but for the future

Prison Life, Sociology of: Recent Perspectives from the United Kingdom

Prison life both fascinates and repels. As with many aspects of punishment it attracts the interest of both academics and the general public. In this short and accessible account the principal issues of prison life are presented in a historical context that traces the emergence of focussed academic study of the way people live, and die, in prison. The most influential theoretical perspectives are clearly set out alongside a discussion of their influence on research and analysis in the UK and beyond. Questions of women’s experience and that of black and minority ethnic prisoners are explored before a consideration of post-colonial prison studies is introduced. These studies of prison life beyond the axis of Europe and north America challenge some of the accumulated academic wisdom of Anglo-phone and European studies of prison life, indicating the potential of novel developments to come in an era which, nfortunately, shows no signs of declining to produce more and more prisons

What Do the National Data Tell Us About Minority Teacher Shortages?

For the past several decades, shortages of minority teachers have been a big issue for the nation’s schools. Policymakers at all levels, including recent presidents, have agreed that our elementary and secondary teaching force “should look like America.” But conventional wisdom is that as the nation’s population and students have grown more racially and ethnically diverse, the teaching force has done the opposite. The result, we are told, is that minority students in the nation’s schools increasingly lack minority adult role models, don’t have sufficient contact with teachers who understand their racial and cultural backgrounds, and often lack qualified teachers of any background, because nonminority teachers eschew schools with large percentages of minorities. The minority teacher shortage in turn, we are told, is a major reason for the minority achievement gap and, ultimately, unequal occupational and life outcomes for disadvantaged students. In short, the minority teacher shortage is considered a major civil rights issue (for reviews, see Quiocho & Rios, 2000; Torres et al., 2004; Villegas & Lucas, 2004; Zumwalt & Craig, 2005). The main source of minority teacher shortages, conventional wisdom holds, is a problem with the teacher supply pipeline. In this view, too few minority students enter and complete college, and those who do have an increasing number of career and employment options aside from teaching. Moreover, when minority candidates do seek to enter teaching, this view holds, they encounter barriers—in particular, teaching entry tests, on which minority candidates historically have tended to have lower pass rates. The result is the minority teacher shortage. The prescription, understandably enough, has been to try to recruit more minority candidates into teaching. In recent decades, numerous government and nongovernment organizations have launched a variety of minority teacher recruitment programs and initiatives, including future educator programs in high schools, partnerships between community colleges and four-year teacher education programs, career ladders for paraprofessionals in schools, and alternative teacher certification programs (see, e.g., Hirsch, Koppich & Knapp, 2001; Feistritzer, 1997; Liu et al., 2008; Rice, Roellke, Sparks & Kolbe, 2008). Support for these efforts has been substantial. For instance, beginning in the late 1980s, the Ford Foundation, along with the DeWitt Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, committed more than $60 million to minority teacher recruitment and preparation programs. Many of these initiatives have been designed to bring minority teachers into schools serving predominantly minority student populations, often in low-income, urban school districts. Some of these initiatives have been designed specifically to recruit minority men, as they are often considered to be in the shortest supply. Today, in more than half of the states, minority teacher recruitment policies or programs of some sort are in place. Despite these ongoing efforts, however, many commentators see little success, claiming that, if anything, the student-teacher diversity gap has widened (e.g., Villegas, Strom and Lucas, 2012). This raises important questions: Has the teaching force grown more diverse or less so? And if diversity has not increased, why haven’t these efforts been successful? This section seeks to address these questions

THE EXISTENCE OF MINORITIES IN THE SPECIFICITY OF ISLAMIC SYIAR IN ACEH, INDONESIA

The Majority (98,91%) of Aceh population are Muslims. Other religious followers are hardly in number (minority) in Aceh; Christian (0,79%), Catholic (0,19%), Buddhist (0,11%), and Hinduism (0,00%).  The Muslim majority of Aceh population pushed the Indonesian government to granted special right in order to implement Islamic syi’ar and Islamic law in Aceh. Life of minority of other religious followers, often become an attention from Aceh outsiders. Aceh geographic location on international maritime belt allowed its community to get in touched with different civilizations, stimulated openness and tolerance for its peoples. Islamic mission model without violence in Aceh in early days established humanism that make minority fell safe among syi’ar and sharia (Islamic law) implementation in Aceh. Nevertheless, there is little obstacle among believers’ relationship in Aceh Singkil District. To keep believers live in harmony, minorities who are comers to respect local wisdom which are characterized fully with Islamic nuance and protected by Indonesia law. Keywords: Minority, Islamic Syi’ar, Ace

A Reflection of the Inclusive Attitude towards Homosexuality from the Buddhist Perspective

Although homosexuality is controversial, particularly in conservative communities, many Buddhists accept those whose sexual orientation is different from the majority. In light of scriptures, the Buddhist wisdom reveals compassion towards sentient beings, regardless of sex, age, and social class. This study discusses the Buddhist views on sexual minority, and on how Buddhists react to this challenge. It reveals the significance of inclusiveness in contemporary society

The Minority Teacher Shortage: Fact or Fable?

For several decades, shortages of minority teachers have been a big issue for the nation\u27s schools. Policy makers and recent presidents have agreed that our elementary and secondary teaching force should look like America. But the conventional wisdom is that as the nation\u27s population and students have grown more diverse, the teaching force has done the opposite —grown more white and less diverse

Do Majority Black Districts Limit Blacks’ Representation? The Case of the 1990 Redistricting

Conventional wisdom and empirical academic research conclude that majority Black districts decrease Black representation by increasing conservatism in Congress. However, this research generally suffers from three limitations: 1) too low a level of aggregation 2) lack of a counterfactual and 3) failure to account for the endogeneity of the creation of majority minority districts. I compare congressional delegations of states that during the 1990 redistricting were under greater pressure to create majority minority districts with those under lesser pressure in a difference-in-difference framework. I find no evidence that the creation of majority minority districts leads to more conservative House delegations. In fact point estimates indicate that states that increased their share of majority Black districts saw their delegations grow increasingly liberal. I find similar results for majority Latino districts in the southwest. Thus I find no evidence for the common view that majority minority districts decrease minority representation in Congress.