The impact of a near-death experience on family relationships

This study explores the influence that a near-death experience (NDE) had on the family relationships of eleven NDErs, based on in-depth interviews. I detail the changes in relationships with extensive quotes providing data on family interactions. Analysis of the adjustments of NDErs within their family relationships reveals that while some families cope well and are positively influenced by an NDE, others may encounter difficulty and cease to function as they previously did. The transformation that NDErs themselves undergo, as well as the attitudes of others toward the NDE and the NDEr, are instrumental in altering NDErs' family relationships.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43978/1/10920_2005_Article_BF01074179.pd

JNDS, Volume 9, Number 3

Study exploring the influence that a near-death experience (NDE) had on the family relationships of eleven NDErs, based on in-depth interviews, detailing the changes in relationships with extensive quotes providing data on family interactions

Engaging students: A sense of community through clustered classes and extracurricular cultural activities in an inner -city high school

The widespread underachievement of students in American public schools is the subject of much attention in the education discourse. Research on urban schools often documents a student culture that is characterized by low levels of academic performance, particularly among African-American students. Studies specific to this population have described students feeling alienation toward school and the educational mission, as well as particular challenges facing black youth in inner-city communities including anti-academic influences of the streets and more particularly, student fears of negative peer sanctions (e.g., criticism about “acting white”) in response to academic interests and achievement. This dissertation explores the perceived incompatibility between students and school, the ways in which a school\u27s structural organization can engage students\u27 educational interests, and the nature of anti-academic peer influences on students\u27 school experiences. Research was conducted through four years of participant observation and in-depth interviewing at a large urban public high school. Within this setting, I focus on male students in one of the school\u27s cluster programs featuring traditional academic classes and extracurricular cultural activities. Examining student experiences in this program, I find its academic “college-prep” curriculum and unique out-of-school cultural activity offerings foster an elite academically-oriented identity which students find positive and appealing. Having classes together and aspiring to succeed in school, students develop and express common enthusiasm for educational endeavors. Students acknowledge anti-academic influences; yet, they also indicate that within the context of their school program, solidarity with other academically-interested students and a general sociability amongst their peers enables them to pursue educational interests without significant social impediments or discouragement. Furthermore, positive student appraisal of cultural event participation engages students in a broader conception of learning and self-reflection, especially with consideration to issues of race and class mobility via involvement in “high culture” activities that are not typical of their prior experiences or their out-of-school peers\u27 behaviors. However, despite positive regard for education, the larger social context surrounding this school program and the comparatively weak standards by which academic performance is measured gives students a tenuous sense of accomplishment and self-assurance as they prepare for the world beyond high school