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A group of individuals who share common beliefs form a culture in which they communicate their values and attributes about certain aspects of society. Sex education remains one of the early teachings that humans experience irrespective of the race or level of development of a given society. However, different cultures perceive sex education differently due to differences in attitudes and beliefs, leading to significant diversity in the management of sex education among different societies across the globe. Many studies have found that in a traditional society with a homogeneous culture, the foremost reason for the different approaches to sex education is related to traditional values, in addition to other factors such as religion and political belief. In order to improve sex education, and consequently, sexual health in a modern multicultural society such as Australia, it becomes imperative to identify the inconsistency in beliefs about sex education among individuals with different cultural backgrounds in the Australian population. In this report, the author highlights similarities and differences in the methods employed by certain cultures of the Australian population. The report considers the different cultural environments of specific societies, the prevalence of sex education in these societies and how culture influences the prevalence. The concluding thoughts reflect on the success of the education programs in Australia, based on the idea that resolving the problems of sex education needs support from a number of bodies within Australian society.

Theme: Exploring the value and values of comparative education ; 主題: 比較教育之道:審思與前瞻 ; Panel: The value and values of comparative research on shadow education: Methodological perspectives from researchers in Hong Kong and Mainland China ; This session comprises studies on shadow education in Hong Kong and Guangzhou under the education reform climate which places pedagogical focus on student-centred learning, learner autonomy and all-round development of students. However, the studies reveal that shadow education tends to promote contradictory values for profit-making assurance. Private tutors in tutorial centres usually adopt a one-way lecturing style with exclusive focus on examination preparation which appeals to learners' superficial needs. This may discourage learner autonomy and, more seriously, devalue the ethos of teaching and learning intended for the reforms in mainstream education. Issues for critical discussion: 1. What kinds of values are promoted under the education reform in mainstream schooling? How are they similar or different from those promoted under shadow education? 2. What do students, parents, teachers, tutors, school principals, and government officials think about the different directions the two systems are going? 3. What should the government do if the two systems are going in different directions? 4. How can learners' autonomy develop amidst the trend of efficiency in exam preparation? ; postprint

The authors argue that, although purporting to deal with class struggle, the article on 'Class Struggle and the Periodisation of the State in South Africa' in ReviewNo. 7 fails to focus its attention on the fundamental contradiction in South African society ‐ that of the struggle between capital and labour. The reason for this inadequacy lies in the article's dependency on the Poulantzian method of analysis which incorrectly separates 'economics' and 'politics' from the 'fundamental relations of exploitation' in capitalist society. It is only by establishing the unity between the relations of exploitation and their manifestation as political and economic forms that the state's position in the class struggle can be correctly located.

The findings of this study support the significance of motivational variables and media use in modifying the relationship between education and knowledge acquisition. People's behavioral involvement in the 1992 presidential campaign influenced the knowledge gap between education groups such that the gap was significantly smaller among those with a higher level of involvement. Also, respondents' television news viewing during the campaign significantly reduced the knowledge gap between education groups; thus, the more frequently people watched news stories on television, the smaller the impact of education on knowledge acquisition. The results also showed that there was a significant three-way interaction among education, campaign interest, and newspaper news attention, which indicates that the contribution of newspaper news attention to the knowledge gap between education groups differed depending on respondents' campaign interests.