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Asserts that ground rules can provide your class with a firm foundation for other health education lessons. States that the best strategy in helping to reduce anxiety, particularly when sensitive issues are being discussed, is to establish ground rules; these involve setting up an agreement between group members as to how they should behave when they are together. Advises on ground rules, their establishment and their beneficial effect.

Contends that successful personal and social education depends more on methodology than on content and describes a range of simple techniques that can help to enhance the personal and social development of every pupil: explains how to hold a brainstorming session and how to use the snowball technique; provides ideas for a prioritizing exercise; gives suggestions for decision‐making exercises. Stresses the importance of having clear objectives which should be shared with the class as well as time for assessment. Concludes that familiarity with the techniques will encourage students to facilitate the session, research topics and prepare materials, thus the personal and social development of every member of the class will be enhanced.

Describes how inviting pupils to bring objects they value to show the class can build pupils′ self‐confidence. Suggests an exercise, useful with any age, to be used ideally when a new group has just been formed, which should increase self‐esteem and enhance general sympathy and understanding. Outlines the implementation of the exercise, noting the importance of ground rules, and comments on some typical outcomes. Highlights the positive aspects of the exercise and its value in group building.

Describes a method for covering the issue of personal hygiene in a health education class. Emphasizes the sensitive approach required to tackle this subject with young people who may be embarrassed by severe acne, for example, or who do not have a bath or hot water at home. Provides a lesson outline and a true/false quiz on various aspects of personal hygiene.

The first chapter in the volume, by George A. Barrett and Michael L. Brookshire, is entitled “The Forensic Economics of Medical Monitoring Damages in the United States.” It focuses on a relatively new category of compensatory damages, the measurement of the costs of monitoring the medical condition of a group of designated individuals. These individuals may have alleged that they were adversely affected by the tortuous conduct of certain defendants. Barrett and Brookshire explain the legal parameters, which govern the ways such costs may be measured. They also provide a listing of the relevant cases across different states and in federal courts.

(Koyaanisqatsi video excerpts, showing clouds, water, land.)

The recent “reverse”¹ discrimination decisions by the Supreme Court involving the admissions decision-making policies at the University of Michigan² illustrate the underlying need for private and public entities to justify the need to reach or maintain diversity within an organization. Clearly, the equality of the decision-making methodology and criteria used to obtain and maintain diversity was an issue, but perhaps more pressing was the question of whether such programs were necessary. The issue of parity is at the very center of these cases. If the normal admissions process would have resulted in obtaining the predicted number of minority admissions then there may no longer be a need for such programs. While the university cases have been most publicized recently, matters involving affirmative action plans and governmental programs to enhance diversity (such as minority contractor set-asides) face similar questions of parity.

AS J. L. Hobbs shows so clearly in his recent book, the interest in local history is growing enormously at present. The universities, training colleges and schools, as well as the institutions of further education, are all making more use of local studies—geographical, economic, social and historical—in their regular courses, in their advanced work, and in their publications.