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charter school

(Encyclopedia)charter school, alternative type of American public school that, while paid for by taxes, is independent of the public-school system and relatively free from state and local regulations. A charter sch...

minimum wage

(Encyclopedia)minimum wage, lowest wage legally permitted in an industry or in a government or other organization. The goal in establishing minimum wages has been to assure wage earners a standard of living above t...

Grenada

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Grenada grĭnāˈdə [key], independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations (2015 est. pop. 107,000), 133 sq mi (344 sq km), in the Windward Islands, West Indies. The state includes the is...

Ordinance of 1787

(Encyclopedia)Ordinance of 1787, adopted by the Congress of Confederation for the government of the Western territories ceded to the United States by the states. It created the Northwest Territory and is frequently...

primary

(Encyclopedia)primary, in the United States, a preliminary election in which the candidate of a party is nominated directly by the voters. The establishment of the primary system resulted from the demand to elimina...

Sheldon, Edward Austin

(Encyclopedia)Sheldon, Edward Austin, 1823–97, American educator, b. Wyoming co., N.Y., studied at Hamilton College. After illness forced him to cut short his own education, he held a variety of positions in the ...

Weinberger, Caspar Willard

(Encyclopedia)Weinberger, Caspar Willard wīnˈbûrgər [key], 1917–2006, U.S. government official, U.S. secretary of defense (1981–87), b. San Francisco, grad. Harvard (1938), Harvard Law School (1941). After ...

Potawatomi

(Encyclopedia)Potawatomi pŏtˌəwŏtˈəmē [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They are close...

Perlman, Selig

(Encyclopedia)Perlman, Selig, 1888–1959, American economist, b. Bialystok, Poland. His parents were active in the Zionist and labor movements of Eastern Europe. Perlman emigrated to the United States in 1918, whe...

home economics

(Encyclopedia)home economics, study of homemaking and the relation of the home to the community. Formerly limited to problems of food (nutrition and cookery), clothing, sewing, textiles, household equipment, housec...