Virginia College Proactively Manages Student Loan Debt
(Published on Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:40:53 GMT)
The Obama administration offered financial relief last month to one million college students and recent graduates struggling to make student loan payments, as tuition costs rapidly rise. Administrators at a community college in Virginia have watched the tuition-loan crisis building and have launched their own program to help head it off.
Navy veteran Reason Chandler wanted to earn a college degree after leaving the military, but he needed the money to pay for it. So, like almost half of the 46,000 students at Tidewater Community College in Virginia, he applied for financial aid, taking out loans and grants to help fund his education.
I am 26, so it gives me a little more life experience than someone who is 18 and directly from high school, said Chandler.
To get their loan checks, Tidewater students must complete a current budget of income and expenses, and a projected post-graduation budget, based on what that first job might pay. That way, school administrators say, a student will know better what money is left to pay the debt.
My starting salary for urban and regional planning is around $36,000 to $40,000 a year, said Chandler. I look back at how much I borrow and how much my payments would be. My payments would be about $136 a month.
Thats reasonable, said Tidewater Community College President Deborah DiCroce.
Take out a mortgage to buy a house, that very next month that first payment is due. Same thing with a car payment. That is not true with this. There is too much lag time and what we are trying to do is close the gap so that the student understands it is not a handout. It is not free, and on top of that you are going to owe that money whether you are successful in reaching your goal or not, said DiCroce.
DiCroce said Tidewater tied student budget plans to financial aid packages to help avert the crisis that administrators saw growing. As the economy failed, Tidewaters enrollment swelled, with more students seeking the low-cost education of a community college. Also on the rise is the number of students using debt to finance college
Last year, graduates who took out loans left college owing an average of $24,000, said Obama. Student loan debt has now surpassed credit card debt, for the first time ever.
Late last month, the president announced a debt-relief plan for Americas college students and recent graduates. Beginning next year, the pay as you earn plan caps loan payments at 10 percent of discretionary income, and forgives the debt after 20 years of repayment.
This is one way to deal with it. And maybe that is the only way we have to deal with it right now, but for me I prefer to look at it on the front end, said DiCroce.
Chandler said he is glad he did the financial prep work beforehand, and said he borrowed less. After all, he told us, he has graduate school to pay for next.
Arrests of Academics in Turkey Cause Concerns
(Published on Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:38:44 GMT)
Concerns are growing over academic freedom in Turkey following the arrest of a well-known university professor under the countrys anti-terror laws. The government argues that it is facing a growing threat from the PKK rebel group, which is fighting for greater Kurdish rights
Academics at Istanbuls elite Bosphorus University protested against the arrest of fellow Professor Busra Ersanli, under the countrys anti terror laws
Ersanli, was acting as an advisor to the Kurdistan Workers Party, the countrys main legal Kurdish party, on constitutional reform.
Now, she is languishing in a maximum security prison awaiting trial on charges of supporting the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK. If convicted she faces up to 20 years in jail
Her detention is part of a new worrying trend claims Professor Ayfer Bartu of Bosphorus University. He says the crackdown has already taken its toll on academic freedom,
There is a lot of self censorship that is going at the universities, said Bartu. A graduate university from our department detained , and couple of students from other departments were also detained. Some people are worried now because of the research they are doing, because it now becoming so easy to mark people.They are creating this reality that anyone who even talks about the Kurdish issue, is actually a supporter of the PKK, it didnt use to be like that.
Prosecutors claim that the detentions are a necessary part of their battle against what they portray as a terrorist conspiracy hatched by the Democratic Society Congress, or KCK. The government asserts the group acts as the urban wing of the PKK
Human rights groups say over 5,000 people have been detained and arrested, including Kurdish mayors, trade unionists, human rights workers as well as academics and students as part of the KCK investigation
Critics say the investigation has little do with fighting terrorism
Richard Howitt member of the European Parliaments committee on Turkey has been following many of the cases
...7,500 pages on the indictment list, but not one mention of any weapon or any violence seems to suggest its a series of political trials against Kurdish activists, that what they say maybe true, said Howitt.
The arrest of a leading academic has added to the concerns over the investigation. But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently dismissed the growing criticism and strongly defended the latest arrests
What is the KCK Who is behind it They are defending the KCK without seriously researching these things, he said. Those arrested speak of revolution. Revolutions are made with guns. The prosecutors conducted a wiretap and caught this. Everything will come to light once the indictment is drawn up.
But the sweeping anti terror laws are also being used against student protesters. Last year, three students who held a up a banner calling for free university education during a rally for the prime minister, were accused of being members of a far left terrorist group and held in a maximum security jail for 17 months until the charges were finally dropped.
At Istanbuls University campus, there is growing fear among politically active students. Police officers now freely roam this campus, as they do all others in the country. This comes after the government reinstated the right of the police to do so - something that had been originally introduced by the countrys military rulers in the 1980s. This student, who asked not to be named, is worried.
We are afraid of police forces on students, now I dont want to talk on mobile phones with my friends for the political subjects, said the student. Because somebody can hear me. So all these developments make young people afraid.
Observers say there is now increasing concern that the on-going anti-terrorism crackdown maybe more about silencing criticism than any war on terrorism.
Plantation Schools Offer Hope for Malaysias Stateless Children
(Published on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:19:33 GMT)
Sabah, a Malaysian state of great beauty and natural resources on the island of Borneo, is home to a vast population of immigrant labor - both legal and illegal. Tens of thousands of children born to Indonesian and Filipino parents who are in the country illegally are stateless. They have no right to basic services, including education. Thousands of deprived children now are attending school on palm oil plantations thanks to the work of non-governmental organizations, with the support of the U.N. Childrens Fund (UNICEF).
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For these youngsters, going to school is a joy
Before they came here, they had no schooling at all. They actually started here. So, this is their first experience to school, said Torben Venning, the Project Director for Borneo Humana Child Aid Society, a non-governmental organization that provides education for underprivileged children. The school at the Cepat Wawasan plantation, is one of 120 learning centers the group runs for more than 10,000 children
He says about 50 students were enrolled in the school when it began two years ago. Now, more than twice that number attend.
All the children you see in the yellow and green here, added Venning. They are all plantation children. Some from small farms around, some from the company here. Most of them are from Indonesian parents, but, they are considered stateless because they are born in Sabah.
Stateless
Reuters
Arfaisal Marsaleh, 2, a stateless child, holds on to his mother as he plays with his friends in a slum village in Kinarut, in Malaysias Sabah state on the Borneo island. (file photo)
The children are stateless. Because they have no birth certificates or other documents to prove their nationality, they live in a legal limbo. Without documents, they cannot access government services, including education. Venning says this becomes a huge problem for the Plantation children.
If you do not provide an education for them, there is absolutely no doubt that the majority will go with their parents into the field and become child laborers from the age of 9, 10 years, he said. So, it is about education first of all. At the same time it is also keeping them away from child labor
In many cases, he says these underprivileged children end up living on the streets.
That would be a course of trouble definitely-sniffing glue and getting into bad habits, said Venning. So, by giving them a basic education, then you keep them away from this. Many of these plantation children, if they were to grow up without any education at all, there is no doubt that they would end up in towns.
Choices
The school premises are large, bright and well equipped. It is a showcase compared to the usual sub-standard, primitive structures found in most plantation schools
Factory Manager of the Cepat Wawasan plantation, Gan Heng Kok, says he is very impressed by what the company is doing for the children.
I have been to so many estates working and so many places and not many companies have such a good facility to offer to the little children on the estates, said Gan Heng Kok. And, I can clearly say that this is one of the best places that I have been where the company is actually so committed to offering education to little children in their estates. I am amazed at what is being done in this place here.
Monitoring and Education Officer for the U.N. Childrens Fund, Nur Anuar Muthalib says large plantation owners tend to welcome education for their migrant workers children. Owners of small and medium-sized plantations are more resistant to the idea.
He agrees families can make more money if their children do not go to school and work on the plantations. But, he says this is a very shortsighted view.
It is an opportunity lost for the kids because what they can become, what they can do with their lives with an education would probably make a bigger impact on the family, said Nur Anuar Muthalib. We have seen that many of the children who have become successful, they go back to their communities. They do help their parents
Goals
The Malaysian and Indonesian governments signed an agreement in 2006, allowing more than 100 teachers from Indonesia to come to the Plantation schools to instruct children in their language. Torben Venning says the idea is to make the students fluent in their native language so they can continue their education, without problem, in Indonesia after they complete primary school.
When they pass the Indonesian government exam, they can go straight to secondary school in Indonesia, said Venning. So, that is sort of the master plan-that they are able to go back and continue their schooling in Indonesia and thereby, they are no more stateless. They become Indonesian citizens. If they then opt to come back here, that would be as legalized employees.
Several mothers are beaming as they watch their children perform traditional songs and dances. One mother, 29-year-old Amirasaa, says she is very proud to see what her daughter is learning.
Amirasaa is young and pretty. But, she looks very care worn
She says she works on the plantation and worries that her children too will have to work on the plantation. She says she wants a better life for her three children. And, believes this is possible if they get an education. She adds her oldest child, her daughter, who is attending school, told her she wants to become a teacher one day.
For South Korean Youth, an Education Crossroads
(Published on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:09:10 GMT)
Students in Sudo Electric Technical High Schools workshop weld rods together while others hammer metal plates.
In a country that wins praise for its education system - U.S. President Barack Obama frequently cites Korea as a model for scholastic performance - the 600 students at a Seoul vocational school arent receiving a typical Korean high school education, and most wont head to universities once they graduate.
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We are now focusing on some practical skills, which the IT field or the mechanics field really require, says Geum Donghoe, a teacher in Sudos information technologies department.
Although Korean students are among the highest scorers on international standardized tests, and up to 80 percent of high school graduates enroll in a university, some say there is a downside.
Conventional schools, critics say, are too focused on getting students into top universities when there arent enough jobs for highly educated graduates.
Now the South Korean government is promoting alternatives to college, such as the electrical and electronics-engineering curricula at Sudo, much of which, says Donghoe, is on par with graduate-degree coursework.
Once they graduate they can get into the real field right away and apply the techniques they learned in the high school immediately, he says.
Meister schools
Sudo is one of 21 so-called Meister schools nationwide. Modeled on German academies, some of the trade schools receive funding from the South Korean government.
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, who was on hand at Sudos opening ceremony in 2010, says Meister graduates receive an internationally competitive high-tech education.
With government figures indicating that less than half of 2010 college graduates hold full-time jobs, along with news media reports that highly-educated applicants are usurping low-skilled positions from those with only high school diplomas, President Lee is promoting trade schools as an alternative to university education.
Because of a partnership with Koreas electrical power authority that guarantees employment for all Meister graduates, students like 16-year-old Kang Seok-ho are forsaking traditional education.
If someone graduates from university they are not so easy to get a job, says the first year Sudo student. Too many university graduates are seeking for a job, and [its] very hard.
An outmoded post-war development
Koreas emphasis on higher education is a product of its post war economic development, says Jasper Kim, visiting scholar at the Korea Institute, Harvard University, who teaches East-West comparative studies.
Reuters
Photo of student on mothers prayer beads as she prays for daughters success in college entrance examinations, Seoul, Nov. 8, 2011.
Korean families regard a university degree as the means to improve ones financial and social status, he says, which lifted South Korea out of poverty during the 20th century but no longer satisfies the needs of todays job market.
Theres a lot of supply of highly educated, arguably over-educated people, but on the flip side, the demand side, they all want to work for a narrow bandwidth of companies, namely the LGs and Samsungs of the world, he says. They only need a few people and they only pluck those people from a certain narrow bandwidth of schools.
The only path to those schools is a high score on university entrance exams, which, he says, build tremendous pressure on students and lower the quality of Koreas entire educational system.
Students, he says, become victimized by an obsession to attend elite schools.
At the primary and secondary level, thats really where the problem is - relatively low-quality education in which teachers effectively teach to the test, he says. This means that theyre not really focusing on the pedagogical advancement of their students, [but] rather how to get students to pass a certain test, the college entrance exam, so that their placement rates at top universities will be very high and make the [primary and secondary schools] look prestigious.
He says fixing the system wont be easy, but that government promotion of vocational schools as an option for students is a step in the right direction.
A difficult decision
Still, the decision to skip university is a tough choice for any teenager.
Earlier this month, students outside In Jang Boys High School in Seoul cheered test takers as they passed through the main gate, heading in to take the exam that many Koreans consider the most important event in their lives.
Of South Koreas 196 universities, it is only the top four that almost all Korean families want their children to attend.
Bae Tae-ils son, who took the entrance exam on November 10 and will receive the results at the end of this month, says university name is critically important to most Koreans.
If you get into a famous university, you have more opportunities to define your life, he says. You get more respect from other people, depending on what school you go to.
Sudo Technical High School student Seo Hyun Joos says she made the right decision to study here, instead of a normal school. But the 17-year-old says she understands her career interests may change with age.
Describing herself as young with opportunities awaiting her after graduation, if she doesnt like the work, she says, she will just study for university exams.
Ill keep my options open, she says.
Scientists Help US Science Teachers in the Classroom
(Published on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:31:02 GMT)
Students in the United States in their last year of high school are not performing as well on the same science tests as their peers in many other countries. Educators say there should be more emphasis on science in American schools. A visit to one school where a retired engineer is using his expertise in science to help both teachers and students shows how it can benefit everyone.
Welcome to science class. So good to see you guys today, said retired engineer Dave Weiss, greeting 10-year-old students at Georgian Forest Elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland. One day each week, he works with [substitute] teacher Fred Tenyke on science projects. Before class, they discuss the days assignment before the students arrive
In this experiment, I think it might be confusing to the kids that were dealing with two masses, said Weiss to Tenyke, in advance of the class.
Todays experiment demonstrates the principles of motion and involves string and cars made of paper.
But the experiment were going to do, we want to keep all of our variables constant, said Weiss.
Student Jada Lockwood said she enjoys Weiss visits to her classroom. She especially likes the diagrams he uses to explain scientific concepts.
Mr. Weiss would go in the back and draw these pictures, and he helps us a lot, said Lockwood.
Weiss has been a volunteer for many years in the senior scientists and engineers program sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The scientists and engineers are teaching teachers in elementary schools more about science so they can improve their skills to help their students
Weiss said he and the other volunteers help teachers by providing hands-on expertise, in an area with which many elementary school teachers have little experience
In elementary school, for the most part, your regular classroom teacher is responsible for teaching science, along with reading and math, and if they dont have a strong science background, just by nature, theyre going to tend to under-represent science in the curriculum, said Weiss.
Tenyke agrees. He just started teaching science classes a few months ago
A lot of time Ill spit out information I learned in the book, or things that are part of the curriculum. Dave helps me learn how to supplement that information so that its more relevant to them, so that it will be more relevant to their work experience later on in life, said Tenyke
Weiss said he enjoys sharing his knowledge.
Fred is so enthusiastic and hes so much fun with the kids. I can see he really loves what hes doing. I get as much pleasure from helping the teachers as I do helping the students, said Weiss.
The retired engineer is concerned, though, that U.S. students are lagging in science, behind countries such as China, Japan, the Czech Republic and Finland. But he is optimistic American students will catch up.
In elementary school I just try to give them a solid foundation. I hope theyll develop a curiosity about whats going on around them, said Weiss.
Tenkye thinks volunteers like Weiss are helping students do that
And if you can develop a passion for science, then eventually the grades and test scores will follow [and increase, too], said Tenkye.
Weiss hopes by getting children interested in science early, more of them will follow in his footsteps.
Bakery Cooks Up a Sweet Future
(Published on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:02:19 GMT)
Step inside the kitchen of Sunflower Bakery and youll notice the typical sights, sounds and smells of a professional kitchen in action. But there is one thing that sets this bakery apart from others in the area: its special training program
Five days a week, two professional pastry chefs work one-on-one with young adults from the community who have developmental or other cognitive disabilities. Their goal is to teach them basic skills so they can become proficient enough to get jobs in the baking industry.
During the 12-month training program, students spend about six months receiving professional instruction at Sunflower followed by a six-month internship, either in-house or at a local bakery
Sweet Dream
Sara Portman Milner and Laurie Wexler founded the non-profit enterprise in 2009
Before launching Sunflower Bakery, Milner worked at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington developing their special needs program.
Wexler had almost two decades of experience in program delivery and fundraising for non-profit organizations
As a social worker, I met Laurie and she said to me one day, What do you think about this idea of starting a bakery that would train people with disabilities to work in a bakery Milner recalls, and I said, Im all about that. I love baking, I love working with people with special needs to give them opportunities that they wouldnt have otherwise, lets try it.
They started the bakery as a pilot program, and it grew from there. Perfect career choice
Most of their trainees, who range in age from 18 to 27, are transitioning from school to the workplace. Sunflower is there to help ease that journey.
VOA - J. Taboh
After going through its training program, Verred Joharie (center in yellow) is now employed at Sunflower Bakery and hopes to have a career in the baking industry.
They have a variety of disabilities, from language processing difficulties to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bi-polar disorder to mild intellectual deficits
Because of their challenges, it usually takes them longer to learn and process information. Milner says thats why baking can be a perfect career choice, since it involves a lot of structure and repetition.
This provides a socially acceptable way to get a job that you learn skills that are valued and needed, and you get paid with the structure built in, says Milner. Gaining confidence
Rachel Easterling, 23, has been working at the bakery on a part-time basis since April of this year and says working with the bakery staff has helped her gain confidence.
The way I am, theyre so patient with me. I feel like I will learn more here than anywhere else because they take their time with you, theyre not too busy, its like one-on-one with you. But if I go somewhere else everybodys just too busy.
VOA - J. Taboh
Treats baked by trainees at Sunflower Bakery
Trainee Verred Joharie, 21, has a mild form of Aspergers Syndrome, a disorder on the autistic spectrum. People with the disorder often have difficulty interacting with other people and adapting to new environments.
But Joharie says her training at Sunflower has taught her to be more self-assured.
At the beginning I was unsure. I was confused, I was anxious. Now, since theyve helped me, its like I can open my eyes to the world and see what I want to do, how the world works, including working environments. I want to put myself out there, but I know its going to take a little bit more time for me.
Into the workforce
Joharie was one of five students to graduate from Sunflowers training program this past September - the first group to complete the program since it began.
VOA - J. Taboh
Sunflower Bakerys desserts are boxed and ready to be delivered.
The aspiring young baker did so well that Sunflower hired her - for pay - right after she completed her internship at a local caterer.
The other graduates also have promising futures in the baking industry.
Milner says the training program has been life changing for many of her students.
When we started Sunflower bakery, we knew we wanted to try to give people opportunities, she says. We had no idea how phenomenal the impact would be on trainees. And weve had people whove turned their lives around.
Milner says she hopes to be able to expand her bakery from the industrial setting where its currently located and add another site, with a full storefront and caf, where trainees can further develop their culinary skills.
UN Helps Refugee Children Stay in School in Senegal
(Published on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:19:47 GMT)
In Senegals northern Fouta region, the United Nations is helping thousands of Mauritanian refugee children continue their education. There are many economic and cultural challenges to staying in school while one is a refugee.
It is late afternoon at the Ndioum refugee camp, 500 kilometers northeast of Dakar. A few dozen Mauritanians have gathered after prayer to discuss new income-generating activities with members of the UN Refugee Agency.
Sitting quietly among this group of elderly men and women is Oumar Alassane Ba, a tall, lanky 16-year-old who is sporting a Chelsea football jersey and basketball shorts. Oumar is a Senegalese-born, Mauritanian refugee. He is the top student at his community high school and was named best overall student in the region.
Oumar said education for him is very important, because even though he is a student today, in the future he will be a father. His own father had to drop out of school, because of poverty, and he does not want this to happen to his own children.
VOA - A. Fortier
Sixteen-year-old Oumar Alassane Ba is a Senegalese-born, Mauritanian refugee, who is the top student at his community high school and was named best overall student in the region, in Ndioum, Senegal, November 2011.
Challenges, opportunities for refugee students
Oumar is part of a new generation of refugees - a group who were born, schooled and, in some fortunate cases, financially supported in Senegals French school system.
The first group of refugee students arrived in 1989 among more than 60,000 Mauritanians who fled to Senegal following ethnic clashes. Many students arrived with little hope of continuing their studies
Aboubakary Diack is a 43-year-old Mauritanian refugee and regional director for the US aid organization, Tostan, in Senegals northern city Matam. He was deported from his hometown of Kaedi in Mauritania, in June 1989, just a week before high school graduation. He arrived alone in Senegal without his family or his papers.
Diack said in the beginning he thought of nothing else but how to get home. He did not want to finish his studies in Senegal, because he did not understand French. Then he got an academic scholarship from the UN refugee agency. But the Senegalese government initially refused to recognize his previous schoolwork, because it was done in Mauritanias Arabic school system.
Addressing issues to help students
The problem of different school systems has since been addressed, according to Marie-Aimee Mabita, Senior Regional Officer for UN refugee agency community services in West Africa.
Mabita said that they have helped put in place Arabic classes in schools in Senegal to help students integrate here, and French classes in Mauritanian schools, for those students returning home.
The UN refugee agency spends slightly more than 15% of its $1.4 million annual budget on education, including scholarships, rehabilitation projects and school materials here.
A couple hours drive from the Ndioum refugee camp is another site known as Thiabakh, in one of the poorest parts of the region. Here, at the three-room elementary school, boys and girls sit on small wooden benches reciting their French lesson. Two hundred and forty students are registered here - 60 are from refugee families.
Mamadou Ba is the school principle and one of three full-time teachers. He said some of the refugee families have four or five children at the school and the majority have money troubles, which is obvious from their clothes or lack of school material. Ba said kids are very sensitive to this, and to help ease the situation some of the teachers, including himself, have discretely given money to help them out.
According to the UN Refugee Convention, which Senegal has ratified, all children are guaranteed the same right to free primary school education, regardless of nationality, race or religion. In areas where a majority still lives off a couple dollars a day, however, the extra costs for food, clothes and even transportation make accessing and then continuing school very difficult.
Tackling inequities to better educate
Mabita said that while Senegal offers some of the best educational support in West Africa, in terms of infrastructure and teachers, there are still many areas in the Fouta region where the UN has had to help build and restructure schools. This is absolutely necessary, Mabita said, because education is an important way of helping young people integrate.
At a cultural level, the integration between Mauritanian refugees and local Senegalese has been relatively smooth. This is a result, many explain, of their shared Pulaar ethnicity. But within the Peul community, there are still some deeply engrained cultural and social traditions - some of which go against educational priorities.
Mabita said the formal education schools in Senegal have a lot of competition with the daaras, or Koranic schools, which many refugee children attend for religious reasons. The problem is these schools do not meet our standards of education. So when these young boys become adults, they are not able to properly function in society.
Mabita said the other issue is early marriage of young girls, which the UN is trying to address by giving girls preference over boys for scholarships and by educating the parents.
Back at the Ndioum camp, Oumar Alassane Ba stands tall before a group of young onlookers, the majority still in primary school. He admits he is lucky to have parents who pushed him to succeed. One day, he said, he dreams of becoming a physical chemist and to make his father proud.
Students Debate US Budget Through Online Game
(Published on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:58:05 GMT)
As a special congressional committee in Washington has been wrestling with ways to reduce the US budget deficit, students in Los Angeles and other American cities have also been tackling the problem. They have tried to trim government spending through an online game called Budget Hero.
These high school students say playing Budget Hero is showing them how hard it is to cut federal spending by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. Thats the challenge Congress faces.
The game was developed in 2008, and in an updated version, students can embrace a set of values to motivate their choices - pursuing efficient government, for example, lowering taxes, safeguarding the environment or promoting national defense. Using data from the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, the game shows the real-life budget impact of every choice they make.
The process is important, says student Dory Bennett. She says spending cuts are crucial to keep the economy healthy, and the American dream alive. I want to grow up, go to college, get a good job, have kids maybe, a dog and a house, he said
Like lawmakers in Washington, the students wrestled with the issues. A simplified tax code and a tax code that more fairly and correctly taxes the wealth in this country is obviously preferable, said one student
One former lawmaker gave the students some tips. Nine-term Congresswoman Jane Harman now heads the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which co-developed the online game. More than one million people have played it so far, and she says theyve learned two things.
One, how hard it is, but two, that it can be done if theres a will to do it, she said
Student Jeffrey Burke agrees that budget cutting isnt easy.
The hardest thing for us to figure out was the little cuts like the gas money and stuff, increasing taxes on gas, because we felt it would have effects everywhere from the truck drivers shipping our stuff across the country or when you order from [the online retailer] Amazon or whatever, to you drive when youre going to work. I think we need to look at the little things and realize that just because theyre small money doesnt mean theyre small effects, he said
Because at the same time, youve got oh, were going to freeze military spending, but then were like, what is that going to do to jobs But then the other half was, oh, we can take troops out of Iraq and we all agreed on that, he said
The broadcaster American Public Media co-developed the budget game, and the man in charge of digital innovation at the media network, Joaquin Alvarado, says many who play online leave a comment.
And they will literally in the comments ask that Congress play this game to just get a little rational around the questions that have to be answered, he said
Jane Harman, a Democrat, notes that Congress balanced the federal budget in 1997, when she represented California in Washington and that these students are having more success than current Members of Congress.
Kids, and actually adults too who play this game, have open minds. They want to learn what the facts are. And sadly, a lot of Congress is a fact-free universe, and that is tragic for our country, for our countrys reputation, and for our economy and the livelihoods of millions of people who are presently out of work, she said
But these students say that after playing Budget Hero, they better understand the challenge facing Congress, and that agreeing what to cut is the hard part.
Writing Program Supplements US Public Education
(Published on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:28:18 GMT)
For almost 10 years, a unique non-profit organization called 826 has been helping students across the United States become better writers by tapping into their creativity. Founded in San Francisco by the American author Dave Eggers and the educator Nnive Calegari, the 826 program has become so successful that it is now in seven additional U.S. cities.
In the middle of a mostly Latino neighborhood, the address 826 Valencia has become famously fun for many students and a curiosity for visitors. A pirate supply store greets everyone
By coming to 826 through a pirate store, Executive Director Leigh Lehman wants students to be in a creative mood
This is not school; this is not a tutoring center. This is a place for me to be myself and to find my voice and find my creativity and excel, Leigh said.
The goal of 826 Valencia is to help public school students between six and 18 years of age write creatively
During the day, classes come for field trips and volunteers help with writing projects. After school, students come for tutoring and creative writing. Many of the children here are from immigrant working families.
A lot of the parents dont speak English as a first language so its harder for them to help their children with school work. So were trying to provide the services that parents wouldnt otherwise be able to offer their kids for free, Leigh said.
The program has been so successful that its now in eight different cities in the United States, serving 30,000 students
From this pirate supply store in San Francisco, to a store for spies in Chicago, each 826 branch has a unique theme to fuel creativity
826 National Chief Executive Gerald Richards says due to budget cuts, arts education is disappearing in the public schools and so is the ability for students to use their imagination
I think there is much more of a focus on science, technology, engineering and math. Theres a lot of a focus on testing and a lot of the teaching thats going on in the schools is focusing on the test and passing the test rather than thinking about how do we get kids to think. How do we get them to reason, he said.
Richards says being creative and innovative are important even in the sciences. Knowing how to write well will also help students get to college and beyond.
For jobs and employers and just every subject is the ability to communicate well really does open a lot of doors, Richards said.
Leigh Lehman says 826 also builds confidence by publishing and selling the students work at places such as the pirate supply store and on the Internet.
Sofia Marquez is proud her story is now in this book. That verification that their voice matters and that their stories matter and that their experiences are valid and important and relevant to other people, she said. I get to use my imagination -- thats why I like writing.
Last year alone, 826 chapters across the country published a total of 944 volumes of student writing.
Australian Universities Cut Jobs As Foreign Student Enrollment Dips
(Published on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:25:58 GMT)
Three of Australias biggest universities are cutting hundreds of staff because of a fall in the number of foreign students. The multi-billion dollar education industry has been one of Australias most profitable export-earning sectors but the latest official figures suggest the overseas student boom may be at end because of financial constraints and changes to immigration rules
The education industry here boasts that Australia is a vibrant and friendly country in which foreign students can live, learn and grow. Last year 240,000 enrolled on various tertiary courses, up from 180,000 in 2008. Vast numbers came from China and India
Glenn Withers, the head of Universities Australia, a lobby group, says the education industry is struggling. For higher education its plateaued. For total education in fact its collapsed substantially, just for the last year fell almost 10 percent. Thats mostly in the private colleges not the universities, he noted.
Many Australian universities rely on the tuition and fees from young foreigners but the softening of such a valuable market is forcing the University of Sydney to shed hundreds of jobs and other institutions are also cutting staff.
At Macquarie University in Sydney, about 50 workers are taking voluntary redundancy largely because of falling numbers of overseas students.
Many blame the high Australian dollar, making schools more expensive, and increased global competition from the United States and Britain for the dropping foreign enrollment.
Withers says Australias tougher immigration rules also played a role.
We had a number of issues around student visas and migration where the government introduced new settings that made it really difficult for students to feel welcome and for those who wanted to stay on to be able to do so, he said.
Withers says that the government is responding to these concerns and that immigration regulations will soon become less onerous on young foreigners
Starting next year, students will face less strict visa requirements. Those who come from so-called high risk countries, such as India and China, where students were thought more likely to overstay their visas, will not need to provide a cash deposit before being allowed into Australia
The reforms also allow international university students to work in Australia temporarily after finishing their courses. The changes, however, will not apply to private educational intuitions.
There is also a concerted effort by some universities to make it easier for the Chinese to study in Australia. The University of Sydney is considering easing its entry requirements to attract more students from China.
India is another valuable source of students, although Australias reputation there did suffer because of a series of attacks on young foreigners in recent years in Sydney and Melbourne. Student groups say that although the violence took place about two years ago, it has continued to taint Indias view of Australia as a safe and productive country.
Online Tool Teaches Indonesians Sex Education
(Published on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:50:07 GMT)
Although young Indonesians might be familiar with the latest fashions, movies and electronic gadgets, when it comes to basic knowledge about their bodies, they are not as savvy.
Indonesia has one of the fastest growing rates of HIV transmission in Asia, but the majority of Indonesian youth could not tell you why. Data from the countrys health ministry indicates that some 75 percent of Indonesians aged between 15 and 49 believe HIV is transmitted by mosquitoes
Like many of her peers, Ariyanti Tarman, 26, says she did not have any formal sex education while in school
The only thing close is biology class and it was about reproduction and thats it, said Tarman. So I got information about sex and issues related to sex such as HIV and STDs from newspapers, magazines, the Internet and also from movies.
The worlds most populous Muslim nation is socially conservative and, for many, discussing sex is taboo.
But, a more liberal approach to sex is putting pressure on traditional attitudes. A recent global survey found that nearly 40 percent of Indonesian teenagers have had sex and almost half of them do not use contraception with new partners.
With the government reluctant to implement sex education into the national curriculum, Zoya Amirin, a prominent female sex psychologist, is taking the matter into her own hands
Amirin recently launched a weekly video podcast on issues related to sexual health and says she hopes it will help fill in the knowledge gaps.
Most of the research actually shows that most of the people learn from porn, asking from their friends and they believe in myths, said Amirin. That is a dangerous thing. For instance, they believe that washing your genitals after having sex, especially with alcohol, can prevent you from getting a sexual transmission infection.
The lack of basic information about sexual health and the prevalence of myths also runs parallel to the spread of HIV across the country.
The National AIDS Prevention Commission reports the rate of HIV infections is on the rise in several provinces, including Bengkulu, Papua, Maluku, Aceh and Banten
Official figures show that some 70,000 Indonesians are HIV positive, but it is estimated the real figure could be as high as 300,000. For Aryanti Tarman, conservative attitudes need to catch up with modern day realities.
I think lots of people are sexually active even though they are not married, added Tarman. It seems that the society in general is still trying to ignore that. They still pretend that it is not happening but it is happening, so, like, you need to do something about it and make sure that if the young people do it at least they do it safely.
Although the government has been reluctant to introduce sex education into the curriculum, non-traditional educators like Zoya Amirin say they are seeing a change in public attitudes
Amirin says she has received an overwhelming response to her weekly podcasts and has even been pleasantly surprised by reactions from religious conservatives.
While declining to name names, Amirin says several private Islamic boarding schools have hired her to conduct sex education workshops this year.
Refugee Girls Chorus Sings Message of Hope
(Published on Fri, 2 Dec 2011 15:08:10 GMT)
When the girls in the Pihcintu Multicultural Childrens Chorus sing about peace, the tunes have special meaning for them. Many are refugees who fled their homes in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, seeking refuge from war, persecution and famine.
In their performances - and a new CD - they bring a message of hope to audiences in and around their adopted home of Portland, Maine.
Getting their voices back
At chorus practice this week, its business as usual. That means goofing off, braiding each others hair and playing with make-up.
But choral director Con Fullam snaps them to attention. Lets make this a hot little rehearsal here. Make it happen.
The girls file into two rows and stare straight at him.
One song, Bells of Freedom, was written by Fullam and Judith Abdalla, a founding member of the Pihcinto Multicultural Childrens Chorus.
VOA - J. Huang
Born in Sudan, Rita Achiro spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya.
Were singing about peace, about coming together, about stopping the wars back in our native lands, and singing about being able to go back and being able to hold on to our languages and our families, says Abdalla, who was born in Sudan and lived in Egypt before coming to the U.S.
At 18, she is a mentor of sorts, along with other young women whove been in the chorus for a few years.
Multicultural Understanding
Rita Achiro was born in Sudan, but was also raised in a refugee camp in Kenya.
For somebody to hear me sing and be like Wow, it makes me feel good but I also love having more than one persons voice, Achiro says. Singing as a group it, like, sends a bigger message.
For chorus mate Ehklas Ahmed, getting out the message is cathartic. In my country, in Darfur, right now there is a genocide that is happening as Im talking right now, and for me, I sing to feel better because Im hopeless.
VOA - J. Huang
Members of the Pihcintu Multicultural Childrens Chorus primp before practice.
Director Fullam, who began recruiting singers from Portland schools more than six years ago, hopes the chorus will help these young people get their voices back.
Knowing that, for me, music has always been a very powerful healing thing, I thought itd be a good idea to invite as many different refugee communities as possible.
At any given time, there are as many as 30 members from 14 countries - from Iraq to Cambodia. Fullam says the chorus evolved into a girls group when boys didnt show up for practice
As to the name of the choir, Pihcintu translates it as, When she sings, her voice carries far in Passamaquoddy, a language spoken by a Native American tribe in Maine.
Spreading the message
Performances might have been confined to Maine if not for Patrice Samara, a producer for Alphabet Kids, a line of childrens books and CDs aimed at multicultural understanding.
A lawyer for the company suggested she fly to Maine to check out Pihcintu and she was smitten.
In October, Alphabet Kids released a Pihcintu CD.
Samara has begun to book performances for the chorus outside of Maine. The first was in August in Washington, D.C
She hopes other choruses, inspired by Pihcintu, will form
Many, many towns have immigrants. So were hoping that this model will be embraced around the country.
Ehklas Ahmed is excited about the groups growing fame, but makes sure she stays connected to her native country through song.
I sing with my cousins a lot at home, almost every Friday and Saturday night, we sing about Sudan, almost any songs that come up with in our head, we start singing right away.
A documentary about the chorus is scheduled for some time next year. Proceeds from the chorus will benefit charities in the girls home countries.
Murder Victims Blog Post Leads Police to Killer, Inspires New Film
(Published on Thu, 8 Dec 2011 02:22:39 GMT)
On May 12, 2005, Simon Sek Man Ng, a 19 year-old Hong Kong Chinese student in Queens, New York, wrote the following blog post:
Today I missed my Japanese class again, since I have gotten a bad throat. I only went to the class once this week Anyway today has been weird, at 3 some guy ringed the bell. I went down and recognized it was my sisters former boyfriend. He told me he wants to get his fishing poles back. I told him to wait downstair while I get them for him. While I was searching them, he is already in the house. He is still here right now, smoking, walking all around the house with his shoes on which btw I just washed the floor 2 days ago! Hopefully he will leave soon
What looks like the rather mundane post of a teenage slacker turned out to be his ghostly digital epitaph as Ng was brutally murdered the same day. His blog still lives online.
The post left a big clue for police and led them directly to the killer, the sisters ex-boyfriend Ng mentioned.
It is the premise for the new film short Today Has Been Weird, which premiered recently at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival. In it, Chinese-Canadian Director Quentin Lee adapts Ngs story to the Vancouver environment he knew as a student, when he too had parachuted into a foreign culture for an education, alone and far away from his family back in Hong Kong.
Alone together
Lee first heard Ngs story in 2005, when he was a blogger on the same Xanga network. The story stuck with him through the years, and he jumped at the chance to bring it to the big screen.
I had always been moved by [Ngs situation]. My parents just shipped me off, Lee said. For Thanksgiving, I stayed in my dorm. I felt isolated and not connected to the culture.
Lee said he was moved by the dramatic irony of Ngs story. Ng wrote so many blog posts that no one read, seeking connection from imaginary friends.
The first time his blog became popular was after his death.
Lee did take some artistic license, moving the scene of the crime from Queens to Vancouver, changing the protagonist to a video blogger named Clement, and making the killer Caucasian.
The real murderer was 23 year-old Jin Lin, who also killed Ngs sister later the same day.
Parachute kids
While Ngs brutal murder was unusual, his desire for connection in a foreign culture is common among parachute kids, primary or secondary school-age children sent alone to study in the U.S. or Canada.
The stress of immigration, coping with separation from parents, and having high academic expectations greatly affects the psychological and emotional well-being of parachute children, write Yuying Tsong and Yuli Liu in Asian American Psychology: Current Perspectives. Whether the children live alone, with relatives, or with a paid caregiver, many of them expressed experiencing loneliness and homesickness.
And its not just a few cases. While exact numbers are hard to come by, its estimated that since the 1980s, hundred of thousands of Asian youth, mostly from Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China have come to the U.S. and Canada without their parents, some as young as eight.
In an interview, Tsong, a psychology professor at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, said the numbers from Taiwan and Korea are decreasing as the education systems there improve, but anecdotally she sees an increase in kids from China and other countries.
I know for Taiwanese and Korean parents, what theyre looking for is essentially a better opportunity to have a good education, which leads to better careers, which I think in traditional Asian countries leads to supposedly better lives.
Parachute kids usually end up living with siblings, like Ng did, or with other relatives or friends of the family.
Typically these parents dont drop these kids off in Akron, Ohio, where there arent other Asians, said Tsong. They drop them in Irvine [California] or in communities where there are Asians around, and they know people. There is a sense that if [the child does] anything, [their] parents are going to hear about it.
She said the majority of these students adjust fine, but that the media only talks about the one percent who become Nobel Prize winners or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, those who fail miserably.
I think the norm is that there is quite a range, Tong said. It really comes down to how parents try to maintain the relationship.
And that, she said, is a struggle for every family. When asked if she thought Lees movie fairly reflects the culture of parachute students, Tsong said except for the comment about the boyfriend wearing shoes in the house, Today Has Been Weird could be about any teenager trying to find a connection.
Eco-Kids in Senegal Adopt Earth-Friendly Fuel Project
(Published on Tue, 6 Dec 2011 16:27:28 GMT)
Diourbel is a semi-desert region in Senegal that has suffered the combined effects of climate change, deforestation, waste mismanagement and endemic poverty. But, in the city of Diourbel, 50 bright, young students are making a positive environmental contribution by adopting a recycling project that provides a cost-effective, alternative fuel source for cooking.
Learning basics
Awa Deme and Bamba Ngom crouch down next to a large plastic bin, and begin churning a sloppy brown and white pulp with their tiny hands. In the background, their instructor, Ibrahima Faye, coaches them. The other young boys and girls sit perched on their chairs, clambering for their own turns to get their hands into this goopy paper paste.
It is Saturday morning at Baol Environment, a green oasis sheltered from the scorching heat and whirling gusts of dust and sand so common to Diourbel. While most kids are at home, sleeping or playing, this energetic group of young school children is gathered for their weekly meeting. It is a type of environment club that involves some of the citys best students, between the ages of 9 and 11, from five local schools. Here they learn the basics in trash collecting, recycling and reusing.
Baol Environment
Today the kids are making paper briquettes. It is a simple recipe of waste paper, peanut shells, sawdust and water. The mix is placed into a metal press, formed into rectangular paper bricks, and set on the roof to dry in the sun. Using old rice bags, the children collect the waste paper from their schools, homes and yards and haul them into Baol Environment. Here the kids rip and shred the paper, and finally transform it into little brown bricks that replace charcoal, gas and wood for cooking. The cost of making a single brick is little more than a few cents, and each one burns long enough to prepare a local meal of rice and fish.
April Muniz, a Peace Corps volunteer with Baol Environment, is helping with the paper briquette project.
VOA - A. Fortier
Students tear paper before making paper briquettes, Diourbel, Senegal, December 5, 2011.
I think what makes this project unique is that were trying to combine a lot of elements and make it a holistic approach to environmental work, said Muniz. Our paper briquette project is one small project that we are doing within the eco-ecole program, but it is one that covers a lot of bases. It covers the issue of trash in our environment. It covers the issue of the importance of recycling. It covers the issue of reforestation. It covers the issue of alternative fuel sources.
So it is a project that has been able to wrap up a lot of the concepts that we have been trying to teach into one very tangible project that kids can get their hands on, continued Miniz. They can stick their hands into a bucket of water, play together and really understand and be able to apply those concepts.
Economy
Diourbel is in the center of Senegals agricultural basin. But it is an area that has suffered since massive droughts swept through the region in the late 1970s and 1980s, reducing the staple millet and groundnut crops. Many people here continue to live off less than a couple dollars a day, and with the costs of fuel rising, they can easily spend the same amount on charcoal as they do on rice.
Ibrahima Faye is the president of the Baol Environment and has been living in the region of Diourbel for 35 years.
Faye says kids look at what is happening around them and they watch how their parents behave and how they live. Their parents have lived through at least two or three cycles of dry spells that have completely changed customs in the region. This means that these kids have no recollections of what Diourbel was like in the past. And what they have found is an incredible lack of sanitation, disrespect for rules and a vicious level of poverty that has even forced families apart.
Trash in Diourbel
Today, Diourbels landscape is a barren sea of brown, dotted with colorful mounds of litter. Waste management is a major problem throughout Senegal. But in Diourbel, particularly, there are not even garbage cans in the schools.
Moussa Diallo is a principal at one of the elementary schools in Diourbel and has 10 students involved in the Baol environment program.
Diallo says people here generally do not have a culture of managing garbage. It is not in their mind-set to properly dispose of trash. But even if this did start happening, they are confronted by another problem - how to get rid of it. Today it is actually the poor people who use their wagons and carts to move the garbage out.
The paper briquette project is still in its early stages, but the Baol environment team has big plans for its expansion. The group works with more than 500 women from surrounding villages, and hopes to introduce these paper bricks into their cooking practices as a healthier and cost-effective alternative - one that helps save trees and cleans up their environment.
For Some, Learning English is Business
(Published on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:01:51 GMT)
After studying English as a foreign language for more than 10 years in her native Spain, attending summer courses in neighboring England and visiting New York, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. cities on vacation, Lorena Arroyo affirms she still hasnt mastered the language
Arroyo, 28, said she has done everything to improve her understanding and lose her accent, including paying friends $20 per hour to speak English with her
The irony is that Arroyo works for an English media organization. She was hired more than two years ago as a web producer and moved to Miami to report on world news for the English media organizations Spanish-speaking readers. However, not being fluent in English has limited her job opportunities
Theyre offering correspondent positions and they want candidates to be fluent in Spanish and English. I didnt apply for them, even if I would have like to, because Im not bilingual, she admitted
Arroyo is part of a class of immigrants who arrived in the United States expecting to beef up their English skills. Ivy League universities, state colleges and private institutions have opened their doors with newly created English as a foreign language programs - to an influx of students from around the world.
Among them is Vallentin Villalbi, 31. He traveled to the U. S. from France last summer, after getting accepted into Georgetown Universitys McDonough School of Business. Villalbi paid over $2,000 for a three-week intensive English course to acclamate before beginning work on his MBA degree
The cost to benefits ratio - thats an MBA notion, he explained, is pretty good. I have a little brother. Im pushing him to study English because when youre working, doing business or technical industries, you have to be able to speak English.
U.S. universities are more eager than ever to attract international students and professionals for academic reasons as well as for financial ones. Virtually every higher learning institution would like to increase this population of students who, in general, pay full tuition
A report released on November 14 by the U.S. State Department and the Institute of International Education showed a 5 percent increase of international student enrollment in the 2010-2011 academic year. The number of students in Intensive English Programs also saw a sharp increase.
VOA L. Velarde
Inlingua staff prepares for end of 2011 academic year
Mohammed Alshahwn, 19, arrived from Saudi Arabia 6 months ago after winning a government-funded scholarship. He has all of the entrance requirements to apply for admission into a U.S. college - except a high score on the IELTS, an exam that tests English proficiency for students who seek to enter American universities. Alshawn takes English courses at Inlingua, a language center in Washington D.C., to help him prepare for the test
I got a 5.5 before I came here, he said. I got to reach a higher score because Im going to apply to good universities like University of California at Berkley. Its required a 6.5 for IELTS as SAT or ACT (tests scores).
But immersion in an English-speaking environment can be difficult in big cities with immigrant communities large enough to insulate students from everyday situations that demand English. Living in Miami is speaking Spanish the whole day if you want to, said Arroyo.
In Miami-Dade County, Hispanics represent 65 percent of the population. Its difficult to speak English, especially when they hear that you have an accent and that you are Spaniard. They automatically go to Spanish rather than to start speaking in English, she noted.
Alshahwn also has had great difficulty finding environments where only English is spoken, since most of his classmates are Middle Eastern
There are many Saudis and Kuwaitis (in the classroom) and you talk to them in Arabic. You dont learn a lot of things, he explained.
These students reasons for refining their English language skills vary, but are supported by statistics showing English as the most globalized language. According to Bloomberg Rankings, the English is the most useful language for international business
Im learning English because I know its now the global language nowadays, said Arroyo about her two-day-a-week course. If you dont know a language, if you dont know how to express yourself, it is as if you dont know many things.
To reduce costs, the English media corporation Arroyo works for is trying to share and translate content.
Its almost impossible (not to have an accent) when you arrive as I arrived here, in your twenties almost thirties, Arroyo said. I want to be fluent, I know that I will always have an accent, but its not a problem for me.
Kathleen Specter, Inlingua Program Coordinator, said most students come for help on practical tests, oral interviews, language fluency, academic requirements, and a wide range of everyday situations where English is required. Inlinguas prices range from nearly $1,100 for 18 hours of private tutorials, to $750 for intensive morning programs, and $600 for afternoon classes focusing on accent reduction
According to the the Open Doors 2011 Report, fees paid by international students like Arroyo, Villalbi and Alshahwn contribute to the coffers of many of these companies and inject billions of dollars to the U.S. economy thanks to tuition fees and living expenses.
Rural Medical School Keeps Doctors Local
(Published on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:07:37 GMT)
For the first time in modern history, more people are living in cities than in rural areas. That includes doctors, leaving many small communities with no primary care physician. However, a new program at Kansas University may change that.
We need more doctors. A quarter of all of our physicians in Kansas are 60 years or older. So we need to be replacing physicians too, says Dr. William Cathcart-Rake, who directs a new program at Kansas University which is designed to provide those physicians
The idea is to get medical school students to remain and practice in rural Kansas by educating them in the states smaller communities.
According to Cathcart-Rake, students from rural areas typically go off to medical schools in Wichita and Kansas City.
They say they have every intention of coming back to rural Kansas but they meet a soul mate, they get married. Their soul mate happens to be from a big city and we never see them again. They get captured in the big city, he says. Hopefully, if we train them in smaller communities, they can meet their prospective spouses here, they can network here and they have those connections which can be lifelong.
The program is based in the small town of Salina - population 50,000 - which is about a three-hour drive from Kansas City, past corn and soybean fields and the occasional cattle ranch. The medical school in downtown Salina is housed in a three-story brick building which was refurbished specifically for the program.
The first thing you notice is that the professor is not in the room. Instead, he appears on a flat-screen monitor at the front of the classroom
Its set up with interactive TV, so we have two monitors. On one, we see the lecturers slides, and on the other monitor, we see video of the lecturer, says Claire Hinrichsen, a student in the Salina program. Most of our lecturers are out of Kansas City. Today our lecturer was in Wichita.
The professor in Wichita also has a video feed of the Salina classroom. When students have a question, they raise a hand and speak into the microphone built into the desk
Hinrichsen grew up in Lecompton, Kansas, a town of about 600 people. One of the reasons she chose the Salina program is because of the size of the class. There are only eight students, making it the smallest medical school in the country.
I really like it. I know everybody in my class, she says. We are close and its a nice feeling. It goes back to when I went to KU (Kansas University), so I went to a big school, and Im getting back to the small feel
Other classes are taught by professors in Salina, and students will get hands-on training throughout the four-year program. Then each one will go on to a residency in a small community in the surrounding area.
Dr. Kerry Murphy is a family physician at the Clay Center Clinic, about 100 kilometers northeast of Salina. Chances are at least one of the eight students in the program will do a residency here.
This is a clinic that has currently eight doctors and four mid-level practitioners and we cover this town, but we also have satellite clinics in two nearby towns, Murphy says. We operate as, what I call, a cradle-to- grave operation, we deliver babies and go up to doing nursing home care
Its unlikely that there will ever be enough primary care physicians for every small town to have its own doctor. Cathcart-Rake expects several doctors will work out of a central clinic, like Clay Center, and see patients at satellite clinics spread out around the county, like spokes of a wheel
Clay Center is a great model for what I foresee as what a primary care center in Kansas might be, he says.
At the end of their residency, the students will have spent six years in rural communities in Kansas. Cathcart-Rake hopes that will be enough time for them to put down roots.
And its gonna hopefully harder for them to break away from those roots and go to bigger cities.
One thing that could lure them away is money. Rural doctors typically serve older, poorer patients and going into a specialty practice in a big city tends to be far more lucrative. And with the high cost of medical school, its difficult for graduates to turn down those opportunities. So the Salina program is offering extra financial incentives to help them resist.
Its called the KMS, the medical student repayment program, says Claire Hinrichsen, one of the five medical students who signed up for it. For every year you give back to a rural area they pay for all our tuition.
That means, if they practice in an underserved county for four years, they will have essentially gotten their medical degree for free. But, Cathcart-Rake says theres a catch.
If they dont practice primary care in an under-served area, they have to pay that back, with interest. So they have got those hooks in them. We hope this innovative program will keep students close to their roots. But only time will tell.
Turkey Blocks Web Pages Touting Darwins Evolution Theory
(Published on Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:58:01 GMT)
The blocking by Turkish state authorities of Web pages advocating the theory of evolution has put the focus on wider concerns by teachers and academics that the ideas of Darwin increasingly are being undermined by the Islamic-rooted government
Numerous web pages advocating the theory of evolution recently were deemed unsafe for children by Turkeys regulatory board controlling the Internet
Yaman Akdeniz of Istanbuls Bilgi University is an expert on Internet freedom.
The authorities are trying to establish one view, one morality that the youngsters of our generation should subscribe to, said Akdeniz.
Undermining evolution
The result was an outcry by the media and academics. Soon after, regulatory authorities re-instated the web pages, with the regulatory authority claiming the ban was a clerical error. Recent media reports, however, say the evolution sites still remain blocked in schools
The controversy is not only confined to the Internet. Professor Asli Tolon is a molecular biologist at Istanbuls Bosphorus University. She has been tracking the changes in how evolution is taught in school text books
Tolon said the idea of evolution increasingly is undermined by creationists who argue the world was created by God
Here, there is this, how life evolved. This part is quite scientific, but then right after that, it starts with the creation, the view of creation, which should really not be in a scientific book, because this is a religious view, said Tolon.
Tolon said the result of such changes are increasingly being felt by her students
They sometimes get the idea, that I am trying to teach them my own views. But this is not mine, because evolution is one of the basic theories, said Tolon. Balancing the teaching
Mustafa Akyol, columnist and writer on religious affairs, said alternative theories to evolution have a place in education
There are some scientific facts in nature that point to a design by some intelligent being which is not a part of nature, this being might be God. This cannot be a reason to reject data just simply because its compatible with religion. I think a fair and objective scientific education should allow Darwin evolution and also critics of Darwin evolution, said Akyol.
Turkeys teachers are now increasingly being caught in the middle of the deepening dispute.
The countrys main teaching trade union frequently complain that science teachers are facing increasing intimidation by the education ministry, local authorities controlled by the governing AK party and even religious parents.
The government has dismissed such claims. But one teacher, who did not want to give her name, said teaching evolution is increasingly difficult.
In my school, three out of five science teachers now only teach creationism, she said, adding that she faces daily pressure from fellow teachers who are religious, and from some families of children who complain about her teaching evolution
For teachers advocating evolution in Turkeys schools, they seem destined to be on the frontline of this ongoing struggle for the minds of the nations young.
Kenya Schools Decline in English, KiSwahili Language Skills
(Published on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:41:05 GMT)
Results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations are headline news Thursday in Nairobi, showing top academic performances. Amid the jubilation, however, there are concerns about Kenyan students declining performances in English and KiSwahili, as compared to other African countries. Also noteworthy - the fourth-best student in the country is a refugee from South Sudan.
Minister of Education Sam Ongeri was quoted as saying he thinks the primary school systems relatively poor performance in Kenyas two official languages, KiSwahili and English, is due to Kenyans heavy use of a language called sheng - slang terms especially popular among urban youth.
Sara Ruto is regional manager of Uwezo East Africa, a program to improve literacy and numeracy among children in Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda. She thinks students poor literacy performance is not due so much to sheng as it is to teachers using KiSwahili, English and their mother tongues all at the same time.
Nobody is paying close attention to teaching whatever skills they [have], be they oral [or] written. So youll find a person will start speaking a sentence in English or KiSwahili, maybe pick a few words, [and] complete the sentence in another language. It means that we need to invest more in teaching a whole understanding, comprehension, of a language in its totality, said Ruto.
Tanzania takes top spot
Last year, the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, or SACMEQ, released a study ranking Kenya fifth out of 15 African countries on students reading ability. Top performers were Tanzania, Seychelles and Mauritius, while the bottom scorers were Zambia and Malawi.
Uwezos Ruto explains why she thinks Tanzania is tops compared to Kenya.
Their system has paid attention to KiSwahili. I think that if you have grasped the skill in one language, it is easier for you to grasp in another, she said. In Tanzania, there are so many community newspapers. KiSwahili is spoken in most places - at home and then again at school. And so you will see there is a little bit more continuity. And also, the skill of reading: you can find it in many more places.
But some students still excel. Results of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations were on newspaper front pages Thursday all over Kenya, with pictures of students who earned top marks.
South Sudan refugee student shines
One picture stood out in particular: that of South Sudanese refugee Kuol Tito Yak, who lived in Kakuma Refugee Camp until joining Uthiru Genesis Primary school in Standard Three. He scored fourth overall, and the first in Kiambu County.
Lual Dau is head of the Southern Sudanese Students Association in Kenya. He said, although he does not know Kuol personally, South Sudanese take education very seriously.
We are going to reform the new country [South Sudan] - it will be through education, of what we learned. That is what we can take home because there is nothing in Southern Sudan, said Lual.
The results highlighted other education trends. The top two students were from the capital Nairobi. Coastal area schools performed poorly. All top 10 positions were taken by students studying at private schools, and there are almost as many girls as boys in the primary school system overall.
China Reviews Public Education
(Published on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:26:23 GMT)
Chinas top lawmakers have begun reviewing the implementation of a 10-year education reform plan.
The plan stresses the importance of modernizing education and making it equally accessible to all the people in China. The government issued guidelines for the implementation of the plan in July of last year.
Members of the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee, Chinas top legislature, started hearings on the implementation Friday. Vice Minister of Finance Zhang Shaochun noted that this year, the education budget was higher than last year.
In the first 11 months of 2011, Chinas public budget on education is 1233.2 billion yuan, up 25.8 percent compared to the same period last year, 1.5 percentage points higher than the increase rate of financial expenditure, said Zhang. The proportion of educational financial expenditure in public financial expenditure has risen by 0.16 percentage point compared with the same period last year.
Education Minister Yuan Guiren said it was important to use the additional funds wisely and to focus on strengthening weak areas such as helping needy students, training quality teachers and making early education compulsory in rural areas.
The funds should be focused on weak fields and on rural areas, poverty-stricken areas and regions inhabited by ethnic minority people, said Yuan.
The long-term plan also proposes developing kindergartens and narrowing gaps between schools. It envisions turning China into an educated society through modern education by 2020.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
Study: More Education Increases IQ Score
(Published on Tue, 3 Jan 2012 16:23:34 GMT)
Staying in school really can make you smarter. A new study from Norway finds that students who remain in school longer than their counterparts have higher IQ scores
In the mid-1950s, the Norwegian government began requiring students to attend school until they were 16 years old, rather than allowing them to drop out at 14.
Communities had until 1972 to phase in the compulsory education reform, which meant that, for nearly 20 years, youngsters in some municipalities went to school for seven years and others attended classes for at least nine years.
That gave Taryn Ann Galloway a unique opportunity to see what impact the extra two years of education had on the intellectual development of students. Galloway, a researcher at the University of Oslo, explains that all young men in Norway are required to undergo a cognitive assessment, or IQ, test for the military draft at age 19
So, she and her colleagues were able to sift through data on 107,000 draft-age young men, correlating their years of education with their IQ scores obtained by the military
The young men who were forced to stay in school for two years longer actually did have higher IQs, Galloway says. So, based on that, we were able to say that increasing compulsory schooling did actually have an effect on their cognitive abilities as measured at 19 years of age.
The average IQ score on the intelligence test is 100, with most of the population falling somewhere between 85 and 115 on the scale
According to Galloway, students who got a full two years of extra schooling showed an IQ gain of more than 7 points. Those with just one additional year of compulsory education during the phase in period gained approximately 3.7 IQ points
So, thats still quite large, she says. Theyre going from about average to well above average if they were affected by reform.
For years, theres been vigorous debate among psychologists about whether a persons intelligence is the result of smart genes or a nurturing environment in infancy. Galloways results seem to support the nurturing side of the nature versus nurture argument.
She suggests getting two extra years of academic practice during the middle teenage years may also help boost IQ scores.
I think its because you do learn general thinking skills at school and you are able to practice them, and you have lots of opportunity to practice them. So this is a two year extension of compulsory schooling for two years, so they were able to simply improve their skills.
Physical Activity Linked to School Achievement
(Published on Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:17:09 GMT)
Pushing aside physical education to focus on academic subjects, such as math or reading, could have a negative impact on achievement, according to new reseach which finds physically-active students do better academically
Combining the results of previous studies from North America and South Africa - including more than 55,000 children, ages six to 18 - researchers at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam found a link between physical activity and progress in school.
Based on the results of our study we can conclude that being physically active is beneficial for academic performance, says lead researcher Amika Singh, adding there may be a biological explanation for that. There are, first, physiological explanations, like more blood flow, and so more oxygen to the brain. Being physically active means there are more hormones produced like endorphins, and endorphins make your stress level lower and your mood improved, which means you also perform better.
Also, for those getting exercise from organized sports, learning rules and how to follow them may improve classroom behavior and concentration.
Because of differences among the studies, Singh says it is not possible to say whether the amount or kind of activity affected the extent of academic improvement. But given the general finding - that physically active kids are more likely to do better academically - she says educators should take that into consideration before cutting fitness programs in schools.
School Rankings in Kenya Lead Teachers to Seek Protection
(Published on Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:36:37 GMT)
The head of Kenyas national teachers union has called for police to protect headmasters and teachers, following a series of attacks by parents over the results of national primary school exams
David Okuta Osiany, secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, says the behavior by irate parents has become barbaric.
When they go there with guns and goons to beat teachers and frog march them, that means there must be some security for the teachers, he said. The teachers must be provided with the security as government servants. They are working in insecure places, particularly when the results are out.
Results for the national Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations were released with great fanfare near the end of December. Each year, individual students, schools, and counties are ranked according to marks students scored on the exams.
Students with top marks are eligible to enter national secondary schools, which have the highest-quality educational facilities. The Ministry of Education announced Friday that it would create 6,000 more spots in national schools, bringing the number of spots in national schools to around 10,400.
Lower-scoring students can enroll in provincial schools, while the lowest scorers are eligible for resource-poor district schools.
Teachers union head Osiany decries this tiered system.
We do not actually want schools to be ranked, he said. The schools should have adequate facilities and they should do the same things everywhere. But you see, the provision of facilities are also not equal - it is not equitable. You find schools in far-flung areas, in remote areas, which have never even seen a laboratory.
In the days following the results release, reports emerged of parents threatening, assaulting, and chasing away teachers from schools that performed poorly. Several are in the hospital with serious injuries. A number of schools have been closed down.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts by VOA.
Teachers union head Osiany and other education officials say this tiered system puts too much pressure on teachers and students, pressure that at times can be deadly. Since the release of the results, Kenyan media reported that one headmaster and two students committed suicide, allegedly because of the exams.
Sara Ruto is regional manager of Uwezo East Africa, a program to improve literacy and math skills among children in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. She says she thinks the focus on achieving high marks is limiting for childrens development and futures, and that those who do not fit the mold have few options.
I think our system just has one channel, yet we need to develop multiple channels that has a space for the ones who are academically gifted, or the ones who are artistic, or the ones who are sports-oriented, she said.
Ruto also says she thinks many parents might not have invested the time and energy into monitoring their childrens education and holding teachers accountable for what and how they teach.
Humanities Fight to Survive in High-Tech World
(Published on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:53:55 GMT)
Amherst College
A student studies on the quad at Amherst College, a liberal arts school in western Massachusetts.
Tim Clark is a senior at Amherst College, a small liberal arts school in western Massachusetts, where hes studied Latin, Greek and archeology. Thanks to those classes, he says, hes not the same person he was four years ago.
My studies in classics and in history really changed how I think, how I look at the world and have really taught me how to see things not in sort of clear answers, but try to see all the different elements of an issue, Clark says. The liberal arts college teaches you how to be a critical thinker and how to analyze materials.
However, Clark feels many people dont see the benefits of studying humanities.
When I say Im a classics major, a lot of people say What are you going to do with that All the information that youve been taught is irrelevant to the modern world.
Fighting to stay relevant
The term humanities refers to a branch of knowledge that generally includes languages, literature, the arts, history, cultural studies, philosophy and religion. While the study of humanities peaked in the U.S. in the 1960s, it saw a steep decline the following decade.
Today, science, technology, engineering and math draw more attention, and more dollars. That leaves many universities struggling with declining enrollment in the humanities and possible budget cuts
There is no question that more graduates in the science and technology fields are essential, says Carolyn Martin, president of Amherst College. But the study of culture and the ability to write well, to think well and to interact well with others, all of those things are equally important.
In her previous job, as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Martin felt under pressure to defend the importance of humanities. This year, she serves on a commission for the American Academy of Arts and Science, which is examining the issue.
I think we need all of the areas of knowledge not only to be well funded, but also to ensure that all young people have the fundamental skills that pertain to each of those different domains, Martin says. And also, by the way, the humanities are really the integrative arts. Without them, science and technology would feel quite empty to people and the question of how to put technology to human uses would be a very urgent question in the absence of the study of culture.
Convincing others of the importance of humanities can be an uphill battle. In October 2011, for example, Floridas governor said state tax dollars should bolster science and high tech studies, not educate more people who cant get a job in anthropology
Since state governments control nearly two-thirds of all higher education funding for public colleges and universities, their embrace of - or disregard for - humanities can affect the future of the liberal arts.
I think the critical question, says Travis Reindl, spokesman for the National Governors Association, is what are the certificates and degrees and certifications that the states need to really meet their economic demands both now and in the future.
Humanities reinvented
The National Governors Association helps states align their higher education priorities with economic development. According to Reindl, the association does not advise state governments to move money from humanities
Its not either liberal arts or the sciences. I think the challenge and the task that we have is to really strike the appropriate balance, he says. We have to have engineers and scientists that can write; that can speak; that can appreciate cultural and individual differences and respect them; can work with other people effectively; whether its people down the hall or around the globe.
But to stay relevant and avoid budget cuts, Reindl believes liberal arts needs to reinvent itself.
For example, can we create partnerships between universities so that were able to tap into their faculty and share certain courses and programs he says. Can we use technology to provide some programs remotely so that we continue to provide these essential programs, but we provide them in a way that fits the budget realities that we face
Broadening the scope
The Massachusetts commissioner of Higher Education has another suggestion. Richard Freeland urges students studying humanities to broaden their scope of interest.
At the undergraduate levels, there is plenty of room for students to have a double major or major-minor combinations so that the students could take a sequence of courses in a business subject or a health/science subject or in teacher preparation and, at the same time, have room in the curriculum to explore some humanistic interest.
And, he points out, humanities graduates can apply their knowledge to other - more technical - fields.
For example, in an increasingly globalized world, language skills are incredibly important in fields like business, engineering, health sciences, Freeland says. In English programs, technical writing and practical writing have grown all over the country. In music, a number of universities have developed programs in the music industry for students who love music and want to be around music, but are not talented enough to earn a living as performers.
Finding practical applications, the commissioner says, can help the humanities survive the new technological onslaught and prove that learning about ethics, values and critical thinking is still relevant in the 21st century.
Deadly Stampede Highlights Problems With South African Universities
(Published on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:41:00 GMT)
A stampede to register for limited slots at a Johannesburg university this week resulted in one death and dozens of injuries. The tragedy has resulted in intense attention on South Africas higher education system and its many problems.
Last month, some 250,000 South Africans passed their final high school exams at a level that qualified them for admission to universities and diploma colleges. But those institutions this year only have 180,000 places for first-year students.
The University of Johannesburg, where the deadly stampede occurred, received 85,000 applications for 11,000 first-year slots. Graeme Bloch, a visiting adjunct professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the stampede is indicative of desperation to build a future among South Africas youth.
It is all about young people who want opportunities. And quite honestly it is about a school system that is slowly improving, and as a result young people think that getting through the school system is going to get them somewhere, and then when they find that they have to stand in queues [lines] at the University of Johannesburg, they stampede; and I think it expresses that desperation that we are seeing from young people, said Bloch.
Late walk-in application policy criticized
Much criticism has been leveled at the university for allowing its system of accepting late walk-in applications by certain applicants. Higher Education Minister Blade Ndzimande last year scoffed at criticism of the long lines outside the university, calling it a wonderful problem that so many young South Africans were determined to get a higher education
This week, Ndzimande said the government will centralize applications for universities and colleges, and will not permit late walk-in applications.
Some analysts noted this week that as many as 40 percent of students drop out of the university without achieving a degree. They say one of the causes is that the drop-outs should have enrolled in vocational colleges, known in South Africa as further education and training colleges.
Vocational schools under fire
Many employers criticize the vocational institutions, however, for failing to produce graduates who have the knowledge and skills that equip them for employment. Critics say that often the teachers themselves are ill qualified or that the institutions are not offering training relevant to potential employers in their area.
But there are problems, too, in basic education. Shireen Motala, director of research in the Post Graduate Studies department at the University of Johannesburg, said the access to basic education in South Africa is not a problem, and that most children stay in school until about sixteen. She noted, though, that less than 50 percent of children who start school write their final high school examination, known in South Africa as matric.
In fact of the cohort who sat the [high school exam] in 2011, and those who started in 2000, only about, I think, around 45 percent survived, which means that a large number of children are falling by the wayside and the concern is that where do those learners actually go to, said Motala.
Improved skills for teachers
Experts say many historically disadvantaged schools in rural areas and townships are dysfunctional because the principals or the teachers, or both, are failing. They say in some cases it is not dereliction of duty, but that many simply do not have the skills or appropriate training for their jobs, particularly in the important subjects of math and science. Motala said there are a number of reasons for these weaknesses.
So I think a number of teachers were trained during apartheid, which means the training was not up to standard. Secondly, weve had many processes of curriculum reform in the last 15 years, which I think has been quite confusing for teachers. And finally there is the big issues of language, which we havent taken enough cognizance of, but I think is a huge problem, said Motala.
Language is a problem because subjects, such as math and science, are taught in English from about age 10, and many teachers dont have the English language skills to do so.
Motala said a further difficulty for teachers is that the curriculum has been changed several times over the past 15 years.
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Girls Graduate
(Published on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:36:51 GMT)
In 2007, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy opened its doors to academically gifted, underprivileged girls in South Africa. On Saturday, the first class graduated, with a 100 percent pass rate
A proud mother. That is how Oprah Winfrey has described herself, as she watches the Class of 2011 leave the nest. The girls are the first batch to graduate from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, in Johannesburgs south. And the American media mogul has reason to be proud. The school boasts a perfect pass rate, and all of the girls have secured spots at universities, either in South Africa or the United States.
The thing that Im most proud of is not the academics, the academics I expected, said Oprah Winfrey. The thing Im most proud of is that everyones been accepted to college, and everyones going and weve created a support system to make that happen. But even more important than that, everyone walks out of here with the grace and dignity from which they were raised. Their integrity, their character, their grace and their kindness is what every parent would wish, thats what you want, as a parent.
The schools concept arose from a conversation Winfrey had with former South African president Nelson Mandela years ago.
When I had the conversation with Madiba in his living room, our conversation revolved around how do we end poverty. This is how we do it. This is the beginning of the ending of poverty, she said. These girls have now broken the cycle of poverty in their families, being the first to go on to college and to do whatever they choose to do - key word, what they choose to do - with their lives, they no longer have to accept the standard that their mothers and their forefathers had to bear, because there were not the opportunities
Education is currently in the spotlight in South Africa, where a number of students who leave school are not able to gain admission to universities, either because their grades are not good enough, or tertiary institutions are full for the year. Recently, a mother was killed in a stampede outside the University of Johannesburg as she lined up, hoping to register her son. Winfrey says there is a lesson to be learned from her academys success
This model was created specifically to say to South Africa, if you invest in leadership, not just in schools, not just in passing tests, not just in trying to get the exams, but you invest in leadership, the leadership will pay off to your communities and to your nation, she added.
All of the academys Grade 12 students have been accepted to universities either in South Africa, or abroad. Most of them have graduated from high school with distinctions in multiple subjects. Now, it is with great excitement - and a bit of fear - that they leave their academic home. But Mashadi Kekana says she is prepared for the road ahead.
I do feel pressure, pressure from myself, pressure from family, from the school - even though Im not here anymore after this, pressure from my community, said Kekana. But one thing Ive noticed about OWLA girls, is that pressure makes us thrive. And as human beings, everybody reaches a point where they ask, am I good enough. And thanks to Mum Oprah and the support team we have here at school, the answer to that question now after five years is yes, I am good enough.
As these girls take the next step on their life journey, a support system has been put in place. Advisors will be available to them, as they learn to manage their own lives and finances, and plan their futures. And for all of them, the future appears decidedly brighter, since Oprah Winfrey stepped into their lives.
College Makes Human Rights a Major Issue
(Published on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:39:44 GMT)
For years, Southern Methodist University Professor Rick Halperin pushed for a human rights degree program. The former chairman of Amnesty International USA taught his first human rights on campus 21 years ago, before many of his current students were even born
Finally, five years ago, SMU established a human rights minor for undergraduates. At the time, only 11 other schools offered such a program, according to Halperin.
We just dont talk about human rights in general in this country, he says. We dont talk about these things. I blame it in part on culture. Its a clear failure from one end of this country to the other.
Halperin set out to change that culture. Students began signing up for the minor and his required course, Americas Dilemma: The Struggle for Human Rights.
Now, he says, We have become the fastest growing program within SMU.
That success fueled SMUs approval of the human rights undergraduate major
SMU joins Bard College and Columbia University in New York, Trinity College in Connecticut, and the University of Dayton in Ohio, as the nations only schools to offer the major
The new degree will prepare students for human rights activism and non-profit work while providing them with a broader, international perspective. In addition to a minor in a related field, and at least two years of a foreign language, every student majoring in human rights will be required to participate in service learning and take SMUs spring civil rights pilgrimage across the deep South. Halperins human rights course will also be required.
A recent weekly Tuesday evening class of 30 students opens with some of them citing recent human rights violations.
Halperin then focuses on slaverys legacy in the United States. To encourage participation, he brings up the 1960s film, Guess Whos Coming to Dinner.
In it, a young white woman introduces her parents to the black man she wants to marry. Fifty-two years ago, the movie was controversial. For many, it still is. To explore cultural and racial changes through the generations, Halperin asks each student how their parents and grandparents might react today, to the same scenario
My parents were born in the 1950s in the South, but then became hippies, says one, so I really dont think they care.
Another had a different take. My parents are from Mexico and they were also born in the 50s, and I do not think they would be okay with it.
For some students, the course fulfills an undergraduate history requirement. But for others, like Emily Mankowski, it is a core subject, one that is closely aligned with their interests. The sophomore says the opportunity to minor in human rights was a big reason she came to SMU.
I am very interested in service work, and going abroad, Mankowski says. I am very interested in all the subjects we talk about. Im pre-med, so Im hoping to get involved in something like Doctors Without Borders and having human rights as a major could help me a lot with my future and pursuing Doctors Without Borders and going abroad and also doing the Peace Corps.
John Potts, a junior in mechanical engineering, is impressed SMU has established a degree in human rights. He says the school is perceived as being conservative and not particularly open to change. He sees the human rights major a progressive step for SMU and its students.
I think the class is very interesting. Its a lot more discussion-oriented than I expected, Potts says. But I think its good for us to raise issues that make us uncomfortable like we did today, discussing our parents opinions of race and our partners.
And now, thanks largely to Rick Halperin, SMU students can not only raise and pursue tough issues and their interests in human rights, but can major in it. Eighteen of SMUs 200 human rights minors have now made it their major. And Halperin has heard from others around the country who tell him theyll apply to the school specifically to pursue the new major
Halperin is already looking ahead; his next goal is to establish a graduate-level human rights program.
Immigrants Learn English With Their Children
(Published on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:05:55 GMT)
Tha Neih Ciang is learning vocabulary words with other immigrant students. Shes among four dozen Burmese youngsters at Bollman Bridge Elementary School, which is less than an hours drive from Washington
Their teacher, Laurel Conran, specializes in teaching English to speakers of other languages.
Today we were doing text structures, she says. I wanted them to know the vocabulary, the language of text structures, so when they go back into the classroom and work with their peers, they can do this successfully in the classroom.
Lunch-time learning
Tha Neihs mother, Tin Iang, also practices English with Conran, only their session takes place in the cafeteria of Coastal Sunbelt Produce. Many Burmese refugees work on assembly lines at the fruit and vegetable distributor. Conran started classes here to help them learn English.
The program is a six-week session, she says. It is once a week, on every Wednesday from 12 to one oclock. So every Wednesday I go to Coastal Sunbelt.
About 18,000 Burmese refugees have come to the United States each year since 2007.
VOA - J. Soh
Once a week, Burmese refugee workers at Coastal Sunbelt Produce, in Maryland, take English lessons during their lunch hour.
Four years ago, when a large number of Burmese refugees first arrived in Howard County, Bollman Bridge Elementary introduced intensive English programs for the children.
While the youngsters learned English, Conran noticed it was hard to connect with their parents
Some of them do not know the name of the school that their children attend, she says
With help from Lisa Chertok - a school parent and manager at Coastal Sunbelt - Conran developed English lessons to teach at the parents workplace. Each Wednesday, during their lunch break, Burmese workers sit in small groups with an English-speaking volunteer to practice their new language skills.
Making a difference
The program has the support of Bollman Bridges principal
I really see it as the beginning of a great partnership between a business and a school and we have just begun to scratch the surface with how that could benefit, really, the greater community, says Jonathan Davis, who hopes the lessons help Burmese parents become more comfortable communicating with the school. Even as simply as making a phone call to say that their son or daughter is sick, even if that is the amount of English that they have gotten from the program, that truly will help us
Chertok believes its already made a difference in the workplace.
When the Burmese employees got here, they were very, very shy, she says. Now I find that they are more responsive as employees. They are more communicative. They are also, as parents, more involved in their childrens school.
For their efforts, Chertok and Conran received a 2011 Community Builders Award from Howard County.
I love this program, Conran says. As a community we want to work together, collaboratively, because when everybody works together it is a win-win situation.
Totem Pole Art Preserves Native American Culture
(Published on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:20:15 GMT)
In the mid to late 18th century, missionary schools were opened on Native American reservations in the U.S. The goal was to convert young people to Christianity and immerse them in Western culture. Native languages and culture were discouraged. Over decades, many grew up knowing little about their culture or languages. One Tsimshian tribesman has dedicated his life to keeping his native culture alive.
David Boxley is a Native American artist from the Tsimshian tribe in Alaska. Hes a dancer, songwriter, and wood carver. More importantly, hes an ambassador for Tsimshian culture and heritage.
We call it art now, but it was a way for people to say, This is who I am. This belongs to me. Or This is my clan, this is my crest, this is my family history, carved and painted in wood.
Boxley was raised by his grandparents. He said Christian missionary influence was strong while he was growing up. So he learned little about his native culture.
While working as a teacher after college, he began researching Tsimshian wood carving in ethnographic materials and museum collections. In 1986, he left teaching to devote his time to wood carving and reviving Tsimshian art and culture.
I guess I came along at the right time. Our people really needed a shot in the arm. Our culture wasnt very prominent after all that missionary influence, and years and years of not having anybody be in that kind of position to guide, said Boxley.
Almost 30 years later, hes putting the finishing touches on his 70th totem pole, which will stand in the permanent collection at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
We dont use sandpaper. We use the knives and the chisels to get it as smooth as possible. Get the lines clean, said Boxley.
Totem poles tell a story. This one is carved from a seven-meter-long piece of red cedar. Boxley began carving it several months ago at his home near Seattle in Washington state. It was shipped across country by truck
The title is Eagle and the Young Chief, said Boxley.
The pole tells the story of a young chief who rescued an eagle snared in a fishing net. Years later, when the Chiefs village was starving, the eagle repaid the chief for his kindness.
A live salmon fell out of the sky, and he looked up and he saw the eagle flying away. And every day for days and days, the eagle brought salmon to feed the village, said Boxley.
Boxley said the pole he carved in honor of his grandfather is closest to his heart. This one is a close second.
This one is going to be seen by millions over the next hundred years. And it is not just me and my son; it is all of my people that are proud my tribe, said Boxley.
On the day the pole was unveiled, Boxleys dance troupe of family and friends performed for a large audience.
Then, the unveiling.
Boxley has other wood carvings in the permanent collection of the museum. This one ensures Tsimshian culture will have pride of place in native American history.
Online Textbooks Update Student Learning
(Published on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:51:54 GMT)
Electronic books, or e-books, have changed the way many of us read for pleasure. Now digital text books - educational volumes which are read online - are transforming the way many students learn. The Washington regions largest school system, with 175,000 students, has begun using online course material for its middle- and high-school students
History teacher Luke Rosa wheels his cart filled with laptops into a classroom at Falls Church High School in Virginia. He asks his students to look to Chapter 6, Section 1, on Jacksonian America. Rather than using a regular textbook, its all online.
This school year, Fairfax County Public Schools shifted from hard cover to electronic textbooks for social studies in its middle and high schools. The switch came after digital books were used in 15 schools last year.
Our students come to us technologically savvy and ready to utilize resources from a variety of different places, says Assistant Superintendent Peter Noonan, who points to the benefits of electronic textbooks, such as the ability to update content. The world is changing consistently. The online textbooks can change right along with the events that are happening
Theres a significant financial benefit as well.
Usually it is in the neighborhood of between $50 and $70 to buy a textbook for each student, Noonan says, which adds up to roughly $8 million for all of our students in Fairfax County. We actually have purchased all of the online textbooks for our students for just under $6 million.
Students have mixed feelings about the switch, but most like it.
I do not have to carry a textbook around, so that is nice, says high school student Melanie Reuter.
Fellow student Maria Stephany isnt completely sold on the concept. I dont like it because the internet sometimes doesnt work.
You can highlight your work, says high schooler Brian Tran. You can leave notes on your work and it will all be saved onto your account. It is a lot better than a regular textbook.
Social studies teacher Michael Bambara thinks so, too.
Particularly this book, that I use in government, has differentiated reading levels, Bambara says. So a person can individualize their learning and I can individualize their instruction.
However, making sure all students have online access outside school remains a challenge. About 10 percent of students in Fairfax County dont have a computer or online access at home
Stephen Castillo is one of them, but he makes it work. Pretty much go to the library, I guess, or go to a friends house
Besides the public librarys free computer terminals, students can also use the schools after-school computer lab, or go to one of the computer club houses supported by the county.
All of my family works on a computer, my sister and me both do our homework on it, says Slieman Hakim, a middle school student. So I come here to do my homework. It is good.
Neighboring counties are also considering online textbooks. Gladys Whitehead, director of Curriculum of Prince Georges County Public Schools, says its survey shows 60 percent of students have computer access at home.
Next year we will just have a pilot with probably one classroom and one subject area, so that we can see what issues will come up with complete online access.
Meanwhile, Peter Noonan foresees a future without traditional textbooks for his young child.
I envision a future where my third grade son will likely not being carrying five textbooks back and forth between high school and home when he gets there. I think he will be carrying either a tablet or some sort of device that he will be able to access his information on
And schools, he says, are taking the first steps in that direction now.
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