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Posts Tagged ‘Education’
I’m Just About Ready for My Next Educational Endeavor
October 10th, 2011 | Added to College & Fraternity Life | No Comments »
Believe it or not, I’m actually getting ready to write a new chapter in my educational history. No, I’m not going to apply to a doctoral program… yet. Instead, I’ve found a very interesting Post-Master’s Certificate program at my local college that manages to fit my personal educational goals as well as my professional development needs. The local college has a Post-Master’s Certificate program in Curriculum Studies as a part of their School of Education and after doing some preliminary research and meeting with the Director of the program, I think I’m going to apply to start classes next spring.
 Apparently, I want more of this in my life... During my very pleasant, upbeat conversation with the Director of the program, I was pleased to hear how the topic of Curriculum Studies includes how spaces and places impact a student’s ability to learn. In other words, this program will allow me to do some research on the link between what a classroom looks and feels like and student achievement. There are already a lot of folks looking at this issue, so I expect that I will have a lot of trouble finding research on the topic. Ideally, I’ll be able to research how charter schools create learning spaces that positively impact their students. Part of that research would also have to show how failing charter schools design their classrooms and facility culture – which could be an interesting study on its own.
Sometimes I know that I’m huge nerd at heart because when I think about researching these types of issues, I’m excited about the possibilities. I mean come on! Who thinks about charter school classroom design and its relationship to student achievement and thinks, “Oh my God! What an awesome subject!?”
Hey – I just like reading and researching in a way that many people do not. And that’s not a judgment call on anyone and their academic abilities. Instead, it’s just a public confession that I like going to school and learning new things.
And that’s about it, folks. As I work to figure out if/when I want to apply to this program, I’ll keep everyone updated. There are five classes in the program so I’d probably just take one this spring, two over the summer, one next fall, and one the following spring. No big deal. I’ve got some existing travel, professional, and social commitments that would impact my ability to attend some classes this coming spring, so that’s something that I’m trying to think through right now. One thing that I’m not thinking too much about is the cost of the program. Why? Well, as an alumnus of the local college who already holds a Masters Degree, I get a 25% discount. Plus, I’m going to try to get my company to pay for a small portion of the program costs, too.
Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. Could be a lot of fun!
A Graphic Look at the United States’ Education System as Compared to the World
July 25th, 2011 | Added to Random Entries | No Comments »
Have you ever wondered how the United States ranks in terms of education spending, how many years our education system requires for completion as compared to the rest of the world, hours of instruction as compared to other countries, and any other number of topics? Well, we’re pleased to bring you the graphic below which lays out a great deal of metrics regarding the United States and its education system. I hope you enjoy reading through this – I find it pretty interesting!
Pretty interesting stuff, huh? It’s amazing how many different ways you can break down the numbers and show these statistics.
Guest Editorial: On Personal Finance and Our Educational System
July 6th, 2011 | Added to Money, Jobs, & Finances | No Comments »
Hi everyone! Today I’m pleased to bring you a guest editorial from Patricia Briggs. Ms. Briggs has written a guest editorial for us once before, which you can find by clicking here. I hope that you enjoy Ms. Briggs’ latest contribution which starts right after this paragraph.
How to Make Personal Finance Education A More Integral Part of Our Education System
Despite the proposal creeping up numerous times by so many people over the years, there has never been a solemn attempt to include personal finance as an integral part of the high school curriculum. There is no doubt that personal finance has always been an integral part of our daily lives. Children will have more command over their finances if they grow up acquiring knowledge about personal finance while in school.
These days millions of children leave school without any knowledge of personal finance. Even, many leave the University without a single class on the banking and fractional banking system, function of the Federal Reserve, currency devaluation, compounding interest and mortgage interest. It is really awful that the education system has now become a platform for job rather than proper knowledge and entrepreneurship.
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It is quite evident that some fundamental things are wrong within the system. A question might arise that in whose interest the government is not employing personal finance education in schools. Again best-selling personal finance and business author, Angie Mohr says, “At the beginning of another school year, we find once again that our kids are learning more about theory and less about practical financial concepts. Our kids can explain the Pythagorean Theorem but can’t make change from a $20 bill. They can memorize passages from Shakespeare but don’t know how to compare the value of two items in a grocery store.”
However, as a single optimistic step toward implementing personal finance education as an integral part of our education system, President Obama has declared April Financial Literacy Month after witnessing years of personal finance decline.
It is obviously a good sign that President Obama has declared April Financial Literacy Month. However, that is not going to solve the whole lot. There are still some robust steps need to be taken to ensure personal finance classes for teens about how to mange their money.
The Federal government and the state machineries should jointly take initiatives to ensure compulsory teaching of personal finance in the States. Further, the parents should also be aware of the importance of personal finances in their children’ life. If parents compel the local schools and state governments to take positive steps in this regard, there can be a positive outcome. The government must be compelled by showing examples of the poor condition of the economy and the tearing consumer-debt that resulted from the lack of knowledge of personal finance among common people.
However, some pioneer schools have already started to figure out personal finance as a subject to be taught to teens. According to a study by the national Council for Economic Education in 2009, 13 states are required at least one semester of personal finance instruction (see the requirements in your state).
Now it is time for other states to include personal finance education into their core curriculum. Further, according to a June 2010 Capital One study, 45% of high school graduates are even not ready to manage their money after their graduation.
Author’s Bio: Patricia Briggs is a guest columnist, blogger, author for various websites and communities including Oak View Law Group, CCHFA, CSCDA etc. She has completed her Post Graduation in Social Welfare from California University and is currently working with a reputed bank located in California. She loves to write articles during her free time especially on topics like bankruptcy, debt settlement services, investment opportunities, monetary policies, etc.
Education Reform: Check out The Cartel Movie on DVD!
December 15th, 2010 | Added to The State of New Jersey | No Comments »
One of the areas of life that I’m most passionate about is education and, these days, education reform. If you read through the entries on this blog, you’ll see that I hate the very idea of a student going to a school that isn’t educating them properly or efficiently. One of the reasons why I’ve become so impassioned about education reform is because I spend most of my working on charter school financial products to help them do what the traditional public school bureaucracy can’t seem to accomplish – educate students.
I’m glad that there are more movies and, specifically, documentaries coming out about what’s going on in the inner cities with respect to education. One of the better movies to come out is The Cartel. And while I understand that there are two sides to every story, my gut reaction to the entire education reform and the school choice movement is that one option works and one option fails. Put all of the phony baloney math and statistics aside and look at the results – the overwhelmingly vast majority of charter schools in inner city school districts (and the suburbs for that matter) are tremendous successes while the traditional public schools are failures.
The Cartel tries to give us some reasons why this phenomenon occurs. Here is some information that director Bob Bowdon posted on The Huffington Post regarding his movie and education reform:
Education status quo defenders routinely call school choice “simplistic,” and they mean it in the bad way.
Their bullet points go like this:
The problems of American education are dizzyingly complex. There are issues of absentee parents, bad nutrition, and cultural breakdown. There’s an entertainment culture beckoning our kids to hours of videos games, television shows and gross out YouTube videos. Throw in a diminished economy where even some of the best students can’t find work after graduation, and you get a whiff of the enormous complexity. Why on earth do these reformers believe that (Insert: school choice, charter schools, vouchers, scholarships) would be some magic pill to cure this swirling array of ills? These fixes are simplistic.
Indeed, for many of these people, the very concept of “complexity” is comforting. They believe the best solutions to social problems strike ornate compromises between a wide variety of stakeholders, each of which need carefully designed provisions to preserve their interests.
If they hear news of a 2,000 page health care bill passed by the House (that most Representatives don’t read), they shrug and say, “What’s the problem?” If the 9,400 page federal tax code has obvious loopholes, they want to add more pages to plug them. If a 165-page teachers’ contract spells out the Monday through Thursday workday as six hours, 57 minutes, and 30 seconds, and the rest of us say, “are you kidding me?” — they say, “so?”
Running deep in their psyches: “Complexity is for smart people.”
What they forget is that all the great causes in American history were based on simple questions. Should slavery be legal, or not? Should women have the right to vote, or not? Should we remove our troops from Vietnam, or not? Of course entire libraries of scholarship can be collected about intricacies of these issues; yes, we’re aware of that. The point is that the decisions can all be boiled down to elegantly uncomplicated questions.
Parental school choice, in fact, is a simple concept, and just like movements for abolition, suffrage or withdrawal from Vietnam, its simplicity doesn’t make it a bad idea.
I encourage you to read through Bowdon’s entire post over at the other website. And if you have the inclination, I encourage you to buy or rent The Cartel to see what’s going on in the school choice movement today!
This is EXACTLY Why the Majority of New Jerseyans Can’t Stand the Hateful NJEA
October 25th, 2010 | Added to Idiots, Morons, & Fools, Local People & Politics, The State of New Jersey | No Comments »
Thanks to my roommate for telling me about this awesome link… even though I heard the second video played in its entirety on NJ 101.5 earlier tonight on my ride home from the office. And as my roommate said when he commented on these ridiculous videos, nearly every teacher or person involved in education that I know thinks exactly like the people in these videos. It’s utterly ridiculous. And – just like the hateful, intolerant liberals at NPR who fired one of their own for his repeated independent thoughts on FOX News – the vast majority of left-leaning folks living in New Jersey are so brainwashed into being intolerant that they would see the videos and not immediately condemn them.
Let me make this very clear, folks. There is not one thing in either of these videos that is defensible. Not one. And now, for your viewing pleasure disgust, the hateful, grotesque New Jersey Education Association as presented by the same guy who brought us the ACORN videos last year.
Feeling sick to your stomach yet? Look folks – enough is enough with the NJEA. This hateful organization needs to be dismantled and the local teachers unions need to be empowered. Just like any good bureaucracy, the people at the top of this chain have forgotten their mission and values and need to be removed. Let the local unions handle the local issues – not some filthy, unethical, immoral group of scum in the NJEA’s Trenton office.
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