Sometimes we humans get lucky and are able to experience something more than ourselves because someone amazing stood up and fought to make a difference. Most of those solid souls and the differences they make go unnoticed by everyone not within their immediate sphere. Mr. Jaime Escalante and his badass teaching philosophy did not go unnoticed. You can read the book or you can watch the movie. If you aren’t affected by either, you’re dead inside.

Mr. Escalante is 79 and is currently trying to kick the ass of cancer. I’m hoping that because he managed to somehow be more than most humans, someone wrote a book about it, and Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips starred in the film, that he and his family won’t end up broken due to medical bills and cancer. To donate, go here.

Further Reading:

Which Road Do the Quality Teachers Walk In On?
Jaime Escalante: 1999 Inductee National Teachers Hall of Fame
Legendary East L.A. Teacher Jaime Escalante Battles Cancer
Funds Sought for Ill ‘Stand and Deliver’ Teacher
Jaime Escalante Being Treated for Cancer

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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The folks at Grammarlogues have a guest post up in the NY Times’ Learning Blog: 5 Easy Ways to Learn Grammar With The New York Times. I totally do this! I’ve done this for years, actually. My own version involves not so much practicing, as it does utilizing the NY Times when I’m in a must-know-now situation.

While I seem to be able to teach myself any subject an institution of higher learning can throw at me (including calculus, which I’m sure will come in handy when the apocalypse comes), I have never found a grammar how-to manual that explains the concept and then shows you several examples so you can understand how it works in actual situations. I need to see the example if the concept is hazy or has too many variables.

What I really require is a university English department to have a 24-hour help desk so I can hand over my sentence and have a professional help me to understand why the correct form is right, and why my version is the equivalent of a six-year-old making “soup” by dumping every spice in the kitchen cabinet into the bathtub.

When the manuals and the online grammar help sites fail me, I turn to the NY Times. I Google “NY Times” and the pertinent portion of the sentence that’s stumping me. The NY Times is the well-edited-newspaper version of an infinite number of monkeys whanging away at typewriters: eventually one of those monkeys is going to hammer out Shakespeare, word for word. Somewhere in the NY Times’ archives there’s a sentence chunk exactly like mine (only with correct grammar and punctuation).

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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I’ve told you people this over and over: kids need to run around during the school day. It’s good for their bodies, it’s good for their brains. Exercise gets their energy out so they can sit still long enough to learn. They learn better when their bodies are less amped. Do you all overstand yet? Stop decreasing recess and budget-cutting PE and athletic programs.

More scientific research to back me up on that comes from the British Medical Journal. A recent study shows that kids are miraculously more fit and trim when they are allowed to exercise during the school day. So. Dang. Weird.

An excerpt from the article:

One in three to five children in the Western world is overweight or obese. This epidemic is rapidly and constantly growing and affects all socioeconomic levels and ethnicities. Excessive weight is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, orthopaedic problems, and psychosocial constraints even before adulthood is reached. Life expectancy may be reduced by several years, as is work productivity, while costs are increasing enormously. A focus on early prevention is thus urgently needed.

The increase in physical inactivity over the past decades is one of the main causes of the increase in obesity. In adults, physical inactivity and low aerobic fitness are associated with higher mortality and a higher prevalence of chronic disease. In children, physical inactivity and lack of fitness are associated with increasing prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, even independent of body weight.

Further Reading:

Educational Psychology Can Save Recess (I Hope)
The Salubriousness of Recess

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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The world order has finally reconciled itself! Barbie no longer thinks “Math class is tough!” Now she’s lighting up cubicle jockeys with her smokin’ bod and her tight pants! She will be fetching lattes for no one.

I actually like Barbie, to be honest. I know she’s supposed to be evil and make little girls feel badly about themselves, but I had about 20 Barbies when I was an impressionable young thing and I’ve never had body issues. Besides, how can you not respect a girl who can maintain that posture and walk around 24/7 on her tip-toes with a rack like that? Barbie’s a badass, I don’t care what the angry hippies say.

Further Reading:

For Some Girls, the Problem With Math Is That They’re Good at It
Approach to School Affects How Girls Compare With Boys in Math
Math, Science, and Girls: Can We Close the Gender Gap?
Girls’ Math Anxiety Undermines Performance in Other Subjects
You Can Kiss My Math Because Smart Girls Are Hot
Mattel Says It Erred: Ten Talk Barbie Turns Silent on Math

Posted by Alexa Harrington

For a tragedy-less college student, there is nothing worse than utterly failing an exam. Having to hear some know-it-all’s advice on how not to do that again sucks as well. One always hopes to learn deep lessons from one’s mistakes. Oddly, the more mature a brain is, the quicker it learns not to ever do that again.

Which is all to say I know from experience (read: I’m a pain-in-the-ass, know-it-all b**ch) that undergrads have to see their exam-failing lives pass before their eyes a few times before they figure out how to never have a day like that again.

WorldWideLearn’s blog has an advice-filled post up about how not to torpedo yourself with one badly executed exam moment. Taking advice, learning one’s Social Security Number, and mastering the art of acquiring free beer, food, and furniture are some of the key bits of priceless information college students are expected to take away from their higher educations.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Prospective college students who have remained unaware of the fact that January 23rd’s SAT results are up at CollegeBoard.org are waaaaaay too relaxed. Or possibly relaxed just enough…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Below is an excerpt from President Obama’s State of the Union Address 2010. I’m not on board with his primary and secondary education reform plans, which may be smarter than Bush’s NCLB Act, but are also more evil.

However, so far his plans for higher education look to be an improvement. I’m especially liking the Pell Grant increases, the lessening of student loan malevolence, and the attempt to have colleges and universities knock it the hell off already with the insane tuition increases.

Still, in this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. That’s why I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families. (Applause.)

To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans. (Applause.) Instead, let’s take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants. (Applause.) And let’s tell another one million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only 10 percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after 20 years — and forgiven after 10 years if they choose a career in public service, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college. (Applause.)

And by the way, it’s time for colleges and universities to get serious about cutting their own costs — (applause) — because they, too, have a responsibility to help solve this problem.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Redirecting your thought process is difficult on a good day. Redirecting your post-high school plans is nearly impossible, especially if college has been the one all-consuming thought you and your parents have had since you were exhibiting sheer finger-painting genius in preschool. The farther you’ve driven, the harder it is to turn the car around.

Even though eighteen-year-old me would never have listened to any advice involving my not going to college, that doesn’t mean I was correct in my closed-mindedness. Whether or not it’s advice you want to take, only fools assume their way is always right and disregard all other input and information. (That was directed at me. I’m the idiot. Or, I was the idiot. I’ve made so many horrific blunders that now I’m wise beyond all measure.)

Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist has an excellent piece about college education and what it really means in this day and age. It’s difficult to open one’s mind up and really consider what she says, especially if you’ve grown up thinking the way I do about higher education. But that’s part of growing the hell up and learning to examine all options and relevant information when making a decision. Penelope tends to think outside the box, and the more miles you walk through this world, the more you’ll realize how valuable that quality is.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Good news for FAFSA applicants: the 2010 version will be easier to apply for. The form is simplified and is no longer written in a language incomprehensible to even students with 4.0 GPAs and off-the-charts SAT scores. As an added bonus, volunteers will be available to help parents and students fill those suckers out.

While the total amount of grants and scholarships likely to be handed out this year won’t be anywhere near enough to meet most students’ needs, at least it will be easier to apply for aid. The online version of the notoriously headache-producing Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is the scholarship application used by the federal government and most states, charities, and colleges, has been streamlined and simplified. Even better: There is a growing network of volunteers who will help anyone fill out the FAFSA free of charge.

Volunteer financial aid experts will be stationed at more than 800 YMCAs, churches, colleges, schools, community centers, and other locations around the country in January and February for College Goal Sunday events. The aim of the nonprofit events: to help students and parents get their aid applications in on time. Originally, College Goal Sunday events were held the Sunday after the Super Bowl. The program has grown so much in the past few years that many states now have several events on various days throughout January and February, says Marcia Weston, director of the program, which is funded by the Lumina Foundation and operated by the YMCA. Some states, such as California, use a different name for their volunteer event. But the College Goal Sunday website lists the times and places for events in 47 states plus the District of Columbia. Some sites will also provide transportation, she says. More…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

While high school juniors and seniors are in full-on panic mode because the college application and acceptance process is hitting the fan in earnest for both groups of students, I’m hopeful everyone can manage to remember that college is not a life or death situation. Every adult involved in the life of an upperclassman tends to make it seem as though it is, but I promise you it’s not.

Breathe, people, and read this post in the NY Times education blog, Mom U. Regular columnist, Caren Osten Gerzberg, had her daughter write the post. Nicole is a high school junior and makes some excellent points with regard to the college admissions process and how it relates to the grand scheme of things.

Seriously, you are a single, unimportant speck in the universe. No one actually gives a rat’s ass which institution of higher learning chooses you for matriculation. And in ten years, neither will you. Perspective is a priceless tool.

Further Reading:

Community College vs. University
College Comparison Tool
Awesome Parent
The Coolest College Application Essay Ever
How To (Not) Screw Up the College Apps
Avoiding Six Common College Application Slip-Ups
College Admissions Testing: For and Against
Taking Your Personality Into Account When Making Major Decisions
Media Frenzy Around High Pressure College Admissions
College Admissions—Looking Good Only On Paper

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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