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 was out of town this weekend, but, alas, I was not in Bronxville, N.Y, listening with rapt attention to Carmen Ashurst, keynote speaker of the 12th Annual Women’s History Month Conference at Sarah Lawrence College.

Do you know who Carmen Ashurst is? She’s the former president of Def Jam Recordings and Rush Communications, and is the author of the forthcoming book, Selling My Brothers: The Movement, The Media and Me. Ashurst also appeared in the documentary, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.

The ideas/points/questions/answers the conference[link] aimed to cover:

Music has long served social movements as a sound track, as a means of communication, and as its own arena for activism. While multiple generations of feminists have used music in these ways, it has played especially vital roles for those born since the 1970s. This conference will explore the ways in which young feminists have defined and expressed politics through music and musical cultures and communities. Among the questions we will ponder are: How does music reflect sites of agreement and conflict among different groups of feminists? How have movements like Riot Grrrl and Hip Hop feminism attracted young women to feminist activism? How do young feminists’ uses of music compare with those of earlier generations?

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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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Compare student loan default rates at different colleges and universities with Ben Miller’s 411 on Cohort Default Rates.

More Articles of Interest:

What’s a Degree Really Worth?
College Grads Struggle to Repay Student Loans
Students Borrow More Money Than Ever for College
A Steep Climb for Indebted College Grads
Average Student Loan Debt By State
NY Times: Student Loans Information and Resources
Where You Enroll Can Make a Difference for Student Borrowers
Linking Debt and Income

Posted by Alexa Harrington

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan explains why direct student loans are better for everyone but the banks, and why the banks are pissed about losing all those government subsidies. I’m siding with college students and direct loans, and will be far*ing in the general direction of the banks and their elderberry-scented mothers.

From the Duncan’s Washington Post article:

Under current law, taxpayers provide as much as $9 billion each year to subsidize guaranteed student loans issued by banks. The banks earn profits on the interest; if students default, taxpayers take the loss, not the banks. In other words, working Americans pay while bankers get rich.

Meanwhile, educators, engineers and computer scientists — the backbone of the new economy — face crushing debt from six-figure college tuitions. A study of national postsecondary student aid found that in 2008, two-thirds of college seniors graduated with debt averaging more than $23,000. That number will rise as public and private college tuition costs escalate.

…The Education Department has issued more than $187 billion in student loans since the Direct Loan Program was created in 1993. The number of universities participating in the program has more than doubled, to 2,300, in just the past three years. There is no justification to continue wasteful subsidies to banks. It is time to complete the shift to direct lending.

The president’s proposal, which has passed the House and awaits Senate consideration, represents the ideal hybrid of public investment and market-based management. Through direct lending, we get a bigger bang for taxpayer bucks while using competition and private-sector expertise to improve customer service.

Further Reading:

House Votes to End Subsidies to Student Loan Firms
Bill Ending Banks’ Role in Student Loans Stalls in Senate

Posted by Alexa Harrington

The physical training athletes constantly work at can only get them so far when the big moment comes. The body can always be trained and improved, and when the competitive sh*t is hitting the fan, an athlete’s body will have been so intensively trained that the muscles will tend to react according to the memories the muscles have stored up based on that training.

All of which should mean that if an athlete can see what’s happening during a competition and can let their minds go enough to allow their muscle-memoried bodies to do what they’ve been trained to do, everything should be golden. Too bad athletes are using their bodies so extensively that their amped-up minds have time to think and think until mentally the athlete is curled up in a corner, twitching and terrified, certain of failure at the critical moment.

In the old days, the coach gave the athlete a pep talk, a good whack on the back, and told the athlete to suck it up and take it like a man. These days, there are sports psychologists. When an athlete is physically flawless, but tends to mentally crumple when confronted with the pivotal moment of doom, a sports psychologist becomes part of his/her training team.

An article in the CS Monitor explains the ins and outs:

German biathlete Magdalena Neuner came into the Vancouver Olympics with six world championship titles in her pocket – but a history of wildly inconsistent shooting that has also left her with some poor results.

So when the young stand-out won her first of three medals so far at these Olympics – including two of Germany’s six gold medals – she had a simple answer for how she had become so much more consistent this year.
“I worked very hard, especially in the mental training,” she said, a concept she elaborated on later. “One has to understand that physical fitness alone isn’t sufficient. My mental training is very complex and it makes me believe in myself…. To control your mind is more difficult than to control your body.”

Posted by Alexa Harrington

If you’re in the neighborhood on March 4, 2010, and you’re pondering a Master’s in Sustainability Management, the Earth Institute, Columbia University has an invitation for you:

The Earth Institute, Columbia University invites you to join us for an information session on Thursday, March 4th at 6:30 p.m. to learn more about the brand new M.S. in Sustainability Management co-sponsored by Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education and the Earth Institute.

All organizations, whether they are multinational corporations or local nonprofits, face a growing number of environmental challenges from limiting carbon emissions to managing water resources. The M.S. in Sustainability Management is a highly specialized professional program that will formally train and educate sustainability practitioners for a broad range of fields. The program is designed to meet the growing demand for sustainability managers and will train leaders to bridge the gap between the principle of sustainable development and its practice. Students in the program will learn sophisticated environmental measurement tools and cutting-edge environmental science to fully understand the systematic and organizational role of sustainability in any organization. This program is ideal for practitioners and aspiring professionals working in organizational management, regulatory compliance, facilities operations, and environmental stewardship.

The program is offered on a full-time or part-time basis to accommodate the schedules of working professionals.

Date: Thursday, March 4th
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Columbia University, Morningside Campus, Low Memorial Library, Faculty Room

To register for the information session, please go to:

https://register.applyyourself.com/?id=col-scems&pid=1953&eID=27667&rid=1

Master of Science in Sustainability Management
School of Continuing Education and The Earth Institute
Columbia University

http://ce.columbia.edu/Sustainability-Management

Further Reading:

Blogs From the Earth Institute
It’s Blog Action Day
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic
Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice
Sustainability Degree Offered at Arizona State University

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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

The crazy surge in med school applicants has finally triggered several new medical schools to come into being. Apparently there was a dry spell during the 80s and the 90s. Now is the time for every new and terrified college grad to take a good look around, figure out which professionals manage to avoid being laid off (garbage collectors and doctors), and decide whether to get a job now (not the best plan, I heard even 7-Eleven isn’t hiring) or kill some time in medical school while the economy works itself out.

It seems there is an actual shortage of physicians in this country, as well as a shortage of medical school spots. Starting up a few more medical schools seems like a viable option. But let’s not go overboard. Printing more money doesn’t save anyone from an economic crisis (have we learned nothing from all this higher education?).

I’m all for more doctors, especially if it means more people to help who are worth a lot less money (we can’t pay all the doctors six figures…I hope). But my spidey senses are tingling about the less-than established medical schools letting everyone in and churning out Twinkie-shaped doctors. Oh, well. I’m sure America’s lawsuit fettish will finally pay off and the physicians educated at MD mills will soon be weeded out.

Wait! Here comes the optimism (better late than never). The new medical schools will be less fraught with tradition, status, and red tape and they will work hard to teach their med students well. These new and excellent doctors will go on to stellar residencies and splendiferous careers in medicine. Babies will smile and Baby Boomers will be cured of their age-related ills. The soundtrack will rock and the montage will be poetic.

Further Reading:

Expecting a Surge in U.S. Medical Schools
Three New Medical Schools Join AAMC Membership, USA
How to Fix The Doctor Shortage
The Commonwealth Medical College
Starting a New Medical School

Posted by Alexa Harrington