Monday Matters #21

Link: http://blog.heritage.org/2014/01/28/7-things-late/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=headline140128

The people at Heritage have some ideas for President Obama and Congress to address at the State of the Union address tonight. They list them in points, having seven of them. The article starts off by saying that we need to save Americans from the skyrocketing energy bills by reversing the war on coal and having affordable energy readily available. The article then goes into proposing the idea of letting students succeed in schools of their choice. It shows that the Capital's scholarship program is not useful, and that when parents choose the schools students succeed, because school choice works. The third point suggests that the government serve the people by allowing more state's rights. They give gay rights as an example, that the federal government should stay out of it and let each state figure it out for themselves. The fourth point is saying to start moving forward on entitlement reform. America's spending causes us to go into debt, and it drags down the economy. They also suggest some type of controlled spending. The fifth point made says we should be ready for anything. We need to be ready for anything, mostly militarily. The sixth point encourages we follow the first amendment. We need to allow a little bit more freedom when it comes to health care and religious liberty. Finally, the last point made proposes we stop the food policies that hurt the poor. The farm policies we have now boost food prices. The government should stay out of the food supply.

Monday Matters #20

Link: http://www.ted.com/playlists/125/tv_special_ted_talks_educatio.html

Angela Lee Duckworth was a management consultant and became what she believed was an even more demanding job, being a teacher. She taught seventh grade math and did everything a normal teacher would do like make tests and grade homework. She noticed her better students were not always the students with the highest IQ, and that some students with the highest IQ were not doing all too well in her class. She claims our educational system can measure IQ very well, but fails to promote the motivational side of learning. She then became a physiologist to figure out the keys to success. After studying many kids and adults in different settings, she concluded that "grit" was what many successful people had in common, not IQ. Passion and perseverance is what helped these people accomplish their long term goals. She backed up her claim with research she conducted in the Chicago Public School area, and it was successful. She ends with promoting "growth mindset" developed at Stanford University that tries to teach children about how to persevere through school and addresses that hard work can get you far.

Monday Matters #19

Link: http://sirkenrobinson.com/?p=744

This blog post talks about how creativity can influence or inspire people to do different things. He gives an example, the iPhone, and how that the innovative device five years later can now be used as a virtual harmonica. Robinson explains that our own creativity is a part of a much larger cultural conversation. Our ideas lead to another person's ideas and so on. This creates a giant pool of ideas for us to see and share with each other. Sometimes this inspiration comes from something related to what you do, sometimes it can be completely different. This creativity is essential when it comes to schools promoting creativity and innovation. Students need inspiration, which today many students lack. Robinson ends with showing us examples of how he has inspired other people, and by saying that this cultural conversation can lead to many new innovations.

Monday Matters #18

Link: http://dianeravitch.net/2014/01/07/is-san-diego-the-best-urban-district-in-the-nation/

This article Diane Ravitch wrote is her explaining why she thinks San Diego has the best urban district in the nation when it comes to education and community. The teachers and administrators are all working towards a common goal, to improve the future generations. She says her opinion is not based on test scores, even though they are improving, but on the climate of teaching they have. Back in the 1990's, San Diego had its problems in the educational department, but now things are changing. The previous superintendent, Mr. Kowba, had a different idea of improvement. He valued teamwork and community to help the teachers and the union come together. Test scores went up, with the new spirit of teamwork between students, teachers, parents, and the local community. The board voted for a new superintendent once Kowba retired, and Cindy Marten has filled in his spot perfectly. She inspires and also values community involvement. Yet, a newspaper still seems to believe that the San Diego urban district is failing, saying they should bring back older superintendents, especially the one now in Houston, Texas. Ravitch counters with her logos by showing that Houston has a higher drop out rate and lower test scores. She finishes by saying that San Diego has the perfect line up. It has a great intelligent superintendent that gets the community involved. The cohesion of the parents, students, union, and the board is also impressive. And they all have one goal in common, to improve the education for every child. It is all about the children.

Monday Matters #17

Link to picture: http://www.grandparents.com/grandkids/discipline-and-behavior/discipline-proof

This image properly illustrates what children need these days. In order for all these plans to improve the USA's educational system to work, they are going to need the cooperation and help of parents. Parents, as of recently, have had a hard time disciplining their children. These children grow up thinking they can do whatever they want and get away with it, so that is what they do. Growing up this way causes them to think that they cannot be told what to do or forced to do anything. They defy their parents and any other older figures. When they get into school, these children think if they do not have to listen to their parents, why should they listen to a teacher? Most of these children most likely are not too interested in doing well in school in the first place, and with the upbringing they had, they are set up to fail in school. The picture also shows a child pouting, which illustrates the idea of children defying their parents' scolds. The upbringing of a child plays an important role in their academic performance. We need to bring up children that see the value in education and want to strive to do their best on their own. We need children who want to invest in a successful future.

Monday Matters #16

A major issue facing the United States today is education. There are many "solutions" to this issue, but they always face opposition. The government has tried to take matters into their own hands, but their ideas are put down and are said to be flawed. The problem becomes even more prevalent when you look at our international test scores compared to other industrialized countries. We consistently rank in the bottom half in Math, and do mediocre in Reading. Some people even go further to say that there is a difference in academic achievement between poorer and wealthier families. Students who attend more selective schools tend to get a higher entry level salary than those who would have gone to an ordinary college. There are also studies that show if you were to go to a college known for, say, producing lawyers, you would have a better chance of getting a job as a lawyer than somebody who went to an ordinary college. There are many factors that come into play when education is discussed. It is not something that you can look at in one dimension. This issue can not be solved with a simple solution, because it is not a simple issue. Instead of all arguing over what should be done, we need to realize that we are all a part of this country, and that we are all responsible for what happens to it. We need to come together and create a solution that incorporates everyone's ideas as much as possible. Maybe then someday we can move forward and hope to establish ourselves as an elite country when it comes to education.

Monday Matters #15

Link: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/graph-countries-with-higher-math-scores-have-unhappier-kids/282001/

Source: The Atlantic

Author: Derek Thompson

This article talks about the recently published scores of a recent international test that was given to teenagers to test them on different subjects. The article specifically focuses on the Math scores. The United States ranked under the average, while Korea scored the highest. Indonesia scored the second lowest. But the article focuses on the how each countries score relates to the student's happiness in class. While Indonesia scored the second lowest, they reported being the happiest in school out of all the countries. Korea, while scoring the highest on the test, reported having the least happy students out of all of the countries. The author makes a connection between Math and Happiness. He concludes that the better you do on the math portion of the test, the more likely you are of being less happy at school. Having better scores on the math tests takes work, and the author says that after all, they are still kids, and kids do not like working harder than they have to.