Thursday 8 February 2018

Public Education For All: Will It Just Be A Dream?

Progress is only made possible through education. You can learn everything you need in order to succeed in life in the four corners of the classroom. With rapid globalization, other countries are doubling their efforts in educating their youth especially that it is now common for workers of different nationalities to compete for the same job. You don’t usually have to worry about it during elementary and secondary years as citizens can still get public education especially if you live in America. Regardless of the many issues, we face today, we still remain to be one of the most progressive and powerful nations in the world. However, the youth and their families still struggle in sending their kids to college and in the university. The tuition fee is outrageously high and you can easily fall deep into debt with student loans before you even graduate with a degree you can be proud of.

It is such a shame that no matter how rich the US is, the American government still can’t afford to educate its youth for free when it can very well send all sorts of aid to other nations all year round. That is the problem raised by many parents and teachers right now. Apart from that, the existing educational system prevents teachers from realizing their fullest potential as educators because of conflicting policies that tie their effectiveness as teachers to school funding. Students and their parents are so obsessed in passing standardized tests that determine who is doing well at school and qualifies them to enroll in specific universities when these tests do not fully evaluate a student’s potential, what they have learned at school, and how well they will do later in life. Some can afford to pay for reviews and put their kids in private school so they have an edge over other students on these tests.

The ultimate dream of public education is incredibly simple. Students, ideally, would go to a classroom, receive top-notch instruction from a passionate, well-informed teacher, would work hard in their class, and would come away with a new set of skills, talents, interests, and capabilities. Over the past few decades in the United States, a number of education reforms have been enacted, designed to measure and improve student learning outcomes, holding teachers accountable for their students' performances. Despite these well-intentioned programs, including No Child Left Behind, Race To The Top, and the Every Student Succeeds Act, public education is more broken than ever. The reason, as much as we hate to admit it, is that we've disobeyed the cardinal rule of success in any industry: treating your workers like professionals.

(Via: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/12/06/how-america-is-breaking-public-education/#68959fe47f18)

Once a student enters their college years, they realize how what public education in their formative years lacks and puts them at a disadvantage among their more affluent peers. It also is a struggle to pay the high tuition fee itself not to mention the long list of books that do not come in cheap too. School supplies aren’t even included and then there is the dreaded concern about how to pay for costly housing since most students often come from out-of-state or live farther away from the school. You have to face all these issues all at once, which can be a big hurdle for many in completing their education when everywhere around them, there are financial constraints that prevent them from realizing their dream of getting a degree.

Is the U.S. educational system beginning to decay?

I don’t like to be alarmist, or give too much weight to any one test result, but last week’s release of 2016 reading test scores around the world is now the third major proof point that something is awry. The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) — a reading comprehension test given to fourth graders in 58 countries and regions around the world — showed that U.S. performance is sliding in both absolute and relative terms. American fourth-graders, on average, had worse reading skills than they did five years earlier, in 2011, with scores slipping seven points on a 1,000-point scale. At the same time, other countries leapfrogged ahead of us. The combination meant that the United States slipped from 6th to 15th place in this international ranking. 

(Via: http://hechingerreport.org/third-indication-u-s-educational-system-deteriorating/)

There is always the option to enroll younger kids in public schools but it all changes when they grow up. However, there is also proof that shows public education to be not that great of a preparation for students for real life after school. A lot of students scored poorly in many basic skills like math and reading comprehension that used to be the competitive edge of most Americans. The US economy is also partly to blame for this performance decline as many parents now no longer have the time to check up on their children and ask how they are doing at school when they are too busy working to provide for all their family’s needs. There are problems in various school districts throughout the country and it needs to be seriously looked at by the higher-ups before we continue to lose ground on our edge in the global workplace, which is definitely what we are preparing the youth for in schools.

The following blog post Public Education For All: Will It Just Be A Dream? was originally published on The PodBlaze.com Blog



source https://www.podblaze.com/public-education-for-all-will-it-just-be-a-dream/

Thursday 1 February 2018

How Can We Beat Climate Change

You can’t just turn a blind eye anymore. Climate change is happening now and no longer just a figment of our imagination. Our planet has endured enough and it is now showing drastic signs of our abuse and misuse of Earth’s resources. It even came sooner than expected and we only have ourselves to blame. Just look around you and you can see the answer. Technology is one of the major factors why all these things are happening. All the tech gadgets we are using uses up lots of fuel, something we may have not but may run out sooner. Remember that widely used energy today comes from non-renewable sources like fossil fuel. They aren’t just expensive but they may eventually run out in the coming years. What’s worse is that the combustion coming from the burning of these energy sources contribute to global warming, thereby leaving the planet hotter than ever as hot air is trapped in the planet’s atmosphere and consequently melts glaciers making the sea level rise.

Don’t feel helpless just yet. It is not the end of the world. We still have time to change our ways and salvage what little is left of our planet, so the future generation won’t have such a hard time in simply surviving and all. Of course, the little changes you do can make a big difference if done by a multitude of people. However, we need to level up our efforts if we want to contribute greatly to global warming solutions our planet so badly need at this time and day. There are certain industries that can also make a big contribution if they just make the ultimate sacrifice. Unbeknownst to many, the meat industry generates a lot of greenhouse gases. Aside from that, there are other equally alarming issues caused by livestock production such as air and water pollution. Over the past few years, we’ve also learned that livestock growers inject antibiotics to the animals to boost their profit. If the sin tax on (red) meat consumption is increased, people would reconsider their diet and perhaps reduce their meat consumption as well, which will have a profound effect on the industry.

“Sin taxes” on meat to reduce its huge impact on climate change and human health look inevitable, according to analysts for investors managing more than $4tn of assets.

The global livestock industry causes 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and meat consumption is rising around the world, but dangerous climate change cannot be avoided unless this is radically curbed. Furthermore, many people already eat far too much meat, seriously damaging their health and incurring huge costs. Livestock also drive other problems, such as water pollution and antibiotic resistance.

A new analysis from the investor network Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (Fairr) Initiative argues that meat is therefore now following the same path as tobacco, carbon emissions and sugar towards a sin tax, a levy on harmful products to cut consumption.

(Via: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/11/meat-tax-inevitable-to-beat-climate-and-health-crises-says-report)

These are just some of those things you don’t realize right away as a mere spectator in the world. It is actually quite surprising to many to find out that just by patronizing meat products, we contribute to the hastening and worsening of climate change. 15% of all greenhouse gases come from the livestock industry. It may not sound big but when you look at it on a global scale, you’ll be blown to the extent of the damage we are unconsciously doing. It’s not as if our health don’t also suffer because we eat way too much meat than we need.

That’s why I’m joining 100 other MPs, across parties, to call on our pension fund to remove its investments in fossil fuels. Our words in Paris must be matched by our actions in parliament – our constituents expect nothing less. This starts, but by no means finishes, with where we invest millions of pounds through our pensions. But we need to open up this conversation beyond parliament to ensure a just transition to a green economy.

This campaign is the fastest growing divestment movement of all time, which has seen more than $5tn of assets divested across more than 800 institutions. Campaigning for our universities, workplaces, unions, and pension funds to divest is one important way we can help to build a more sustainable society. Parliament must play its part.

(Via: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/11/no-more-green-rhetoric-sustainable-future-vital-possible-labour)

We may be facing diverse issues right now but it should not distract us from the most important of all, climate change. All our problems pale in comparison to the danger and disruption it will cause if climate change continues to progress over the next few years. The only planet we call home may be gone forever along with us. We know that the problem rooted from us and it is only but right for us to correct our mistakes. Our over-reliance on fossil fuel may have allowed all these innovations to exist and flourish for years now but they can also be the means to our end.

Green technology should be developed and supported and everybody should look into possible energy source alternatives without disrupting the natural world order right now. Funds should be properly allocated and give priority to those showing promise in solving many of the world’s environmental issues and not be a part of the problem anymore. It may look bleak right now but we’ll be able to find that silver lining if we just all set aside our differences and work together in saving our home.

The article How Can We Beat Climate Change was initially seen on https://www.podblaze.com



source https://www.podblaze.com/how-can-we-beat-climate-change/

Public Education For All: Will It Just Be A Dream?

Progress is only made possible through education. You can learn everything you need in order to succeed in life in the four corners of the c...