Category Archives: Culture

Happy Birthday America – July 4, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! Keep the faith; hold on to the “American idea” of liberty for all.

lib·er·ty n
1. the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or force
2. freedom from captivity or slavery
3. any of the political, social, and economic rights that belong to the citizens of a state or to all people (often used in the plural)
See also civil liberties

civ·il lib·er·ties npl
the basic rights guaranteed to individual citizens by law, for example, freedom of speech and action

Watch A Teacher Make Her 3rd-Grade Kids Hate Each Other For The Best Reason Imaginable

A Teacher Makes Her 3rd-Grade Kids Hate Each Other For The Best Reason Imaginable

The payoff at the end is brilliant and a perfect metaphor for what we deal with and face every day in our society.

1:30: This teacher begins a study that will be talked about for 40 years.
3:00: She re-creates segregation and racism in her classroom.
7:45: Mrs. Elliott flips the entire class on their heads.
10:00 Jane Elliot makes the most profound discovery about us all
11:43: The students learn something that the world is still struggling to.
There are too many great moments to point out. Just watch.

 

What are 5 things you wish you knew as a senior in high school

This thought provoking question and the comments that follow are almost an education in themselves. You certainly don’t have to be a rising high school senior to enjoy the real-life insights, appreciation. and wisdom from these sharings.

Click here to read.

You might even want to pass this link along.

Disarming bullies — from schoolyards to the White House

(Flickr/Thomas Ricker)

There is a strong link between bullying and suicide, which is just one reason why it is an issue to be confronted. (Flickr/Thomas Ricker)

While this article is largely Frida Berrigan’s story, her last four paragraphs provide some good, supportive, solution-oriented thinking.

You can read Frida’s full article here.

What is school for? (Seth Godin video)

Click What is school for?  to go to the video

An engaging discussion of what the future of education wants to be

… and how

… and why.

 

 

Two articles on today’s student/society challenges

Here are two articles that seemed to me to go towards explaining what we are reading about, experiencing, and trying to come to grips with in education today:

What Do U.S. College Graduates Lack? Professionalism

What are employers and society in general finding problems with? National Association of Manufacturers surveys of “Skills Gap” notes some problems coming out of high schools and colleges that may shed some light:

  • Work ethics, timeliness and attendance are as important as verbal, math and technical skills – and are not being taught
  • High school and college grads’ general “sense of entitlement” causes problems
  • Grads don’t understand what hard work really is
  • A belief that multi-tasking is effective actually diminishes focus on task at hand
  • American culture (see the next article for some possible explanations) and lack of focus in general, combined with high school grade inflation, causes problems in the workplace
  • The main incentive seem to involve just moving kids through a system
  • But … a bad worker/employee jeopardizes an entire unit, division or company
  • “As employers and government officials put more pressure on colleges to produce employable graduates, this message should reach students before they collect their diploma.”

Click here to read the article.

and

How many companies are cooking the books?

According to the latest Ernst & Young survey of employees, boards of directors and top managers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India, the following systemic cultural problems were noted:

  • 1 in 5 employees are aware of their company’s financial manipulations
  • 42% of board members are aware of their company’s financial manipulations
  • Wal-Mart allegedly bribed Mexican zoning officials
  • These activities undermine U.S. parent companies and markets
  • 3 major banks have been fined for manipulating LIBOR; 13 others are under investigation
  • In general, anti-bribery/anti-corruption policies are not being implemented or enforced

These activities lead to “Wild West” attitudes and cultures, a general sense of entitlement and invitation/incentive to take increased financial, managerial, societal, moral risk.

Click here to read the article.