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.
You might even want to pass this link along.
With a little bit of work you can use this post to locate the name, address and telephone number of an actual person who should be willing to listen to the situation you are having problems with. They may be able to either do something about it, direct you to someone who can, or note it for discussion at their next problem-solving meeting. As a reminder for how this works, see my earlier post, Bitching Doesn’t Work. Continue reading
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.
In the last few weeks and days, I’ve come across a number of articles expressing pro’s and con’s about Common Core State Standards (CCSS), with critics mounting a flurry of attacks and proponents working hard to shore up support. One pretty good overview article is Common Core Under Fire: How Strong Is Support for New State Standards? You can get as many details as you want by clicking on various links.
My Prezi presentation on New Mexico’s use of CCSS gives a pretty good overview of what they are, what their intent is, and how they are planned to be used in New Mexico.
The Common Core evolved from a 2009-2010 drive by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to delineate world-class skills students should possess. The standards, created with funding from, among others, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, set detailed goals, such as first graders should understand place values in math and eighth graders should know the Pythagorean Theorem.
“We brought the best minds in the country together to create international benchmarks that, once mastered, would make our students more competitive, globally,” said Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. He said his group has no plans to create national science standards.
Here is a brief summary of some of the pro and con positions:
Pro
Con
So, what do YOU say?
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – A new plan to cut crime in New Mexico looks at getting more kids to graduate from high school.
One economist estimates if five percent more young men graduated in New Mexico, It could save the state $38 million in prison and jail costs.
Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman says kids who graduate are less likely to be arrested and sent to jail.
Heckman also adds if that same five percent of high school grads also went to college, their combined income would be $20 million higher than if they hadn’t gone to college.
Read complete article here
It’s easy to tell yourself, “I am just one small person – I don’t have a million bucks to do a campaign contribution, I don’t have any political connections – what chance is there for me to bring attention to an issue that’s important to me.”
Here is something that happened to me many years ago that you might learn from (and I should always remember). Continue reading
The goal of Running Start for Careers is to give students direct entry into industry-developed and industry-taught programs in career development areas during their 11th and 12th grade years.
Running Start will allow electives to be utilized so that students who participate in approved programs will be able to graduate with the rest of their classmates. Continue reading