5/02/2015

Headline May 03, 2015/ ''' EDUCATION INEQUITY '''


''' EDUCATION INEQUITY '''




IN PAKISTAN,  -YES, as matter of fact, in all of the developing world, even the world over, school fees are ridiculously high.

Putting such a high price on the fundamental right of education should be considered a  ''cardinal sin''. 

I recently heard an interesting conversation between a boy and his mother on this subject. The boy, who could nor have been more than 15 years of age, was asking his mother to let him drop out of school and buy him a laptop instead.

His argument being, ''You'll have to pay almost four lakhs in the next two years. Let me drop out and give my exams privately with the help of a laptop that will cost 75% less than my school fees. 

I'll study more with my laptop than I ever can with the absentee teachers.''

This student, of only 15 years of age seemed to make more sense than half the country at this point. If the ridiculously high fees being charged by schools is doing anything-

It is to increase the expense and the blood pressure of the common man and forcing his not-yet-adult son to make decisions he is not yet ready for.

A school is supposed to teach a child everything he needs to learn and apparently ''teaching a child how to learn without a school' is the latest trend in teaching.

The above observation comes from Syeda Maheen Qadri,  Karachi, Pakistan.  I thank her, and hope to see her on !WOW!.   

RESEARCHERS are finding that poverty can harm the brains of small children, perhaps because their brains are subjected-

To excessive cortisol {a stress hormone} and exposed less to conversation and reading.

One study just published in  Nature Neuroscience  found that children in low-income families had a brain surface area on average 6 percent smaller than that of children in high-income families 

FOR THE LAST DOZEN YEARS, waves of idealistic Americans have campaigned to reform and improve K-12 education.

Armies of college graduates joined Teach for America. Zillionaires invested in charter schools. Liberals and conservatives, holding their noses and agreeing on nothing else, cooperated:

To proclaim education the civil rights issue of our time. Yet I wonder if the education reform movement hasn't peaked.

The zillionaires are bruised. The idealists are dispirited. The number of young people applying for Teach for America, after 15 years of growth, has dropped for the last two years. The Common Core curriculum is now an orphan, with politicians vigorously denying paternity.

K-12 education is an exhausted, bloodsoaked battlefield. It's Agnicourt, the day after. So a suggestion: Refocus some reformist passions on early childhood. 

I say that for three reasons, says the author. First, their is a mounting evidence that early childhood is a crucial period when the brain is most malleable, when interventions are most cost-effective for at-risk kids.

''Neuroscience tells us  we're missing a critical, time-sensitive opportunity to help the most disadvantaged kids,'' notes Dr. Jack Shonkiff, an early childhood expert at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Growing evidence suggests what does work to work the poverty cycle:

Start early in life, and coach parents to stimulate their children. Randomized controlled trials, and good standard of evidence, have shown this with programs like Nurse-family Partnership, Reach Out and Read, and high-quality preschool.

These kinds of interventions typically produce cognitive gains than last a few years and then fade    -but, more important, also produce better life outcomes, such as less crime, fewer teenage pregnancies-

Higher high school graduation rates and higher incomes.

The second reason to focus on early interventions is that the low-hanging fruit has already been packed in the  K-12  world. Charter schools like  KIPP  showed that even in high-poverty environments- students can excel.

In New York City, which under Michael Bloomberg became a center for education reform, high school graduation rates rose to 66 percent in 2013 from 47% in 2005.

The Honour and Serving of the  ''operational research'' for great understanding continues. Thank you for reading and maybe, understanding. See Ya all on the following one.

With respectful dedication to All the Leaders of the Free World. See Ya all,  Your Excellencies, on !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:


''' Enhancing The World '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

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