Author Archive

8th

Nov 2014

Have We Become a Disposable Society?

I look around me today and see that I am surrounded by many products that are manufactured to only last 5 years or less. From a myriad of electrical appliances to clothing, motor vehicles, furniture and building materials, little is build to last the way it was 40 years ago.

Then I look around again in the world of business and commerce and see much the same. Bank relationships built on trust and a mutual confidence no longer exist.

Loyalty to customer or staff is about as durable and robust as a printed sheet of paper outlining the company’s monthly latest policy towards customer service – which is adequately demonstrated now by the use of outsourced customer call centres where the telephone is answered by someone who can barely understand the same language as the caller, let alone speak it. (more…)

3rd

May 2014

The problems in education, but united we conquer divided we fall

Resolving problems in the education system requires unity and vision

Most of us appreciate the problems in education that exist today, and there are sufficient numbers to start to bring about change, but while we remain a divided force, nothing will happen to stimulate the start of those changes. Meanwhile those investors in ed-tech continue to throw money at areas that really do not address the real problems in education that exist.

Consider for a moment the number of teachers, schools, home schoolers, unschoolers, parents and care givers of special needs kids and you have a large number of people that represent a force significant enough to start the ball of change rolling. However everywhere I look I see those many different groups divided by theories and philosophies that really do nothing more than fragment the group as a whole, and so the problem will remain.

unification of hands The old cliché of ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ has never been more true than in the field of education as it stands today.

The last two years has seen what is virtually an unprecedented interest from the investment community in funding ed-tech opportunities, yet only a mininmal amount of those hundreds of millions of dollars that has been thrown at education really address anything more than tools, services and resources used by the existing system of education, and I have yet to see anything that really addresses the core problems.

What an opportunity wasted. (more…)

Tags: investment in education, problems in education system
Category: General Education
Comments: 1 Comment

5th

Feb 2014

Developing and Nurturing Children’s Talents and A Better Education

Identifying children’s strengths and developing and nurturing children’s talents could provide a more effective and better education and produce a happier and more successful society.

So what do you think of the idea of improving the educational outcome for our children by assessing each child at a reasonably early age for their natural talents and abilities, and then focusing their educational years on developing those natural talents to nurture and improve them, thereby helping that child achieve their greatest potential.

In reality we are largely a society with a system of education that encourages children and students to make a decision about their future career at 15 – regardless of their natural skills, and we often end up trying to turn natural musicians into scientists or natural gifted nurses, or doctors into business entrepreneurs. (more…)

Tags: better education, developing Children's talents, identifying children's strengths, nurturing childrens talents
Category: General Education
Comments: 1 Comment

4th

Feb 2014

What is the common core curriculum? What does the common core curriculum mean?

Is common core curriculum bad? Is the common core curriculum good? What are your opinions on common core curriculum?

I work in education and I come across people every day involved in different fields of education. Among them are teachers, parents, homeschoolers, school district administrators and special needs carers, al of whom when the subject of the Common Core Curriculum comes up, of course has their own personal opinion. common-core-curriculum-confusion

However what surprises me is that many of these people have formed their negative opinion based upon what they have been told by other people, and are not prepared to actually go and investigate the accuracy of what they believe. As a result their misunderstanding and misinterpretations about the Common Core Curriculum remain.

It frustrates me that the world of education is already fraught with so many problems, and now we appear to have yet more divisions appearing over the subject of the common core curriculum.

What particularly concerns me is when you have those individuals that are opposed to the Common Core Curriculum, start to band together in action groups and become extremely vocal about their beliefs and objections, yet when you ask them to explain what they are opposed to, and the reasons they are opposed to it, they actually have little or no idea what the Common Core Curriculum means, what it involves – or even its current status. (more…)

Tags: common core curriculum
Category: Common Core Curriculum
Comments: 1 Comment

6th

Nov 2013

A Powerful Educational Tool

Last night I was laying in bed thinking about the Zane Education service. I work for Zane in the UK so obviously I think a lot about the products we offer, but last night it suddenly hit me exactly how powerful a tool these videos/quizzes and other resources are. I was thinking back to when I was at school and I remember how I felt when I sat down to study. Looking at that pile of books in front of me would being a sense of depression upon me. there were so many more exciting things I would like to have been doing at that moment. (more…)

Tags: powerful educational tool
Category: Educational Videos, Learning Styles
Comments: No Comments

5th

Nov 2013

Jacob Barnett: moderate to severe autism

Jacob Barnett, who was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism at two years old, is now studying for a Master’s degree in quantum physics.

A 12-year-old child prodigy has astounded university professors after grappling with some of the most advanced concepts in mathematics.

Jacob Barnett has an IQ of 170 – higher than Albert Einstein – and is now so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role. (more…)

Tags: autism
Category: Autism, Gifted Students
Comments: No Comments

24th

Oct 2013

What is the Right Amount of Homework?

Karl Taro Greenfeld an author from New York was concerned over the sheer amount of homework his 14 year old daughter, Esmee, had to do during a week. The homework was taking family time and running into meal times, so in order to find out why, Karl decided to take on his daughter’s homework for a week. Karl told the Moms Today website that he just wanted to know what was the actual nature of the work that she’s doing every night?

So, for one whole week during the last school year, Karl took on all the homework that his daughter’s school set. She attends a selective public middle school in New York and the week that the experiment took place was a ‘light week’ according to Esmee. (more…)

Tags: Homework
Category: Educational Blogs, General Education
Comments: No Comments

17th

Oct 2013

Asian Parents Suffering from Education Obsession

An example of this given on the BBC website was the case of Zhang Yang, who was a studious young man from Anhui Province in China. He was accepted to study at the prestigious traditional medicine college located in Hefai. As Yang rushed home to celebrate this success his father, Zhang Jiasheng, who partly paralysed after a stroke, killed himself by swallowing pesticides. He feared that the family budget could not stretch to pay for the tuition fees. (more…)

Tags: Category: Educational Blogs, International
Comments: No Comments

17th

Oct 2013

Malala Yousafzai and the Value of Education

A teenage Pakistani girl made global headlines a year ago when she was shot in the head by the Taliban because of her advocacy for girls’ education. Malala Yousafzai survived the attack and now lives in Britain, where she continues her campaign despite continued threats on her life. Her story shines a light on Pakistan, where more than one-third of elementary-school-aged children do not attend school. Enrollment figures are even lower for girls, especially in rural areas.

When our children complain about having to go to school and just don’t seem to understand the value of education, maybe they should think about Malala Yousafzai. Malala was a young girl in Taliban controlled Pakistan who was shot in the head because she dare to advocate education for girls. Fortunately Malala survived the attack and after emergency surgery in Pakistan and further medial treatment in the UK, she now lives safely in the United Kingdom. (more…)

Tags: Category: Educational Blogs
Comments: No Comments

15th

Oct 2013

Young People in the UK are Not What They Were

Do you remember when you first started work, that very first day? I guess that you made sure you arrived on time and you were careful about how you were dressed. I imagine that you made a real effort to show willingness and you asked lots of questions. That’s just how it was back then. However, a recent report in the UK says that Young People in the UK these days have no idea what to expect when they enter the wold of work.

A report published by OECD stated that there is a shrinking pool of talent entering the UK workforce and UK young people lag behind their international competitors in terms of literacy and numeracy. I have seen this at first hand. Here in the UK there is very little homework or home study expected whereas in both China and the Philippines I have seen students spending hours studying at home. (more…)

Tags: Category: Educational Blogs, General Education
Comments: No Comments