November 26th, 2008 at 10:25 am
My long-time enjoyment of earth science, especially when it included fossil activities, had me doing earth science activities for kids from the time my own children were little ones. So when my middle school asked me to pick something to teach for six weeks that I just enjoyed, this was the first thing that came to mind. It was set up to be more like a club than a class, so while there were definitely learning goals, the most important goal was to have fun and enjoy ourselves. I knew I should include fossil activities in my lesson plans. There had to be a lot of hands-on kids’ activities with an emphasis on fun.
When I got my class list, I saw immediately that I would need to do some revisions in my plans: I had a small class, but it included several students with learning disabilities and behavioral problems. These were not going to be internally motivated kids. I knew that my most important class would be the first one. I needed an earth science activity that would get the students “hooked” on the subject right away.
I had seen an activity with younger students called the “magic bag.” It capitalized on the unknown and their natural curiosity. But these were middle school students-and some tough ones at that! I knew I’d have to have a pretty solid subject area-something that could intrigue and impress.
I placed a small fossil in enough velvet bags for each student to have his/her own. Before handing them to the students, I asked them to explore the contents of the bag without opening it. Since the students knew the topic was fossils, I didn’t give any clues as to the contents of the bags.
Instantly the air was filled comments: “It’s round!” “Mine is like a cylinder.” “Mine’s got ridges.”
Then speculation and conjecture: “I think this is that animal that looks like a clam.” “I think this could be a tooth.” “I know; it’s a snail!”
I had the students pass their bags to the next student and compare observations and guesses. Eventually they were begging me to open the bags.
But before we did, I asked them to tell me what they knew about ancient sea life. There were lots of pictures in their minds; some were accurate. Then I asked them to imagine which of those species might have left fossil remains. We talked about how fossils are formed.
Finally, as a last observation, I asked the students to guess at the animal contained in their bag, by either name or species. When fossil was finally revealed more questions, especially about identification and behavior, waited to be answered.
If this had been a research class, there would have been more than enough curiosity to compel these students on to further study. In this class, our next activity was to do a real fossil dig, with real fossils. The “magic bag” earth science activity had the students thinking, talking and ready for more fossil activities.
As kids’ activities go, The Magic Bag is at the top of the list for ease of use and enthusiastic student involvement.
Educational Program Services
All Pittsburgh Schools Early Childhood Programs cover five days a week, for at least six hours a day. The goal of the program is to ensure that preschool children develop the skills that they will need for attending kindergarten, including self confidence, physical abilities, increased academic awareness, and social interaction.
This free program is open to children between three and five years old. Pittsburgh School Head Start Programs accept children between three and five, while the Pre &ndash Kindergarten accepts children who are three and four years old. Children must be at least three years old by September 1st of the current school year.
Health Program Services
Children participating in the Pittsburgh Schools Early Childhood Program have access to a variety of health services to evaluate their health needs and identify problems early on. All students entering the program must provide complete medical records, including immunizations. Follow up care on the health condition of the child is provided.
The Pittsburgh Schools Early Childhood Program recognizes the need for mental and psychological assistance to preschool children in order to develop the emotional and social skills necessary for attending school and being successful in school. Parent and mental health professionals work together to recognize the special needs of each child and prepare special courses of instruction or treatment for those children who require special attention.
Children in the Pittsburgh Schools Early Childhood Program receive two meals every day. A nutritionist helps prepare the meals as well as help parents design meal programs that suit the needs of their preschool students. Special services are also provided for students with disabilities involving diagnosis, therapy, consultation, referral, and follow up treatment. A minimum of 10% of the children participating in the Pittsburgh Schools Early Childhood Program must be children with disabilities. Staff and parental counseling is provided to ensure that these children can participate in the program.
Childcare Partnerships
Many working parents can take advantage of subsidies for childcare for children that are eligible for the Head Start program. Pittsburgh Schools have developed partnership agreements with a number of child care and early learning agencies throughout the city. These programs provide learning opportunities for children that are similar to the school based programs in the Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Program. These childcare providers have been screened by Pittsburgh Public Schools and been provided with curriculum, materials, and training to match the school based programs.
The Pittsburgh Public School Early Childhood Program Selection Process
All City of Pittsburgh residents who meet the age criteria are eligible to participate in a lottery for places within various classrooms in the Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Program. These lotteries will take into account whether children have a sibling who is already attending a Pittsburgh Public School. Children who do have siblings are given priority over those who do not. Many of the special classrooms, such as the one at the Children’s Museum will have other conditions to ensure that there is an equal racia
The world is a very noisy place with loud, intermittent sounds and constant, droning noises &ndash noise reduction headphones can help you get a little peace amongst the distractions of everyday life. Headphones can block out the myriad of sounds that occur in a variety of setting and are helpful to many different people.
Sleeping &ndash If you have trouble sleeping, noise reduction headphones may aid you in getting some rest. Barking dogs, traffic, and awake family members can contribute to sleepless nights, and for those who are sensitive to noise when they’re trying to sleep, noise reduction headphones create a sound-free environment so they can rest.
Playing Music &ndash Musicians often use noise reduction headphones to help them block out sounds that may interfere with them hearing their instrument. Once the background noise is blocked, they are free to concentrate purely on the sounds they are making rather than the sounds around them. This creates an environment of total immersion into their music and allows them to perfect their work without being in a studio.
Autistic Students &ndash Noise reduction headphones can also be used in the classroom to help autistic children. Often classroom environments can be distracting to children with autism. Headphones for the children help teachers instruct each student individually so others aren’t confused or distracted by the instructions for the other students.
Studying &ndash Noise reduction headphones are very useful in situations where you need peace and quiet but can’t always control the environment. Students who are studying may find noise reduction headphones helpful in blocking out the distracting sounds around them. Headphones create a peaceful world in which they can focus on their work, rather than environmental noises or the sounds of others.
Working &ndash If you work in a cubical or an open-plan office but find yourself regularly distracted by people walking by, phones ringing, others talking, and the general chaos that can be office life, noise reduction headphones can make a difference. They can help you focus on the task at hand rather than everything going on around you which can boost your productivity and the quality of your work.
Noisy Neighbors &ndash Living in an apartment building, condo or townhouse may include noisy neighbors. Depending on the thickness of your walls and ceiling, you may hear your neighbors walking around above, or hear their music or talking. Noise reduction headphones can block these sounds so you can enjoy being at home, even if the neighbors are loud.
These are only a few examples of the sorts of noise disturbances you may come across in daily life. Where once you had no choice but to be distracted, noise reduction headphones put you in control. Never again do you have to experience a sleepless night or a ruined project. Noise reduction headphones can be used to block out the noises around you: voices, car engines, train noises, barking dogs, loud offices, airplane engine noise, city sounds, loud neighbors, etc.
Passive solar is a method of using the energy from the sun to heat a home. It is extremely popular because the process is free once a passive solar home is created.
Is Passive Solar A Viable Home Heating Option In Cold Areas?
Passive solar can be used to heat a home in colder areas, but you have to go into it with reasonable expectations. While the cold climate is a hurdle, the real issue is going to be the length of time the sun beats down upon your property. If your home receives only four or five hours of direct sunlight a day, forget it. You will never produce enough energy to keep the home warm for sufficient periods of time.
Passive solar design is very popular in warm to mild climates because it is more or less a free method for warming a home. The manipulation of the position of the home and placement of large windows in the south facing wall is typical strategies for dealing with the issue. Obviously, large windows in a cold climate are going to result in significant heat loss regardless of the quality with which they are built. So, what can you do?
There are two primary approaches to creating a passive solar design that works in the winter. One is the use of a large Trombe Wall and the other is the greenhouse approach. Let’s take a look.
Trombe Walls are popular in passive solar designs because they effectively convert sunlight to heat and are interesting from an aesthetic view point. Typically, a Trombe Wall is 8 to 12 feet in length on the south facing wall of a home. In significantly colder areas, the wall is going to need to be much larger, perhaps the full length of the home depending upon energy analysis and the cold weather expected. An energy audit of the home is the only to arrive at a definitive answer.
You are also going to have to incorporate a flip strategy for the heat. As the sun enters the glass plate and heats up the masonry of the wall, you risk losing vast amounts of it through the glass surface. This means you need to create an air circulation method whereby you draw the hot air into a secondary space behind the wall. This can simply be a closed off room or a space intended for the purpose. The circulation should be done on a timer similar to the solar thermostats used on solar hot water panels. The point is to keep the built up heat from escaping back into the environment.
The greenhouse approach simplifies matters. The essential idea is to build an insulated greenhouse to collect and store the heat of the sun during the day. Often called a sunspace, the greenhouse is similar to those used for plants. Even in cold climates, the sun will produce a magnificent amount of heat. Again, the problem is keeping the heat from escaping once it has built up. Since the sun has to come in through a transparent surface, you inevitably have the problem of the heat escaping through the same. The best option is to use a controlled timer to blow the air through to the house once certain temperatures are reached. It is not very efficient, but you have little choice.
An alternative to passive solar heating in very cold areas is biomass. Corn burning furnaces are popular. They are a much cheaper solution as are the corn kernels. This biomass energy is also much more reliable and, personally, it is the way I would go.
A black hole is a region of space with such intense gravity that nothing, not even light, can escape. This is the general understanding of the black hole.
If gravity is still a phenomenon, how can we come to use this statement as if it was a fact? This is misleading. Besides, it is preventing our young thinkers from even to consider exploring the true nature of gravity.
One of the things that irritate me most is, when scientists quote gravity and build up all sorts of formulae and equations around it, when they well know that they have no scientific proof of what gravity really is!
As an authority, the majority of scientists are unwilling to admit that all they really know is what they have acknowledged from their tutors - a centuries-old legacy of scientific beliefs some of which were later proven wrong.
It is no secret to say that scientific research is sometimes corrupted due to conflict of interests or the lure of profits.
Personally, I do not believe that black holes really exist as described in the first paragraph. However, let us assume that they do!
I consider myself as another Faraday.
After many years of intensive study, searching for the secrets of gravity, I arrived to a point where I feel the need to share my theory of this so-called black hole.
According to science, there is more space in an atom than there is matter. So, from where does all the energy come to keep the atom together and active, may I ask?
This is my answer.
The energy comes partly from the electrical field of the planet itself. This electrified field is generated by the planet’s inner core electromagnetism field, which as we know produces the north and south poles.
And, the other part of the energy primarily comes from the planet’s nearest Star. This Star, in turn, radiates myriads of electrified particles that shower on to all the neighboring planets. By means of these electrified particles, the atom gets its energy and stays alive and active.
The Auroras at the North and South Poles are a physical example of these electrified particles.
Our solar system, and in turn our galaxy, works in the same harmony. That is why the planets revolve and hold their orbit around their Star. The planets and their Star attract each other because of these electrified forces.
This is what gravity is all about.
The same could be said of one galaxy to another that holds our universe together.
My theory stands that a black hole is nothing more than a space in the universe where the electrified energy of the neighboring Stars do not reach - and therefore an atom cannot survive!
With the exception of Nietzsche, no other madman has contributed so much to human sanity as has Louis Althusser. He is mentioned twice in the Encyclopaedia Britannica as someone’s teacher. There could be no greater lapse: for two important decades (the 60s and the 70s), Althusser was at the eye of all the important cultural storms. He fathered quite a few of them.
This newly-found obscurity forces me to summarize his work before suggesting a few (minor) modifications to it.
(1) Society consists of practices: economic, political and ideological.
Althusser defines a practice as:
“Any process of transformation of a determinate product, affected
by a determinate human labour, using determinate means (of production)”
The economic practice (the historically specific mode of production) transforms raw materials to finished products using human labour and other means of production, all organized within defined webs of inter-relations. The political practice does the same with social relations as the raw materials. Finally, ideology is the transformation of the way that a subject relates to his real life conditions of existence.
This is a rejection of the mechanistic worldview (replete with bases and superstructures). It is a rejection of the Marxist theorization of ideology. It is a rejection of the Hegelian fascist “social totality”. It is a dynamic, revealing, modern day model.
In it, the very existence and reproduction of the social base (not merely its expression) is dependent upon the social superstructure. The superstructure is “relatively autonomous” and ideology has a central part in it - see entry about Marx and Engels and entry concerning Hegel.
The economic structure is determinant but another structure could be dominant, depending on the historical conjuncture. Determination (now called over-determination - see Note) specifies the form of economic production upon which the dominant practice depends. Put otherwise: the economic is determinant not because the practices of the social formation (political and ideological) are the social formation’s expressive epiphenomena - but because it determines WHICH of them is dominant.
(2) People relate to the conditions of existence through the practice of ideology. Contradictions are smoothed over and (real) problems are offered false (though seemingly true) solutions. Thus, ideology has a realistic dimension - and a dimension of representations (myths, concepts, ideas, images). There is (harsh, conflicting) reality - and the way that we represent it both to ourselves and to others.
(3) To achieve the above, ideology must not be seen to err or, worse, remain speechless. It, therefore, confronts and poses (to itself) only answerable questions. This way, it remains confined to a fabulous, legendary, contradiction-free domain. It ignores other questions altogether.
(4) Althusser introduced the concept of “The Problematic”:
“The objective internal reference … the system of questions
commanding the answers given”
It determines which problems, questions and answers are part of the game - and which should be blacklisted and never as much as mentioned. It is a structure of theory (ideology), a framework and the repertoire of discourses which - ultimately - yield a text or a practice. All the rest is excluded.
It, therefore, becomes clear that what is omitted is of no less importance than what is included in a text. The problematic of a text relates to its historical context (”moment”) by incorporating both: inclusions as well as omissions, presences as much as absences. The problematic of the text fosters the generation of answers to posed questions - and of defective answers to excluded questions.
(5) The task of “scientific” (e.g., Marxist) discourse, of Althusserian critical practice is to deconstruct the problematic, to read through ideology and evidence the real conditions of existence. This is a “symptomatic reading” of TWO TEXTS:
“It divulges the undivulged event in the text that it reads and, in the
same movement, relates to it a different text, present, as a necessary
absence, in the first … (Marx’s reading of Adam Smith) presupposes
the existence of two texts and the measurement of the first against
the second. But what distinguishes this new reading from the old,
is the fact that in the new one, the second text is articulated with the
lapses in the first text … (Marx measures) the problematic contained
in the paradox of an answer which does not correspond to any questions posed.”
Althusser is contrasting the manifest text with a latent text which is the result of the lapses, distortions, silences and absences in the manifest text. The latent text is the “diary of the struggle” of the unposed question to be posed and answered.
(6) Ideology is a practice with lived and material dimensions. It has costumes, rituals, behaviour patterns, ways of thinking. The State employs Ideological Apparatuses (ISAs) to reproduce ideology through practices and productions: (organized) religion, the education system, the family, (organized) politics, the media, the industries of culture.
“All ideology has the function (which defines it) of ‘constructing’
concrete individuals as subjects”
Subjects to what? The answer: to the material practices of the ideology. This (the creation of subjects) is done by the acts of “hailing” or “interpellation”. These are acts of attracting attention (hailing) , forcing the individuals to generate meaning (interpretation) and making them participate in the practice.
These theoretical tools were widely used to analyze the Advertising and the film industries.
The ideology of consumption (which is, undeniably, the most material of all practices) uses advertising to transform individuals to subjects (=to consumers). It uses advertising to interpellate them. The advertisements attract attention, force people to introduce meaning to them and, as a result, to consume. The most famous example is the use of “People like you (buy this or do that)” in ads. The reader / viewer is interpellated both as an individual (”you”) and as a member of a group (”people like…”). He occupies the empty (imaginary) space of the “you” in the ad. This is ideological “misrecognition”. First, many others misrecognize themselves as that “you” (an impossibility in the real world). Secondly, the misrecognized “you” exists only in the ad because it was created by it, it has no real world correlate.
The reader or viewer of the ad is transformed into the subject of (and subject to) the material practice of the ideology (consumption, in this case).
Althusser was a Marxist. The dominant mode of production in his days (and even more so today) was capitalism. His implied criticism of the material dimensions of ideological practices should be taken with more than a grain of salt. Interpellated by the ideology of Marxism himself, he generalized on his personal experience and described ideologies as infallible, omnipotent, ever successful. Ideologies, to him, were impeccably functioning machines which can always be relied upon to reproduce subjects with all the habits and thought patterns required by the dominant mode of production.
And this is where Althusser fails, trapped by dogmatism and more than a touch of paranoia. He neglects to treat two all-important questions (his problematic may have not allowed it):
(a) What do ideologies look for? Why do they engage in their practice? What is the ultimate goal?
(b) What happens in a pluralistic environment rich in competing ideologies?
Althusser stipulates the existence of two texts, manifest and hidden. The latter co-exists with the former, very much as a black figure defines its white background. The background is also a figure and it is only arbitrarily - the result of historical conditioning - that we bestow a preferred status upon the one. The latent text can be extracted from the manifest one by listening to the absences, the lapses and the silences in the manifest text.
But: what dictates the laws of extraction? how do we know that the latent text thus exposed is THE right one? Surely, there must exist a procedure of comparison, authentication and verification of the latent text?
A comparison of the resulting latent text to the manifest text from which it was extracted would be futile because it would be recursive. This is not even a process of iteration. It is teutological. There must exist a THIRD, “master-text”, a privileged text, historically invariant, reliable, unequivocal (indifferent to interpretation-frameworks), universally accessible, atemporal and non-spatial. This third text is COMPLETE in the sense that it includes both the manifest and the latent. Actually, it should include all the possible texts (a LIBRARY function). The historical moment will determine which of them will be manifest and which latent, according to the needs of the mode of production and the various practices. Not all these texts will be conscious and accessible to the individual but such a text would embody and dictate the rules of comparison between the manifest text and ITSELF (the Third Text) , being the COMPLETE text.
Only through a comparison between a partial text and a complete text can the deficiencies of the partial text be exposed. A comparison between partial texts will yield no certain results and a comparison between the text and itself (as Althusser suggests) is absolutely meaningless.
This Third Text is the human psyche. We constantly compare texts that we read to this Third Text, a copy of which we all carry with us. We are unaware of most of the texts incorporated in this master text of ours. When faced with a manifest text which is new to us, we first “download” the “rules of comparison (engagement)”. We sift through the manifest text. We compare it to our COMPLETE master text and see which parts are missing. These constitute the latent text. The manifest text serves as a trigger which brings to our consciousness appropriate and relevant portions of the Third Text. It also generates the latent text in us.
If this sounds familiar it is because this pattern of confronting (the manifest text), comparing (with our master text) and storing the results (the latent text and the manifest text are brought to consciousness) - is used by mother nature itself. The DNA is such a “Master Text, Third Text”. It includes all the genetic-biological texts some manifest, some latent. Only stimuli in its environment (=a manifest text) can provoke it to generate its own (hitherto latent) “text”. The same would apply to computer applications.
The Third Text, therefore, has an invariant nature (it includes all possible texts) - and, yet, is changeable by interacting with manifest texts. This contradiction is only apparent. The Third Text does not change - only different parts of it are brought to our awareness as a result of the interaction with the manifest text. We can also safely say that one does not need to be an Althusserian critic or engage in “scientific” discourse to deconstruct the problematic. Every reader of text immediately and always deconstructs it. The very act of reading involves comparison with the Third Text which inevitably leads to the generation of a latent text.
And this precisely is why some interpellations fail. The subject deconstructs every message even if he is not trained in critical practice. He is interpellated or fails to be interpellated depending on what latent message was generated through the comparison with the Third Text. And because the Third Text includes ALL possible texts, the subject is given to numerous competing interpellations offered by many ideologies, mostly at odds with each other. The subject is in an environment of COMPETING INTERPELLATIONS (especially in this day and age of information glut). The failure of one interpellation - normally means the success of another (whose interpellation is based on the latent text generated in the comparison process or on a manifest text of its own, or on a latent text generated by another text).
There are competing ideologies even in the most severe of authoritarian regimes. Sometimes, IASs within the same social formation offer competing ideologies: the political Party, the Church, the Family, the Army, the Media, the Civilian Regime, the Bureaucracy. To assume that interpellations are offered to the potential subjects successively (and not in parallel) defies experience (though it does simplify the thought-system).
Clarifying the HOW, though, does not shed light on the WHY.
Advertising leads to the interpellation of the subject to effect the material practice of consumption. Put more simply: there is money involved. Other ideologies - propagated through organized religions, for instance - lead to prayer. Could this be the material practice that they are looking for? No way. Money, prayer, the very ability to interpellate - they are all representations of power over other human beings. The business concern, the church, the political party, the family, the media, the culture industries - are all looking for the same thing: influence, power, might. Absurdly, interpellation is used to secure one paramount thing: the ability to interpellate. Behind every material practice stands a psychological practice (very much as the Third Text - the psyche - stands behind every text, latent or manifest).
The media could be different: money, spiritual prowess, physical brutality, subtle messages. But everyone (even individuals in their private life) is looking to hail and interpellate others and thus manipulate them to succumb to their material practices. A short sighted view would say that the businessman interpellates in order to make money. But the important question is: what ever for? What drives ideologies to establish material practices and to interpellate people to participate in them and become subjects? The will to power. the wish to be able to interpellate. It is this cyclical nature of Althusser’s teachings (ideologies interpellate in order to be able to interpellate) and his dogmatic approach (ideologies never fail) which doomed his otherwise brilliant observations to oblivion.
Note
In Althusser’s writings the Marxist determination remains as Over-determination. This is a structured articulation of a number of contradictions and determinations (between the practices). This is very reminiscent of Freud’s Dream Theory and of the concept of Superposition in Quantum Mechanics.
Helping your young acting hopeful prepare for a successful acting career can be an incredibly rewarding experience for the parent. All parents like seeing their children being creative, expressing themselves, and, most importantly, having fun.
It should be stated, however, that forcing a child to participate in any pursuit they don’t like is not just counterproductive but harmful to the child. Your role, as the acting hopeful’s parent, is to caringly nurture your children’s expressed interests and not force them into a pursuit in order to live vicariously through them. One would have to be born under a rock to have missed some of the more public examples of what can happen when children are forced into an acting career they never wanted.
That being said, there are some very simple pointers you can follow that will have a powerful impact in the immediate sense and create long-term opportunities for the professional acting success of your son or daughter.
Start Early: Human beings, it would seem, are all natural born actors. Early in their lives, they often spend entire afternoons play-acting imaginary scenarios. Sadly, as many of us get older, we forget how much fun acting can be. By exposing your youngsters, at an early age, to the concept of acting, you are, in effect, introducing them to something at which they are already. Regardless of whether it’s soccer, football, chess, or acting, childhood pursuits should always be fun. By giving your children an early glimpse of acting while they are young and predisposed to the concept, you dramatically increase the odds of their long-term success. Acting Camps provide the perfect vehicle for your children to immerse themselves in the creative fun acting can provide. What they gain from the camp experience has as much to do with you, the parent, as it does the camp itself. With the internet woven into the fabric of our lives, there is simply no excuse for parents not doing due-diligence research on any acting camp they are considering. A little research time, up front, can save you a lot of money, effort, and disappointment later.
After your children have started their first camp, make sure that they are having fun. If not, first try finding a better-suited program and see if that resolves the issue. If not, you may need to consider the fact that acting may not be of interest to them at that point in their lives. If that is the case, and the situation is handled carefully, it may well become one as they get older. Forcing the issue now will virtually guarantee that your child will never enjoy the art. If there isn’t a fit, back off and give them some time. Find out what it was about the camp experience they didn’t like. More importantly, find out what things (even if only a few) they actually did like about the camp. Pay attention to these answers. There is a good chance that, armed with this information, you can research other camps that may be better suited to your child’s tastes and artistic needs. Find a different camp, try again next year, and until then don’t push or make a big deal out of it.
Be Involved: Acting is a passion and, like flame, it needs fuel in order to burn. A parent’s support and involvement has no equal as that fuel. Acting Camp is about far more than just what happens during the time your child attends. What happens before and after camp is as important as the camp itself. Furthermore, if you have an uninterested attitude towards your children’s pursuits then their attitude will soon follow your own. Help them prepare for the camp experience beforehand. If you have done your research, then you are well-versed in what your children will be learning and doing. Help them feel prepared for it and they will have the kind of fun that only self-confidence brings. After Camp is over, spend a lot of time revisiting what they experienced and learned. Often, there are exercises and drama games that can be fun for the whole family to recreate. Children look to their parents for validation. Be that validation for your young actor or actress and you have armed them well for success.
Be Selective: Acting Camps are as varied as the children who attend them. Take the time to research, research, research. If your children are new to the art, look for fun-filled camps that focus more on the enjoyment of the experience than the knowledge gained. As your children progress, they will want, as well as need, more challenges for their minds. Complacency destroys drive, and an unchallenged mind can hardly avoid becoming complacent. Acting Camp should always be fun, but as your children grow they will develop a sense of pride in their craft and will be eager to take the challenge to the next level. Do your homework and be prepared to provide that challenge in their next camp.
Preparing For the Next Step: Eventually your children (and I use that term loosely here) will be ready to move on to acting school. As you have watched and participated with your children in their acting youth, you’ll no doubt have picked up on where their artistic talents and drive really lie. Research schools that have well-respected programs, and degrees, in those areas. This next step is an expensive one, so doing your research here actually does pay. Just as acting camps have helped form your children’s creative foundations, so acting schools will take it to that next, and this time, professional level.
MindBlow and Mind Below
Human mind is numberless wonder of whole universe. This is the most fertile field of world. More you sow much you reap out of it.
The usage of this part of human body needs accurate and precise approach. The tool to sharpen the upper part of human body is only through education. The education can change the life of human being. This had been proven by scientific development of our world. Thus in most advanced and developed society, every possible care is taken in education sector applications.
Are we in India caring for this vital aspect of human being? This story is a little effort to discuss the national education with special reference to one of the leading and progressive state named Haryana.
According to 2001 census the population of largest democracy of the world was 1027015247. The managing of this huge population is a specialized job. To do this it required extra accuracy and farsightedness approach. Education is among first thrust, which need to be carefully managed, because it is directly linked to development of nation.
In 2002 India had 199144199 students starting from class 1 to higher education level. It means 19.3% of population was of student community.
Government and NGO’s are working hard to expand the area of education in the country, but their efforts are not yielding up to mark satisfaction.
In India in 2002 there were 113883060 students in primary school level. In middle school level numbers of students were 44828235. That means 69% of primary school students’ left their studies before or after fifth class. The facts and figures are similar in every year.
In same year (2002) there were 44828235 it mans 55% of student in middle school level whereas the number of high school students 20053986 who gave up their school bags after eight class. Continue to this process 48% of students left their studies from high school level to secondary level.
But here in last I am very surprised to see that after 10+2 level study gives up cases has drastically come down to 5%. This statistics clearly indicate that if student reaches primary level his or her probability of leaving school is 61%. If students cross first barrier (primary level) and reach to middle school then his percentage of leaving come down to 55%. Further after 10th standard to secondary levels this percentage further come down to 48%. Finally if he / she get passed 10+2 exam, the percentage to achieve higher education / professional education is 95%, which is very high as comparative to primary and middle level. These facts and figures clearly indicate that primary to middle classes are studies leaving prone classes.
Are these studies leaving the prone classes targeted by our education planners? . Answer is clearly no. This is very evident from following statistics.
In primary school level student / teacher ratio in India is 59:1, for middle class it was 31:1, whereas in 10+2 level it was 17:1 in 2002.In comparison to above after 10+2 level education there are 272 universities, 8737 colleges (general), 838 technology/ engineering college, 725 medical college, 846 teacher training colleges, 5462 polytechnic and it is and 1175 teacher training schools. This type planning will show its effects on society because knowledge level of population will be of high contrast. This will lead to fragmentation of that society which is already fragmented in the name of religion, caste and creeds. In this situation, the Education will work reversibly. This can be averted by making middle level focused education policy.
So emphasis of our education policy should be on study leaving prone classes.i.e.5th to 8th classes. The environment and education should be planned in such manner that student of these classes does not leave their studies in want of school are money. If the quantum of the students increases in 10+2 level then there will be more and more talents available for higher studies. This will not only enhance the level of knowledge among all sections of society in equilibrium but also give up maximum opportunities to maximum. This will show results in quality of higher study level. In which 50% of education budgets are invested. Take the case of Haryana in education. This small state has done commendable work as compare to other states of India. But due to non-practical approach of education planning, as in national education policy results are not up to the mark. Student teacher ratio in primary level was 39:1 as compare to national student teacher ratio 59:1 in 2002.
For middle classes this ratio in state was 33:1 in contrast to national average 31:1. Here one point is to mention this state was created on 1st nov.1966. The above student teacher ratio for the corresponding year was 43:1 and 30:1 for primary and middle classes respectively. Education budget at the creation of state in 1966 was merely 277.2 Lac rupees. Which reached 138429.51 Lac was invested which was 55.7% of total money allocated to education.
Thus after this statistics of one of the pioneer states of India one can guess situations in UP, Bihar, Orrisa and rest of other states of country.
To make mind blowing and not blowing quantum of the student is directly linked to excellence in education. Money and personals are here only precise planning is required.
Will our education planners ever do this and when? Answer to these questions lies in dark room. Who will open the doors of this dark room is to be seen yet.
Dinesh Singh Rawat
E-mail:drawatabcnewsnetwork.com
The great observatories of the world are responsible for many of the prolific astronomical observations of the twentieth century. Telescopic photograpy, radio dish data collection, and infrared imaging are among the many different techniques observatories have been able to employ to learn about the heavens.
The Palomar Observatory may be the most famous of all. With five telescopes operated by Cal-Tech’s graduate and post-doctoral students, the 200-inch Hale telescope is the most famous of all Palomar’s telescopes. Built in 1949, it was intended to overcome the onset of the southern California smog problem. Other noteworthy telescopes operated at Cal-Tech include a telescope to search for supernovae, a comet hunter, a trio of sky cameras looking for planetary and other celestial phenomena, an interferometer capable of detecting the slightest wobble in the orbits of a planet, and a sixty inch telescope responsible for spotting the first brown dwarf circling a companion star.
Cal Tech is also directly involved in the operation of the Keck and Lick Observatories. The Keck Observatory, located on top of Hawaii’s dormant Mauna Kea volcano contains the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes. Its twin Keck telescopes stand eight stories high and weigh 300 tons each. Lick Observatory is located on 4200 foot Mount Hamilton east of San Jose, California. It contains nine research telescopes with the largest being the Shane 3-meter Reflector. This telescope is used to observe everything from our local solar system to faraway galaxies.
The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles is known for its12-inch Zeiss Refracting telescope. This telescope’s fame is largely due to the fact that it has been used to allow public viewing of the universe since 1935. More than five million people have looked through its lenses since under the guidance of experienced Telescope Demonstrators. The Griffith Observatory was also known for its laserium light shows in previous years although they have been discontinued at present.
The Hayden Planetarium in Boston is more than just a planetarium. It is also a museum. Along with its Gilliland Observatory, laser-light shows and a rotating star simulator are among some of the different multi-media astronomical experiences available to the public.
The Greenwich Observatory in Cambridge, England was established in 1675 by King Charles II in order partially to fix longitude readings. It currently fixes the origin of the worldwide time reference point of Greenwich Mean Time. An observatory in Portland Maine is being restored as a famous architectural monument. Another observatory of note is the University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory with its five telescopes.
All of these observatories have added to the vast array of knowledge now known about the universe. Their importance to the history of astronomy, as well as their continuing usefulness, can not be overemphasized.
1) Palomar observed: For more than 50 years, science above and beyond; Scott LaFee; San Diego Union Tribune; November 2, 2005
2) CalTech Astronomy Website;
3) UC Observatories Website
4) Yerkes Observatory Website;
5) Griffith Observatory Website;
6) Observatory view worth preserving; by John Alphonse.
7) Hayden Planetarium Website.
The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh: A Guide to Edinburgh’s Popular Observatory
Listening
What is true listening? Dr. James Jones suggests that true listening is not advise, counsel or trying to solve problems. Listening is just hearing what your troubled teen has to say. Parents often respond to a teen with comments that are judgmental, advisory or are non- accepting in some way. These responses “close” or shut down the conversation and do not promote further dialogue.
Closed responses also “discount” the other person.
Open responses are a much more productive method of communicating with a defiant teenager. These responses are nonjudgmental, and have no suggestions or solutions. The response is one of simply accepting what is being said. These responses reflect both the content and the feelings the child is projecting to you as the parent.
In the book Let’s Fix the Kids by Dr. James Jones he gives an example of closed parent response and an example of open parent response.
Closed parent response
Teenager:
My science teacher gave me a “C” on that science project. I can’t believe it!
Parent:
1. I told you to type it but you won’t ever listen will you?
2. Don’t complain; we get what we deserve.
3. Teachers aren’t unfair; what did you mess up this time?
These are called “closed responses” because they effectively close down communication between a parent and struggling teenager. They are usually “put downs” in the form of giving advice or criticism.
Open parent responses
Teenager: I can’t believe Mr. Green gave me a “C” on my science project after I spent weeks on the stupid thing.
Parent: It sounds to me like you’re very disappointed (feelings) only getting a “C” after doing that much work. (content)
Teenager: Besides that, he gave Don an “A” because he did the project Mr. Green suggested.
Parent: Have I got this right? You feel angry (feelings) because Mr. Green is being unfair. (content)
Teenager: You’d better believe it! Anyway I learned a lot from my project; it really was hard!
Parent: Then in spite of the disappointing (feelings) grade, are you glad (feelings) you stuck to your more difficult project? (content)
Teenager: Yeah! I guess I am, but I thought I was going to get an “A” for sure. Hey… what is there to eat?
LISTEN!
* When a troubled teen asks you to listen to them and you start giving advice, you have not done what they asked.
* When a struggling teen asks you to listen to him and you begin to tell him why he shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on his feelings.
* When a defiant teen asks you to listen to them and you feel you have to do something to solve his problem, you have failed him, strange as that may seem.
* Listen! Your teenager asked you to only listen, not talk or do, just hear him.
* Advice is cheap; you can get both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper.
* Your teen can act for himself. He is not helpless. Maybe discouraged and frustrated, but not helpless.
* When you do something for your teen that he can do for himself, you contribute to his fear and weakness.
* But, when you accept as a simple fact that your teenager does feel what he feels, no matter how irrational, then you can quit trying to convince him and get about the business of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling. And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious and he won’t need advice.
* So, please listen and just hear your struggling teenager. And, if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn; and He’ll listen to you.
Sources: “Let’s Fix the Kids” by Dr. James Jones. Text was slightly modified to fit a teenager.