Education Standards

This current administration is piling on trillions of dollars in debt onto our already weakened economy while trying to convince us this is the proper way to reach its objectives of improving our education system, providing affordable healthcare and energy independence, not to mention turning around the economy. Don't get me wrong, I am also for improving education, affordable healthcare and energy independence but the way this administration is trying to reach these objectives is like giving a hungry person a chicken sandwich without deboning the chicken first. When they bite into the sandwich and chip a tooth they are left with more dental bills than the sandwich was worth.

Better education, affordable healthcare and energy independence all sound great but are they worth the debt that we are piling up now? What good will it do anyone if we accumulate more debt in the process of achieving these objectives than these programs are worth? I would like to see this administration set priorities with a clear explanation of how the priorities were established and how they intend to achieve them. If our economic downfall was a direct result from toxic loans where individuals accumulated more mortgage debt than they could repay, then how does this administration intend to turn the economy around and reach its objectives by this same principle, that is, accumulate more debt that you can repay?

Improving Education

Our current public education system is a government ran education system where the government dictates which public school, according to school district, a student has to attend. If our current school system is in disarray then it is a direct result of government intervention. How do we expect to see an improvement in our education system by allowing the government to have greater control over our education system? In order to mandate so called improvements the government is going to want greater control.

I have often heard that insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. If a government ran education system resulted in a poor quality of education for our children then how do we expect more government involvement to improve the system? I for one would like to see the government completely removed from running our education system and let parents make decisions regarding their children's education. If parents make the decision of which school their children will attend then schools will have to raise their education standards to parent's standards and not the governments.

If we take the tax dollars that we are currently spending on education and give it to parents then parents are going to place their children where they feel their children will get the best education. The schools that are providing a better education will attract more parents and these schools will have more funds to pay teachers. Schools can then pay teachers according to performance levels and quality of the entire education system will improve. Parents have this freedom with child care and college and yet in between these years our government somehow knows what is best for our children.

Affordable Healthcare

As I was preparing this article I heard a report on the radio about how the health care industry was going to have layoffs due to losses from investments. What caught my attention was the statement that layoffs were due to losses from investments. I thought the healthcare industry was in business to provide healthcare and not manage investment portfolios. Why is it then that layoffs are driven by investment losses and not from losses resulting from rising unemployment?

It has been widely reported that skyrocketing healthcare costs are a direct result of paying for the uninsured and yet staffing requirements are driven from investment values. Which brings me to another point that caught my attention, while the rest of the country has been struggling with economic turmoil the healthcare industry apparently has an investment portfolio that is strong enough that it takes until the spring of 2009 before its value effects significant layoffs.

The healthcare industry has claimed that high costs are related to the number of uninsured as if everyone without healthcare insurance is a burden to the healthcare industry. If I own a store I may have to increase my prices to cover the losses from theft. It would not be ethical of me to increase my prices based on the number of people who enter my store that don't have enough money to pay and not base it on the actual losses from stealing.

What is the bottom line for conducting business in the healthcare industry. The formula is a simple one. Revenues minus costs equals profits or losses. If you make enough money to manage an investment portfolio then you are making a profit. If our government wants to get involved with controlling health care costs then why can't it investigate the actual cost structure for the health care industry and quit feeding us information about the number of people that are uninsured. When the government finds occurrences of overcharging then heavy fines will get everyone's attention.

Energy Independence

Our country depends heavily on foreign oil and if our nation were energy independent then the money that we are paying to have oil shipped into our country could remain in our economy. This disparity of paying foreign nations to provide the majority of our oil has been coined the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world and yet our nation still does not have a plan in place to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Our politicians are grid locked in a debate as to whether drilling for our own oil is the answer. We are told that if we started drilling now that it would take several years before any of the natural resources would be available for public consumption. Some politicians tell us that we need renewable energy to replace fossil fuels, but it will also take years to reach this objective. In the meantime our nation still needs energy to conduct day to day activities.

Drilling now may not be the comprehensive answer to solving our energy independence problem just as building the blue ridge parkway did not solve future mass transit problems. The construction of the blue ridge parkway did provide immediate jobs though and our nation was in desperate need of jobs during the great depression. Drilling now will provide immediate construction jobs to erect platform rigs. These platform rigs will need construction materials which will provide manufacturing jobs and these materials will need to be delivered to the construction sites which will provide transportation jobs.

We may not be able to drill our way to energy independence but we can drill our way to immediate job creation and shouldn't job creation be a priority in a struggling economy. Our automobiles of the future may indeed be powered by renewable energy and our current automobiles will subsequently become antiques. These antiques will however be part of our heritage and if we want to preserve our heritage then we will want a way to fuel these antiques. Who knows? The drilling that we start today may be the energy requirements that we need to preserve our heritage of tomorrow without dependence to foreign oil.

Additional articles that I have written can be found at http://www.junebugcommentary.com

Education in India has always been of paramount of importance in the life of every child. It is imbibed into every child at a very early age that education is what will raise their standard of living and of their families. Education had thus, been made free till the age of 14 by the Government. But for some people higher education involving graduation and post graduation courses has become a very expensive. It can become even more expensive when the student has plans and hopes for studying abroad. Here comes the question of education loans. Many students dream of studying abroad as well in India but the rising fees and other expenses involved cannot be paid by most parents. Thus, education loans are issued. Education has become expensive in today's world. Courses in management, dentistry etc demand a huge amount as fees and will be difficult to afford for most parents. Higher studies are also very expensive at time and involve lakhs of rupees. Education is one of the few means by which every Indian middle class child can turn his dreams into a reality. Money, power and fame are the basic primal needs of every individual in a society and in India there are very few ways to achieve it unless one has influential and rich parents. Thus in the Indian society, a person's calibre is determined according to the number of degrees and diplomas he holds. Highly educated people get respect in the society and that is a highly prized emotion in India. Education Loans are offered by many banks in India. One of those banks, is the HDFC bank which offers such loans. HDFC education loans offer a variety of features such as loans of up to 15 lakhs in India and up to 20 lakhs abroad. They also give a rest period of a year after you complete the course or around 6 months after one is gainfully employed. The loan periods can be extended to 7 years and the student can also get tax exemptions. HDFC education loans are also easy to get and can also pay for other education related expenses as well. Education loans are a means for the common masses to have access to the highest education standards and also study whatever they want to study and wherever they want to study. These loans have opened all doors for the common student with extraordinary dreams. With the highest quality education within their grasps, the youth of the country can and will change the face of this country and lead it to a better and a bright future. As they rightly say, 'No mountain high enough and no valley low'.

Addi is a business writer. To Know more on loans, education loan visit the financial community.

The education system is the backbone of a progressing society. It is the standard of education that determines an individual's and the country's progress. A typical educational system consists of Primary Schools, High Schools, Colleges and Higher education institutes. It is important to provide quality education at all levels in order to have sustainable growth and development.To improve the educational system, it is important that people are aware of the education issues and problems in the education system.

Awareness about the current issues in education helps people in finding the loop holes in their education system and suggests innovative ideas to plug these holes. Some important issues/challenges related to education are:

1. Improving quality - Invariably one of the most important education issues, the quality can be improved by initiatives taken by schools and teachers. Here the importance of a trained, understanding and well informed teacher to raise the education standards cannot be stressed enough. An efficient teacher will use the latest innovations in the field of education and the outcomes of educational surveys for the benefit of his students.

2. Improving access - Along with improving the quality of education, it is also essential to improve the access to higher education; this can be done by increasing the number of higher education institutions. Essentially, every individual who is interested in studying should have an institute nearby.

3. Reducing costs - A lot of people who are interested keep away from higher education because of their inability to afford the tuition fees. Easy education loans must be available and also for those who cannot afford studies, fees must be low. Government and educational institutions must join hands in reducing the enormity of this issue.

4.Reducing drop-out rate - The rise in the drop-out rate is also a case of concern. This can be resolved by revising the curriculum in such a way that the diverse interests of students are taken care of. The introduction of more practical activities in place of plain theoretical teaching also goes a long way in keeping the students interested in their studies, thus reducing the number of drop outs. Websites dealing in education-issues also keep one informed and updated on the latest in the field of higher education.

One of such websites is www.websites-for-teachers.com . Here you will get the most comprehensive list of education-issues websites, which will provide you with all the information you require on problems in education, higher education issues, physical education issues and teacher education issues.

Hannah Anthon is an professional writer, currently working for teacher resources including websites for teachers, educational websites, higher education issues, teaching materials, free teacher resource, technology websites and more.

The role of computer in education has been changing since it was introduced to public use in early eighties. Nowadays, arguments about introducing more information technology equipment into public education or having a reasonable control of it bother not just school administration but educational councils, psychologists and sociologists countrywide; moreover this problem have spread in recent years on other developed countries. In order to have a look on this problem from different sides and examine major "for" and "against" its enough to read the works of two authors who introduce this problems from different perspectives.
The article Computer Education Is Vital for Students of the Future by Richard W. Riley, discusses the importance of making impressive investment into computer equipment of high schools, as it improves the pedagogical process, improves the skills of students, eases the work of teachers and raises future professional skills of students. To his point if the government doesn't spend more money on information technology equipment for public education it will definitely loose in future, as the only result of such educational process would be unskillful and unqualified professionals who will require additional training.
From the other side, the article Computers Cannot Teach Children Basic Skills by David Gelernter, states that importance of computers in education is exaggerated, more over intensive use of computers in early childhood education will result low thinking and critical skills of children in future, as computer substitutes all functions of mental activity that have to be developed during this age in order for kids to develop gradually.
The main concern of Richard Riley is that modern schools of low-income communities are not sufficiently supported by government, as well as classrooms for children with special needs. This mainly results in poor education they get, in inability to increase their financial situation and social status through the considerable lack of professionalism: "…If the nation continues to ignore the educational needs of new students—particularly low-income students--and continues to give them a watered-down curriculum and link up their schools last, it will find itself in an economic bind of the first order. It will have a work force that does not know how to work. If the United States continues to think short term, as it did in the 1980s, the results are potentially disastrous." (Riley, R. Computer Education Is Vital for Students of the Future)
Stating that the role of technology is growing as it penetrates to every sphere of our life and makes a man become dependent on its achievements, the role of computers and electronic facilities in modern education should not be undervalued: "The first thing to understand is that technology is not a cost but an investment. Educators need an investment mentality that is firm, fair, and flexible. That is to say, schools should firmly commit themselves to technology as the wave of the future." (Riley, R. Computer Education Is Vital for Students of the Future)
From the other side David Gelernter wants to persuade that introduction of computers into earlier education is not a matter of the main concern, appositively it's effects are often more harmful than fruitful: "In Kentucky, as the Wall Street Journal reported, students in grades K-3 are mixed together regardless of age in a relaxed environment. It works great, the Journal says. Yes, scores on computation tests have dropped 10 percent at one school, but not to worry: "Drilling addition and subtraction in an age of calculators is a waste of time," the principal reassures us. Meanwhile, a Japanese educator informs University of Wisconsin mathematician Richard Akey states that in his country, "calculators are not used in elementary or junior high school because the primary emphasis is on helping students develop their mental abilities." No wonder Japanese kids blow the pants off American kids in math.(Gelernter, David Computers Cannot Teach Children Basic Skills)
Probably this fact is worth of thousand words, true facts about decreasing abilities of American children to perform basic analytical skills of arithmetic as well as in writing and reading (as the computer does the spell check, and multimedia features are directed on passive audio-visual perception of information). David Gelernter opposite to Richard Riley considers that subsidizing of public education was excessive: "Over the last decade an estimated $2 billion has been spent on more than 2 million computers for America's classrooms"
Still the arguments of both authors look to be single-sided and lack of multi-side evidence to be objective and convincing. Richard Riley sees the solution of poor education in increasing public education budget mainly by spending more money on school computer equipment. It may look that the computer and technology are the "only" exit and the only solution in this situation, but it's quite far from real truth. Teachers, as well as their pedagogical competence and professionalism are more important than equipment. To blindly rely on the educational success due to new technologies is absurd, but to undervalue their use would be a fault as well. Even though that he insists that: "Technology can help tailor instruction to the individual needs of students; improve instructional management; support teachers and their professional development; connect student learning with the real world and schools to the home and community; and expand time for learning beyond the traditional school day"(Riley, R. Computer Education Is Vital for Students of the Future), it would be impossible to reach progressive achievements without adequate academic preparation of teachers, and basically this has to be the matter of the main concern for educational authorities.
Article of David Gelernter being more objective, still has a lot of subjectivism in referring to the influence of computers on educational process, as he describes mainly the negative impacts. Here he had not to blame computers for being the reason for the growing children problem of imperfect and poor education, but he had described incorrect educational methods of computer application that led to such crisis. He accuses nearly every piece of educational software in contributing to this growing problem, instead he had to describe how incompetence of educational councils and educational authorities countrywide led to this changes, as being the supporters of progressive innovations, they often fail to look on the problem from the face of teacher, of educator and pedagogic specialist.
To make his point of view understandable and persuasive, Richard Riley uses the following techniques as the means of "passive" propaganda: besides giving his opinion on the question and stating that some of his arguments can be concluded from rational and logical thinking, he as well uses his professional status of educational authority to popularize his ideas: "As secretary of education, I have come to believe that…". Besides he uses previous evidence of government's failure to improve the situation with public education in eighties and tries to compare it to nowadays practices of educational budget planning, insisting on increasing school equipment funds. For a person who has no or little background about education budget planning, situation in public education and academic performance of students in general, it would rather difficult to form personal point of view to oppose author's arguments, and he would more likely agree with the author.
David Gelernter, the author of Computers Cannot Teach Children Basic Skills uses a persuasive and critical tone in order to explain and prove his ideas. The arguments he presents are quite well explained and argued, he gives evidence from respective periodical and relies more than on simple statistics, but on the general nature of things which are described by others as well. The comparisons he uses to accuse computer domination in education with electoral campaigns of politicians, about making simple approach to delivering information be dominating over individual thoughts make to accept his view points and agree with him. Being a computer professional, a professor of computer science at Yale, David Gelernter has enough credit to express such point of view, because he as no one else is acquainted with the problems of artificial intelligence and knows that artificial intelligence or modern PC would be not able to substitute a teacher, as education is double-sided, mutual process, which requires the participation of a teacher and student, but not a simple pressure to accept new information.
Inability of Richard Riley to look on the problem from different perspectives and to look for other deficiencies of modern education makes his work to lack some of logical foundation, moreover his individual opinion forces out other possible facts that could be mentioned in his essay as well as it makes the article to look really subjective. He uses a lot general facts about the use and benefits of using computers in modern life, which touch the theme but don't give an exhaustive argument for its solution. His single-valued answer to the problem, that educational deficiencies have to be solved by increasing the number of computer units at public educational institutions makes a vision that he fails to understand the core of the problem, which lies not in the quality of delivered information from technological point of view, but which lies in the quality of received information. Here it would be important to include that teacher's educational standards and standards of teaching have to be raised as well. From the other side David Gelernter fails to fully develop his ideas as well as he is more preoccupied with negative impacts of modern educational software over the educational process than to define its real place in the educational process. According to the mane of the article Computers Cannot Teach Children Basic Skills, he had to bring to the evidence the arguments that would prove his idea, but not to describe the bankruptcy of modern computer software to execute teaching functions, as it makes the vision that "right" software will change this problem. Being full of critics on both educational authorities and educational software he does not truly and objectively defines the role of computers in education.
Having described the nature of these articles, their deficiencies and strong points, I would agree with some of the arguments of both authors. It would be absurd top deny the importance of computer education, as it is our future and perhaps it had become our presence. But from another side it would be na๏ve to rely only on computers in educational process. As David Gelernter had stated, there has to be a face to face interaction while teaching, it has to be a dialogue, critical thinking and analysis while educating, not a blind perception of information. And that's why to reach desired equilibrium between the role of a teacher and computer its essential to give advantage to teacher in the practices that require the development of thinking skills, the development of analytical and speech skills and the development of formulating and expressing personal viewpoint as senseless machine would never perform that.
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With the advancements in technology in recent years, it is now possible to obtain an undergraduate, graduate, or even postgraduate degree via online colleges and universities. Distance programs have been around for some time now, and with the presence of the Internet, degree programs became accessible for more people, as physical location was no longer a barrier where it had been previously. Even the degree programs once thought to be virtually impossible to deliver online are now being delivered in this method. One such concentration is in the field of science, so online education MS degrees, or Master of Science degrees, are now possible.

The fact that online education MS degrees can now be earned is a major benefit for several reasons. One such reason is that, as is the case with any online program, those that were once unable to earn a college degree due to physical factors can now do so. Perhaps the distance to the nearest college or university was simply too far for a working adult to be able to attend classes as a commuting student, and moving closer to school was simply not an option. Or, having young children at home made attending night classes impossible. There is also the possibility that a physical disability would prevent a would-be student from going to school. But because of online colleges and universities, it is now possible for people to earn online bachelor's degrees and online master's degrees, and even online doctorate degrees.

Another benefit to online MS degrees is the fact that those who must obtain this type of degree for employment purposes and reasons, who may once have been unable to do so via the traditional means for reasons cited above, can now earn this type of degree. For example, many educators need an MS for teacher licensure purposes. Many states currently require, and more and more are beginning to or will soon require, more rigorous continuing education standards. Teachers once found these increased demands nearly impossible to meet, via traditional routes. But with online MS degree programs and other types of online degree programs, teachers now have the ability to meet these requirements.

The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the quality of online education MS degree programs-in fact, in all online degree programs in general. Some of the earlier schools had questionable accreditation, but as the interest in online degree programs increased, so did the demand for these programs to be of high quality, and comparable to on-site programs. Thus, online colleges have risen to the occasion. Institutions such as Capella University, Kaplan University, Devry University, and American Intercontinental University are some of the schools that people are choosing to attend in order to complete their desired degree programs. This is, of course, only a few of the many colleges that have extensive online offerings. If a master's degree is the goal, and going to evening classes at a local college is not possible, then the online master's degree program should be evaluated, because it makes earning a degree a reality when it once may have been only a dream.

Find out even more about attaining your degree online by getting a free ebook here. Once you have done that, go ahead and get started learning about specific programs by visiting our site.

Indian Administrative Services exams, IIT exams of India are considered to be one of the toughest exams in the world. Indian education is considered one of the finest in the world. The most intelligent minds in NASA are from India. One can very well judge from this that the educational standards here in India are excellent. But due to the sudden growth in the education sector by the entry of the private entrepreneurs, the quality of education has decreased. Money earning motto of majority of engineering, medical and various other colleges has given a setback to the education system here. Moreover there are certain other impediments which has stagnated the growth of education in India. It is high time to look into these problems:

1. Reservation:

Reservation was actually the concept initiated by the Indian government for the upliftment of minorities and poor classes so that they get better representation in society and are imparted good education. With the passage of time theses classes started growing and progressing. No more these classes are lower than any other but still a percentage of seats is reserved for them in all the institutions, all competitive and various other professions. The actual talent is often suppressed because of these reservation rules.

2. Fail to Extract Student's Interest:

Every student has hidden interest an expertise in one particular field. Some excel in sports, some are good debaters but in spite of all these things they have to mug up the mandatory subjects and later go into medical or engineering fields for which they are not actually meant for. The actual talent thus gets graved and dies. It becomes the duty of the teacher to understand and extract each and every student's interest and then guide them further in their field of interest.

3. All About Money:

Engineering, medical, postgraduate and other colleges budding up in every nook and corner of the country have just become the modern shops of education imparting education that too of poor quality for big sum of money. Most of them lack proper laboratories, libraries and quality staff too. Statutory bodies need to take a good check on the colleges before providing affiliation, accreditation etc. to the colleges.

http://www.indiastudychannel.com/forum/39042-Challenges-Present-Educational-System-India.aspx

I recently read an article by someone talking about "eureka" moments in the science classroom and how technology in his classroom had made so many more of these possible. Although I appreciated the overall intent of the article, I just couldn't stop thinking to myself that if MY school's technology committee decided to provide MY class with twenty laptops, then we would have many more of these moments, too. But the stark reality is that in smaller, less affluent communities such as ours, not only do we NOT have a technology committee, we are lucky to have even one outdated personal computer in the reading lab in the library.

So, how does a teacher faced with such limitations provide equally satisfying "eureka" moments when students "get" it? I have found great success with the tried and true educational DVDs and videos. Because the technology has been around a while, and are much more affordable than computers and peripherals, we already have a fairly large collection of this medium. Although we may not have computers, most every classroom in our school has a DVD player and if we need new titles, our budget allows for it.

Examples of Educational DVDs for Science

For example, the educational DVD Science as Inquiry in Action, available from schoolvideos.com provides a way to encourage the pursuit of scientific discovery. It is based on the concepts outlined in the National Science Education Standards for Science as Inquiry. In this case that would be "abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry and understanding about scientific inquiry." The DVD uses engaging examples to demonstrate how scientific evidence and explanation play important roles in scientific inquiry. Students are guided through combining scientific reasoning and critical thinking.

For younger children, a good science educational DVD on animals is Characteristics of Animals (also available from schoolvideos.com) that explores what humans have in common with elephants and snapping turtles, what makes a bird a bird, how your pet kitten is different from a lion, etc.

Teacher Guides are often also included with educational DVDs providing assistance for teachers on the best way to incorporate the DVD into the lesson plan. If you, too, are faced with limited resources but want to provide the best in science education possible, educational DVDs and videos may be the answer for you as they were for me.

If you're interested in avoiding "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make Using Video in the Classroom" and want to start experiencing the benefits of using video effectively in your classroom, your next step is to download a FREE copy of "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make Using Video in the Classroom" right now.

The small company I work for is committed to creating quality educational videos for classroom instruction. From the earliest script stages, all subject area content, images, and music are intensely reviewed and selected for meeting appropriate grade level, curriculum objectives and standards for our proprietary productions. The videos we distribute are also screened to meet our high standards.

Teachers in the 21st century classroom will be better educators if they understand how to use multi media in their lessons, if they understand the processes that research has shown to be the most effective for improved student performance, and if they know how to find quality video resources that will enhance their lessons.

http://www.schoolvideos.com