Critical Issues in Literature

"At Challenge Success, we believe that our society has become too focused on grades, test scores, and performance, leaving little time for kids to develop the necessary skills to become resilient, ethical, and motivated learners. We provide families and schools with the practical, research-based tools they need to create a more balanced and academically fulfilling life for kids. After all, success is measured over the course of a lifetime, not at the end of a semester."

"Most of us don't remember our first two or three years of life - but our earliest experiences may stick with us for years and continue to influence us well into adulthood. Just how they influence us and how much is a question that researchers are still trying to answer. Two studies look at how parents' behavior in those first years affects life decades later, and how differences in children's temperament play a role."

"The company you keep says a lot about you. Friends have a big influence over how you feel, think, and behave. Here are five reasons you should be careful who you surround yourself with:"

"When you've got three kids in a family, as a parent you're outnumbered and as a kid chances are you might get lost in the middle. But what does all that say about your personality? Stacy DeBroff, founder of momcentral.com, shares some tips on parenting three."

"Can't we all get along? That's a tall order when your limelight has been snatched away by your adorable new little brother. Family: You love them and you hate them. There are so many things to consider when you think of family: there's birth order, rivalries, the only child, to name a few."

"The Journal for Hip Hop Studies (JHHS) is committed to publishing critically engaged, culturally relevant, and astute analyses of Hip Hop. Submissions should emphasize Hip Hop's relationship to race, ethnicity, nationalism, class, gender, sexuality, justice and equality, politics, communication, religion, and popular culture. JHHS also explores the intersections of the sacred and profane for a better understanding of spirituality and religious discourses within the Hip Hop community."

"Since the early 1970s, Hiphop has become the most influential artistic, educational and social movement for youth and young adults. From The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute's inception in 2002 under the direction of Professor Marcyliena Morgan, students, faculty, artists, staff and other participants in Hiphop culture have been committed to supporting and establishing a new type of research and scholarship devoted to the knowledge, art, culture, materials, organizations, movements and institutions of Hiphop. In response to this exciting and growing intellectual movement The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute serves to organize and develop collections, initiate and participate in research activities, sponsor events and acquire material culture associated with Hiphop in the U.S. and throughout the world. It is now 30 years since the genre's entrance onto the urban landscape and Hiphop continues to be supported, protected and scrutinized by those who created it. In the process, it has become an uncompromising prism for critique, social and political analysis and representation of marginalized and underrepresented communities throughout the world. The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute curates all forms of Hiphop material culture including recordings, videos, websites, films, original papers, works, references, productions, conferences, meetings, interviews, publications, research, formal proceedings, etc. Material is collected according to particular themes and research initiatives. While the Archive is a record of all specific-to-Hiphop activity, ranging from local to international, it also incorporates all of the activities that have developed within and in response to Hiphop. These include academic courses, arts and community organizations, underground performances and venues, spoken word, political organizations, religious programs and much more. The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute's mission is to facilitate and encourage the pursuit of knowle

"In recent years, controversy surrounding rap music has been in the forefront of the American media. From the hype of the East Coast-West Coast rivalry that shadowed the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. to the demonization of modem music in the wake of school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, it seems that political and media groups have been quick to place blame on rap for a seeming trend in youth violence. however, though critics are quick to point out the violent lyrics of some rappers, they are missing the point of rap's message. Rap, like other forms of music, cannot be understood unless it is studied without the frame of its historical and social context. Today's rap music reflects its origin in the hip-hop culture of young, urban, working-class African-Americans, its roots in the African oral tradition, its function as the voice of an otherwise underrepresented group, and, as its popularity has grown, its commercialization and appropriation by the music industry."

""The widespread assumption is that Asian Americans came to the United States very disadvantaged, and they wound up advantaged through extraordinary investments in their children's education," says Brown University economist Nathaniel Hilger. But that's not what really happened, he says. Hilger recently used old census records to trace the fortunes of whites, blacks and Asians who were born in California during the early- to mid-20th century. He found that educational gains had little to do with how Asian Americans managed to close the wage gap with whites by the 1970s. Instead, his research suggests that society simply became less racist toward Asians."

"Your parents raised you. Your spouse lives with you. But it's your brothers and sisters who really shaped you. Surprising research reveals how"

"Are you a first-born? A middle child? A twin? An only child? In his new book The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us, author Jeffrey Kluger describes current scientific research into the effects of siblings on human behavior, from birth order studies to sibling rivalries and fighting."

"In his book, "The Sibling Effect," science writer Jeffrey Kluger discusses why sibling relationships are the most important ones in our lives. Salon.com recently published an interview with Kluger where he explains his findings and what they mean for you, your idiot brother, and/or your too-perfect sister. We took the best facts from the interview and put them together here for you in this handy slideshow. Some of them will surprise you, and some of them definitely won't."

"Genius Hour provides students freedom to design their own learning during a set period of time during school. It allows students to explore their own curiosity through a self-manifested sense of purpose and study while within the support system of the classroom. A key distinction compared to more open, self-directed learning and user-generated learning experiences is that within a "Genius Hour" framework, this student-centered approach is only used a portion of the schedule, providing students a choice in what they learn and how they learn it during a set period of time within a school day."

for Patrick

"This list of videos will help different aspects of your life and attitude when it comes to friendship.  "

For years, scientists who study achievement have noted that in many fields the most electrifying work comes earlier in life rather than later. After all, younger people can devote their life to a project in a way that more senior people cannot, and young stars attract support, mentors and prestigious appointments. Now, a big-data analysis of scientific careers appearing in the journal Science finds a host of factors that have nothing to do with age or early stardom. It is, they suggest, a combination of personality, persistence and pure luck, as well as intelligence, that leads to high-impact success - at any age."

What the latest research says about multitasking and learning.