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izz aty

Being Poor - Whatever - 0 views

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poverty society culture community politics economy finances education reference

shared by izz aty on 25 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.
  • eing poor is relying on people who don’t give a damn about you.
  • Being poor is not taking the job because you can’t find someone you trust to watch your kids.
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  • Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.
  • Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.
  • Being poor is your kid’s teacher assuming you don’t have any books in your home.
  • Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.
  • Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually stupid.
  • Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually lazy.
  • Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.
  • Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.
  • Being poor is deciding that it’s all right to base a relationship on shelter.
  • Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so.
  • Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.
  • Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.
  • Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.
  • Being poor is seeing how few options you have.
  • Being poor is people wondering why you didn’t leave.
  • Being poor is staying with a man who beats your kids because you can’t afford to keep them out of foster care without his salary.
  • Being poor means making decisions like “is stealing food a sin” outside of an ethics class.
  • Being poor is realizing that heating and eating will probably be mutually exclusive this month.
  • Being poor is discovering that that letter from Duke University, naming you as one of three advanced students in your class invited to test out of HS early into their scholarship program, is just so much firestarter because the $300 it costs to take the test may as well be $3 million.
  • Despair is finally realizing, at nearly 36 and with a barely-afforded AA in English from a community college, just where you could have been by now had you had $300, and what that missed opportunity has truly cost you.
  • Being poor is understanding that the lowest, poorest, starvingest time of the month for anyone on public assistance is exactly when Katrina hit.
  • Being poor is taking a cash advance from the credit card–to pay the credit card minimum bill.
  • Being poor is trying to decide which one of you gets to eat today – the one of you that is pregnant or the one of you that can work.
  • Being poor is a sick, dreadful feeling of your stomach dropping out when the phone rings, because you know it’s a bill collector and you know you’ll pick it up anyway on a one in a million chance someone does want to hire you.
  • Being poor is laying down because it hurts to breathe and you are pregnant, but you can’t afford to go to the hospital.
  • Being poor is crying when $50 bill you didn’t expect gets taken from your paycheck.
  • Being poor means never forgeting that the bills aren’t paid.
  • Growing up poor is spending the rest of your life trying to escape (and never realizing that you have)
  • Being poor means looking at life in such a different way that most people can’t imagine it.
  • Being poor means being grateful that you’re living paycheck to paycheck.
  • Growing up poor means you feel guilty when you escape, because your siblings didn’t.
  • Being poor means saving the plastic containers and jars from yogurt or spaghetti sauce so you can take milk with you to school in your lunch after they lower the income limit for free lunches and your mom makes $3 more than the limit.
  • Being poor is choosing between the lesser of two evils and not realizing it.
  • Being poor is a motivator to never be as poor as your parents.
  • Being poor makes you appreciate everything you’ve earned.
  • Being poor gives you the ability to look at supporting your still poor mother as an honor not a burden.
  • Being poor is worrying that someday you will wake up, find yourself lying beneath a blanket in the back of that station wagon and realizing that your escape and rise was just a dream.
  • Being poor is a month with 28 spaghetti dinners, 2 invitations over to eat, and a day without.
  • Being poor is carrying your fiancee to the hospital to miscarry, then using their phone to call around for someone to take you back home, since there aren’t beds for Medicare patients.
  • Being poor is wondering what sort of fool drops a penny on the ground and doesn’t pick it up.
  • Being poor is wondering what to say when your friends ask you to join them for coffee in the campus coffee shop, and you can’t because you thought you had a couple bucks cash but you must have left it in your coat at home, and so you have to use all the change you dug up from under the seat for gas to get home after classes.
  • Being poor is pretending to any major, religion or career interest to get free pizza on campus.
  • Being poor means dreading getting a Christmas present from the Fireman’s Charity, because you’ll end up on TV and everybody at school will find out.
  • Being poor is wearing the same dress to school every day for four months, then getting “new” clothes from the church for Christmas and changing your clothes three times in one day because you can.
  • Being poor means not being able to take a better job because the shift ends are after the busses stop running, and you don’t feel safe walking the two miles home after dark.
  • Why is is so hard to remember poverty once you get past it, if you get past it? Why is it so hard to empathize with poverty if you have never had it? What the hell is wrong with us?
  • Being poor means learning firsthand the meaning of words like “eviction,” “garnishee,” “repossess,” and “transient motel.”
  • Being poor means paying a premium on food and goods at local stores that jack up prices for being in a poor neighborhood, or simply because they can.
  • Being poor means buying bread at the “day old store” even though it’s a lot older than one day.
  • Being poor means paying high prices for exprired meat at the bodega, because there isn’t a supermarket chain willing to open a store in your neighborhood.
  • Being poor means your 10 cent an hour raise is almost negated by the 25 cent increase in bus fare.
  • Being poor means watching your disabled child get worse and worse because you can’t afford the therapies.
  • Being poor means having your life gone over with a fine tooth comb to see if you’re bad enough to help.
  • Being poor is feeling ashamed when your ‘peers’ slam WalMart, and talk about buying organic, and the horrors of driving gass-guzzling cars, all while wondering why you repeatedly find ways to not join them at $15/plate social dinners.
  • Being poor is avoiding spending time with people you care about, because you don’t want to have to answer “how are you doing?”.
  • Being poor is having your best friend’s mother compliment her for hanging out with you–shows good moral fiber, don’t you know.
  • Being poor is having your mum scrimp and save to get you the latest “in” thing, just as it goes out of style. (But you wear it anyway, so she doesn’t feel bad, and then all the kids at school make fun of you.)
  • Being poor is being the family that everybody knows it’s okay to pick on.
  • Being poor is having your house egged and a firecracker tossed through your front door because some kid thought it was funny.
  • Being poor is losing your special lunch card and seeing the snotty kid across the street find it, chop it up with scissors, and return the pieces to you.
  • Being poor means going to a church school on a Pell grant and trying to get your associate degree in one year, because you know your sibs are close on your tail, and your family has barely enough money to send you.
  • Being poor takes time. Time to wait in line for the reduced-price clinic while gathering all your paperwork, and hoping you have it in order so you won’t be sent home to get one little slip of paperwork. Time to wait in line at the food bank, where people fight to get to the one box of expired Entemann’s first. Time that you spend walking back home or waiting beside your POS car because it broke down for the umpteenth time. Time that you spend at your minimum wage fast food job after hours because you really don’t want to go home, and the manager might just feed you.
  • Being poor means that if you pull yourself up and stop being ‘poor,’ you will still be struggling and behind, because a large chunk of your money will go toward cleaning up all the stopgaps, mistakes, and overcharges you accumulated when you were poor.
  • Being poor is everything gets washed by hand in the bathtub with the smallest amount of dollar-store detergent.
  • Being poor means choosing between a cup of coffee, a newspaper, or a load at the laundrymat. You can’t have all three, or even two of them. ever.
  • Being poor is everything must be mended, pinned, taped, glued or stapled for a little more use.
  • Being poor means two or three jobs, and never enough time, sleep, or money. never.
  • John, thanks for this. This is so spot-on it hurts. And I don’t have to do any of these things any more, but you really don’t ever forget what it’s like to do them.
  • Being poor is really, really pushing your two-year old during potty training, because diapers are really, really expensive.
  • Being poor means that you laugh hysterically when you watch the financial planning segments on the Today Show, because the thought of starting a college fund for your child is so far beyond the pale that if you don’t laugh, you’ll start to cry and you’ll never stop.
  • Being poor means that three years after you’re not poor anymore, you still know exactly what everything costs; you still feel like a dinner at Chili’s or even Wendy’s is a huge splurge; and you still feel like you can’t afford to buy a six dollar belt at Target. And you still buy ramen.
  • Being poor is obviously your fault, even though the biggest, fattest reason you had to file bankruptcy in the first place was because your husband frivolously got cancer while laid off. How silly of him! And then he couldn’t find a new job until he was done with treatment because oddly, employers are shy of hiring bald, vomiting people with IV ports taped into their arms.
  • Being poor is being horrified when you see a very young person from your area with an arm, neck, or hand tattoo, not because corporate America generally bans such things… but because fast-food and retail America does, too.
  • Being poor is being bumped by somebody carrying a Prada tote bag on your way to pick up your paycheck… and instantly realizing, without having to calculate, that in terms of actual cash value, the tote bag is worth far more than the paycheck.
  • Being poor means selling blood plasma and signing up for every medical experiment they’ll let you into, and breezing past the disclaimer form because, really, are you going to give up $100 just because you may be risking injury or death from whatever they’re giving you?
  • - Being poor is spending money you know you don’t have on a candybar because you need something to cheer yourself up enough to get out of bed.
  • Being poor is sleeping everyone to one bed so you’re a little bit warmer.
  • Being poor is having friends who’s parents won’t let them sleep over because you live in that part of town.
  • Being poor is not caring that starchy carbs are bad for you, rice and pasta are cheap, and it’s either that, or nothing at all.
  • Being poor is the lunchlady feeling bad for you so she sneaks you leftovers from after all the classes have eaten, for you to take home for dinner.
  • Being poor is learning to like skim milk because it’s a nickel cheaper than whole.
  • Being poor means your husband is working – when he can get work – at Labor Ready, and you’re at the food bank. Being poor means your husband is sharing his main meal of the day with someone who hasn’t eaten for three days.
  • Being poor is rejoicing the fact you miscarried
  • Being poor is becoming a stripper just to make the rent, and hating yourself for it.
  • Being poor is washing up in public bathrooms and sampling fragrances at the department store so you don’t smell bad.
  • Being poor is sleeping in stairwells.
  • Being poor means mom and dad do not sit and eat dinner with you. They eat after the kids are done with what’s left. Dad’s dinner is wiping clean the bits from the frying pan with a piece of bread.(He still does that out of habit just like grandpa.)
  • Being poor is not having sex because you can’t afford birth control and you’re smart enough to not get pregnant
  • Being poor is rejoicing in the fact that after five years, the color of your expired vehicle tags has cycled back around, and there’s less of a chance of getting pulled over for your 2001 tags.
  • Being poor is counting your food money for the week and knowing you will have to walk the two miles to the grocery with three children under the age of six.
  • Being poor is hearing your daughter tell you twenty years later that she finally realized that ‘Mommy already ate, sweetie’ was a lie.
  • Being poor is not being able to afford to pursue the ex who owes you child support.
  • Being poor is having a judge give him custody because HE isn’t poor.
  • Being broke is making a meal and sitting the kids down at the table, and sipping a glass of watered down powedered milk while they eat.
  • Poor never seems to leave us completely. No matter what we do or have done, we will always be haunted by the tears and shame of poverty. The worst part: even if our kids escape, THEY REMEMBER forever. A legacy we’d rather not give.
  • Being poor is having someone tell you that if you own _____ (A car, a TV, a bed) then you really aren’t poor, & realizing they’re either stupid, or worse off than you
  • Being poor means a 4 hours of commuting for a 6 hour shift.
  • Being poor means putting a beloved pet to sleep because you can’t afford the vet bill.
  • Being formerly poor means that your never-poor spouse resents the hell out of the fact that you still give your mom and siblings money – money that could have gone to “our” family. It means your spouse never quite thinks of your family as her family too because the resentment is there.
  • Being poor is throwing up six times a day because you are pregnant and don’t have health care. Being poor means that you can’t even scrape together enough change to ride the bus to the neonatal clinic, and it’s the middle of summer and too far to walk. Being poor means pondering an abortion because you know everybody around you is equally strapped for cash, you only get one meal a day, and you don’t see that changing in the immediate future. Being poor means after much tears and thought, when you finally decide to have the abortion, you have to borrow the money to get it done. Being poor means that if you’d kept the baby, some rich people would accuse you of abusing the welfare system. Being poor means that by getting the abortion, some rich people accuse you of murder. Being poor means weeks of crying and hating yourself.
  • being poor is mom and dad being humiliated saturday and sunday to pay your failed attempt at the american dream, because first you’re not american, second you are not rich, third you are not america educated, and all those dollar-master slavering world wonderpeople can tell you, making fun, is: born in the wrong country pal, hahaha.
  • being poor is working hard and never had worked enough.
  • Being poor makes you appreciate the value of free napkins, plastic food utensils, matches, condiment packages, plastic bags, or any other giveaway item of use in the home.
  • Being poor means never having leftovers.
  • FYI: Nick Mamatas has a few additions to the list (from an international perspective) here.
  • pictruandtru: you, more than anyone else here, need to read John’s article over and over again, until you get it. It was you he wrote it for. Being poor is people wondering why you didn’t leave.
  • Being poor (or having been poor) means you know that if there is a devistating economic crisis, you will know how to survive when those who never were poor are paralized with fear. Being poor is knowing you are strong and resourceful.
  • As a born-and-bred welfare kid raised by TV and cheap supermarket off-brands, I see my mother in many of these statements. She worked so hard to raise herself out of crushing poverty, with little or no useful help from the government or well-meaning “liberals” with social-science degrees that I can only shake my head and wonder how it was I got out of the poverty trap at all. I think I was just lucky. I also happen to be white and male, and I’m reasonably sure in today’s world this is a certain advantage.
  • Being poor means that someone who has never been poor will never really understand what it’s like.
  • Being poor means you no longer have to fill out the forms at the ‘payday loan store’ because they have your information memorized.
  • I joined the military so they would fix my teeth. I brushed everyday. And flossed. But never had dental insurance. Only got cleanings maybe once in my childhood.
  • The point is when something goes wrong, for whatever reason, being poor means your options are limited, and what options you have are often likely to cause you pain.
  • Being poor is not having any margin for error. The problem is that life only rarely lets people get through it without error.
  • When you’re middle-class or well-off, you can absorb a certain amount of the crap life throws at you. When you’re poor, you really can’t.
  • Being poor means understanding that Internet flamewars are a tragic waste of time better used bettering yourself. Use that time and effort to build yourself up rather than tear a stranger down- you’ll feel better afterward.
  • Being poor means being stuck around people who want you to continue to be poor.
  • Being poor means not being able to take advantage of all the really great sales that come along — because they only seem to happen when you don’t have the money in hand.
  • Being poor is having the grocery store checker give you dirty looks and make comments to the next customer about “my tax dollars being wasted” when you use food stamps to buy a day-old cake on sale and a package of birthday candles for your child. Being poor is being overwhelmingly grateful that the next person in line says to the checker, “I can’t think of a better use for my tax dollars than to pay for a poor child to have a birthday, you heartless prick.”
  • I still use tea-bags twice. I won’t eat ramen, because I ate far too much for too long. I consider myself well-off because I have a lot of books and I never skip a meal. I know exactly how much things cost, and shop at two supermarkets because one has cheaper prices on produce and meat, and the other has cheaper canned goods. And I know the usual price of everything I buy on a regular basis, so I know whether the “sale” price is really a good deal. And when it is, I stock up, just in case.
  • I worked for a bank for a while after finishing my bachelor’s degree, and here’s what I learned: Being poor means the bank doesn’t want you as a customer. Being poor means you will pay the highest fees for every service. Being poor means you will pay the highest interest on any loan. On the other hand– Being rich means all service charges will be waived on your accounts, because you’re a preferred customer. Being rich means never waiting in line, because the bank manager greets you when you come in and takes you to a customer service representative who handles your transactions.
  • Being poor is knowing how to sew.
  • Being poor is having a lower Social Security number than your classmates in high school, because you had to get one young to get welfare.
  • Being poor is finding prostitution a valid way to pay the electrical bill, and then lying to your spouse about where the money came from.
  • Being poor is exploding at the old lady who has taken all the 20c bread at the day-old store to feed to the fraggin’ SQUIRRELS.
  • Being less poor is living close enough to work and the store and the library to walk and NOT have to buy gas.
  • Being less poor is 10c for a packet of seeds that produces zucchini in your yard all summer.
  • I tell you this not to display my saintliness, but to put into perspective a conversation I have not infrequently with other members of my profession: ME: …no, I’m really tense about this case. If we lose, Mrs. Smith and her nephew have nowhere to go. She’s on a fixed income. What if I screw up and it costs them their apartment? OTHER LAWYER: Wow. Well, it could be worse. I mean, what if it were a big commercial-litigation case, and you screwed THAT up, and lost twenty million dollars for the client? At least the pro bono cases are over, what, five hundred dollars or something? (Pop Quiz: do you think the Other Lawyers who make such remarks have ever been poor?)
  • Being poor means you don’t count (unless you are pretty).
  • Being poor is never looking down on a man begging for change, mainly because you have seriously considered doing it.
  • Being poor is having the luck and luxury of growing up rich and having no resources whatsoever when you are tossed out of your parents house with no money for “the gay thing” because it’s an embarrasment to daddy and his ilk.
  • Being poor is making the rent and bills by six dollars and not having any left over for grocery shopping that week because that six dollars is for gas to get to work.
  • Being rich to poor means your parents make too damn much for you to get student loans so you have no way of getting any help, whatsoever.
  • Being rich to poor means that you can’t fathom how your family of two that you no longer live with lives in a 5500 square foot house.
  • Being rich to poor is your dad telling you it’s strange you don’t have a car, when you are paying for college on your own and he has just bought your younger, non-gay sibling, a BMW.
  • Being rich to poor is when your father visits your new apartment – the one you’re making it all on your own in – and tells you to move because you’re living “in a ghetto” as he drives home in his Mercedes.
  • Being poor means burning in shame because this is the most you could afford and you spent hours cleaning before he arrived.
  • Being rich to poor is being too ashamed to leave my name on this.
  • And being poor means you will probably be punished because you *did* leave
  • Being poor means teaching yourself to not notice feeling hungry.
  • Being poor means people making fun of your weight and calling you “anorexic” when you’ve been unable to have more than one meal a day.
  • Being poor is knowing you’re always under a microscope: Human Services, Housing Assistance, Social Security…but also, your friends, your family, and strangers who seem to think you’re lazy, unmotivated, or stupid for being in the situation you’re in.
  • Being poor is scraping enough money to go home to your family for Christmas and not having any gifts for them.
  • Being poor is using your stamps to buy pints of milk in glass bottles, then sitting outside of the supermarket, drinking the milk, rinsing out the bottle, and trading it in for a dollar cash so you can afford the co-pay on your prescriptions.
  • Being poor is never being able to afford to see a doctor for monthly cramps so bad they make you miss work; spending month after month for years hoping they just go away; and then finally getting seen and told you’re going to be infertile for the rest of your life, and that you could have avoided this had you come in sooner.
  • Being poor is sitting on a dusty brick sidewalk with a cheap recorder and a Goodwill hat, enduring snotty yuppie tourists, high school boys who make innuendos or say “get a day job”, police officers saying “You’re not doing anything illegal, but…”, and threats of physical violence from drunks, all in the hopes that someone will deign to put a dollar in.
  • Being poor is realizing that you will do just about anything necessary to feed your kids, including giving a blow job to a guy for $10.
  • Fifteen years ago, when I started in at a school, the packed that home room teachers got contained for each kid on opening day: 1 schedule, 1 emergency info form, 1 student handbook, 1 athletic dept. handbook 1 insurance form (AD&D plus emergency med. for school-related activities) and for a class of 20, three or four free/reduced lunch forms. You were supposed to give these to the students who asked for them, and get more if they weren’t enough. No one understood why I threw a hissy fit and made sure that there was one form per kid, just like all the other paperwork. Sometimes things do get slightly better. We now have cafeteria swipe cards, and the free kids and paying kids both just swipe their cards. The difference is that the paying kids have to top off their card balances with cash periodically.
  • Being rich to poor is your father casually talking about a utility bill that is the cost of your rent.
  • Being rich to poor is your father casually talking about half your years wages that he made in a week’s time.
  • Poor is living next to a crack house, being on a first name basis with the local prostitute, having murder weapons tossed in your back yard, and running from gangs.
  • Living in a house that’s literally falling apart. I used to get snow in my bedroom and water during thunderstorms.
  • By Katrina standards, however, my family was rich. We would’ve been able to evacuate. We had credit cards and family that would’ve helped us.
  • America, the land of opportunity, so long as you aren’t poor.
  • Being poor is hoping your bike doesnt break during your one hour cycle to work.
  • Being poor is walking for 3 hours to get to work because your bike broke.
  • Being poor is coming up with a different excuse every day why your not going to lunch (& dont eat any).
  • Being poor is thinking about the man who propositioned you while you were walking home some time back, and wondering just what he wanted to do to you or have you do to him, and how much he might be willing to pay for that.
  • Being poor is eating government commodity white rice with salt and pepper from packets that you kept from the last time you had fast food, and telling yourself that you actually prefer it that way.
  • Being poor is thinking of job benefits not in terms of health care, vacation, or retirement plans, but in terms of leftover or past-expiration-date food.
  • Being poor is being furious at the job interviewer who tells you that they won’t give you the nine-to-five office job because they don’t think that you can “adjust” from scrubbing out toilets on the graveyard shift.
  • Being poor is being furious at the manager of your rooming house for throwing away your bicycle because it was in such bad shape that he thought it had been abandoned there; surely no one would actually ride that thing.
  • Being poor is when people tell you that they think that you’re wasting your time and effort trying to get a better job, and they think that they’re doing you a favor.
  • Having been poor is weeping with joy and gratitude when you can afford an apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom of your own.
  • Having been poor is being amazed when you make it to the next paycheck with ten dollars in your bank account from the last one.
  • Having been poor is reading about thousands of people who used to have the comfortable middle-class existence that you have now, and have suddenly fallen through the cracks just as you once did, and really understanding for the first time what Satchel Paige said: “Don’t look back–something might be gaining on you.”
  • Being poor is not having eyeglasses until age 13 when you have needed them since age 4 and your grasp of the basics, like mathmatics, is without foundation, thereby closing the glorious door of science forever
  • Being poor is at age 14, using your entire first real paycheck to buy clothing for your younger siblings
  • Being poor is from age 14 on walking home three miles in the dark everyday after working after school because your family can’t survive without your paycheck
  • Being poor is making absolutely sure that you serve yourself last at all meals so that the younger kids can get their full share and so that you can be sure that your Mother gets to eat something as well
  • Being poor is watching your Mother die a slow agonizing death from cancer at home because your state doesn’t provide nursing home or hospice care for the indigent patient.
  • Being poor is not being able to escape watching your Mother die for even a minute because you don’t have a TV or a car or the price of a matinee movie ticket. Or money to hire someone to watch the young kids you are now responsible for.
  • Being poor is having, at age 18, to bath and clean your mother like an infant because the cancer has robbed her of her arms
  • Being poor is something you are inside forever.
  • Being poor, is having to share a bed with your three sisters in a house thats covered by tin and hoping it doesnt rain.
  • Being poor is being scared to take out the trash for fear of rats in the alley.
  • Being poor is hoping there’s not another drought so you have food to eat from the farm.
  • Being poor is rushing home so you can do your homework before nightime comes so you dont have to do it by candlelight instead.
  • Being poor is taking 5 years to finish high school because you have to work to pay for your private schooling.
  • Being poor is waking up your four year old at 3:30 in the morning to catch the bus in time to drop her at a seedy daycare, then make it to work on time.
  • Being poor is using your child’s piggy bank of dimes and nickels to pay for the ridiculous gas prices when you finally afford that car.
  • Being poor is walking up to your mom when you’re four, holding a toy and prefacing your request to buy it with “When you have money…”
  • Being poor is when your dinner consists of juice boxes because that’s all there is.
  • Being poor is being beat around by a baby-sitter you keep going to b/c they’re free
  • Being poor means learning by 7 that one meal a day is decent and real hunger doesn’t hit until at least the second day
  • Being poor is people asking you why you bothered to pick up that nickel on the ground
  • Being poor is never being liked by your friends’ parents because they think you must be a bad influence because you’re poor
  • Being poor is being bounced back and forth between different households who don’t really want you because your parents can’t afford to keep you.
  • Being poor means that holidays are no different than any other day: your mom is still working and there’s still no food in the house.
  • this is “being poor in one of the richest countries in the world”, being really poor is exactly like this, only much, much worse. Except perhaps without the status envy. Being really poor is walking 6 hours through the african night to the only hospital carrying your dead child, because you’ve heard the people there can bring the dead back to life. I’m not trumping your moving and honest writing. It just amazes me how humans are never happy, no matter what we have, if others have more.
  • this is “being poor in one of the richest countries in the world”, being really poor is exactly like this, only much, much worse. Except perhaps without the status envy. Being really poor is walking 6 hours through the african night to the only hospital carrying your dead child, because you’ve heard the people there can bring the dead back to life. I’m not trumping your moving and honest writing. It just amazes me how humans are never happy, no matter what we have, if others have more.
  • What’s the problem with me saying that there’s a difference between not having funds, and living like white trash? Because you’re ignoring reality in a desperate need to find somebody to step on–oh yes, we may have been poor, but we weren’t white trash, you see. And it’s a very handy way to see oneself as permanently beyond the reach of all those horrors of poverty: People stay poor because they are bad; I am good; therefore I will never be poor again. Your “brush your teeth” comment is a good example of this kind of magical thinking. The notion that people might have dental problems despite being diligent about dental hygiene is not one you can entertain, because that would deflate the whole “poor people deserve it” argument. (And, of course, it all rests on the fallacy that all poor people are adults.) Instead of focusing on self pity and hopelessness, I think it’s a lot better focus on what can be done to fix what’s broken. As somebody who didn’t grow up poor, Brian, let me give you a big suggestion as to one of those things that can be done, and it’s not telling poor people to shut up and work harder. It’s extending the same safety net, social support and benefit of the doubt we give wealthy people that we give to poor people. Believe you me, it’s quite an eye-opener to find out that things you took for granted when you were a kid–you know, like the cops showing up when someone calls 911, or having a functioning lab in your science class–were not available to everyone.
  • Being poor means not having a working stove, good pots and pans or decent food to eat and having to skip a meal or two a day.
  • Being poor means no asthma treatment and gasping for air in Emergency Rooms praying to stay alive where you know youll be getting thousands of dollars in bills you wont be able to pay.
  • Being poor means being looked at with a mixture of disgust and pity by so called “loved ones” who shop for recreation who have endless money to waste.
  • Being poor can lead you to depend on God, because there is no one else that is going to help you. I am a Christian today because of the poverty I faced.
  • Being poor makes you realize what a sick and shallow society we live in.
  • people seem take out of this list what they put into it. You seem to want make this list examples of how people can’t, don’t or won’t help themselves. Interestingly, this is one of the reasons I put this one in the list: Being poor is knowing you’re being judged.
  • being poor means wondering if the lights will come back on
  • Being poor is one meal a day, if that.
  • Being poor is worrying about appendicitis every time you ovulate.
  • Being poor means always the library, never the book store.
  • being poor is feeling all the eyes judging you, measuring you, and coming to the conclusion that you don’t belong; when all you want is to be away in the comfortable place you don’t have.
  • being poor is being exploited by rich people while you smile, not to be fired.
  • being poor is paying a debt to the rich for being born in their world.
  • The problem is people who aren’t poor or who have never been poor often don’t grasp why it’s difficult to escape poverty — you can do everything right in terms of trying to improve your life situation (and there are many people who are poor do), and yet just one thing going wrong can mess the whole thing up.
  • izz aty on 25 Jan 13
     
    Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.
izz aty

Vocabulary-Lesson Plans and Activities | ESL Voices - 0 views

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academic academic word list vocabulary corpus esol word frequency words english language learning lesson plan resources esl teaching learning

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  • Guessing Meanings From Context Learners who can guess the meanings of words from context are able to read and decipher words independently, outside of class and are prepared for the vocabulary included in standardized tests such as the TOEFL. Linguist Paul Nation suggests teaching students the following procedure for guessing the meaning of words in context. 1. Look at the unknown word and identify its part of speech. For example, is it a noun, verb, or adjective? 2. Next, look at the sentence containing the unknown word. If the word is a noun, what adjectives describe it? If it is a verb, then what nouns go with it? 3. Study the relationship between the sentence containing the unknown word and the other sentences. Are there cues like conjunctions (because, but, if)?  Are there any adverbs (however)? The possible types of relationships are cause and effect, contrasts, and summary . 4. Try to guess the meaning of the word. 5. Use an English-English dictionary to see if you were correct. New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary by Paul Nation.
  • Using  Graphic  Organizers Another effective strategy for teaching the meanings of words is the use of graphic organizers. There are literally dozens of styles, and each has its unique purpose. One example would be a vocabulary map for analyzing new words and their associations: On the board draw a circle or a square and write the word: Draw a circle next to it and place the part of speech Draw another for a synonym Draw one for antonym Underneath draw a square for a sentence using the word, another square for a picture representing the word, and another square for the definition of the word. Have students work in groups on one of these charts and then share their work with the class. Find more ideas for graphic organizers at Graphic Organizers Enchanted Learning.
  • Antonyms, Synonyms and Homophones Whenever students encounter a new word, they should record it into their vocabulary notebooks (see introduction) and add not only the meaning but as many associations as possible, including antonyms, synonyms, and homophones related to the word. Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of each other. Example: The antonym of long is short. Synonyms are words that have similar meanings. Example: Some synonyms for long are lengthy and elongated. Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently. Examples: new, knew Homographs (or homonyms) are words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently and have different meanings. Examples: wind (noun, air current) and wind (verb, operate by turning a key or handle). Not all words have homophones or homographs. Additional Sources: Online Thesaurus Synonyms, Antonyms, Homonyms
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  • Breaking Down Compound Words A compound word is a word made up of two other words. An effective method for understanding the meaning of a compound word is to break the compound word down into its components. Examples: drugstore (a store that sells drugs), lifeboat (a boat that preserves life)
  • Affixes: Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes Students can also learn the meanings of words by breaking them down into their roots and affixes. The root is the base word; the affix can be a prefix placed before the root or a suffix placed after the root. Some roots can appear alone, as well as with affixes; others appear only with affixes. Examples: port = to carry prefix ex = out, out of ex + port = export, to carry something out of an area im = in, into im + port = import, to carry something into an area suffix able = to be able transport + able = portable, able to be carried ex + port + able = something that can be carried out of an area Additional Sources: Wikipedia List of PrefixesMichigan Proficiency Exams-List of Prefixes Michigan Proficiency Exams-List of SuffixesList of Suffixes (UK) Wikipedia List of Latin words with English derivatives (Latin roots) Online Etymology Dictionary
  • Idioms and Phrasal Verbs Students need to master idioms and phrasal verbs if they are to feel at home in English. Idioms (idiomatic expressions) An idiom is a phrase or an expression with a special meaning that cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its words. For example, to fly off the handle means to lose one’s temper or to get angry. You can find more idioms at http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/ Phrasal verbs A phrasal verb usually consists of a verb and a preposition, that together have a special meaning. For example, put off means to postpone. Sometimes a phrasal verb may consist of three parts. E.g., put up with means to tolerate. Note: Some phrasal verbs can be also be considered idioms (like put up with) when the meaning of the individual words is different from the meaning of the sum of its parts. You can find more phrasal verbs at http://www.learn-english-today.com/phrasal-verbs/phrasal-verb-list.htm Terminology  the technical vocabulary of a particular area. Terminology or jargon are words used to identify the technical vocabulary of a particular area or subject. For example, stethoscope, and blood pressure cuff, are terms used in the field of medicine. Word Games and Crossword Puzzles In addition to teaching your students strategies for dealing with learning new vocabulary, provide your students with vocabulary games and puzzles so they can practice. There are several great vocabulary games and puzzles in the word games area. ESL Voices Word Games
  • izz aty on 21 Feb 12
     
    When it comes to teaching vocabulary, one challenge is knowing which words and phrases to teach. There are several areas that should always be included in vocabulary instruction. In addition to single words, idioms: (time on my hands, getting cold feet) and phrasal verbs (get in, go out).  It's especially important for students to learn idioms, phrasal verbs, because there's no logical way to figure out their meaning from the individual words. Also keep in mind that reading is a channel for new vocabulary growth, so always include vocabulary exercises whenever you assign new reading material. It's also a good idea to have students keep a vocabulary notebook. The notebook could be organized into sections for words from novels, selected readings, or news articles, as well as vocabulary they've encountered at random. However the vocabulary books are organized, make sure everyone has the same plan. In this section there are several good strategies you can use for teaching vocabulary. There are also activities you can try with your students to increase their knowledge of English vocabulary.
izz aty

Etymology - English Word Histories - Stories of Words - Definition of Etymology - 0 views

grammar.about.com/...Etymologywords.htm

vocabulary english etymology words esol esl language learning language education world society history stories learning teaching knowledge

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  • A definition tells us what a word means and how it's used in our own time. An etymology tells us where a word came from (often, but not always, from another language) and what it used to mean.
  • The word etymology is derived from the Greek word etymon, which means "the true sense of a word." But in fact the original meaning of a word is often different from its contemporary definition. The meanings of many words have changed over time, and older senses of a word may grow uncommon or disappear entirely from everyday use. Disaster, for instance, no longer means the "evil influence of a star or planet," just as consider no longer means "to observe the stars."
  • New words have entered (and continue to enter) the English language in many different ways. Here are some of the most common ways.
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  • Borrowing The majority of the words used in modern English have been borrowed from other languages. Although most of our vocabulary comes from Latin and Greek (often by way of other European languages), English has borrowed words from more than 300 different languages around the world.
  • Clipping or Shortening Some new words are simply shortened forms of existing words
  • Neologisms or Creative Coinages Now and then, new products or processes inspire the creation of entirely new words.
  • Blends A blend (also called a portmanteau word) is a word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words.
  • Conversion or Functional Shift New words are often formed by changing an existing word from one part of speech to another
  • Transfer of Proper Nouns Sometimes the names of people, places, and things become generalized vocabulary words.
  • Compounding A new word may also be created by combining two or more existing words
  • Imitation of Sounds Words are also created by onomatopoeia, naming things by imitating the sounds that are associated with them
  • If a word's etymology is not the same as its definition, why should we care at all about word histories? Well, for one thing, understanding how words have developed can teach us a great deal about our cultural history. In addition, studying the histories of familiar words can help us to deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words, thereby enriching our vocabularies. Finally, word stories are often both entertaining and thought provoking.
  • izz aty on 21 Feb 12
     
    The etymology of a word refers to its origin and historical development: that is, its earliest known use, its transmission from one language to another, and its changes in form and meaning. Etymology is also the term for the branch of linguistics that studies word histories.
izz aty

Idioms and Phrases Dictionary - Android Apps on Google Play - 0 views

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english esol esl education language language learning idioms vocab vocabulary phrases reference

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  • izz aty on 10 Feb 13
     
    "Largest archive of 1000s of idioms, phrases, sayings, expressions and their meanings. FREE!!! Learn and practice a lot of great phrases for your upcoming conversations, from this app. An idiom is a phrase where the words, when used together, have a meaning that is different from the idiom dictionary definitions of the individual words. The group of words in an idiomatic expression do not mean what they appear to mean. This at times can make idioms hard for students and learners to understand. This app lists the English idioms and Phrases, idiomatic expressions, proverbs and sayings, in alphabetical order by theme, with their meaning and an example. It has clear and crisp explanations and illustrations, perfectly suitable for homework as well as general spoken English learning & usage."
izz aty

Common Prefixes in English - Vocabulary Building - List of English Prefixes - 0 views

grammar.about.com/...comprefix07.htm

prefix affix words root words vocabulary english language language learning history education knowledge greek latin

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  • izz aty on 21 Feb 12
     
    A prefix is a letter or a group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning. For example, the word prefix itself begins with a prefix--pre-, which generally means "before." Understanding the meanings of the common prefixes can help us deduce the meanings of new words that we encounter. But be careful: some prefixes (such as in-) have more than one meaning (in this example, "not" and "into"). The table below defines and illustrates 35 common prefixes.
izz aty

select vs selected : Common Errors in English - 0 views

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vocabulary vocab language confusing reference learning english esol language learning error

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  • select Meaning(s) (v) pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives (s) of superior grade (s) selected or chosen for special qualifications
  • selected Meaning(s) (a) chosen in preference to another
  • izz aty on 24 Apr 12
     
    "Select" means "special, chosen because of its outstanding qualities." If you are writing an ad for a furniture store offering low prices on some of its recliners, call them "selected recliners," not "select recliners," unless they are truly outstanding and not just leftovers you're trying to move out of the store.
izz aty

10 Smartest Ways to Live Beneath Your Means - by Dumb Little Man - 0 views

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self-improvement self-help life lifestyle society people finances money survival reference education

shared by izz aty on 31 May 12 - Cached
  • Whenever possible, buy store brands.
  • Avoid prepared foods.
  • Shop at "you-bag-it" supermarkets.
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  • Brown bag your lunch.
  • Don't buy clothes or shoes with designer labels.
  • Use coupons, but be smart about it.
  • Buy used books instead of new.
  • Keep your car as long as you can.
  • Severely restrict your credit card spending.
  • Reward yourself for your efforts.
  • cutting back on what I didn't need..... wasn't using ( sold it online ) and live on what I only needed.
  • By living beneath your means you are prepared to deal with the occasional curveball life will most assuredly throw at you.
  • when it comes to buying store brands is make sure you look at ingredients labels and compare quality. Sometimes it can be worth it / better for you & your finances in the long run if you spend the extra little bit
  • riding my bike to work anytime I don't need to run errands afterward
  • take leftovers from dinner for lunch the next day
  • izz aty on 31 May 12
     
    I managed to retire at age 51, and the way I did it was to live beneath my means. You can adopt this strategy too, by simply spending less than you earn. You may think that's impossible for you, but if you make it a challenge instead of a chore, you'll soon be creating ways to cut corners in everything you do. And believe me, it all adds up. There are no secrets to this strategy. It's just common sense. Here are my 10 favorite ways to live beneath your means:
izz aty

Idioms | ESL Voices - 0 views

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idioms esl english esol learning language learning language education phrases

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  • izz aty on 21 Feb 12
     
    The English language has many idiomatic expressions. Idiomatic expressions or phrases are difficult because their meanings are not literally, but metaphorical. For example the expression, "Time on my hands"  does not mean that there is a clock on my hands, or that I am holding a clock or watch,  but that  there is additional time to do other things. For example, in the sentence " I have a lot of time on my hands now that classes are finished"  means now that I no longer have to study for classes, I am free to do other things with my time. The following idioms are common in American English. They are listed in alphabetical order for your convenience.   When you think you're ready, go test your knowledge in the Game room.
izz aty

Inclusive Education in Finland: A thwarted development | Saloviita | Zeitschr... - 0 views

www.inklusion-online.net/...172

finnish special ed inclusive issues dissertationZ

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  • Finland differs in the amount of segregated education from its Nordic neighbours Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, where the proportion of segregated education is very low.
  • statistics collected by the European Agency of Special Education (2003), Finnish numbers are more comparable with the situation in Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium.
  • A simple explanation for the large percentage of segregated education is the models of financing. In Finland local authorities receive extra money for each student removed into special education. It has been shown that this kind of financing explains best the international differences in the number of students in special education (Meijer, J.W., 1999).
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  • second reason is linked with teacher professionalism. If a teacher can have a difficult student from her class removed, she can secure for herself a less stressful future in her work.
  • Finnish teachers have got a strong union, and it has taken a very negative stance towards educational integration (OAJ, 1989). Teachers, like all other professional groups, have step by step achieved more power in the affairs of local municipalities at the cost of local political process (Heuru, 2000). This has given teachers more influence in guiding schools in the directions they want schools to go.
  • third reason for the large proportion of segregated education lies in the Finnish set of values. In Finland, the shift from an agricultural to an industrial society occurred internationally quite late, during the late forties. The industrial phase remained brief, and the new post-industrial society began to emerge during the late sixties. This means that the traditional values of agricultural and industrial societies still prevail in Finland to a greater extent than in many other countries. These traditional values stress overall conformity and tend to reject people who are considered socially deviant. The Finnish traditional set of values also manifests itself in the internationally high proportions of past sterilization of people with disabilities, high proportion of disabled people in institutions, or in the exceptionally high frequency of fetal screening (Emerson, et. al., 1996; Meskus, 2003).
  • Traditional Finnish sets of values combined with strong teacher professionalism together explain the high legitimacy of segregated special education in Finnish society
  • increasing numbers of students in special education are interpreted by representatives of the government as a healthy answer to increasing pathological conditions of children.
  • nternational discussion on inclusion (UN, 1993; Unesco, 1994) was first met in Finland by silence, which continued for several years (e.g. Blom, et al., 1996).
  • At the political level, inclusion is not raised as a goal to be sought
  • it is understood as a state that has already been achieved, because all that is possible has already been done.
  • The main focus of special education policy is localized in the neoliberal philosophy of “early intervention”, where problems are found in the pathological conditions of individual children (Plan for Education and Research 2007-2011 by the Ministry of Education). This focus is evident also in the Special Education Strategy report of the Special Education Committee of the Ministry of Education (2007). Furthermore, none of the political parties have raised the issue of inclusive education, outside of the small left wing party, The Left Alliance.
  • Since the rehabilitation committee of 1966, the official documents of the National Board of Education have repeatedly stated that integration is a primary choice which, however, is not always possible to achieve. What is “possible” depends on the abilities of the person himself, and these limits are decided by teachers.
  • A popular scapegoat for the lack of integration is found in deficits in teacher education (Special Education Committee, 2007). According to this explanation integration is not possible because teachers have not acquired the necessary skills in their education. Antagonists of this explanation underline that current teacher education is fully adequate in this respect and gives readiness for all teachers to include students with disabilities.
  • The academic world of special education has traditionally taken a conservative stance towards inclusion
  • Very recently there has been observable some change in the discussion
  • First, some large disability organizations, e.g. the Parents’ Association for People with Intellectual Disabilities, The National Council on Disability, and the Finnish Association on People with Physical Disabilities have presented critical statements, not heard previously, on current policy which favours increased placement of students in special classes. These organizations have begun to refer to international goal statements on inclusive education, like the Salamanca statement.
  • Second, the academic field of special education has begun to experience some polarization in the question of inclusion, and more positive sounds are being heard in favour of inclusion. This argument is observed, for example, in a recent addition on special education of the Finnish educational journal “Kasvatus” (2/2009). Additionally, a current textbook written by leading special education professors (2009) refers to inclusive education in a cautiously positive tone of voice, even if traditional special education is in no way criticized. It also gives space to the presentation of the international inclusion movement and international statements.
  • More radical changes could be expected from a different direction. The preparation of new legislation concerning the state funding of local municipalities is currently taking place
  • If the change happens it, in all probability, will mean a free fall in the number of special class placements. Inclusive development may thus become materialized as an unintended consequence of a bureaucratic funding reform
  • Finland is a black sheep in the international movement on inclusive education.
  • The legitimacy of separate special education is strong and unquestioned. Since the mainstream in most other countries is towards inclusive education, the situation of Finnish school authorities is not always comfortable.
  • There is a continuous threat of a legitimacy crisis in special education. Until now the threat has been successfully handled first through the means of ignoring the international discussions, statements and policies, and lately by changing the meaning of the concept of inclusion. Instead of inclusion meaning desegregation it is increasingly defined by educational authorities to mean some kind of good teaching in general (Halinen & Järvinen, 2008; Special Education Committee, 2007).
  • In opposition to inclusion, the official policy promotes early intervention as a main area of development in special education.
  • There are no visible interest groups questioning this ongoing development.
  • The high legitimacy and constant growth of segregated special education can be understood as a consequence of the individual funding model, teacher professionalism and the Finnish value system originating from the late modernisation of overall society.
  • The idea of integration, or the principle of the primacy of mainstream class placement in the education of students with special needs, was first expressed in Finland in the report of the Rehabilitation Committee in 1966
  • the late sixties were, in many ways, an exceptional point in time. In the parliamentary election of 1966 the left wing parties achieved a majority in the parliament. This political change coincided with a turning point in Finnish society as a whole.
  • The process of modernization and urbanization had led to the point where the economic structure of the country was shifting that of an industrial to a post-industrial phase.
  • The shift was manifested in the numbers of people working in the service sector, which superseded the numbers of those working in industry. The concomitant cultural change was expressed in the upheaval of societal values seen in many “cultural wars” of the time.
  • The construction of a welfare society meant the widening of public services. A widening professional sector sought new customer groups as clients. One of these groups was people with intellectual and mental disabilities who, until that time, were mainly treated in institutions
  • ideas of “rehabilitation” launched during the fifties by the International Labour Organization (ILO) now found breeding ground in Finnish society. The change in ideology was revolutionary, and was also noticed by the contemporaries. For example, the Rehabilitation Committee characterized the ideological change as expressing “a new conception of civil rights and human value” (Rehabilitation committee, 1966, 9).
  • The structure of special education at this time contained two types of special classes: auxiliary classes for students with learning difficulties and other separate classes for students with emotional and behavioural problems. Additionally, there were a few state schools mainly for students with sensory disabilities. The number of students in special classes remained under two percent.
  • During the educational reform which took place from 1972-1977 the previous dual educational system was superseded by a unified and obligatory nine year comprehensive school, called “peruskoulu”, for all children
  • School began at the age of seven and continued until an age 16
  • School began at the age of seven and continued until an age 16. After completion of comprehensive school the voluntary school path continued either in vocational education or in a three year upper secondary high school.
  • Special education achieved great attention in this reform. The special education division was founded in the National Board of Education and two committee reports were published on the organisation of special education in Finland.
  • The forms of traditional special education were secured but, additionally, the principle of integration was launched. On one side the new concept expressed positive content of the occurring paradigm shift from institutional care to rehabilitation. On the other side it very early expressed its ideological nature as a concept that helped to legitimate the exclusion of disabled people. Integration was considered conditional and depended on the “readiness” of the person.
  • A new profession of special education teachers, professionals without a grade level class responsibility, was established.
  • In this so called “part-time special education” students received individual or group-based support without formal enrolment into special student status. This led to a conflict with the professional union of teachers, OAJ, which declared a lock-out for those positions in the schools which offered them. As a compromise it was at last agreed that the new profession was not allowed to influence reductions in the number of relocations into special classes (Kivirauma, 1989).
  • The number of special class students in the seventies had increased to about two percent of the overall student population in comprehensive schools (Statistics Finland, 1981).
  • From 1983 onwards, a new law concerning comprehensive schools changed the field of special education
  • The two older forms of special education classes, the auxiliary school (Hilfschule) for students with learning difficulties and the “observation classes” for students with emotional and behavioural problems were now superseded by a system which could be characterised as principally a non-categorical system of special education. Local municipalities were now allowed to categorize their special education classes as they wanted, though most of the older terms still survived.
  • There was not, however, a true change from categorical to non-categorical special education.
  • First, strong categorical features came from state funding, which portioned out state support on an individual basis in accordance with the level of disability.
  • Second, local municipalities began to develop new, more medical, special education categories.
  • Third, the special teacher education programs continued to use categorical labels such as “special teacher for the maladjusted”, “adapted education” or “training school education”. Training school education referred to students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities which were now at last entitled to enter comprehensive school.
  • During the eighties the proportion of special class students in comprehensive schools grew approximately from two to three percent (Statistics Finland, 1989).
  • One consequence of the liberation from special class categories was the sudden emergence of new types of special needs categories.
  • For example, the proportion of students with dysphasia increased from 10% to 20% in just six years.
  •   Disability category 2002 2008 N % N %
  • Autism and Asperger syndrome 679 2.0 1408 3.0
  • An important characteristic of these new popular categories was their medical nature. New diagnoses such as “dysphasia”, “autism”, and “ADHD” attained popularity at the expense of older categories such as mental retardation
  • A common feature of the new popular diagnoses was their obscurity. Instead of a clear-cut collection of symptoms they resembled more vague metaphors.
  • This medical turn can be seen as the late fruit of the rehabilitation paradigm which was adopted twenty years earlier.
  • The new categorizations were more merciful as compared to the older ones because children were no longer seen as “bad” or “stupid” but as “sick” and in need of rehabilitation (Conrad & Schneider, 1980/1992). This change in perception from “badness” to “sickness” also helped to give new legitimacy to special education.
  • proportion of comprehensive school students transferred into special classes now grew up to four percent (Table 2). Students with severe and profound intellectual disabilities were now also accepted into comprehensive school in 1997 as the final small disability group thus far marginalized to the outside.
  • The last ten years have witnessed a rapid growth of segregated special education in Finland
  • Year   Total   SEN total % SEN total % Full time in mainstream class % Full time or part-time in special education class
  • 2008 561 061 47 257 8.4 2.3 6.1
  • 1998 591 679 21 826 3.7 0.3 3.4
  • Now the proportion of students in special schools and special classes has increased to over six percent, maybe the highest percentage reported anywhere in the world at the present time.
  • Other supports, such as the increasing use of part-time special education have not been effective in reducing this development
  • During the school term of 2006-2007 of the students in comprehensive schools, 22.2% received part-time special education (Statistics Finland, 2009)
  • the number of integrated students has also grown. This was due to a change in funding legislation in 1998, which also guaranteed additional state support for those special education students not removed into special classes.
  • The relative proportion of students in special schools was 2.0% in 1998 and 1.4% in 2007
  • The slight fall in special school placements seems to be mainly technical: many special schools have been administratively united to mainstream schools. The number of special schools has dropped to about 160. Most of them probably were schools for students with mild disabilities (former auxiliary schools).
  • Large towns slightly more often use special class placements than rural schools
  • While in 2005 a total of 5.6% of students were moved in special classes in the country as a whole, the average proportion in larger towns was at a higher percentage, 6 - 9%
  • Large towns also relied more on separate special schools (Memo, 2006)
  • In contrast, in sparsely inhabited areas, such as Lapland, special class placements have remained rarer than elsewhere.
  • The least number of placements are in the Swedish speaking part of Finland. This may indicate a cultural influence from Sweden where special class placements are much rarer than in Finland
  • The significant distances in the countryside of Finland explain why integration is more common in rural areas.
izz aty

Main - Malaysia - Viral video reveals varsity 'brainwash' tactics, says student @ Wed J... - 0 views

www.themalaysianinsider.com/...brainwash-tactics-says-student

malaysia politics students youth bawani sharifah zohra education tertiary education free education causes society people community social issues

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  • Follow kopite 131p kopite has not yet written a personal description. View IntenseDebate profile +133 Vote up Vote down kopite 131p · 11 hours ago Freedom of speech means cutting off others and bullying? Freedom of speech means belittling and humiliating others? Freedom of speech means avoiding a valid question and went to a defensive mode of equating real problems with animals? Freedom of speech means asking others to leave if they don't like it? Geez.... are you Sharifah?
  • ponu299 126p · 5 hours ago The students who were all vocally supporting this BITCH are equally responsible for the state of affair of this country. To think that we have student of this mentality, where they don't support their own uni mate, who was bring the topic of free education. To the student this was just a argument between a Muslim and a Hindu. WHAT 1MALAYSIA IS ABOUT.
  • · 5 hours ago Typical of Big Brother- UMNO - I speak you listen. No questions allowed. Just follow what I say. Only Big Brother is right. Also - whenever there is a seminar or forum organised by them, it only addresses the muslim crowd. To them, the other races do not exist and they are not bothered.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • hailamkiak 146p
  • ummNO 158p · 12 hours ago Exactly. How can universities teach such blatent behaviour, and they seem to condone it. When I help a person, it does not need to be an indian, malay or chinese. It cannot be based on race or religion. Yet, UiTM Melaka allows it's students to protest against intake of non-muslims. And the authorities and current govt adminstration does nothing. It's as though they condone such behaviour. It's not good for nation building. By their actions, they are making themselves to be exclusive to one race only.
  • Follow worried22 82p worried22 has not yet written a personal description. View IntenseDebate profile +40 Vote up Vote down worried22 82p · 8 hours ago An Indian student standing up and speaking about free education whereas most of the Malay students clapped in support of that Listen Listen lady when she asked her to leave the country if she is not happy with the government's policies. What an irony!
  • karulann 130p · 10 hours ago not every malaysia have the "privileged" of getting grants. Loans are just burdening the graduates. I say we MUST advocate for free education, regardless of anyone income or place of living, education should be free at any level. Let us stop with the speculation that Malaysia does not afford to provide free education, but now the BN goverment are able to dishes out billions of ringgit for the BR1M, and have "janji" to continue giving every year IF they win and probably MIGHT increase the amount to RM1000.. You do the calculation of how many billions is wasted just like that.. and you get how much? Give me free education instead of RM500 yearly
  • Malaysian 154p · 10 hours ago WHO WANT SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE BOOK!!! What kind of forum is this.
  • Hobbesianism 166p · 11 hours ago We are not angry mind you. We're simply astounded at the fact that there are such people like Ms. Sharifah in what you called the one-sided, barisan friendly forum. In fact, its freaking funny! Is that how you respond to a question, i.e. if you don't like, get out, my education is better than yours, you cannot compare with others, must always listen to elders, animals also got problems? Haha! No wonder you are still sad.
  • ankmlysia 153p · 13 hours ago ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’
  • AaronID 156p · 12 hours ago What's even scarier than the dozens, if not hundreds, of these roadshows are the obvious fact so many, so young, are already too far into being brainwashed by BTN/BN! The video of Sharifah belittling and humiliating Bawani is made worse by the cheerleaders, cheering Sharifah, on! Poor kids...
  • VJK001 177p · 13 hours ago Why is Sharifah with one sided views allowed to mediate in Universities of Malaysia? No wonder our universities are going down in ranks compared to rest of the world. How can a mediator asked a fellow Malaysian to go to countries of her choice if she don't agree with policies in Malaysia? Imagine the other students clapping and supporting Sharifah! That shows the true strength of our Malaysians university students? The only one outstanding there is little Ambiga Bawani! Syabas Bawani..
izz aty

Psychology Facts | Psychology and Handwriting Analysis: Margins - 0 views

neurolove.me/...d-handwriting-analysis-margins

psychology handwriting psychoanalysis people society social phenomenon social science culture commuity

shared by izz aty on 28 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • left represents the past
  • right represents the future
  • The ideal adult margins, based on graphology, would be to have the left margin a little wider than the right margin. This would be a healthy left/right balance, meaning you have a healthy relation to the past & future. 
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • A. Margins Even All Around
  • Someone who is controlling his/her right margin must write more slowly.
  • people who keep their margins even all around are most interested in the visual effect. They actually see the paper as almost like a work of art. They are extremely appearance-conscious and interested in beauty, design, symmetry, order, and balance.
  • very detailed-minded, and, of course, to give up spontaneity in the process. Such people plan everything ahead to a great degree.
  • B. Overly Wide Left Margin
  • the person who has a very wide left margin is subconsciously putting up an imaginary barrier between himself and the past. This trait is almost always an indication of someone who’s had a terrible past from which he is eager to flee.
  • C. Overly Wide Right Margin
  • When you are moving to the right, you’re moving towards your goals and the future. When you stop too soon at the end of your lines, somewhere in your subconscious is a little voice saying, “Uh-oh. I have to stop. I have to return to the left, to the past and the familiar. This is as far as I can go.”
  • D. Margins Too Wide All Around
  • Writing with margins that are too wide all around is abnormal
  • . This sort of person needs to be protected by four solid walls. He cannot make it on his own. He doesn’t relate to his environment in a normal manner or fit into society in an average way. 
  • E. Left Margin Widening as It Descends
  • rapid and spontaneous writing. If you’re writing quickly and spontaneously, you will leave wider and wider left margins as you descend (down) the page.
  • F. Left Margin Narrowing as It Descends
  • a tendency to start out brave, going towards the future, but eventually retreating to the past and what is familiar.
  • G. Narrow Margins on Left & Right Side
  • Some people write all the way to the side on both the left and right, leaving no side margin whatsoever. This trait indicates one who leaves no room for other people. Such a person doesn’t see things from other people’s point of view
  • He takes up all the space and doesn’t see himself properly in relation to his environment, leaving no room for the rights and opinions of others. 
  • H. Uneven Left Margin
  • . The left margin represents “the line of society.” Thus, each time we return to the left, it’s up to us whether we’re going to align the next word, or we’re going to get “out of line.” That small percentage who do not have a straight left margin are those people who cannot conform to society’s standards. These are also people who, quite expectedly, would not do well in a strict nine-to-five job
  • I. No Margins at All
  • With no margins, filling every inch of the paper, indicates someone who feels he must fill every waking moment of his life with an activity. It means compulsively busy, leaving no stone unturned. Very such people have miserly natures as well. This person also leaves no room for the rights or opinions of others
  • J. Wide Upper Margin
  • The lower you start, the more you tend to have formal, respectful feelings toward the person to whom you’re writing, such as a letters/papers to teachers, businesses…etc. You waste more paper to show respect, and you “lower” down on the paper. 
  • K. Narrow Upper Margin
  • a narrow upper margin means you are feeling more familiar than formal toward the person to whom you are writing. By starting high on the paper, you don’t “bow down” or “lower yourself” to show respect.
  • L. Narrow Lower Margin
  • writing until there was no room left - until the writing is crushed. This means someone who delays the inevitable. Such a person is so eager to express himself that he feels it would take too much time to turn the paper over or get another sheet. 
  • M. Crushed Right Margin
  • dangerous impulsiveness. People like this bash their heads into the wall and do it again and again - (They don’t learn from their mistakes.) They don’t have the sense to say it to themselves, “Hey, wait a minute. You know, the paper ends, and I have to accommodate.” They don’t say it because they don’t care or think about it
  • izz aty on 28 Mar 13
     
    A blank piece of paper represents life itself, and what you do on that blank paper represents how you interact with other people and with life around you. 
izz aty

JED - Japanese Dictionary - Android Apps on Google Play - 0 views

play.google.com/...details

japanese offline tools kanji language language learning dictionary vocabulary android apps android apps resources reference learning

shared by izz aty on 31 May 12 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 31 May 12
     
    ED is an offline Japanese Dictionary. FAQ: - The new design, the new icon, the fix for the tags bug, the improved search results, the edict data update, the fix for FC on ICS, the removal of permissions and the hand writing recognition based kanji search mentioned in the posts were all due for the next release, but the development is currently on hold. - The server that hosts the dictionaries also hosts projects of higher priority, so I might take off them from time to time. Please retry and be patient. - Some users reported the their data got corrupted, please try to delete the jed folder on your sd card and reinstall the app from scratch. - This application works offline once the dictionary files are downloaded, BUT does send analytics data (Google Analytics) if wifi is available! - User data ( especially tags!!! ) gets deleted when updated! - Only use the current version; data files of older versions gets deleted! - Feel free to contact me or comment if something does no work, but please provide as much information as you can (device, version number, etc). Current features: - Works offline - Search and view results as you type! - Multiple dictionaries ( English-Japanese, French-Japanese, Spanish-Japanese ) - Search in readings (romaji), meanings (english) and japanese (kanji, hiragana and katakana) - Search results can contain words, expressions, kanji (both onyomi and kunyomi) and inflected form for adjectives and verbs. - Filters results based on content type (meaning, reading, character type, parts of speech, common words, common kanji) - Radicals lookup - tags (vocabulary list) with possibility to search and export to Google Docs and Anki. - Animated Stroke Order Diagrams for kanji - Copy-Paste for most of the field and a notepad to gather information - Move to SD card (above 2.2) Acknowledgements: - Electronic Dictionaries Research Groups - KanjiVG - Tatoeba - KanjiCafe
izz aty

They Already Read It, But Did They Get It? 10 Ways to Check Reading Comprehension - 0 views

busyteacher.org/eck-reading-comprehension.html

comprehension reading understanding english esol esl language learning educatio teaching learning assessment

shared by izz aty on 22 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • sequencing activity. Write the major points of the story on note cards, put those cards into a grab bag, and shake it up. Each member of a small group should then pull one of the cards from the bag and place in its correct place in a sequence. Once group members have put all the cards in their correct place in the timeline, ask the rest of the class to check if the sequencing is correct. If it is, the group should then retell the story using the cards.
  • give each person a blank comic page in which to retell the story. (You can find dozens of empty templates online.) Your students should then retell the major events in the story by filling in the empty blocks with pictures and dialogue (when appropriate
  • When your students find a character they love in something you have read, ask them to write about the further adventures of that character. This will not only help them understand what they read, it will give them practice using vocabulary specific to that character found in the piece your class read. You can compile all these short fan fiction pieces into a book for the rest of the class to read at their leisure during independent reading time.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • create your own big book for a story you have just read. Prepare 5-8 pieces of poster board for the book and write a description at the bottom of each page retelling each piece of the story. Working in groups, have your students illustrate what is described at the bottom of the page. Once all the pictures are complete, let your students decide what order they should appear in the book. Then secure the pages, read the book back to your class and make it available to your students during independent reading time
  • share his or her favorite moment from the reading selection, and have him write it on a notecard or write it on one yourself. Ask another student and then another to do the same. When you have about a dozen cards completed, ask your students to organize them in any way that is logical. There may be several organizations which are possible
  • create a map of the setting for the story or book. They can either draw the setting or create a three dimensional model of it using cardboard cutouts. Have your students include any characters in the map as well.
  • two notecards and have him write true on one and false on the other. Then, read aloud a statement about the selection your class read. Make sure some of your statements are true and others are false. Each person should hold up his vote and his card after you read each statement. Have students check each other to make sure all agree. For the false statements, ask your students what they would need to do to make them true.
  • act out in class with this post reading activity. Ask individuals or groups of students to pose as the characters in the story in a particular scene. Then, take a photo of your students. After printing the pictures out, bring them to class the next day and ask your students to explain what it happening in the book at the moment they are acting out!
  • ask pairs of students to write a description of each of the characters in detail. Then, have the pair decide which of their classmates is most like the characters in the story. If you like, you may want to have the students then reenact parts of the story.
  • izz aty on 22 Jul 12
     
    The process of reading, being able to connect semantic input with the letters on the page, does not mean much if language learners cannot understand what they have read. The following exercises, modified from Sherrill Flora's Everyone Reads! will give you and your students some fun ways to make sure the meaning came through the words on the page.
izz aty

Common Suffixes in English - Vocabulary Building - List of English Suffixes - 0 views

grammar.about.com/...comsuffixes.htm

suffix affix words root words vocabulary english latin language language learning history education knowledge

shared by izz aty on 21 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 21 Feb 12
     
    A suffix is a letter or a group of letters attached to the end of a word to form a new word or to alter the grammatical function of the original word. For example, the verb read can be made into the noun reader by adding the suffix -er; read can be made into the adjective readable by adding the suffix -able. Understanding the meanings of the common suffixes can help us deduce the meanings of new words that we encounter. The table below defines and illustrates 26 common suffixes.
izz aty

Open Mike - Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy, by Rowland | "catch a fire" - 0 views

jonnystar.wordpress.com/...nd-social-democracy-by-rowland

politics political science philosophy society culture socialism democracy

shared by izz aty on 12 May 14 - No Cached
  • they represent very different methods for approaching the issue of socialism
  • Democratic Socialism
  • Peter Hain, for example, classes democratic socialism, along with libertarian socialism, as a form of anti-authoritarian “socialism from below”
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • social democrats aim to reform capitalism democratically through state regulation and the creation of state sponsored programs and organizations which work to ameliorate or remove perceived injustices inflicted by the capitalist market system
  • it is the active participation of the population as a whole, and workers in particular, in the management of economy that characterises democratic socialism
  • nationalisation and economic planning (whether controlled by an elected government or not) are characteristic of state socialism
  • democratic socialists tend to support revolutionary means and methods as opposed to reformist/evolutionary ones
  • Social Democracy
  • emerged in the late 19th century out of the socialist movement
  • Modern social democracy is unlike socialism
  • Evolutionary democratic socialists accuse supporters of revolution of being impractical.
  • social democracy as moving left from capitalism
  • For him, this democratic/authoritarian divide is more important than the revolutionary/reformist divide
  • a mainstream leftist party in a state with a market economy and a mostly middle class voting base might be described as a social democratic party
  • a party with a more radical agenda and an intellectual or working class voting base that has a history of involvement with further left movements might be described as a democratic socialist party
  • Now the term social democracy refers to an ideology that is more centrist and supports a broadly capitalist system, with some social reforms (such as the welfare state), intended to make it more equitable and humane
  • Democratic socialism implies an ideology that is more left wing and supportive of a fully socialist system[1], established either by gradually reforming capitalism from within, or by some form of revolutionary transformation.
  • Revolutionary democratic socialists accuse those who favor evolution of supporting socialism from above, which does not abolish the capitalist system
  • Revolutionary democratic socialists believe that the political structures within existing capitalist societies serve as an impediment to full democracy, which they believe can only be achieved by establishing a new political structure built from the bottom up
  • democratic socialism as moving right from Marxism
  • Evolutionary (reformist) democratic socialists and social democrats both typically advocate at least a welfare state
  • some social democrats, being influenced by the Third Way, would be willing to consider other means of delivering a social safety net for the poorest in society.
  • Revolutionary democratic socialists support a welfare state not as a means of achieving socialism, but as a temporary method of relief, and as a means of mobilizing the populace towards revolutionary ideals.
  • Democratic socialists usually support re-distribution of wealth and power, social ownership of major industries, and a planned economy
izz aty

ENGLISH PAGE - Types of Verbs - 0 views

www.englishpage.com/...types.html

grammar verbs parts of speech english language learning reference language learning

shared by izz aty on 06 Sep 11 - Cached
  • Group I Normal Verbs Most verbs are "Normal Verbs." These verbs are usually physical actions which you can see somebody doing. These verbs can be used in all tenses. Normal Verbs to run, to walk, to eat, to fly, to go, to say, to touch, etc.
  • Group II Non-Continuous Verbs The second group, called "Non-Continuous Verbs," is smaller. These verbs are usually things you cannot see somebody doing. These verbs are rarely used in continuous tenses. They include: Abstract Verbs to be, to want, to cost, to seem, to need, to care, to contain, to owe, to exist... Possession Verbs to possess, to own, to belong... Emotion Verbs to like, to love, to hate, to dislike, to fear, to envy, to mind...
  • Group III Mixed Verbs The third group, called "Mixed Verbs," is the smallest group. These verbs have more than one meaning. In a way, each meaning is a unique verb. Some meanings behave like "Non-Continuous Verbs," while other meanings behave like "Normal Verbs." Mixed Verbs to appear, to feel, to have, to hear, to look, to see, to weigh
izz aty

Clines in language teaching | Recipes for the EFL classroom - 0 views

eflrecipes.wordpress.com/...clines

efl esol tesol english language learning language vocab

shared by izz aty on 26 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 26 Mar 14
     
    "Clines can be very effective in conveying and clarifying language, giving a very visual representation of meaning. They highlight shades of meaning, they are efficient and can cut down on teacher talking time. They also provide students with a good record of language to take home."
izz aty

expressions of greeting -- meaning - WordReference Forums - 0 views

forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php

greetings phrases language reference english esl

shared by izz aty on 24 May 12 - No Cached
  • Greeting - How are you doing? [in email?] Greeting - How are you keeping? Greeting - How are you? Greeting - How are you? - How are you doing? Greeting - How are you? good or fine? Greeting - How are you? I'm good Greeting - How do you do? Greeting - How have you been? Greeting - How is going ? Greeting - How is it going? Greeting - How is it going? Greeting - How you going? [regional?] Greeting - Hows you? Greeting - What's going on? Greeting - What's new with you? Greeting - Yo
  • izz aty on 24 May 12
     
    I don't believe there is an "accurate" meaning for many greetings, but you can start by looking at previous threads.
izz aty

Independent school (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...endent_school_(United_Kingdom)

independent school english education england united kingdom private school state school schooling ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 12 May 14 - No Cached
  • History
  • Edward Thring of Uppingham School introduced major reforms, focusing on the importance of the individual and competition, as well as the need for a "total curriculum" with academia, music, sport and drama being central to education
  • The Independent Schools Council say that UK independent schools receive approximately £100m tax relief due to charitable status whilst returning £300m of fee assistance in public benefit and relieving the maintained sector (state schools) of £2bn of costs
  • ...70 more annotations...
  • They were schools for the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Often successful businessmen would send their sons to a public school as a mark of participation in the elite
  • the public school system influenced the school systems of the British Empire, and recognisably "public" schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries
  • The Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations 1975 required these schools to choose between full state funding as comprehensive schools and full independence
  • Until 1975 there had been a group of 179 academically selective schools drawing on both private and state funding, the direct grant grammar schools
  • Both these trends were reversed during the 1980s, and the share of the independent schools reached 7.5 percent by 1991
  • 119 of these schools became independent.
  • share of the independent sector fell from a little under 8 percent in 1964 to reach a low of 5.7 percent in 1978
  • changes since 1990 have been less dramatic, participation falling to 6.9 percent by 1996 before increasing very slightly after 2000 to reach 7.2 percent, as seen at present.
  • England
  • As of 2011[update] there were more than 2,600 independent schools in the UK educating some 628,000 children, comprising over 6.5 percent of UK children, and more than 18 percent of pupils over the age of 16
  • According to a study by Ryan & Sibetia,[7] "the proportion of pupils attending independent schools in England is currently 7.2 percent (considering full-time pupils only)".
  • Most independent schools, particularly the larger and older institutions, have charitable status
  • Most public schools developed significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite
  • Independent schools, like state grammar schools, are free to select their pupils, subject to general legislation against discrimination
  • Selection
  • principal forms of selection are financial, in that the pupil's family must be able to pay the school fees, and academic, with many administering their own entrance exams - some also require that the prospective student undergo an interview, and credit may also be given for musical, sporting or other talent
  • Nowadays most schools pay little regard to family connections, apart from siblings currently at the school.
  • Only a small minority of parents can afford school fees averaging over £23,000 per annum for boarding pupils and £11,000 for day pupils, with additional costs for uniform, equipment and extra-curricular facilities.[2][12]
  • Scholarships and means-tested bursaries to assist the education of the less well-off are usually awarded by a process which combines academic and other criteria.[13][14]
  • generally academically selective, using the competitive Common Entrance Examination at ages 11–13
  • Schools often offer scholarships to attract abler pupils (which improves their average results)
  • Poorly-performing pupils may be required to leave,
  • Conditions
  • generally characterised by more individual teaching
  • much better pupil-teacher ratios at around 9:1;[16]
  • more time for organised sports and extra-curricular activities
  • longer teaching hours (sometimes including Saturday morning teaching) and homework, though shorter terms
  • a broader education than that prescribed by the national curriculum, to which state school education is in practice limited.
  • Educational achievement is generally very good
  • As boarding schools are fully responsible for their pupils throughout term-time, pastoral care is an essential part of independent education, and many independent schools teach their own distinctive ethos, including social aspirations, manners and accents, associated with their own school traditions
  • Most offer sporting, musical, dramatic and art facilities, sometimes at extra charges, although often with the benefit of generations of past investment
  • more emphasis on traditional academic subjects
  • Independent school pupils are four times more likely to attain an A* at GCSE than their non-selective state sector counterparts and twice as likely to attain an A grade at A-level
  • Some schools specialise in particular strengths, whether academic, vocational or artistic, although this is not as common as it is in the State sector.
  • A much higher proportion go to university
  • set their own discipline regime
  • In England and Wales there are no requirements for teaching staff to have Qualified Teacher Status or to be registered with the General Teaching Council
  • impact of independent schools on the British economy
  • 2014 a report from Oxford Economics highlighted the impact that independent schools have on the British economy
  • independent schools support an £11.7 billion contribution to gross value added (GVA) in Britain. This represents the share of GDP that is supported by independent schools
  • Independent schools support 275,700 jobs across Britain, around 1.0% of all in employment in Britain
  • the report quantified the savings to the taxpayer derived from c.620,000 British pupils at independent schools choosing not to take up the place at a state school to which they are entitled. This results in an annual saving to the taxpayer of £3.9 billion, the equivalent of building more than 590 new free schools each year
  • the report highlighted the additional value to Britain’s GDP that results from the higher educational performance achieved by pupils at independent schools
  • many of the best-known public schools are extremely expensive, and many have entry criteria geared towards those who have been at private "feeder" preparatory-schools or privately tutored
  • the achievement of pupils at independent schools in Britain results in an estimated additional annual contribution to GDP of £1.3 billion.
  • Criticisms
  • often criticised for being elitist
  • often seen as outside the spirit of the state system
  • the treatment of the state sector as homogeneous in nature is difficult to support
  • Although grammar schools are rare, some of them are highly selective and state funded boarding schools require substantial fees
  • Even traditional comprehensive schools may be effectively selective because only wealthier families can afford to live in their catchment area
  • may be argued that the gap in performance between state schools is much larger than that between the better state and grammar schools and the independent sector
  • Smithers and Robinson's 2010 Sutton Trust commissioned study of social variation in comprehensive schools (excluding grammar schools) notes that "The 2,679 state comprehensive schools in England are highly socially segregated: the least deprived comprehensive in the country has 1 in 25 (4.2 percent) of pupils with parents on income benefits compared with over 16 times as many (68.6 percent) in the most deprived comprehensive"
  • Every 2.3 pupils at an independent school supports one person in employment in Britain
  • large number (c. one third[citation needed]) of independent schools provide assistance with fees
  • The Thatcher government introduced the Assisted Places Scheme in England and Wales in 1980, whereby the state paid the school fees for those pupils capable of gaining a place but unable to afford the fees
    • izz aty
      izz aty on 12 May 14
       
      1980 Assisted Places Scheme: financial aid
  • The scheme was terminated by the Labour government in 1997, and since then the private sector has moved to increase its own means-tested bursaries.
  • Some parents complain that their rights and their children’s are compromised by vague and one-sided contracts which allow Heads to use discretionary powers unfairly, such as in expulsion on non-disciplinary matters. They believe independent schools have not embraced the principles of natural justice as adopted by the state sector, and private law as applied to Higher Education
  • Nowadays, independent school pupils have "the highest rates of achieving grades A or B in A-level maths and sciences" compared to grammar, specialist and mainstream state school
  • pupils at independent schools account for a disproportionate number of the total number of A-levels in maths and sciences.
  • In 2006, pupils at fee-paying schools made up 43 percent of those selected for places at Oxford University and 38 percent of those granted places at Cambridge University (although such pupils represent only 18 percent of the 16 years old plus school population)
  • A major area of debate in recent years has centred around the continuing charitable status of independent schools, which allows them not to charge VAT on school fees. Following the enactment of the Charities Bill, which was passed by the House of Lords in November 2006, charitable status is based on an organisation providing a "public benefit" as judged by the Charity Commission.[23]
  • "ceteris paribus, academic performance at university is better the more advantaged is the student's home background".
  • In 2002, Jeremy Smith and Robin Naylor
  • they also observed that a student educated at an independent school was on average 6 percent less likely to receive a first or an upper second class degree than a student from the same social class background, of the same gender, who had achieved the same A-level score at a state school
  • The same study found wide variations between independent school, suggesting that students from a few of them were in fact significantly more likely to obtain the better degrees than state students of the same gender and class background having the same A-level score
  • Richard Partington at Cambridge University[29] showed that A-level performance is "overwhelmingly" the best predictor for exam performance in the earlier years ("Part I") of the undergraduate degree at Cambridge
  • A study commissioned by the Sutton Trust[30] and published in 2010 focussed mainly on the possible use of U.S.-style SAT tests as a way of detecting a candidate's academic potential. Its findings confirmed those of the Smith & Naylor study in that it found that privately educated pupils who, despite their educational advantages, have only secured a poor A-level score, and who therefore attend less selective universities, do less well than state educated degree candidates with the same low A-level attainment
  • Independent sector schools regularly dominate the top of the A-level league tables, and their students are more likely to apply to the most selective universities; as a result independent sector students are particularly well represented at these institutions, and therefore only the very ablest of them are likely to secure the best degrees.
  • In 2013 the Higher Education Funding Council for England published a study [31] noting, amongst other things, that a greater percentage of students who had attended an independent school prior to university achieved a first or upper second class degree compared with students from state schools
izz aty

Daniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs. memory | Talk Video | TED.com - 0 views

www.ted.com/...transcript

memory brain pain health suffering tedtalk experience remember psychology social science

shared by izz aty on 07 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • cognitive traps. This applies to laypeople thinking about their own happiness, and it applies to scholars thinking about happiness, because it turns out we're just as messed up as anybody else is
  • cognitive traps. This applies to laypeople thinking about their own happiness, and it applies to scholars thinking about happiness, because it turns out we're just as messed up as anybody else is.
  • There is an experiencing self, who lives in the present and knows the present, is capable of re-living the past, but basically it has only the present.
  • ...33 more annotations...
  • The second trap is a confusion between experience and memory; basically, it's between being happy in your life, and being happy about your life or happy with your life. And those are two very different concepts, and they're both lumped in the notion of happiness.
  • he third is the focusing illusion, and it's the unfortunate fact that we can't think about any circumstance that affects well-being without distorting its importance. I mean, this is a real cognitive trap. There's just no way of getting it right.
  • They counted for nothing because he was left with a memory; the memory was ruined, and the memory was all that he had gotten to keep.
  • What this is telling us, really, is that we might be thinking of ourselves and of other people in terms of two selves.
  • The first of these traps is a reluctance to admit complexity. It turns out that the word "happiness" is just not a useful word anymore, because we apply it to too many different things
  • then there is a remembering self, and the remembering self is the one that keeps score, and maintains the story of our life, and it's the one that the doctor approaches in asking the question, "How have you been feeling lately?" or "How was your trip to Albania?" or something like that.
  • What defines a story? And that is true of the stories that memory delivers for us, and it's also true of the stories that we make up. What defines a story are changes, significant moments and endings. Endings are very, very important and, in this case, the ending dominated.
  • the remembering self is a storyteller.
  • "How much did these patients think they suffered?" And here is a surprise. The surprise is that Patient A had a much worse memory of the colonoscopy than Patient B.
  • The stories of the colonoscopies were different, and because a very critical part of the story is how it ends. And neither of these stories is very inspiring or great -- but one of them is this distinct ... (Laughter) but one of them is distinctly worse than the other.
  • And the one that is worse is the one where pain was at its peak at the very end; it's a bad story. How do we know that? Because we asked these people after their colonoscopy, and much later, too, "How bad was the whole thing, in total?" And it was much worse for A than for B, in memory.
  • Those are two very different entities, the experiencing self and the remembering self, and getting confused between them is part of the mess about the notion of happiness.
  • From the point of view of the experiencing self, if you have a vacation, and the second week is just as good as the first, then the two-week vacation is twice as good as the one-week vacation. That's not the way it works at all for the remembering self. For the remembering self, a two-week vacation is barely better than the one-week vacation because there are no new memories added. You have not changed the story. And in this way, time is actually the critical variable that distinguishes a remembering self from an experiencing self; time has very little impact on the story.
  • We actually don't choose between experiences, we choose between memories of experiences.
  • when we think about the future, we don't think of our future normally as experiences. We think of our future as anticipated memories.
  • basically you can look at this, you know, as a tyranny of the remembering self, and you can think of the remembering self sort of dragging the experiencing self through experiences that the experiencing self doesn't need.
  • we go on vacations, to a very large extent, in the service of our remembering self
  • Why do we put so much weight on memory relative to the weight that we put on experiences?
  • there is a conflict between your two selves, and you need to think about how to adjudicate that conflict, and it's actually not at all obvious, because if you think in terms of time, then you get one answer, and if you think in terms of memories, you might get another answer. Why do we pick the vacations we do is a problem that confronts us with a choice between the two selves.
  • The distinction between the happiness of the experiencing self and the satisfaction of the remembering self has been recognized in recent years, and there are now efforts to measure the two separately.
  • now we are capable of getting a pretty good idea of the happiness of the experiencing self over time. If you ask for the happiness of the remembering self, it's a completely different thing. This is not about how happily a person lives. It is about how satisfied or pleased the person is when that person thinks about her life. Very different notion. Anyone who doesn't distinguish those notions is going to mess up the study of happiness, and I belong to a crowd of students of well-being, who've been messing up the study of happiness for a long time in precisely this way.
  • You can know how satisfied somebody is with their life, and that really doesn't teach you much about how happily they're living their life, and vice versa.
  • What that means is if you met somebody, and you were told, "Oh his father is six feet tall," how much would you know about his height? Well, you would know something about his height, but there's a lot of uncertainty. You have that much uncertainty. If I tell you that somebody ranked their life eight on a scale of ten, you have a lot of uncertainty about how happy they are with their experiencing self. So the correlation is low.
  • if you want to maximize the happiness of the two selves, you are going to end up doing very different things.
  • it turns out that climate is not very important to the experiencing self and it's not even very important to the reflective self that decides how happy people are
  • their experiencing self is not going to get happier. We know that. But one thing will happen: They will think they are happier, because, when they think about it, they'll be reminded of how horrible the weather was in Ohio, and they will feel they made the right decision.
  • When we looked at how feelings, vary with income. And it turns out that, below an income of 60,000 dollars a year, for Americans
  • 60,000 dollars a year, people are unhappy, and they get progressively unhappier the poorer they get. Above that, we get an absolutely flat line. I mean I've rarely seen lines so flat
  • money does not buy you experiential happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery, and we can measure that misery very, very clearly.
  • n terms of the other self, the remembering self, you get a different story. The more money you earn, the more satisfied you are. That does not hold for emotions.
  • people are going to debate whether they want to study experience happiness, or whether they want to study life evaluation, so we need to have that debate fairly soon.
  • How to enhance happiness goes very different ways depending on how you think, and whether you think of the remembering self or you think of the experiencing self.
  • CA: Well, it seems to me that this issue will -- or at least should be -- the most interesting policy discussion to track over the next few years. Thank you so much for inventing behavioral economics.
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