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izz aty

The Communication Blog: Politeness in the Classroom - 0 views

tcbdevito.blogspot.com/...politeness-in-classroom.html

politeness society culture people classroom education learning social phenomenon

shared by izz aty on 25 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 25 Mar 13
     
    "Politeness in the classroom is one of the topics that seem almost too obvious to mention; of course, people will be polite in a classroom, just as they're polite in a place of worship or at a job interview. But, the classroom is a bit different; it has its own rules of politeness. And, to complicate matters just a bit, these rules are modified in various ways by different institutions and by different instructors."
izz aty

Raising a Polite Child | Parenting With Love - 0 views

www.parenting-with-love.com/raising-a-polite-child

parenting parenthood family children education behaviorism learning society lifestyle

shared by izz aty on 15 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • I’m not trying to ‘train’ him to have good manners, but if I want something from him, I always say ‘please’, and when he gives me something, I always say ‘thank you’. When he is older, he will automatically do those things too.”
  • Do as I say or do as I do?
  • trying to ‘train’ children to be polite can be counter-productive, especially if we begin when they are too young to do it naturally
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  • if we treat children with politeness and respect, and if they see us treating each other the same way, they will imitate us as they grow. They watch everything we say and do, and are learning, “Oh, so that’s how people are supposed to do it”!
  • “Said without feeling, these can be empty words. How often do we say thank you to the person at the supermarket checkout, without even thinking. It has simply become a habit. Rather we should teach children how to show genuine appreciation to people who give or share something with them. We can help them do this in age-appropriate ways right from the beginning, especially if we understand that young children show their feelings in non-verbal ways”.
  • each child shows their appreciation spontaneously in their own unique way
  • Positive non-verbal behaviours young children use to show appreciation: A smile A nod Direct eye contact Playfulness A physical touch they initiate Excited behaviour A shout of joy Skipping or jumping up and down
  • we should allow children to communicate their appreciation spontaneously. As they grow older and watch how we show appreciation to them and to other people, including words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, doing the same will come naturally
  • Though prompting children to be polite can be counter-productive, we can facilitate them showing appreciation by involving them when we are being polite or friendly to someone. “Lets go and wave goodbye to Granny”, doesn’t put the child on the spot like, “Say goodbye to Granny now”.
  • If we make it fun, the child will probably enjoy participating.
  • Rather than formal words like “Thank you, we had a lovely time”, he encouraged each child to share something they had done with the aunt or uncle at the beach-house, and draw a picture of it to show appreciation of something that was shared and enjoyed.
  • parents who prompt their children to say things they consider polite, are really feeling anxious. They see their children as an extension of themselves and want their children to act as they would, in case another other adult assumes they are not raising them with good manners. Thinking fast, I looked at the dad, smiled at him, and said, “Don’t worry. Big people find it easy to speak to little people, but little people find it hard to speak to big people”. He looked visibly relieved that I didn’t see him as a bad father.
  • Teaching children good manners begins with us showing them respect.
  • izz aty on 15 Dec 13
     
    "Every parent wants to have polite, respectful children with good manners. Fortunately nature is on our side. Children learn by copying what we do and love to do everything 'just like mommy and daddy do', as it makes them feel they are being 'big'."
izz aty

Rafeef Ziadeh - We Teach Life, Sir! - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

causes palestine israel children people media tv mass media poetry poem literature life teach education language english rafeef ziadeh patience bombs weapon

shared by izz aty on 11 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 11 Mar 12
     
    Today, my body was a TV'd massacre. Today, my body was a TV'd massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits. Today, my body was a TV'd massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits filled enough with statistics to counter measured response. And I perfected my English and I learned my UN resolutions. But still, he asked me, Ms. Ziadah, don't you think that everything would be resolved if you would just stop teaching so much hatred to your children? Pause. I look inside of me for strength to be patient but patience is not at the tip of my tongue as the bombs drop over Gaza. Patience has just escaped me. Pause. Smile. We teach life, sir. Rafeef, remember to smile. Pause. We teach life, sir. We Palestinians teach life after they have occupied the last sky. We teach life after they have built their settlements and apartheid walls, after the last skies. We teach life, sir. But today, my body was a TV'd massacre made to fit into sound-bites and word limits. And just give us a story, a human story. You see, this is not political. We just want to tell people about you and your people so give us a human story. Don't mention that word "apartheid" and "occupation". This is not political. You have to help me as a journalist to help you tell your story which is not a political story. Today, my body was a TV'd massacre. How about you give us a story of a woman in Gaza who needs medication? How about you? Do you have enough bone-broken limbs to cover the sun? Hand me over your dead and give me the list of their names in one thousand two hundred word limits. Today, my body was a TV'd massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits and move those that are desensitized to terrorist blood. But they felt sorry. They felt sorry for the cattle over Gaza. So, I give them UN resolutions and statistics and we condemn and we deplore and we reject. And these are not two equal sides: occupier and occupied. And a hundred dead, two hundred dead, and a thousand de
izz aty

Tory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/Tory

politics politicians toryism political science history england united kingdom britain conservative

shared by izz aty on 12 May 14 - Cached
  • The Tory ethos has been summed up with the phrase 'God, King and Country.'
  • Tories generally advocate monarchism, are usually of a High Church Anglican religious heritage,[2][3] and are opposed to the radical liberalism of the Whig faction
  • Due to these Tories leading the formation of the Conservative Party, members of the party are colloquially referred to as Tories, even if they are not traditionalists
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The term was thus originally a term of abuse, "an Irish rebel", before being adopted as a political label in the same way as Whig.
  • Towards the end of Charles II's reign (1660–85) there was some debate about whether or not his brother, James, Duke of York, should be allowed to succeed to the throne. 'Whigs' was the abusive term directed at those who wanted to exclude James on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic. Those who were not prepared to exclude James were labelled 'Abhorrers' and later 'Tories'.
  • The suffix -ism was quickly added to both 'Whig' and 'Tory' to make Whiggism and Toryism, meaning the principles and methods of each faction.
  • Historically, the term Tory has been applied in various ways to loyalists of the British monarchy
  • characterized by strong monarchist tendencies, support for the Church of England, and hostility to reform
  • Since 1832, the term "Tory" is commonly used to refer to the Conservative Party and its members.
izz aty

Language and power - 0 views

www.teachit.co.uk/...power.htm

language power english education language learning authority teaching learning reference

shared by izz aty on 11 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Introduction What do the examiners say? What is it all about? Persuasive techniques in language Influential power - advertising Advertising and special lexis Grammar and advertising Semantics and advertising Pragmatics and advertising Discourse structures in advertising Finding more Influential power - politics Political rhetoric Parliamentary language Special lexis in politics The sound bite Influential power - media Lexis and semantics in the media Pragmatics in the media Grammar in the media Structures in media texts Influential power - culture Instrumental power - law The lexicon of law The structures of legal language Advocacy Instrumental power - education Classroom management Instrumental power - business Special lexis in business Buzzwords Forms of address in business Business discourse structures Corporate language Specimen exam questions Example texts with interpretation Printing and copying this guide Maximize
  • izz aty on 11 Mar 12
     
    This guide is written for students who are following GCE Advanced level (AS and A2) syllabuses in English Language. This resource may also be of general interest to language students on university degree courses, trainee teachers and anyone with a general interest in language science. On this page I use red type for emphasis. Brown type is used where italics would appear in print (in this screen font, italic looks like this, and is unkind on most readers). 
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”
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  • 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

How to Write about Autism (or any other group, for that matter) | The Autism Anthropolo... - 0 views

theautismanthropologist.wordpress.com/...ny-other-group-for-that-matter

autism ASD definition writing

shared by izz aty on 13 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • how (not) to write about autism (or any other group, for that matter)
  • Quite often, the mechanisms of degradation to do with ‘help’ are infinitely more subtle. This doesn’t excuse us from our obligation to be mindful of them.  The goal should be to balance, as much as possible, the unequal power relations between those in a position of privilege and those in a position of need. How is that done? By acknowledging that those who are disadvantaged, disenabled or marginalized have their own idea of who they are, what led to the position they’re in, and most importantly – what should be done about it.
  • quite often, ‘help’ is merely used as a means of earning influence or respect, or just as a way to make money. I’m not saying that profiting from helping others is necessarily immoral, mind you. I am saying that it’s not necessarily unselfish. The details – e.g. who’s helping whom and in what way – matter.
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  • There are many political and social implications to ‘help’ that we should constantly be mindful of as well. When someone in a position of power – political, financial, social, whatever – decides to help someone disadvantaged, the inequality between them, the same inequality that led to their respective positions in the first place, is both strengthened and made painfully visible.
  • when offering our help, even to those who seem to greatly need it, we need to be conscious of how we use the power that we just won over them.
  • Every group of people has differences of opinion among its members. These might be subtle differences, or they may be huge and insurmountable. It’s easy to mistakenly think that if you heard one perspective, or indeed ten perspectives, then you know the whole story, but that is never the case
  • Forcing one’s own idea of what another person or group of people need is not help. It is arrogance and audacity
  • Autism Speaks is actually a terrible source for information about autism, for various reasons, but in order to know that, one still has to do some amount of research. He would only then learn that quoting it as “the leading organization advocating for people on the autism spectrum” is so grossly inadequate as to invalidate all his further claims almost instantly
  • Never assume the group you’re writing about is homogenous
  • You want to help people? Help them on their own terms
  • If you’re going to write about a large population, you must assume that such differences exist, and – this is crucial – you must actively seek out these differences. Don’t stop researching until you find a controversy, and then try and determine how deep rooted and widespread it is.
  • His attack is based on the premise that his critics represent a small few, an insignificant minority; that they were driven to criticise him under a false pretence (namely that his article was poorly sourced; an accusation that was a) absolutely true, and b) not even the main issue); and therefore can be – if not completely ignored – swiftly brushed aside. Let us look beyond his arrogance and unshakable self-conviction. Here’s the important thing: You don’t get to choose who represents the group you’re writing about. You’ve come across members of the group who feel you’re completely wrong in everything you say about them? They’re probably right. If you couldn’t anticipate their angered reaction, you’re obviously just not sufficiently familiar with the field to write about it.
  • “enough with this political correctness already! I should be allowed to call people what I want”. No you shouldn’t. And if you don’t understand why, you haven’t done your research, and you shouldn’t be writing about this group of people in the first place.
  • When a person with Asperger’s identifies as an Aspie, he or she is making a conscious choice – a political choice – to adopt the label of Asperger’s in a very particular way.  To raise certain connotations. To emphasize some aspects of their neurology; indeed of their being. It’s not up to us NTs to impose this label on everyone with an AS diagnosis. This is a discourse from which we are more or less excluded, and for good reasons. Similar (though different) examples exist in more or less every other minority group.
  • Do not take liberties in defining the people you write about
  • it’s been my experience that by far more people are offended by “person with autism”, than by “autistic person”. This is because the former implies that autism is something external to the person, while the latter implies that autism is an important part of who that person is. There is no consensus in this matter; but I’ve been given the impression that while some find “autistic” distasteful, few are offended by it. However, a great many people find “person with autism” extremely offensive, and I’ve been repeatedly told this was, in most cases, preferable. See, for example here and here
  • Do not mention prevention or cure for autism as desirable technologies
  • regardless of whether autism is seen as a disability or not, it is nearly always experienced by autistic people as an inseparable part of their very being, of who they are. To say autism should be prevented, is telling them you wish they had never been born. To hope for an autism cure, is telling them you would have chosen to have them killed and replaced by someone else entirely – if only you had the technology to do so. It is categorically hurtful, insulting, immoral and cruel. So… Just don’t do it.
izz aty

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

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

finnish special ed inclusive issues dissertationZ

shared by izz aty on 30 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • 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).
  • ...70 more annotations...
  • 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

Private Schools in Denmark - Ministry of Education - 0 views

eng.uvm.dk/...Private-Schools-in-Denmark

danish education private school denmark independent school free school ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 11 May 14 - No Cached
  • Denmark has a tradition of private schools with a substantial government subsidy.
  • tradition mainly originates in the ideas and initiatives of the clergyman, poet and politician, N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872), and the teacher, Christen Kold (1816-1870)
  • Private schools in Denmark
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • the first "free school" (private independent school) for children in 1852
  • meant to serve the rural population.
  • ideas of Grundtvig and Kold had such an impact on the political thinking of their time that they were written into the democratic Constitution adopted by Denmark in 1915
  • In Denmark, all children must receive 9 years’ education, but - provided a certain minimum standard is obtained - it is a matter of choice for the parents whether the education is received 1) in the publicly provided municipal primary and lower secondary school, 2) in a private school, or 3) at home.
  • 13% of all children at basic school level (including the voluntary pre-school class and 10th form) attend private schools
  • In 2006, approx. 91,000 children attended 491 private schools, while 690,000 pupils attended the municipal school, of which there are approx. 600.
  • "a school for life based on the living word"
  • small independent schools in rural districts (friskoler)
  • large independent schools in urban districts (privatskoler)
  • religious or congregational schools,
  • progressive free schools
  • schools with a particular educational aim, such as the Rudolf Steiner schools
  • German minority schools
  • immigrant schools
    • izz aty
      izz aty on 11 May 14
       
      private schools will be recognized and receive government financing regardless of the ideological, religious, political or ethnic motivation behind their establishment. 
  • private schools will be recognized and receive government financing regardless of the ideological, religious, political or ethnic motivation behind their establishment
izz aty

Romanticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/Romanticism

romanticism philosophy europe european history history world history literature arts art poetry

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  • Romanticism (also the Romantic era or the Romantic period) was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850
  • Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution,[1] it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature
  • embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography,[3] education[4] and the natural sciences.[5]
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  • effect on politics was considerable and complex; while for much of the peak Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism, its long-term effect on the growth of nationalism was probably more significant
  • The movement validated intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horror and terror, and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities: both new aesthetic categories
  • r, and the distant in modes more authentic than Rococo chinoiserie, harnessing the power of the imagination to envision and to escape
  • made spontaneity a desirable characteristic
  • argued for a "natural" epistemology of human activities, as conditioned by nature in the form of language and customary usag
  • Romanticism embraced the exotic, the unfamiliar, and the distant in modes more authentic than Rococo chinoiserie, harnessing the power of the imagination to envision and to escape
  • elevated folk art and ancient custom to a noble status
  • the events of and ideologies that led to the French Revolution planted the seeds from which both Romanticism and the Counter-Enlightenment sprouted
  • in the second half of the 19th century, "Realism" was offered as a polarized opposite to Romanticism
  • Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of 'heroic' individualists and artists, whose pioneering examples, it maintained, would raise the quality of society
  • In order to truly express these feelings, the content of the art must come from the imagination of the artist, with as little interference as possible from "artificial" rules dictating what a work should consist of
  • The importance the Romantics placed on untrammelled feeling is summed up in the remark of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich that "the artist's feeling is his law"
  • vouched for the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art
  • the influence of models from other works would impede the creator's own imagination, so originality was absolutely essential
  • The concept of the genius, or artist who was able to produce his own original work through this process of "creation from nothingness", is key to Romanticism, and to be derivative was the worst sin
  • romantic originality.
  • a strong belief and interest in the importance of nature. However this is particularly in the effect of nature upon the artist when he is surrounded by it, preferably alone
  • In contrast to the usually very social art of the Enlightenment, Romantics were distrustful of the human world, and tended to believe that a close connection with nature was mentally and morally healthy
  • in literature, "much of romantic poetry invited the reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves"
  • by the middle of the 18th century "romantic" in English and romantique in French were both in common use as adjectives of praise for natural phenomena such as views and sunsets, in a sense close to modern English usage but without the implied sexual element
  • only from the 1820s that Romanticism certainly knew itself by its name, and in 1824 the Académie française took the wholly ineffective step of issuing a decree condemning it in literature
  • Romanticism is not easily defined, and the period typically called Romantic varies greatly between different countries and different artistic media or areas of thought
  • Margaret Drabble described it in literature as taking place "roughly between 1770 and 1848"
  • In other fields and other countries the period denominated as Romantic can be considerably different; musical Romanticism, for example, is generally regarded as only having ceased as a major artistic force as late as 1910, but in an extreme extension the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss are described stylistically as "Late Romantic" and were composed in 1946–48.[23] However in most fields the Romantic Period is said to be over by about 1850, or earlie
  • early period of the Romantic Era was a time of war, with the French Revolution (1789–1799) followed by the Napoleonic Wars until 1815. These wars, along with the political and social turmoil that went along with them, served as the background for Romanticism
  • t was part of the Counter-Enlightenment, a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment, is generally accepted
  • ts relationship to the French Revolution which began in 1789 in the very early stages of the period, is clearly important, but highly variable depending on geography and individual reactions
  • ost Romantics can be said to be broadly progressive in their views, but a considerable number always had, or developed, a wide range of conservative views
  • In philosophy and the history of ideas, Romanticism was seen by Isaiah Berlin as disrupting for over a century the classic Western traditions of rationality and the very idea of moral absolutes and agreed values, leading "to something like the melting away of the very notion of objective truth",[27] and hence not only to nationalism, but also fascism and totalitarianism
  • The painter, the poet, the composer do not hold up a mirror to nature, however ideal, but invent; they do not imitate (the doctrine of mimesis), but create not merely the means but the goals that they pursue; these goals represent the self-expression of the artist's own unique, inner vision, to set aside which in response to the demands of some "external" voice — church, state, public opinion, family friends, arbiters of taste — is an act of betrayal of what alone justifies their existence for those who are in any sense creative
  • An earlier definition comes from Charles Baudelaire: "Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in the way of feeling."
  • The end of the Romantic era is marked in some areas by a new style of Realism, which affected literature, especially the novel and drama, painting, and even music, through Verismo opera
  • movement was led by France, with Balzac and Flaubert in literature and Courbet in painting; Stendhal and Goya were important precursors of Realism in their respective media
  • In literature, Romanticism found recurrent themes in the evocation or criticism of the past, the cult of "sensibility" with its emphasis on women and children, the heroic isolation of the artist or narrator, and respect for a new, wilder, untrammeled and "pure" nature
  • Joseph maintained that invention and imagination were the chief qualities of a poet
  • 1774 novel The Sorrows of Young Werther had young men throughout Europe emulating its protagonist, a young artist with a very sensitive and passionate temperament
  • Germany was a multitude of small separate states, and Goethe's works would have a seminal influence in developing a unifying sense of nationalism
  • Important motifs in German Romanticism are travelling, nature, and Germanic myths
  • The later German Romanticism of, for example, E. T. A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann (The Sandman), 1817, and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff's Das Marmorbild (The Marble Statue), 1819, was darker in its motifs and has gothic elements
  • The significance to Romanticism of childhood innocence, the importance of imagination, and racial theories all combined to give an unprecedented importance to folk literature, non-classical mythology and children's literature, above all in Germany
  • The first collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm was published in 1812
  • Unlike the much later work of Hans Christian Andersen, who was publishing his invented tales in Danish from 1835, these German works were at least mainly based on collected folk tales, and the Grimms remained true to the style of the telling in their early editions, though later rewriting some parts
izz aty

Scottish referendum explained for non-Brits - video | Politics | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...-explained-for-non-brits-video

scotland united kingdom independence history politics

shared by izz aty on 19 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • An animated explanation of some fundamental questions prior to the referendum on Scottish independence on Thursday. Where is Scotland, what is Scotland and what does it mean to be Scottish? And what is the history of Scotland's relationship with England? But the real question is, will Scotland be better off as an independent country?
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Issues about Outcomes Based Education - 0 views

www.leaderu.com/...obe.html

OBE uniklguidelines education

shared by izz aty on 05 Jun 15 - Cached
  • Outcome-based education (OBE) is one of those that is new, even revolutionary, and is now being promoted as the panacea for America's educational woes. This reform has been driven by educators in response to demands for greater accountability by taxpayers and as a vehicle for breaking with traditional ideas about how we teach our children. If implemented, this approach to curriculum development could change our schools more than any other reform proposal in the last thirty years.
  • According to William Spady, a major advocate of this type of reform, three goals drive this new approach to creating school curricula. First, all students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day or in the same way. Second, each success by a student breeds more success. Third, schools control the conditions of success. In other words, students are seen as totally malleable creatures. If we create the right environment, any student can be prepared for any academic or vocational career. The key is to custom fit the schools to each student's learning style and abilities.
  • Outcome-based education will change the focus of schools from the content to the student
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  • The teacher's role in the classroom will become that of a coach. The instructor's goal is to move each child towards pre-determined outcomes rather than attempting to transmit the content of Western civilization to the next generation in a scholarly fashion
  • the focus is no longer on content. Feelings, attitudes, and skills such as learning to work together in groups will become just as important as learning information--some reformers would argue more important.
  • Where traditional curricula focused on the past, reformers argue that outcome-based methods prepare students for the future and for the constant change which is inevitable in our society.
  • Reformers advocating an outcome-based approach to curriculum development point to the logical simplicity of its technique. First, a list of desired outcomes in the form of student behaviors, skills, attitudes, and abilities is created. Second, learning experiences are designed that will allow teachers to coach the students to a mastery level in each outcome. Third, students are tested. Those who fail to achieve mastery receive remediation or retraining until mastery is achieved. Fourth, upon completion of learner outcomes a student graduates.
  • According to William Spady, a reform advocate, outcomes can be written with traditional, transitional, or transformational goals in mind. Spady advocates transformation goals.
  • Traditional outcome-based programs would use the new methodology to teach traditional content areas like math, history, and science
  • Many teachers find this a positive option for challenging the minimal achiever
  • An outcome-based program would prevent such students from graduating or passing to the next grade without reaching a pre-set mastery level of competency.
  • Transformational OBE subordinates course content to key issues, concepts, and processes. Indeed, Spady calls this the "highest evolution of the OBE concept." Central to the idea of transformational reform is the notion of outcomes of significance.
  • Spady supports transformational outcomes because they are future oriented, based on descriptions of future conditions that he feels should serve as starting points for OBE designs
  • little mention is made about specific things that students should know as a result of being in school.
  • The focus is on attitudes and feelings, personal goals, initiative, and vision--in their words, the whole student.
  • It is in devising learner outcomes that one's world view comes into play. Those who see the world in terms of constant change, politically and morally, find a transformation model useful. They view human nature as evolving, changing rather than fixed.
  • Advocates of outcome-based education point with pride to its focus on the student rather than course content. They feel that the key to educational reform is to be found in having students master stated learner outcomes. Critics fear that this is exactly what will happen. Their fear is based on the desire of reformers to educate the whole child. What will happen, they ask, when stated learner outcomes violate the moral or religious views of parents?
  • Under the traditional system of course credits a student could take a sex-ed course, totally disagree with the instruction and yet pass the course by doing acceptable work on the tests presented. Occasion-ally, an instructor might make life difficult for a student who fails to conform, but if the student learns the material that would qualify him or her for a passing grade and credit towards graduation.
  • If transformational outcome-based reformers have their way, this student would not get credit for the course until his or her attitudes, feelings, and behaviors matched the desired goals of the learner outcomes.
  • Another goal requires students to know about and use community health resources. Notice that just knowing that Planned Parenthood has an office in town isn't enough, one must use it.
  • transformational outcome- based reform would be a much more efficient mechanism for changing our children's values and attitudes about issues facing our society
  • the direction these changes often take is in conflict with our Christian faith
  • "Who has authority over our children?"
  • Outcome-based education is an ideologically neutral tool for curricular construction; whether it is more effective than traditional approaches remains to be seen. Unfortunately, because of its student-centered approach, its ability to influence individuals with a politically correct set of doctrines seems to be great. Parents (and all other taxpayers) need to weigh the possible benefits of outcome-based reform with the potential negatives.
  • who will determine the learner outcomes for their schools
  • consideration of what learner outcomes the public wants rather than assuming that educators know what's best for our children. Who will decide what it means to be an educated person, the taxpaying consumer or the providers of education?
  • If students are going to be allowed to proceed through the material at their own rate, what happens to the brighter children? Eventually students will be at many levels, what then? Will added teachers be necessary? Will computer-assisted instruction allow for individual learning speeds? Either option will cost more money. Some reformers offer a scenario where brighter students help tutor slower ones thereby encouraging group responsibility rather than promoting an elite group of learners. Critics feel that a mastery- learning approach will inevitably hold back brighter students.
  • With outcome-based reform, many educators are calling for a broader set of evaluation techniques. But early attempts at grading students based on portfolios of various kinds of works has proved difficult. The Rand Corporation studied Vermont's attempt and found that "rater reliability--the extent to which raters agreed on the quality of a student's work--was low." There is a general dislike of standardized tests among the reformers because it focuses on what the child knows rather than the whole child, but is there a viable substitute? Will students find that it is more important to be politically correct than to know specific facts?
  • whether or not school bureaucracies will allow for such dramatic change? How will the unions respond? Will legislative mandates that are already on the books be removed, or will this new approach simply be laid over the rest, creating a jungle of regulations and red tape?
  • although districts may be given input as to how these outcomes are achieved, local control of the outcomes themselves may be lost.
  • Many parents feel that there is already too much emphasis on global citizenship, radical environmentalism, humanistic views of self-esteem, and human sexuality at the expense of reading, writing, math, and science.
  • education may become more propagandistic rather than academic in nature
izz aty

Now There's a WikiLeaks for Colleges - Education - GOOD - 0 views

www.good.is/...ere-s-a-wikileaks-for-colleges

tertiary education education university uni wikileaks wiki unileaks college politics secrets ethics privacy anonymous

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  • izz aty on 31 May 11
     
    According to the site's "Who We Are" section, they'll accept anonymously submitted "restricted or censored material of political, ethical, diplomatic or historical significance which is in some way connected to higher education, an agency or government body working in partnership with an institution, e.g., a university." That means they want those private emails between professors, copies of shady contracts, secret research, and internal memos. Whistle-blowers can upload their documents through an encryption-free electronic drop box. The site's journalists then turn them into news stories.
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Arnesen 2011 International politics and national reforms: The dynamics between "compete... - 0 views

www.education-inquiry.net/...28717

norwegian edu norwegian special ed norway education scandinavian education

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  • izz aty on 17 Nov 14
     
    Education Inquiry Vol. 2, No. 2, May 2011, pp.193-206 International politics and national reforms: The dynamics between "competence" and the "inclusive school" in Norwegian education policies Anne-Lise Arnesen*
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Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron pg 1-7.htm - 0 views

www.nexuslearning.net/...Harrison%20Bergeron%20p1.htm

kurt vonnegut short story story politics political correctness society lifestyle communism equality culture democracy language learning english esol resources literature

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  • izz aty on 24 Jul 13
     
    "The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General."
izz aty

Ronan McCrea - Is migration making Europe more secular? - 0 views

www.aeonmagazine.com/...ronan-mccrea-secular-europe

islam secularism europe migration society culture lifestyle community people politics geography

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  • political scientist Eric Kaufmann has argued that religious believers have a demographic advantage in birth rates that will see Europe's secularisation reversed by the end of this century
  • Migration is one factor that has helped religion to return to centre stage in public life
  • Secularism in Europe has been in part influenced by the original recognition in Christian theology of separate secular and religious realms
  • izz aty on 27 Jul 13
     
    "Contrary to popular belief, migration from Muslim countries is one reason why Europe is becoming more secular, not less"
izz aty

Wandering thoughts lane: Tips for writing Spoken Word - 0 views

wanderingthoughtslane.blogspot.com/...spoken-word.html

spoken word poetry literature writing genre language learning reference

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  • 1. Start off with something easy. Sarah Kay gave some suggestions on how you should start writing poetry by writing lists. For example, start writing a list of 5-10 things I know to be true, or I should've learned by now. Also try 10 things I love/want/had.
  • 2. Don't try too hard.  Don't try to write super complicated filled with emotions and metaphors poems from the beginning, you'll only end up waisting time and feeling disappointed. Your first poems should go naturally, easy, that way you'll be amazed to see how far you've come after a while.
  • 3. Inspire yourself Look around you for things to inspire you. For example you can listen to some poetry, maybe one word or one phrase someone recites triggers something inside your brain. Listening to music is also a great inspiration source -at least for me. When I listen to music I can picture the story behind the song (but mostly only when I listen to instrumentals). Also, try to look at the world from a different perspective. When you take a walk try to observe as many things as possible, a funny incident, a person you like, a beautiful view on the landscapes. Inspire yourself from everything around you.
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  • 6. Revise and rewrite your poems  If it doesn't sound very good right after it's done that's alright, just give it some time. Focus on writing other poems and come back to revise this one after a while, you'll have a different perspective after you took a brake from it. It'll help you see the bigger picture.
  • 5. Read your poems out loud  I know it sounds like no big deal but trust me it makes a difference.
  • 4. Read/watch as many spoken word/poems as possible Pay attention to what suits you better, which artists do you like most and why. Understand it and go in that direction. For example if you like an artists that always has funny poems you may be prone to write funny poems, it's likely they'll make you feel more comfortable. You can always experience other types of poems if you want to!
  • 7. Use your imagination. That's what I love most about artists, they CREATE their world however they want it to be, and they can drag you into their stories faster than you can even realize it. So use your imagination, create whatever you wish and do your best to convince the audience (even if the audience is just you or a couple of friends of yours.) that world you're writing really exists. 
  • 8. Spoken word doesn't have to rhyme So don't struggle to find rhymes. But, if you have a good rhyme in mind. don't hesitate! Make it part of your poetry, find your flow.
  • 9. Make a special notebook for poetry writing. I bought my poetry notebook just because I liked the cover of it. Every time I pull it out of my bag it makes me smile. Also one more thing I did was to write quotes from my best poems on colored post it notes and stick them on the first page of the notebook. That way every time I open the notebook to write I can read pieces of my best creations and feel proud. It really boosts up your morale. 
  • 10. Be honest with yourself If something hurt you and it still does let it out, don't back from your thoughts and feelings. If you worry your poem will be too cheesy or too sad, stop worrying! just let it be. Acknowledge the fact that those thoughts were haunting your brain for some time now. Get to know them and set them free...and what better way is there to set thoughts free than by poetry?
  • 11.  Write as often as possible And this is, the most important thing of all. Write constantly, even if you have just one or two sentences in mind, just write them down. Also, carry the notebook with you all the time. You never know when something will trigger the inspiration in you.
  • izz aty on 10 Aug 14
     
    "the spoken word has been an outlet for people to release their views outside the academic and institutional domains of the university and academic or small press. The spoken word and its most popular offshoot, slam poetry, evolved into the present day soap-box for people, especially younger ones, to express their views, emotions, life experiences or information to audiences. The views of spoken word artists encompass frank commentary on religion, politics, sex and gender, often taboo subjects in the world of contemporary academic poetry. Spoken word is used to inform or make an audience conscious of some human aspect pertaining to life*"
izz aty

Let's Call All Terrorists "Terrorists" - 0 views

www.truth-out.org/...call-all-terrorists-terrorists

terrorism france charlie hebdo social phenomenon social issues social justice

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  • In the hours since the shooting, politicians and the media have universally condemned the gunmen as "terrorists" and called their actions "terrorism." And for good reason, too: the killing of unarmed civilians for apparently political or religious reasons is the classic definition of terrorism.
  • 2011 Norway attacks, where a white right-wing extremist and racist named Anders Breivik killed 77 people during a rampage through Oslo and a nearby summer camp.
  • If Breivik's name were "Omar" and he said that he acted in the name of Islam as opposed to "Europe" and Christianity, I doubt people like Michael Morell would forget who he is or what he did.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • But like other white perpetrators of mass political violence, from the guy who shot up a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin a few years ago to the guy who attacked a Kansas JCC this past April, Breivik gets a free pass from the media. He's a "mass shooter" or "mass murderer," not a "terrorist."
  • Are the guys who aimed loaded guns at federal officers at the Bundy ranch called "terrorists"? They are. Or the people who bombed the NAACP building yesterday in Colorado? Absolutely.
  • In our society, calling an act of violence "terrorism" is an extremely powerful statement. It says that that an action is so awful, so beyond what we consider acceptable human behavior, that we must do everything we can to prevent it from happening ever again.
  • when we refuse to call acts of violence that really are terrorism "terrorism," we're saying as a society that we don't need to take them as seriously as we would the acts of violence that we do call terrorism.
  • According to some estimates, right-wing terrorists have killed more Americans since 9/11 than Islamic terrorists have.
izz aty

These are the world's most digitally advanced countries | World Economic Forum - 0 views

www.weforum.org/...t-digitally-advanced-countries

education world economy economics digital society digital society

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  • izz aty on 24 Jan 18
     
    " the most exciting region in the world, digitally speaking, is Asia, with China and Malaysia as exemplars. We can expect to see plenty of investor and entrepreneurial interest in this region; it is critical that the political institutions are stable and supportive."
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