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This article is very interesting and useful for my research. It gives a week by week break down of the rankings of the books That Oprah has mentioned on her show. It shows how much it is still a factor in how America reads and what they buy. The 2007 list is very impressive just like when she began talking about books in the 90's. This will be a good thing that I can look at and draw some conclusions on about books and effects.

This is an article from Workshop On Computer Architecture Education in the Proceedings of the 2007 workshop on Computer architecture education. The authors are concerned about the computer science curriculum at Georgia Tech and how so many different subtopics of computing have made their way into a computer science degree. So by reconsidering what should be considered the core of computer science, they define what is necessary for a computer science student to know at the hardware level. I find this article interesting because its cause does not only apply to George Tech, but to all computer science curricula nationwide. The main academic concern of the article is the separation of operating system courses and courses in computer architecture. The operating system is so close to the architecture that the two should be wrapped into one. This would streamline the hardware and software level of interaction and reduce confusion caused by the separation of these areas of study.

Tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, while median family income rose 147 percent.

The author reports on the study "To Read or Not to Read," which was released by the United States National Endowment for the Arts. The study found that Americans read less in 2007 compared with previous years. The study found that reading abilities for teenagers and adults have declined, whereas reading abilities for younger children have increased. The impact which the decline in reading abilities has had on American workers is discussed. The author states that the amount of time which people read on a daily basis has declined. (Abstract from EBSCO.)

The article addresses the idea of "religious illiteracy" in the United States as of early 2007. The author relates the lack of general religious knowledge among his students at Boston University. He believes that religious illiteracy is more dangerous than cultural illiteracy because religion is the "most volatile" constituent of culture. He notes that some knowledge of the world's religions is essential in processing messages from politicians, the media, and education. He believes that, in the interest of civics, all U.S. undergraduate students should be required to take an academic religious studies course. He also acknowledges that religious literacy in the U.S. requires compromise between the secular left and the religious right. (Abstract from EBSCO.)

Morton, Heather. "Private Efforts To Help Financial Literacy." State Legislatures 33.5 (May 2007): 24-24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Roesch Lib., U. of Dayton, Dayton, OH. 16 Mar. 2009.

The article focuses on the hard work of some financial institutions to help improve financial education in the U.S. These include money skills, and interative curriculum created by the American Financial Services Association Education Foundation, the Credit Union National Association, together with the National Endowment for Financial Education, and Visa, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

In 2007, the Oklahoma Legistalure passed a law called "The Passport to Financial Literacy Act" that requires students, beginning in the 7th grade, to demonstarate "financial proficiency in 14 areas" to acheive a high school diploma. Other schools with the help of the National Endowment Fund for Financial Education have incorporated programs to increase the levels of financial literacy among students. Critics of this program state that these prgrams are not helping the overall financial literacy levels of high school students upon completion. It is not plausable to state that these financial programs are useless, because these programs need to work in correcpendence of parents teaching their children good financial habits within their own homes.

There are ways for students to gain financial literacy and this article is mentions plans for student programs to help do this. The article talks about how some finance classes don't help a students understanding of finances, and mentions to have financial literacy it might have to begin in a person's childhood.

Time for a little fun. I know you've asked yourself this question: why do people engage in those dangerous sports like hang gliding, bungee jumping and rock climbing?

Most kids under 2 are parked in front of the electronic babysitter every day. Author Lisa Guernsey explains how the tube impacts the smallest couch potatoes. A worthwhile article that explains some of the reasoning behind children's television. I can only assume that the book would be worth checking out too.

An article, based mostly on anecdotal data, that discusses college students' lack of "religious literacy."