VEA - Is Today's Lifestyle Hampering Children's Brain Development? Is Today’s Lifestyle Hampering Children’s Brain Development? By Tom Shenk Unfortunately, I believe the answer to the question posed in the headline to this article is “Yes.” My study of recent brain research tells me that students today have more brain development issues than did children of past generations. • In 1980, only 1 in 10,000 children was diagnosed with autism. • ADHD diagnoses have grown 2000 percent since 1990. These are just a few examples. “That’s pretty depressing,” you may be thinking, “Is there anything we can do to change all that?” For step one, travel back with me in human history to the period before we learned to farm—when we hunted and gathered our food. For step two, brainstorm some ideas for this question: “According to brain research, what activities, experiences and environmental factors best stimulate healthy brain development?” Does any of that look familiar? How is that possible? That’s pretty compelling. Second, we now have a road map for prevention.
Jonathan Kozol On Kids Who Survive Inner Cities Copyright © 2012 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. But first we want to spend a few minutes talking about something that many of us spend more time thinking about at this time of year when many celebrate their good fortune. Our next guest is Jonathan Kozol, a man who's brought the stories of the nation's poor out of the shadows through his many best-selling books. His latest is called "Fire in the Ashes." Jonathan Kozol, thank you so much for speaking with us. JONATHAN KOZOL: Thanks so much, Michel. MARTIN: You start the book telling us about two young men, Eric and Christopher, and I was hoping you could just briefly lay out their stories. KOZOL: OK. You know, I kind of predicted that would happen, but I didn't realize, in these two cases, that it would lead to really tragic results. MARTIN: What did happen to them? KOZOL: That might have... MARTIN: No. KOZOL: Yes.
What Career Should I Choose? [Interactive Graph] An interactive chart that basically breaks down what occupations are "worth choosing" based on potential salary, competition and market stability. Show More The Minimum Wage and Economic Growth In his State of the Union address to Congress President Obama called for a higher minimum wage. The purchasing power of the minimum wage peaked in the late 1960s at $9.22 an hour in 2012 dollars. That is almost two dollars above the current level of $7.25 an hour. Most of the efforts to raise the minimum wage focus on restoring its purchasing power to its late 1960s level, setting a target of around $10 an hour for 2015 or 2016, when inflation will have brought this sum closer to its previous peak in 2012 dollars. While this increase would lead to a large improvement in living standards for millions of workers who are currently paid at or near the minimum wage, it is worth asking a slightly different question. Suppose the minimum wage had kept in step with productivity growth over the last 44 years. This should not seem like a far-fetched idea. As the graph below shows, the minimum wage generally was increased in step with productivity over these years.
How to Solve the Top Pitfalls of Working From Home No Thanks for Thanksgiving November 21, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting. In fact, indigenous people have offered such a model; since 1970 they have marked the fourth Thursday of November as a Day of Mourning in a spiritual/political ceremony on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, one of the early sites of the European invasion of the Americas. Not only is the thought of such a change in this white-supremacist holiday impossible to imagine, but the very mention of the idea sends most Americans into apoplectic fits -- which speaks volumes about our historical hypocrisy and its relation to the contemporary politics of empire in the United States. Some aspects of the conventional story are true enough.
Classroom Programs | NFTE We work with schools in low-income communities where at least 50% of the students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. NFTE is targeting young people who are at risk of dropping out of school, and helping them graduate with their own personal plans for success. Our program is: Highly Academic - During a semester or year long class at school, a NFTE-certified teacher guides students through one of our curriculums: Entrepreneurship: Owning Your Future or Exploring Careers for the 21st Century. Lessons include the concepts of competitive advantage, ownership, opportunity recognition, marketing, finance, and product development - and all tie back to core math and literacy skills. Fieldtrips, Games & Experiential Activities - NFTE brings learning to life through fun and experiential games including: Volunteers - Giving students the opportunity to hear from and interact with real-world entrepreneurs and business leaders is essential to the NFTE experience.
American Public Opinion on Economic Inequality, Taxes and Mobility (iStock) Income inequality in America rose during the Gilded Age over a century ago but declined in the wake of two World Wars for several decades. Inequality measures began to rise again in 1975 and by 2000 the country had returned to the same levels of income concentrations recorded in the 1910s. Income inequality has been linked to outcomes such as who gets to attend college or secure health insurance. A 2012 study from Illinois Wesleyan University published in Public Opinion Quarterly, “American Public Opinion on Economic Inequality, Taxes, and Mobility: 1990-2011,” analyzed trends in Americans’ perceptions towards divisions of wealth and taxes over this two-decade period. Key findings include: Despite greater political polarization and economic turmoil in recent years, Americans have not appreciably changed their beliefs on taxation, equality and mobility, the study states. Tags: metastudy, economy By Chrissie Long | September 25, 2012 Analysis assignments Class discussion questions
Chinese workers dance Gangnam Style to protest over unpaid wages | World news They have occupied factories and taken to the streets. But Chinese workers chose a more unusual form of protest when they highlighted their unpaid wages by dancing Gangnam Style outside the nightclub they had built. The construction workers from Wuhan said they had concluded it was the only way to draw attention to their problems. Confrontations over unpaid wages are common in the runup to the lunar new year, often the only time when migrant workers can return home. The leader of the dancers, who gave his name only as Mr Lu, told the Wuhan Evening News that in total 40 workers were owed 233,000 yuan (£23,300). "There have been many creative protests over the last few years. "They have weibo [microblog] accounts and make sure people are aware of the fact they are going to do this performance and get the local media on board … It's fair to say you have a better chance of success if you can get publicity for your case." Crothall said delayed payment was "absolutely routine".
Salvaging Resilience Regular readers of this blog will know by this point that my efforts to make sense of the shape of the emerging deindustrial future involve the occasional odd detour, and one of those is central to this week’s post. Mind you, those same regular readers may be wondering if the detour in question has to do with Ben Bernanke’s secret name as a Sith Lord, a point which occupied some space in comments on a recent Archdruid Report. (The best proposal so far, in case you’re wondering, was Darth Flation – think (in)Vader, (in)Sidious, etc.) Still, that tempting topic will have to be left for another week. The rise of this term to its present popularity in green circles has a history worth noting. The word “sustainability,” it bears remembering, has a perfectly clear meaning. The problem with “resilience,” though, is that it also has a perfectly clear meaning. Okay, now that you’ve stopped spluttering, let me explain. We can define efficiency informally as doing the most with the least.
Working in America Jobs are definitely a top of mind subject. Did you know that manufacturing jobs were the largest sector of employment in 1960, yet today the category has fallen to 6th place? In this interactive visualization, browse who has been working in America over the past 50 years by sector, gender or age. Or take a look at GE’s expert opinion on the subject and tweet your own thoughts about key insights uncovered. This is best viewed in Safari, Chrome, Firefox and IE9. About this data The data in this visualization comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Share Downloads Download Application Design Partner Periscopic
Why Has Regional Income Convergence in the U.S. Stopped? Zoning and Inequality Tallahassee map (Wikimedia) Early in U.S. history, per-capita incomes varied widely, with some richer states boasting more than four times the average income of poorer ones. From 1880 to 1980, though, the gap closed steadily — a phenomenon scholars call “income convergence.” Part of the reason was labor mobility, as lower-income workers were able to move relatively easily to locations with higher-paying jobs. A 2012 paper from researchers at Harvard University and the Harvard Kennedy School, “Why Has Regional Income Convergence in the U.S. The study’s findings include: Income convergence in the United States increased rapidly between 1940 and 1980. The study concludes that land-use restrictions have resulted in “limited access for most workers to America’s most productive cities.” Tags: poverty, economy, inequality By Cynthia Thaler | February 5, 2013 Citation: Peter Ganong; Daniel Shoag. Analysis assignments Read the full study titled “Why Has Regional Income Convergence in the U.S.
Google Stock Hits $900 For First Time Ever Google's stock topped $900 a share in early trading Wednesday for the first time in the company's history, less than three months after it hit $800 for the first time. The latest surge in the stock price comes as Google is expected to make several big announcements at its I/O developers conference this week, including a rumored new streaming music service, a major upgrade to maps and the possibility of new or updated smartphones and tablets. There have also been several positive reports for Google in recent days. Gartner put out a study showing that Android accounted for three-quarters of all smartphones sold in the first quarter of this year and Nielsen found that the number of users on Google+ and time spent on site have grown significantly year-over-year. The company's stock has been on an upward swing for months as Google has once again shown itself to be a major innovator in the tech space, with several promising breakthrough products like Glass and Fiber coming to market.