Have a safe St Patrick ’s Day weekend

“Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick") is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated annually on 17 March, the death date of the most commonly-recognised patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461).”

“Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),^[4] the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland,^[3] as well as celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general.^[5] Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilithe, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.^[6] Christians also attend church services,^[5][7] and the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day

Some loose facts:

• St. Patrick, contrary to popular belief, was not Irish. He was British -- born in Britain -- and didn't lead a religious life in the beginning. He transitioned to a religious way of life during his teenage years. 
• When St. Patrick was around 14 years old, he was captured and taken to Ireland. There, he was kept in slavery for six years and made to herd sheep. After he was freed, St. Patrick returned to Ireland in his 30s when he was a part of a missionary of Celtic pagans.
• Did you know that green was no the original color associated with St. Patrick? In Ireland, green was traditionally considered to be an unlucky color and the hue that was associated with St. Patrick was blue!
• St. Patrick’s Day was first publicly celebrated in Boston in 1737 where a large population of Irish immigrants resided.
  Irish-American history expert Timothy Meagher said Irish charitable organizations originally celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with banquets in places such as Boston, Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C.
• Until the 1970s, St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland was a minor religious holiday. A priest would acknowledge the feast day, and families would celebrate with a big meal, but that was about it.
  St. Patrick’s Day was basically invented in America by Irish-Americans (I call this amateur drinking hour).

Please be safe this weekend, and if you insist on getting wasted this weekend please do not drive and run me off the road.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Do you remember the things you went through for your terminal degree?

I am sharing an article I read today that seemed to capture a lot of the feelings we go through during this process.

“The Six Stages of Graduate Education”

“Application Year: “This graduate program will be great. I’ll get to study the things I enjoyed as an undergraduate, and they’re going to pay me enough to get by in an exciting new city. And when it’s all done, I’ll become a professor and get to write books and teach classes at a research university or maybe a liberal-arts college. I won’t be rich, but I’ll be comfortable, and I’ll be doing useful work without having to sell out.””

“Years 1-2: “This is really hard. Everybody speaks in ‘theory’ all the time, and they all seem to know so much more than I do. And I’m taking on all kinds of extra work as a research assistant so I can pay my rent. How can I possibly read 2,000 pages a week, keep up with my research projects, and learn a second foreign language? I’m going to fail my qualifying exams. I feel like an imposter. Maybe I should leave.””

“Year 3: “OK, maybe I can do this. I did pass my exams, and I won an essay prize and published a few things. Teaching sections for two different courses is hard, but I’m learning a lot, and I have plenty of time ahead of me. I’m enjoying reading books, gathering research materials, and thinking about my project, and I can make real progress on writing the dissertation in the summer.””

Read it all here: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/377-the-six-stages-of-graduate-education?cid=oh&utm_source=oh&utm_medium=en

My question is: how was your process? Did you enjoy it?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Sharing something lighthearted March 12 2014

“Ph.D.s as Fashion Models”

“Betabrand, an online clothing store, has an unusual approach for models for its spring collection for women. All of the women in the ads have Ph.D.s or are doctoral candidates. Shoppers looking at the Del Ray Perfect Dress will find it modeled by a Ph.D. candidate in nuclear engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, and those interested in the Gray Confetti Popover Shirt will find it modeled by a woman who earned her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at Stanford University. (The models are identified only with first names and their degrees.) Betabrand's founder, Chris Lindland gave a statement to Adweek about the new strategy: "When you look beyond the ranks of the professionally beautiful, photography becomes a lot more fun. Our designers cooked up a collection of smart fashions for spring, so why not display them on the bodies of women with really big brains?"”

Read here: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/03/12/phds-fashion-models

This might be a fun project to showcase all your faculty, men and womenJ

What do you think?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Are the uber wealthy influencing education policy?

First of all, I am not against the very rich donating money for education; they have it we need it. However, the question has arisen about how they might be pushing their own agenda with that money, or how systems might become too dependent on that check.

“AFT Says It Will No Longer Accept Gates Funding”

“The American Federation of Teachers, to date the recipient of more than $11 million in Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation largesse, will no longer accept Gates funding, Politico has reported, citing increasing criticism from members.”

“AFT officials said the union's President, Randi Weingarten, made the announcement at the Network for Public Education conference last week in Austin, Texas. NPE is an advocacy group begun by Diane Ravitch and other critics of so-called "corporate education reform."” 

“Education Week took a long look at Gates funding for teacher-quality efforts last year, and at that time Weingarten hinted that pushback from members might effect a change in its willingness to accept cash from the Seattle-based philanthropy.” 

“Much of the cash has supported AFT's innovation fund, which supports local projects. Politico also says that the AFT will seek ways of funding the initiative through a dues surcharge, which would have to be approved by members at this year's biennial AFT convention in Los Angeles.”

Read here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2014/03/aft_will_not_accept.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3

Do you think there could be strings attached to this money or is it true altruism?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Sharing an article March 10 2014

Teach for America: there I said it. Whether you like it or not it is here, and working in a neighborhood near you so please pay attention.

“Teach For America to Pilot Yearlong Teacher Training, Retention Efforts”

“Teach For America plans to provide a year of up-front training for a subset of its new teacher recruits—and put more of an emphasis on teaching for longer than the group's two-year requirement, the organization's leaders announced in a speech.”

“The two pilot programs, outlined March 4 by TFA co-CEO Matt Kramer during a "What's Next for TFA" address in Nashville, Tenn., mark the organization's biggest shift in internal policy since its founding in 1990.”

“TFA recruits typically receive a five-week "institute" in which they learn basic teaching methods, followed by two years of on-the-job support while they fulfill their teaching commitment. The new pilots will cost about $16 million over four years.”

“"We've come a long way. I think there's a lot for us to be proud of," Kramer said to an audience that included about 1,000 alumni and supporters attending in person or watching online. "At the same time, there is much more to do. We need to keep our minds open to change and innovation as we continue to find new and better ways to do right by kids. .... Teaching beyond two years cannot be a backup plan; it has to be the main plan."”

Read the whole thing here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2014/03/tfa_to_pilot_yearlong_training.html?cmp=ENL-EU-MOSTPOP

So what are your thoughts on this program and its future? Is there a way it can work alongside traditional teacher training? Is there a way to retain these teachers beyond their two-year contract?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Trying to rewrite history

The internet, social media, etc, has given a voice to many people; freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, even if what you say is dumb (you know it when you see it).

Slavery: 1. The state of one bound in servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household.

a. The practice of owning slaves.

b. A mode of production in which slaves constitute the principal work force.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/slavery

I believe the definition is quite clear, so why do some folks feel the need to say something dumb? See below:

“Conservative Mag Slams '12 Years a Slave' for Failing to Portray Happy Slaves”

“The movie portrays slaves being made unhappy by slavery. But that negativity is merely anti-slavery "propaganda," according to James Bowman in conservative magazine The American Spectator:”

“If ever in slavery's 250-year history in North America there were a kind master or a contented slave, as in the nature of things there must have been, here and there, we may be sure that Mr McQueen does not want us to hear about it. This, in turn, surely means that his view of the history of the American South is as partial and one-sided as that of the hated Gone With the Wind.”

“...Yes, there was much cruelty and hardship in the slave-owning South, as there has been in most of the rest of the world most of the time, and Mr. McQueen's camera is all over that. But it strains ordinary credulity to suppose that there was nothing else.”

Read here: http://politix.topix.com/story/10770-conservative-mag-slams-12-years-a-slave-for-failing-to-portray-happy-slaves there are also links to the original article in this segment

I have said it before, I am not fond of labels like conservative and liberal, the country right now seems to like to label or mislabel people with an alarming frequency. However, I will attempt to give an appropriate label for this individual trying to re-write history: “dumb”. Happy slavery? Really?

This is a reason why education is so important, critical thinking skills need to be developed at an early age. Stay in school! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cooVqvCdbGU

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Senate Blocks Change to Military Sex Assault Cases

“The Senate on Thursday blocked a bill that would have stripped senior military commanders of their authority to prosecute or prevent charges for alleged rapes and other serious offenses, capping an emotional, nearly yearlong fight over how to curb sexual assault in the ranks.”

“The vote was 55-45, short of the 60 necessary to move ahead on the legislation sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. Defeated but unbowed, the senator received hugs from Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., after the vote.”

“The Pentagon's leadership vigorously opposed the measure, arguing that officers should have more responsibility, not less, for the conduct of the men and women they lead.”

“Proponents of the bill insisted that far-reaching changes in the Uniform Code of Military Justice are necessary to curb a scourge of rapes and sexual assaults. Under Gillibrand's proposal, the decision to take serious crimes to courts-martial would be given to military trial lawyers who have prosecutorial experience and would operate out of a newly established office independent of the chain of command.”

So what is your solution now? What are you going to do to stop this problem? The situation is getting worse!

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam