Friday, November 22, 2013

Education News: Poverty Hurts, Showing Up Helps

Two interesting education stories yesterday:
Neither point is all that surprising, really, if you think about it.
  • Poverty: Do you think children can learn well if they don't have good nutrition, health care, support, housing, stability, and pencils? Answer: no.
  • Attendance: Do you think kids who miss a lot of school might get behind, get discouraged, and drop out? Answer: Yes. The amazing thing here is how it was possible to turn it around in just a couple of years by adding caring adults who encouraged the kids and helped them when they had trouble with their work.

Fun Video Advertises Building Game for Girls

3 Girls Smash Gender Roles to Smithereens in Toy Company's Glorious Debut Ad: GoldieBlox flips Beastie Boys' 'Girls', Adfreak, Nov. 19, 2013.


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Extracurricular Activities and College Applications

A lot of students have heard that extracurricular activities are important for college applications, but they might not know why, or what the admissions people are looking for. This month's Alaska Airlines Magazine has a very good article on the topic: Scott Driscoll, Extracurricular Activity. (The magazine's site uses Flash, so it will take a moment for the magazine to load. The bookmark should take you to the article, which starts on p. 155.)

The author is based in Seattle, so many of the students and admissions officers he interviewed are in the Northwest: WSU, Whitworth, UW, U of Oregon, Seattle U, Trinity Western University (Langley,
BC).