1. 18:29 8th Oct 2009

    notes: 1

    tags: Hillary Clintoneducationdevelopmentglobal poverty1 Goal

    Secretary Clinton joins 1Goal: Education for All, the 2010 World Cup initiative to bring education to children everywhere.

     

  2. 17:22 20th Aug 2009

    tags: global povertyeducation1 GoalsoccerWorld Cup 2010development

    1 Goal is a campaign in support of education for children around the world. From now until the 2010 FIFA World Cup, 1 Goal is collecting signatures from ordinary citizens in an effort to show our global leaders that education must be a priority in international development. Add your name in support of education.

    Today, 75 million children around the world are denied the opportunity to go to school. These children could be the next generation’s leaders, sport stars, doctors and teachers. But without an education they are confined to a life of poverty.
    They’re ready to do their homework—but school fees, conflict, working in factories and farms, losing their parents to sickness, the cost of a school uniform or sometimes simply being a girl keeps them from being able to attend school.
    Whatever their background - orphans, refugees, poor, disabled, child soldiers, child labourers, from disadvantaged backgrounds – the result is the same – denied the chance to learn they will never be able to fulfil their potential.


    Education beats Poverty – and enables people to help themselves.

    • • Education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty for families, communities and whole countries.
    • • It leads to economic growth, democracy and a more stable future.
    • • Education is the best tool we have for tackling poverty, and it is the one investment that ultimately pays for itself: When a child gets educated, they will eventually earn more and be better able to support their family.
    • • A child who goes to school will earn an extra 10% for every year of schooling they receive and be 50% less likely to become infected with HIV/AIDS if the complete Primary School.


    Education For All is urgently needed if we are to tackle poverty, ill health and hunger.  An education can offer hope and a future to children in the developing world who desperately deserve a chance in life.

     

  3. 14:20 18th Aug 2009

    notes: 4

    tags: One Laptop Per Childglobal povertydevelopmenteducationSenegal

    From the ONE Campaign blog, in its entirety: We are a team of four college students (and ONE members) in the US who are spending our summer in Mboro, Senegal working with One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and the Peace Corps to bring 200 laptops to students at Ecole Notre Dame Elementary School. Ecole Notre Dame is unique in that it receives free power and clean water from the local phosphorous factory. Free power has greatly assisted in the financial sustainability of deploying OLPC’s XO laptops to all second, third, fourth and fifth grade students by October. Pierre Khar Tine, Director of Ecole Notre Dame, had been researching the feasibility of bringing computers to his school for several years. With the help of a local Peace Corps volunteer, Pierre learned about OLPC and has been working closely with us to bring XO computers and electronic education programs to his students. Pierre’s philosophy is that “students need to know how to read; they need to know how to write; and, they need to know how to use computers. Computer illiteracy is illiteracy.” The best way to insure sustainability is to create a community project, not simply a school project. As deploying several hundred child-sized computers to one Catholic school is no easy task, the school enlisted the help of the community in making the necessary infrastructural changes, including: installing wireless routers and a school server, digging trenches to bury Ethernet cable, and building customized cabinets to charge and store the laptops each night. Fortunately, we weren’t disappointed – the community really came out in support of the project! A local woodworker built twelve charging cabinets; a hardware store owner constructed power strips; a contact wired the classrooms for internet; and the head of a Catholic school in Senegal generously donated conduit to cover all bare wires in each classroom. Their goal was to create a permanent fixture the school could be proud of. As ONE members, we know there are multiple solutions we must employ to end extreme poverty. We don’t believe computers alone will greatly impact Mboro, but we do believe that the students who own these laptops will. One exciting upcoming project in Mboro, fashioned by both teachers and students, is to implement an online school newspaper. This newspaper will encourage students to present their insights on local issues to a global audience. Students at Ecole Notre Dame have taken a break from their daily routine of rote memorization and have begun asking serious questions about themselves and their community. In only 8 weeks, students have begun to use a connected laptop to think critically about their environment. With more time, they’ll start to generate positive change within Mboro.

    From the ONE Campaign blog, in its entirety:

    We are a team of four college students (and ONE members) in the US who are spending our summer in Mboro, Senegal working with One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and the Peace Corps to bring 200 laptops to students at Ecole Notre Dame Elementary School. Ecole Notre Dame is unique in that it receives free power and clean water from the local phosphorous factory. Free power has greatly assisted in the financial sustainability of deploying OLPC’s XO laptops to all second, third, fourth and fifth grade students by October.

    Pierre Khar Tine, Director of Ecole Notre Dame, had been researching the feasibility of bringing computers to his school for several years. With the help of a local Peace Corps volunteer, Pierre learned about OLPC and has been working closely with us to bring XO computers and electronic education programs to his students. Pierre’s philosophy is that “students need to know how to read; they need to know how to write; and, they need to know how to use computers. Computer illiteracy is illiteracy.”

    The best way to insure sustainability is to create a community project, not simply a school project. As deploying several hundred child-sized computers to one Catholic school is no easy task, the school enlisted the help of the community in making the necessary infrastructural changes, including: installing wireless routers and a school server, digging trenches to bury Ethernet cable, and building customized cabinets to charge and store the laptops each night. Fortunately, we weren’t disappointed – the community really came out in support of the project! A local woodworker built twelve charging cabinets; a hardware store owner constructed power strips; a contact wired the classrooms for internet; and the head of a Catholic school in Senegal generously donated conduit to cover all bare wires in each classroom. Their goal was to create a permanent fixture the school could be proud of.

    As ONE members, we know there are multiple solutions we must employ to end extreme poverty. We don’t believe computers alone will greatly impact Mboro, but we do believe that the students who own these laptops will. One exciting upcoming project in Mboro, fashioned by both teachers and students, is to implement an online school newspaper. This newspaper will encourage students to present their insights on local issues to a global audience. Students at Ecole Notre Dame have taken a break from their daily routine of rote memorization and have begun asking serious questions about themselves and their community. In only 8 weeks, students have begun to use a connected laptop to think critically about their environment. With more time, they’ll start to generate positive change within Mboro.

     

  4. 12:39 28th Jul 2009

    notes: 5

    tags: Texascivil rightseducation

    Tell Texas not to remove Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall from school books

    There is an education war going on in Texas that you need to know about and get involved with. The TX State Board of Education is currently preparing to adopt new social studies curriculum standards. These standards have major national implications as Texas is such a major purchaser of textbooks and their state’s required curriculum drives the content of textbooks produced nationwide.

    Please read the following and then take action and forward this to as many friends as possible.

    The TX State Board of Education has hired 6 “experts” to determine what will be in the books their schools use. Some of these “experts” are arguing that the state’s social studies and history textbooks are giving “too much attention” to some of the most prominent civil rights leaders in US History, namely Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall.

    David Barton, one of these “experts,” claimed Cesar Chavez “lacks the stature, impact and overall contributions of so many others.” Another of these “experts” evangelical minister Peter Marshall said, “To have Cesar Chavez listed next to Ben Franklin”—as in the current standards—“is ludicrous.” He went on to say Chávez is not a role model who “ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation.”

    The same “expert” wants to eliminate Thurgood Marshall, a prominent Civil Rights leader who argued the landmark case that resulted in school desegregation and was the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court justice. He wrote that the late justice is “not a strong enough example” of an important historical figure to be presented to Texas students.

    Board members and their appointees have complained about an “over representation of minorities” in the current social studies standards. This is ironic in light of the changing demographics of our country. Sadly, Latino and African-American children have the highest drop-out rates in the country. It’s essential to ensure schools are providing students with role models and historical figures whose experiences reflect their own.

    We must be concerned when the contributions of Cesar Chávez, Thurgood Marshall and other individuals who have contributed so much to the landscape of American democracy are cast aside and ridiculed. We should welcome the inclusion of all Americans who have helped to make this nation great.

    It is horrific to discover that the TX State Board of Education has allowed these panelists to use our children’s social studies curriculum as a platform for their political agendas. Please take action today to stop this travesty from going forward.  Send your e-mail to the Chair of the Texas Board of Education Gail Lowe (R).

     

  5. 14:00 15th Jul 2009

    tags: Oxfamhealth careeducation

    Sign the Health & Education For All Pledge


    From Oxfam International

    Join the growing global movement demanding Health and Education For All.

    I care about people’s right to health and education.  I am ready to take action, and to call for action from governments and institutions to ensure quality healthcare and education for all people. Change is possible.

     

  6. 11:42 5th Jun 2009

    tags: educationnew york timesNicholas Kristofschools

    So what kind of teachers could a school get if it paid them $125,000 a year?

    From the New York Times:

    Two with Ivy League degrees. And Joe Carbone, a phys ed teacher, who has the most unusual résumé of the bunch, having worked as Kobe Bryant’s personal trainer.

    “Developed Kobe from 185 lbs. to 225 lbs. of pure muscle over eight years,” it reads.

    They are members of an eight-teacher dream team, lured to an innovative charter school that will open in Washington Heights in September with salaries that would make most teachers drop their chalk and swoon; $125,000 is nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns, and about two and a half times as much as the national average for teacher salaries. They also will be eligible for bonuses, based on schoolwide performance, of up to $25,000 in the second year.

    The school, called the Equity Project, is premised on the theory that excellent teachers — and not revolutionary technology, talented principals or small class size — are the critical ingredient for success. Experts hope it could offer a window into some of the most pressing and elusive questions in education: Is a collection of superb teachers enough to make a great school? Are six-figure salaries the way to get them? And just what makes a teacher great?

    Follow NYT journalist Nicholas Kristof on Twitter, he tweets links to a lot of great articles.