By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
A study of college students found that the trend toward more class participation, and away from a traditional lecture-based approach, raised average test scores, with bigger gains for some.
Published: September 3, 2014 at 4:00AM
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By SYDNI DUNN | THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Thousands of scholars and others are objecting after the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign rescinded the offer to Steven G. Salaita.
Published: September 1, 2014 at 4:00AM
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Marilyn Gardner Milton’s Latest Blog Post
A recently released study from the Rotman Research Institute has shown that the effects of volunteering go beyond just feeling better and happier about yourself, they affect your health as well! This is the first study of its kind and it shows a correlation between health and volunteering, though not to that those who don’t volunteer are unhealthy. By studying all existing previous studies about psychosocial health benefits that arise from volunteering for older people, this newest study shows there is most certainly a benefit. To qualify, the studies had to measure psychosocial, physical, and mental outcomes from formal volunteering. In total, 73 studies that were published over the course of 45 years were examined during this most recent study.
What the study of the studies found was surprisingly impressive but most likely known to those who volunteer on a regular basis. Volunteering was associated with a number of positive health effects including a reduction in depression and depressive tendencies, greater longevity, and the ability to function better (i.e. move with less restriction). The study also pointed out that those who benefitted the most were those who were the most at risk. The older and sicker you were, the more volunteering helped you. The study also found out that there is a plateau to the benefits that volunteering brings. After about 100 hours a year (2-3 hours a week), the benefits seem to no longer appear in subjects. While the study focused solely on older (aged 50+) adults, I’m sure the results can be applied to people of all ages. After all, mental health directly affects physical health.
If you’d like to read more, the link is here.
from Marilyn Gardner Milton and Volunteering http://ift.tt/1wOzcpn
Marilyn Gardner Milton’s Latest Blog Post
There’s no denying that one of the largest failings of our entire educational system in the recent years has been the failure to enforce punishment against sexual crimes and the complete lack of care and understand for the victims who are usually forced to continue to go to school with their attacker. While this lack of any attempt to actually punish the perpetrators has been known to victims and advocates for years, it has only recently surfaced in the eyes and minds of the public, thanks to a series of scathing reports from both victims and journalists that point out how most higher educational institutes are more concerned with protecting reputations and alumni donations than the students they claim to care for.
The government has finally taken notice of the massive failings amongst these institutions and is now taking action. In a rare show of working together, a bipartisan group of congressmen and women are pushing for legislation that will punish offenders as well as punish schools for not taking the proper action against offenders. By using a combination of fines and reducing educational grants and federal money, the government plans to make colleges and universities more accountable for mishandling cases that deal with sexual crimes of any nature. Due to the massive failing in terms of both punishing attackers and supporting victims, many universities are most likely going to fight against these laws so that they can maintain their status. That being said, it’s good news for everyone, especially victims, that the government has taken notice and is involving itself.
If you’d like the read more, the link is here.
from Marilyn Gardner Milton and Education http://ift.tt/XYKYhC
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A new study has been released that will finally put that pesky “educating women leads to divorce” argument that has apparently been raging unbeknownst to the majority of the country. While the study only looks at trends in marriage, it has come to the conclusion that couples aren’t more likely to get a divorce if the wife had more education than the husband. In what seems to be a throwback to the more openly sexist days of the 40′s and 50′s, the fear was that women who had more education than their husbands were more likely to face divorce and marital unhappiness. Thankfully, this study goes to prove that this isn’t the case in any way and that we have certainly made strides towards gender equality seeing as how men are no longer intimidated by intelligent women.
Along with the original discovery, the study also found out the couples with equal education were less likely to divorce than those in which the husband is better educated. This move towards egalitarian relationships is a great thing for a wide number of reasons, first of which is the fact that men and women deserve to be equals in every way possible. It also means that people are moving away from using marriage as a status symbol and as a way to keep women subservient to men. People are now marrying for love and whoever is seen as the “provider” is becoming less and less important.
If you’d like to read more, the link is below:
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Since 2012 Kenya (along with a host of other countries) has been fighting a Muslim terrorist group called Al Shabaab. While the government has, for the most part, been somewhat successful in its attempts, Al Shabaab still maintains an iron grip on a large rural area of the country where they impose a brutal form of Sharia law on the population. Throughout this entire war, there have been NGOs and volunteer services in the country working to alleviate the struggles of the civilian population caught between the warring government and terrorist forces. Groups such as the Peace Corps work to improve infrastructure and the food situation while also trying to avoid falling into the crosshairs.
Unfortunately, due to the increasing security concerns and the danger that the volunteers face on a daily basis, the Peace Corps has had to stop all projects in the country and withdraw all staff until Kenya is safer. The Corps is pulling over 50 people from all parts of the country who were involved in all sorts of infrastructure and aid projects. As the security situation continues to get worse, more and more groups such as the Peace Corps will be forced to withdraw due to safety concerns. This makes Kenyan security efforts all the more important as many of the NGOs in the country are supplying necessary services that the government can’t provide.
If you’d like to read more, the link is below:
from Marilyn Gardner Milton and Volunteering http://ift.tt/1qawLFR
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When people think of volunteering they think of working at a soup kitchen or cleaning up trash from local parks are roads. However there are a group of people in the middle of the Ukrainian crisis that are risking their lives by volunteering to drive children and mothers away from the conflict zone and to safer areas. Why is this trip so dangerous? Aside from the obvious risks posed by nervous gunmen and falling munitions, the talked-about safe corridor for civilians to escape hasn’t actually happened due to disagreements between the Ukrainian government (who proposed the corridor) and pro-Russian militias (who require Russian troops to oversee the corridor to make sure the government won’t use it to attack).
The all-volunteer force that has taken it upon themselves to drive these minivans packed full of desperate children and mothers come from all walks of life and refuse to take political sides when it comes to helping people. One organizer and driver used to sell shoes in the local market while another ran a classic car club. However once they saw the chaos reigning and how stressed and afraid the people in the besieged cities were they all joined together to make a difference. With stories abound of vans being accidentally destroyed as well as one of pro-Russian militants kidnapping a van and sending it to Russia instead of it’s original location in Ukraine, these volunteer drivers literally risk life and limb so that they can help those in the most need escape to somewhere peaceful. The volunteers refuse to allow men into the vans (unless they’re driving) so that they can avoid accusations of ferrying combatants to different locations.
If you’d like to read more about these brave men and women risking death to save others, the link is attached below:
from Marilyn Gardner Milton and Volunteering http://ift.tt/1ilPAHg
