The Dangerous Trip for Ukraine’s Children

Marilyn Gardner Milton’s Latest Blog Post

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:

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Classroom Creativity is Dying

There is no denying that one of the most hated educational practices is that of standardized tests. While they are certainly an important tool to help differentiate between students, there is also something incredibly depressing about a test that is so uninteresting. Teachers around the country have recently begun to notice how little students seem to care about these supposedly important tests. Normally ambitious and hardworking students are increasingly disillusioned with the tests that will help them get into the school of their choice and teachers are beginning to wonder if having these tests is worth sapping the creativity and will to learn that students used to feel, all in the name of going a higher-ranking college.

One of the ways that teachers have gauged the interest of students in tests and other academic pursuits is how often they try to cheat for higher grades. By walking around a classroom when students are taking these tests, teachers use proximity to both catch students who are cheating as well as to oversee the class. However some teachers have noticed that students don't even care enough about these standardized tests to cheat, and that is slightly worrisome. While the level of student care and interest in the tests have fallen, the level of resentment towards the tests has drastically risen. An incredibly worrisome trend when you look at how the USA is falling behind in terms of education.

To many students, the situations that they deal with currently in their every day lives (such as poverty, bullying, and abuse of all sorts) are infinitely more important than some test that is supposed to help rank them against their peers and friends. The only people who care about these tests are those who judge the schools (such as politicians), the administration, and the teachers who need good results on these tests to justify the importance of their jobs. Instead of actively trying to interest the students in learning and education, we have been feeding them pre-set cookie cutter plans that have taken the joy out of learning and replaced it with a bland and uninteresting educational landscape that is failing to grab the attention of our future generations. The desires of politicians and businesses to turn schools into money-making ventures are damaging those who need the schools to work well, the students themselves.

If you'd like to read more, here is the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-turner/the-death-of-creativity-standardized-tests_b_5316147.html

The Importance of Museum Interpreters

History is both a beautiful and incredibly important subject. It's beautiful because people back then felt the same things and thought the same way that people do now and it's beautiful to see that sort of connection, even if the technology has drastically changed. It's also beautiful because the art that humankind created throughout the ages has stood against the flow of modernity and still maintains the ability to inspire awe and rapture like it did when it was first created. History is also important because it allows us to see how we reacted to new and different things, thus allowing us to learn from our past mistakes and, hopefully, use those lessons to avoid similar mistakes in the present and future.

While history is most definitely an important subject, many people see it as dry and uninteresting. This is where the importance of museum interpreters and living history re-enactors come into play. Museum and historical interpreters breath a sense of life and tangibility into history. It's one thing to hear about how the Red Coats went around harassing the colonists before the Revolutionary War, but it's a completely other thing to actually see it in action. It makes the experience more visceral and more real, increasing how interesting it might be to someone who has never been interested in history before.

The importance of these re-enactors is real in other ways too. Many of the re-enactors are older and retired and they do these both as volunteers and as paid employees. These jobs allow them to create second careers for themselves instead of just sitting at home. The other reason these jobs are important is because of numbers. Many if the places where historical re-enactment takes place are smaller and more niche. They don't have the funds or the necessary public interest to become large museums. The fact that these smaller museums have live actors adds a new dimension to the historical experience of the visitors. It allows these smaller museums to offer something that the larger and better funded ones can't. It also allows them to focus on more niche historical experiences, like living on a plantation or on a navy ship and a shipboard surgeon.

If you'd like to read more here is the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/15/business/retirementspecial/retirees-are-finding-second-careers-at-historical-sites.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss