Recently in Schools Category

Depression in Adolescent Girls

By meganr on May 3, 2010 12:19 PM | 1 Comment

I was looking online for information about adolescent girls and self-esteem, when I stumbled across some information about depression in adolescent girls.  Although I have looked into this information, I still find the statistics shocking.  A statistic I cannot get over is that almost 1 in 6 adolescents are diagnosed with major depression, girls being diagnosed twice as much as boys.  Not only is that depressing, but also almost 1-4% of teenage girls have been diagnosed with an eating disorder.  Adolescent boys and girls are at the greatest vulnerability for the onset of eating disorders and depression.  I found these statistics from a journal article by Boes, McCormick, Coryell, & Nopoulos, 2008.

Adolescent kids are struggling with their changing body and raging hormones and are trying to discover themselves.  They want to be accepted by their peers and want to fit into society.  Adolescents have a high need for relatedness and autonomy in their lives.  According to Reeve, "behaviors, emotions, and ways of thinking originate not only within the self but also within the social context and society" (Reeve, pg. 283, 2009).  Teenagers want to have some control within their lives but also seek approval from their peers and society.  When adolescents do not feel good about themselves, they may withdrawal from their surroundings and suffer in silence. 

Especially in American society, where we are surrounded by beautiful, thin people.  It is sad to admit that we are engrained to think only tall and thin people can be considered beautiful.  We need to continue to emphasize in schools and at home that we must embrace our differences.  However, this view will not be accepted until our society changes the requirements for models, actors/actresses, and so on. 

Do you think classes talking about the negative side effects of eating disorders in classes and/or the importance for accepting yourself would improve these statistics or cause adolescents to hide their insecurities even more?  Would a requirement of being involved in a program outside of school help decrease insecurities?  These programs could involve art, sports, theater, whatever students are interested in.

Drop out rates In American Cities

By EmilyM on March 29, 2010 5:57 PM | 1 Comment

            What are you going to do with your life? How are you going to get there? Why? These are questions that are presented to teens of all ages, backgrounds, socioeconomic status, and race are presented with all over the country. But what are the answers to these questions? Do these answers matter if our basic education is not being delivered?  Due to the recent publicity of high school drop out rates in American I came to ask myself why high school students drop out. Many of the ninth graders will express their desire to attend a college, or have a career; but why do they not succeed. There are many hypotheses' that elaborate on this idea, and president Obama actually has a working goal to solve this problem.  Personally I think motivation could be behind this idea. Motivation of the teachers, students and their parents could be the reason,

            In the article listed at the bottom of the page discusses the problems faced in our country with not only drop out rates but also the idea of students graduating when expected.  This article looks at the potential problems that could elicit this behavior of dropping out focusing on city school. The article states that there is a 50-50 chance of a student graduating on time in a city school-fewer than 40 percent of the largest city school district are graduating their students on time; Baltimore-38.5 percent, New York- 38.9 percent, and Detroit 21.7 percent. Personally I feel as though this could be caused by the attention to teaching stypes that we discusses in class. If we remember back to the movie we were to watch a couple weeks ago "Stand and Deliver" we observed some teachers that weren't dedicated to altering their teaching styles in order to meet the needs of the students. What is your opinion as to why the graduation rate is so low in American cities and continuing to fall as we speak?

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-20-dropout-rates_x.htm

Teen Gets Abortion With Help of Her Seattle High School

By Brianna on March 25, 2010 4:09 PM | 0 Comments
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/teen-abortion-high-school/story?id=10189694

This article was unreal to me when i read it. How could a high school let a student get an abortion in the first place and second without the mothers knowledge?!? The article states that the school and it's health clinic did not break any Washington laws, which was surprising to me also.  To me this is just teaching the students that their actions have no consequence and that if they have a problem they do not even have to discuss it with their parents. I do not know how the school could even possibly think this was okay. To me the health center at this school is just helping teens to do things without the consent of their parents.

What do you think about this article? Should the school have the right to let students get abortions, even without consent of a parent?

Senioritis, are there any cures?

By Percillia on March 11, 2010 4:23 PM | 3 Comments

"Senioritis, from the word senior plus the suffix -itis (which refers to inflammation but in colloquial speech is assumed to mean an illness), is a colloquial term used in the United States to describe the decreased motivation toward studies displayed by students who are nearing the end of their high school, college and graduate school careers"(Wikipedia).

 

I don't know about you but I sure had a bad case of senioritis when I was in high school, and even now in my last year here at UNI I am having a relapse, all the symptoms are coming back and I have found myself with an almost more severe case. So I am wondering where my motivation went, and if schools have an answer for their students who suffer from the same condition.

 

Here is an article about a medical school that has realized that students can have trouble with motivation during their final year in classes. They stated in the article that making the fourth year for medical students more of an option should be up for debate. Now they spend their fourth year not on learning anything medical related, but more of a general education year. What do you think about this? Would you want medical students to have the optional fourth year? Or would you want them to be required and maybe not put as much effort into their studies?

 

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/25/fourthyear

Students rally at state capitol for a better education

By Andrea Vignovich on March 11, 2010 2:20 PM | 3 Comments
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/03/11/hundreds-of-students-rally-lawmakers-save-our-schools/

This article is from the Des Moines Register and covers the rally of Des Moines area students at the state capitol on March 11th. The article states that roughly 500 students used their day off from school to hold a rally in support of funding education for the arts at the capitol. The students played as loud as they could in the middle of the building and to get the attention of state lawmakers. They demanded that they would not be overlooked, and they weren't. The goal was to persuade lawmakers to give arts education the same amount of money that it has used to grow over the past couple of years. Since the budget cuts are so large and affecting nearly every area of the state budget students, teachers, and parents are banning together to make sure they are not on the chopping block. If funding gets cut the cost for schools to continue educating the arts skyrockets to $70 million dollars annually. No school in the Des Moines area, or the state for that matter, can afford to keep the arts alive at that cost.

I thought the rally was actually really cool. Especially that the students would take their free day to protest, it really shows how important it is to them. What do you think?

KC School District Closures

By KShipley on March 11, 2010 12:43 PM | 0 Comments
The Kansas City, MO school district announced this morning that the plan to close almost half of its schools passed the school board vote.  The school district, which is on the brink of bankruptcy, will close 29 of its 61 schools.  These closures will cost 700 jobs, including 285 teachers.  This will leave 18,000 students to attend 32 schools that may be k-12.  The major restructuring is causing many angry parents to speak out and consider home schooling.
Teachers are also feeling the heat, because many of the teachers will be required to reapply for their jobs.  
The closure and combining of schools is something that we are familiar with here in Iowa - with many of the smaller schools being consolidated into larger schools to help delegate resources.  In KC, however, this may cause schools to become considerably larger.  The students will be in schools that have a higher student:teacher ratio.  
Considering the information pertaining to motivating students by having an autonomy-supportive environment and well as a competence supportive environment this consolidation may be worse for the students that believed.  With less time to devote to students, teachers will be unable to take the time to provide rationales, accept negative affect, use informational language, and nurture inner motivational resources.  The students will have lower perceived levels of autonomy.  In addition, schools that put this much pressure on their faculty will have less ability to support competence.  The teachers will have to teach to a wider range of abilities due to the large class sizes so there will little opportunity for optimal challenge.

What do you think of the consolidation of schools?  
To learn more about the specifics in KC, check out this article.

Defunding education

By Andrea Vignovich on March 4, 2010 4:53 PM | 0 Comments
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/day-of-action-update-rowd_n_486276.html

This article talks about a campus protest that took place on March 4th on most campuses of the University of California.  Similar protests were also planned to be held in New York, Alabama, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Michigan. The protests took place on behalf of the rising tension surrounding the funding decreases but tuition increases on college campuses across the nation. In this particular situation the state funding has been cut by 20%. The reduction in funding is causing an obvious increase in students tuition. One student commented that their paycheck is shrinking while their tuition is increasing, which creates an obvious problem. "We're on of the largest economies in the world, yet we can't fund the basics. We are throwing away an entire generation of students." Stated one of the protesters.

UNI has obviously increased tuition since we have been here. There has also been a pay reduction for professors. As well as a substantial cut in state funding. So, though this protest didn't happen here, it certainly hits close to home. How do you guys feel about it?

Does 'No Child Left Behind' stifle autonomy?

By jbob on February 25, 2010 4:10 PM | 0 Comments
In this youtube clip, President Obama (the then Senator), addresses some restrictive policies that underlie the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, enacted by former President Bush. Prior to his presidency, Obama proposes some structural modifications to the Act. First, he asserts how the assessment plans for NCLB are inadequate and lack the teacher input. Consequently, the teachers themselves are unaware of the specific conditions and terms that underpin this policy. Then, he questions the true standardized requirements for varying schools across the states, and how there is bound to be (and already is) a divide among states for test results. Such high measures are established a priori, but so many schools are provided with insufficient resources to produce higher results, based upon the standards already in place. Thus, instead of formatting schools so that they meet a comprehensive score, each school should be monitored throughout the year in different intervals, meeting more minimal and realistic goals. Obama argues that we should recognize the differences in cognitive abilities across the states, and not set up these schools with such a policy that will doom them to failure, or so that they need to dumb down their standards just to meet a goal, however reaching that goal might be.

As a result of implementing more standardized test measures by which these schools must abide, other resources, such as the arts and music, are slowing disintegrating from within. The textbook defines autonomy as "the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one's behaviors." Schools should be a place in which students learn to foster their creativity and autonomy in certain aspects of their lives. If we are establishing policies that force students to take rigorous exams and cut out music and the arts, then where does that leave the students? It inevitably leads to to follow those strict rules, and inhibits their potential for pursuing domains that could allow them to flourish. We are by no means given decision-making flexibility in that systematic orientation of building a well-rounded self, as the school systems should be doing.

The main issue is that it is so difficult to administer other forms of intelligence tests that are not quantitative, objective, or standardized. Individuals might picture his or her as a disproportionate hierarchical system, with absolutely no flexibility to decide his or her educational path. As Obama mentioned in the clip, teachers had no input in this policy, so their autonomous qualities as teachers were compromised and disregarded. Although the educational system must adhere to some basic level of routine and structure, it all boils down to providing students with a genuine choice, and encouraging everybody's state of autonomy and intellectual freedom.

In what ways do you think schools could promote autonomy? Do you think the educational system could somehow effectively tap into intelligence without the use standardized testing?

Parent notification policies for underage drinking

By Natalie on February 25, 2010 11:19 AM | 2 Comments
I found an article that discusses how many universities have taken up new policies with regard to informing parents about their children's underage drinking.  They stated that most colleges will alert parents for major problems, such as being hospitalized or taken to the police station, however they do not involve parents for minor transgressions such as being caught with alcohol in their dorm.  Some schools have decided to inform parents of every alcohol or drug related issue that involves underage students.  Their reasoning behind this is that alcohol abuse on campuses has become a major issue and they feel that parental intervention could be one way to prevent it.  Many students simply do not agree with this policy.  

I don't know about you, but I would have been very scared to be caught underage drinking if I knew the school would notify my parents.  My parent's and I have a very open relationship and they pretty much know what I do, but they would be very disappointed if they received a letter or phone call from the school.  I think that this is pretty normal and I think a lot of people would greater fear the negative repercussions of underage drinking if their parents were involved.  

I think that the greater problem here is people's motivation to not only drink, but to actually abuse alcohol.  The percentage of people on campuses that do abuse alcohol is actually much smaller than what many people think.  I think that a lot of times the media and even peers make excessive drinking seem very normal and like it is something that "everyone is doing", however this is not necessarily the case.  It is important to change people's perceptions of drinking to reduce the cases of serious alcohol problems.  

This relates to the idea of cognitive dissonance, if people's beliefs of student's drinking activities do not match their actions they will become very uncomfortable with their actions.  Therefore, if people did not have the idea that everyone was out drinking every weekend they would probably not be as likely to engage in this sort of behavior.  

The idea of including parents in student drinking is something that may or may not be effective.  This idea is assuming that every student would be extrinsically motivated not to drink based on fear of negative repercussions from their parents, however the negative repercussions already exist in the form of trouble with school and law enforcement.  The fact is not that student's do not fear getting in trouble, this is simply not enough motivation for them not to engage in their illegal activities because the chance of getting caught is just that, a chance.  Many student's that take the chance of drinking underage are not influenced by extrinsic factors, such as getting caught.  Their motivation likely lies within themselves and therefore change needs to be based on internal factors, not external such as calling mommy and daddy. 

So I wonder, what could schools do to intrinsically motivate students not to engage in these dangerous activities? My advise would be to change their perception of the amount of student's drinking, but I wonder what else could be done? 

Here's the link if you would like to read the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/23/AR2010022302195.html

Inspiring children to do good

By Andrea Vignovich on February 24, 2010 7:16 PM | 0 Comments
http://www.ted.com/talks/kiran_bir_sethi_teaches_kids_to_take_charge.html

Last week I commented on a post that focused on the website ted.com. This week I decided to go back to ted.com and see what I could find. The video that stuck out to me is the one I posted above. In the video Kiran Bri Sethi, an Indian school teacher, discusses a way to blur the lines between education and the real world. She suggests that if you teach the children through experience then they will comprehend what was learned and incorporate it into their lives outside of school. The first example she showed was having her children make small utensils all day. In her own words "they worked until their backs were broken, then they understood that child labor was unacceptable." The children took the knowledge that they had freshly obtained and translated it into their community. The children are shown advocating the importance of abolishing child labor to the adults in the community. Kiran Bri Sethi and her students decided it was time to show the rest of the schools and the rest of the community how much of a difference this type of learning can make. They marched into city buildings and took the town by storm. The city ended up closing down the busiest streets for a day each month in order to allow for children to play. The children were alloted an enormous amount of space to put on plays and use their imagination. Soon the community decided it was time to show all of India all of the power that this idea was made of. It was looked at foolishly by many school teachers. However, children embraced the idea of making a difference. In the end, all that was needed was the drive of the children. They held auctions, went door to door, and did anything that they needed to do to show that they could make a difference and would be heard. And they were. The non-believers were put to shame, they only had one question left. How are the students preforming on paper?

It turns out that the children that were involved in the program had better grades that those that were not in the program. Not only were they doing good, they were doing well. Which is just about all that a parent, educator, or citizen can ask of the children that are the future of their country.

Obviously, we are all in a class that integrates learning into our lives in a way that most of our other classes have not. So, we have all experienced a dramatic shift in types of education. How did this video make you feel? Do you think that this class, like the classes in India, blurs the line between an educational institution and the real world? Though, we are not preforming the same "do good" activities that the children in India are preforming, and I'm rather certain that Cedar Falls does not intend on closing down Hudson Road so that we can all bounce of a trampoline for the day, I still feel like the point of our hybrid classes are to learn more about how the real world reflects what we are learning.

Rewards

By Maggi on February 18, 2010 4:13 PM | 0 Comments

I have recently been observing a class at Taft Alternative, which is a section of Taft Middle School in Cedar Rapids. The children who are part of Taft Alternative all have behavioral problems, are disruptive in class, and most have been diagnosed with some form of ADHD. The main focus of the teachers in this section is to help the students better control their behavior. This being said, half of the students grades are based upon their behavior throughout the day. Each student has a points sheet that ranges from 0 to 50 (50 being the best behavior and 0 the worst). Throughout the day the teachers give students points based on their behavior in the class. Points may be deducted because of inattention, disruption, yelling, swearing, etc. Points may also be given if the student volunteers in the various programs at Taft. If a student gains enough points, they will then receive 'money' to spend in the school store on different objects like pens, erasers, and so on.

 

Chapter 5 of the textbook discusses extrinsic rewards. The author mentions that in school-based studies rewards distract students' attention towards the reward rather than the material being learned. Also, when the rewards stop a person has trouble regulating that behavior. With this information, does offering rewards in Taft Alternative make sense? From what I have observed, I do not think that the rewards are very effective. Students are not troubled by a low points sheet and do not really seem to work towards getting points.

 

What are some ways the teachers may be able to motivate the students to have better behavior? Should Taft Alternative completely remove the points system, revise it, or keep it the way it is?

 

Interview with Susan Klebold- Mother of Columbine Killer

By Jaclyn on February 11, 2010 2:16 PM | 2 Comments

I was read this article in the Oprah Magazine by Susan Klebold- the mother of Dylan Klebold who, along side another, killed and injured many people at their high school.  The story itself is extremely interesting-- Susan goes into details about Dylans life before the shooting, starting with being a toddler.  She stated everything seemed to be pretty normal until high school when he started withdrawaling (something a lot of teenagers do).  There home never had any guns and the Susan quotes "In raising Dylan, I taught him how to protect himself from a host of dangers: lightning, snake bites, head injuries, skin cancer, smoking, drinking, sexually transmitted diseases... it never occurred to me that the gravest danger- to him and, as it turned out, to so many others- might come from within".  This article really gave me chills, because although this happened some time ago, its absolutely crazy to think that 2 people could have this much power to do something so horrible.  Susan also goes into the hurt of how the media mainly blamed Dylans family for raising him the wrong way.  This really quite frankly pissed me off.  I do believe nurture has an effect on people, but this was a normal family that the media started ripping apart.  Susan goes on to say even "Our elected officials stated publically that bad parenting was the cause of the massacre".  That may have been what people thought and they have the right to voice their own opinions, but they need to know background information before making a claim like that.  I really appreciate the article, becasue Susan covers many different things involving their family, their story during and after this tragedy, but also goes into how suicidal thoughts can affect a person and how she supports suicidal research and encouraging responsible prevention and awareness practices as well as support for survivors. 

The article states there are roughly 33,000 suicides in the US every year.  It's estimated 1-2% of those suicides involve the killing of an additional person/people. 

In chapter 15 of the text, it is mentioned that there are two kinds of definition one can have regarding themself.  Self-Definition and Social Definition.  Self Definition is as explained as someone who resists any external definitions of themselves and rely mainly on themselves.  Social Definition is defined as someone who accepts external definitions of themselves.  This can be connected with Dylan in many ways.  Susan explains what police found when they searched the house-- many pages of journals claiming how alienated he felt and out of place he was.  I think its VERY common among adolescents to socially define themselves, because that's what they know at that point.  Also in this chapter they discuss finding value systems, that if parents do not provide a child with this, they will find it elsewhere.  Dylans partner in crime, Eric, was said to have a bad influence on Dylan from the day they had met.  I dont believe it was the parents' fault, but I think this was a result from Dylan pushing away form his parents like normal teenagers do.  So he confided in Eric and came up with this plan of murder and suicide. 

The article was extremely interesting, some parts were sad but I believe the end of the article brought everything into perspective.  It's a really great article (although a little long) but it was still worth it.  Check it out!

http://www.oprah.com/world/Susan-Klebolds-O-Magazine-Essay-I-Will-Never-Know-Why

Columbine: Why did the killers do it?

By Natalie on January 28, 2010 4:46 PM | 3 Comments
There have been a lot of different speculations as to why Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris committed the crimes at Columbine High School.  However, this is one of the first articles I have found outlining psychological reasoning behind their actions.  I actually wrote my book report on the motivation behind Columbine, however I did not focus on the boy's psychological problems.  I did find this very interesting, but I think it's important to remember that this is only one opinion and not necessarily fact. 

http://www.slate.com/id/2099203/
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