Tag Archive for education

Do You Kiva or PayPal?

May 7, 2019 Comments Off on Do You Kiva or PayPal?

You know what PayPal is, but how about Kiva? It’s an organization that gives micro-loans to people all over the world, loans that educate children, start or grow small businesses, advance health–all sorts of things. But all loans contribute to the well being of families and whole towns or villages. You choose which of the hundreds of people to use your money for a little while.

Yes, you get your money back! This is a real loan.

Right now, for a limited time, your $25 loan to Kiva, paid through PayPal, gives you an additional $25 to invest in another person or family. PayPay kicks in $25 for every $25 you loan through Kiva.


Try it. Go to www.Kiva.org and lend. Then wait for notices from Kiva about the person or group you selected and watch as your money is repaid.

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You’ve Come a Long Way, Lady….

March 8, 2016 Comments Off on You’ve Come a Long Way, Lady….

[Although this was sent out, at least in part, as a self-promotion for a group called “Credo” (I’ve left off the parts that do that), it offer some interesting end encouraging facts about progress women are making…some things to celebrate on this International Women’s Day, and some things to continue working toward.]

Recognizing Progress, Working for True Equality

Women are getting an education. Worldwide, girls now enroll in primary school at almost the same rate as boys. And national constitutions adopted since 1995 are more likely to ensure equality in education for girls than those adopted before—86% vs. 50%. However, educational opportunities for girls lag far behind in parts of the world, and women make up two-thirds of the world’s illiterate.

Women are a boost for business. Women are receiving recognition for their contributions to the places they work. Research shows companies with three or more women in senior management do better in all facets of organizational effectiveness.  Yes, the pay gap continues.

Women are a critical force for peace. Research shows that when women are involved in the peacemaking process, the chance of lasting peace dramatically increases. However, they are often left out of the process.

Women are safer in pregnancy. Maternal mortality has dropped by at least 40% in 76 countries, thanks to better access to prenatal care, fewer unsafe abortions and better family planning. Yet many women around the world still lack reproductive healthcare.

Women are leaders. Almost twice as many women hold political office today than did 20 years ago, but the total numbers are still far too low.

[You’ve come a long way, Lady, but still have far to go.]

 

 

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The Pleasure of Loaning Money

October 20, 2015 Comments Off on The Pleasure of Loaning Money

I love it when I receive another payment from a loan I made.  My latest is from a family man in Kanese, Uganda.  My big loan was $25.  It’s to send his kids to school.  He works hard at his job, plus farming on the side to add to his income.  He dreams of a better future for his kids, and he knows that education, although costly, is their path to that future.

He’s one of a bunch of people I give micro loans to through KIVA.  Some are people on the other side of the earth, some are in the good US of A.  All are people that KIVA has vetted as having a true need and a determination to repay the loan.  My $25 is added to similar loans to get to the needed amount.  Over the months, I receive updates on how the person is doing.  I get payments, too, until the loan is totally paid off.  At that point, I can get my $25 back, or I can invest it in someone else.  I’m sure you can guess which choice I always make.

I’ve even given a loan in someone else’s name, as a gift.  (Christmas is coming….)

Find out more about this life-changing program by going to http://www.kiva.org.

This is Janakason, at a rare time when he isn’t working.

 

 

 

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Immigrants, English, and Crime

September 22, 2015 Comments Off on Immigrants, English, and Crime

Immigrants refuse to learn English, our national language, and cause greatly increased crime in our neighborhoods.  We hear this all the time.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine have completed a two-year study of 41 million immigrants to the U.S., and, yes, they included the 11 million who are not here legally. Their report is an eye-opener.  You can read about it at the Omaha News/Nation.  Here’s the upshot, though: today’s immigrants are assimilating rapidly into our country, learning English as soon as they can, getting an education, finding jobs, advancing in careers, and–here’s the kicker– they’re not as likely to commit crimes as the rest of us American citizens.

Gives us something to chew on, doesn’t it?

 

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How Prop. 13 is Harming California

August 19, 2015 Comments Off on How Prop. 13 is Harming California

No, I’m not talking about Grandma’s home, which, thanks to Prop. 13, is secure even though she’s on limited income.  I’m talking about how corporations are benefiting from that 1978 proposition while small businesses and the rest of us are suffering with greatly decreased public services, including education.

Robert Reich has a short, yet clear, explanation of what is happening.  It’s worth the three minutes it will take you to view it.

Do you have a statute like California’w Proposition 13 in your state?

Go to Make It Fair California —

(https://www.facebook.com/MakeItFairCA/videos/1641088839470558).

 

 

 

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The Royalty of Children

May 5, 2015 Comments Off on The Royalty of Children

As we greet the new royal child, let’s think about how we can protect ALL the children of the world.  This little potential future queen—as well as our two American princesses—will never face hunger, homelessness, exploitation, or death by diseases that are virtually unknown in most of the world.  They won’t have to work long hours in the field before even their tenth birthday to help support their families.  For a certainty, they will have the opportunity for a first-rate education and be able to pass on their good fortune to their own children.

Not all babies are born into that world.  Many, many face abject poverty, malnutrition, and illiteracy.  Those who do survive to have families of their own will pass those conditions on to their children as their only possible legacy.

Those of us who are in a position to do something about the futures of these children must actually do something.  If we have the means, we can donate funds to organizations, here and abroad, that fight poverty, feed the hungry, and educate all the children.  We can volunteer as baby-rockers in at-risk hospital nurseries; aides for teachers of limited-English-speaking classes; tutors for underachieving students or those locked away at Juvenile Hall.  We can visit a museum, art gallery, zoo, tech museum, or the like, taking with us a child of parents struggling to find jobs or working several jobs to meet the bills.  We can invite a latch-key child to help make a double batch of cookies or casserole, and send half of it home with the young cook to show off to the family.  We can do…a million little things that will make a difference in a young life, things that will make a lasting impression, build his or her self-esteem, teach a concept or a skill, and, therefore, provide a step toward a better life than the child might have had.

After all, isn’t each child a royal child?

 

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Kids’ Shame; Education’s Friend

September 5, 2014 Comments Off on Kids’ Shame; Education’s Friend

A Florida girl was pulled from class and reprimanded for wearing a too-short skirt, violating the school’s dress code.  To continue going to class, she was made to change into what her mom calls a “shame suit”: over-sized sweat pants and a bright yellow tee shirt, both saying “Dress Code Violation.”  Feeling humiliated, she asked to call her mom, who became as upset as her daughter.

The school claims that this was her choice since she could have taken in-school suspension or had her parents called to bring her more appropriate clothing. The girl claimed no knowledge of those other choices, even though they’re written into the dress code that every student and parent should have read.

I can’t help wondering if there was a fourth choice. In my more permissive high-school-teaching days, I remember watching parents drop off fresh-scrubbed kids dressed in nice outfits.  Once on campus, these girls met up with friends. Together, they went to their locker to retrieve “school clothes”–short skirts/shorts, tight/skimpy tops, jeans two sizes too small, etc.  And the make-up bag.  When they emerged from the bathroom, ready for a day at school, their appearance had drastically changed.  The clothes they’d worn to school (and would be put back on–and faces scrubbed–before heading home) spent the day in their lockers.

The fourth option, then, might have been a trip to the girl’s locker and a quick change.

A lesson I’d learned back then, as I vainly tried teaching English to teenaged males with their tongues hanging out and their eyes firmly fixed on what the girls had on display, was that a reasonable dress code is Education’s Friend.

 

 

 

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Kids are Graduating!

May 7, 2014 Comments Off on Kids are Graduating!

Great news!  We’re closing in on a 90% graduation rate. The National Center for Education Statics has reported that we’re at a never-before-reached 81% and climbing, with 90% quite attainable by 2020. Some states are already there.  Read more about this in the article at Time.com.

I’m excited because of my belief that education is the cornerstone for building a healthy, vibrant society.  Education parts the forbidding seas of lack of employment opportunities, ignorant discrimination, inequality, and poverty.  It puts otherwise wasted brain-power and creativity to work in ways that benefit the whole society.  It opens individual lives to the wonder of the world.  Education can’t actually save our country or the world, but it’s certainly a giant step in that direction.

 

 

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Two Kinds of Education

September 12, 2013 Comments Off on Two Kinds of Education

“There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.”  (John Adams)

(Now, there’s a Thursday thought.)prgrsvimghttp://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4589143652434298&w=207&h=207&c=8&pid=3.1&qlt=90&rm=2

 

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