Scipolicy.net

University rankings used to take into account little more than the obvious factors: grants, research facilities, professorships, and the average success of its graduates, financial or otherwise. These days, the judges are looking at yet another facet: student diversity. Demographics have come to mean more than skin colors in the classroom; indeed, how diverse your school is can have an impact on your eventual job opportunities.

Accessible technology, fast travel, and an increasingly “flat” global marketplace have made it a must to be able to interact in different environments with different people. In other words, if you went to school with people from all over the world, you’ve got an edge over a graduate whose school has less student variety. It’s not quite as telling as your grades or your experience, but in a job market dominated by global-minded companies (or companies that like to think they are), it’s a plus that’s worth looking into.

The Society for Human Resource Management, a professional association based in Virginia, reports that 69% of American companies put a premium on diversity. Among other things, this means that they make it a point to ensure that all employees are able to take in different cultural backgrounds. If it isn’t already, in the next few years it might be quite common for interviewers to bring up school diversity when screening candidates.

So what exactly constitutes diversity? To be considered diverse, a college or university should aim to take in students from a broad range of …

written by madamejune

The typical college graduate exits school with bleak job prospects, no thanks to a tanking economy. No wonder so many people are looking into graduate school; if there are no good jobs to be had, might as well use the time to make themselves more hireable. The catch, of course, is that university doesn’t come cheap—and most graduates are already burdened with student debt to begin with.

One attractive solution is to look abroad. There’s little doubt that American and British universities are among the world’s best, but they are notoriously expensive. Other countries have equally strong yet much more accessible educational systems—the kind that lets you pay your tuition in full, with more than enough left for food, rent, and even a little travel. Here are some places you may want to look.

Spain (and the Hispanosphere)
A full-time graduate program at a Spanish university can cost around $2,000 a year, roughly a fifth of what you would pay in the U.S. The University of Barcelona and the University of Madrid are among the best in the country. In South America, the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil is a consistent top-notcher; in Mexico, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is a source of international acclaim. These schools are especially strong in history and the social sciences, and are fairly open to interdisciplinary interests.

France
The French take pride in their intellectual culture, and they have the educational tools to prove it. Foreign grad students pay as little …

written by madamejune

It’s a daunting task for parents to take their children’s education into their own hands. But more and more people are doing it: about 2 million students in North America are homeschooled, and that’s only counting those whose parents have registered their kids with school boards. The real number could be a lot bigger. But what makes parents decide to homeschool their children?

The reasons vary from the practical, such as the lengthy trip to school and the constant threat of teacher strikes, to situation-specific, as is the case with children who show promise in art, sports, or other areas outside the curriculum. Some parents simply enjoy the experience and want to monitor their child’s progress with things other than grades. There’s no universal rule as to whether or not a child should be homeschooled—it’s a decision that should take into account several factors, including the child’s learning style, the parents’ commitment, and the many implications it can have for the child’s future.

The first thing you should ask yourself is whether you have the time and energy for homeschooling. It takes more than a couple of hours of spelling and math on the kitchen table; you need to follow a curriculum, prepare lessons, give and grade assignments. You should also be careful not to take the ‘home’ in homeschooling too seriously: a child needs to get out of the home and learn from things other than schoolbooks. Trips to the park, museums, and local libraries are essential to rounding …

written by madamejune

Much as we’d like to believe otherwise, some kids are born luckier than others. Studies have consistently shown that children enter school with different strengths and weaknesses, and some strengths, such as math and spelling skills, just happen to be more desirable and measurable than, say, social skills.

Grades aren’t everything

So how do you manage kids with different strengths in the classroom, or even at home? Experts agree that it starts with looking beyond grades. It’s long been known that grades aren’t a good indicator of ability or effort. A child who gets a C after hours of studying deserves just as much credit as one who coasts through school with straight A’s. Parents and teachers should reward not the grade, but the achievement.

Set different goals

The easiest way to do this is to set individual goals. If getting A’s is easy for one child, give him or her a goal that helps them work on a weakness; for example, teachers can monitor relationships with peers and reward them for making more friends during the school year. Likewise, if a child is actively involved in school plays but works only hard enough to get a C, a more appropriate goal would be to move that up to a B, because getting the lead role would not be much of a challenge. In other words, schools and homes need to accept that a one-size-fits-all approach to education doesn’t work.

Offer realistic rewards

Another common false assumption is that all …

written by madamejune

Physical therapy assistants are one of the many allied healthcare jobs on the rise in the face of high demand for medical care. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in this field is expected to grow above the average rate, and qualified workers have excellent job prospects. The median wage in 2008 was $46,146 per year, with the highest bracket earning upwards of $63,000. The lowest earners were paid around $28,000 that year.

As the name suggests, a physical therapy assistant helps a physical therapist deliver services to patients. This can involve teaching patients how to use support devices, offering tips on rehabilitative exercise, and administering procedures such as electrical stimulation and massage. They also record patient progress and responses, and write up reports for the therapist. This sets them apart from physical therapist aides, who do mostly physical work (such as transporting patients between rooms) and clerical work (such as answering phones and distributing forms).

In most areas, physical therapist assistants are legally required to have at least an associate degree in the field. The program takes about two years and includes a mix of on-the-job experience and academic courses. Students learn anatomy, physiology, and psychology alongside general education courses such as English and algebra. Hands-on training requires clinical work, where students are introduced to first aid, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, and emergency field treatment. They are also taught on-the-job skills such as interpersonal relations and counseling.

Physical therapy assistant schools are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation …

written by madamejune

written by The Scientist

written by The Scientist

written by The Scientist

written by The Scientist

written by The Scientist