明星与政治

Bono vs.Pretty Much Eyerything博诺vs .几乎每件事Bono befriends O’Neill and Ghana President JohnKufuor. His Case:You name it,he’s trying to fix it:hunger,education,health care,orphans,whatever makes peopleunhappy;lately,he's pushing debt relief for the ThirdWorld nations and stopping the spread of AIDS in Africa.     

Some practical limits of curriculum vocationalization as a remedy to school leavers' unemployment: Focus on Malawi

The article argues, in relation to Malawi, that curriculum vocationalization of general academic education as a ploy for solving school leavers' unemployment seems more of a myth than a practical reality. In that vocational education costs twice as much as general education, and bearing in mind that there are a number of partially or indeed unmet basic human needs, Malawi may not have enough resources to effectively vocationalize given her relative poverty. And even if there were enough resources, emerging evidence suggests that schools can prepare their pupils for the labour market only to a limited degree because of the variety and frequent changes of occupations. Accordingly, the paper concludes that vocational training should be left to specialist institutions outside general education, and should be employment-based as far as possible.

---

Zusammenfassung Der Artikel argumentiert, daß in Bezug auf Malawi die berufliche Orientierung des Curriculums der allgemeinen akademischen Bildung als Lösung für die Arbeitslosigkeit von Schulabgängern eher einen Mythos als eine praktische Realität darstellt. Darin kostet Berufsbildung doppelt soviel wie die allgemeine Bildung, und wenn man bedenkt, daß es eine ganze Reihe von teilweise oder überhaupt nicht erfüllten menschlichen Grundbedürfnissen gibt, könnten die Ressourcen Malawis nicht ausreichend sein, um dem Curriculum in Anbetracht der relativen Armut wirkungsvoll einen beruflichen Schwerpunkt zu verleihen. Selbst wenn es genügend Ressourcen gäbe, gibt es neuerdings Anzeichen dafür, daß die Schule ihre Schüler auf Grund der Vielfalt und häufigen Veränderungen der Berufszweige nur bedingt auf den Arbeitsmarkt vorbereiten kann. Dementsprechend schließt der Artikel mit dem Argument, daß berufliche Fortbildung speziellen Einrichtungen außerhalb der allgemeinen Bildung überlassen und so weit wie möglich berufsorientiert sein sollte.

---

Résumé L'article suggère, sur l'exemple du Malawi, qu'une orientation professionnelle des curriculums dans l'éducation générale supérieure en tant que moyen pour résoudre le chômage des professionnels débutants est davantage un mythe qu'une réalité pratique. Dans la mesure où la formation professionnelle coûte deux fois plus que la formation générale, et sans oublier que trop de besoins fondamentaux ne sont que partiellement ou nullement satisfaits, les ressources du Malawi pourraient être insuffisantes en regard à sa relative pauvreté pour donner avec efficacité un accent professionnel à son système éducatif. Supposant même qu'il en serait le cas, les faits démontrent que les écoles ne peuvent préparer leurs élèves que de façon limitée au marché du travail, en raison de la diversité des formations et du changement fréquent d'activité. L'article conclut donc par l'assertion que la formation professionnelle devrait être confiée à des institutions spécialisées distinctes de celles de la formation générale, et réalisée autant que possible dans les entreprises.

     

Accounting for Model Uncertainty in the Prediction of University Graduation Rates

Empirical analysis requires researchers to choose which variables to use as controls in their models. Theory should dictate this choice, yet often in social science there are several theories that may suggest the inclusion or exclusion of certain variables as controls. The result of this is that researchers may use different variables in their models and come to disparate conclusions with respect to predicted effects and their statistical significance. In such cases one is uncertain of which particular set of regressors forms the model that represents the data. The approach used below accounts for uncertainty in variable selection by using Bayesian model averaging (BMA). Accounting for uncertainty, we demonstrate that BMA provides better out-of-sample prediction for university graduation rates than results based on alternative variable selection methods.     

Examining the Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Student Motivation

Parent involvement has a sound research base attesting to the many potential benefits it can offer in education. However, student motivation as an academic outcome of parental involvement has only recently been investigated. The purpose of this article is to show how parent involvement is related to students motivation. Studies of students from the elementary school to high school show a beneficial relationship between parental involvement and the following motivational constructs: school engagement, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, perceived competence, perceived control, self-regulation, mastery goal orientation, and motivation to read. From the synthesis of the parent involvement and motivation literature, we offer potential explanations for their relationship. Directions for areas of continued research are also presented.     

DIAGNOSING AND TREATING THE PROBLEMS OF ABLE MALADJUSTED CHILDREN

Current research demonstrates that maladjusted children can be treated successfully if skilled and timely help is brought to bear on their needs. The methods used to assist in this programme of rehabilitation and sometimes prevention of maladjustment are delineated in the paper. Of the 100 children treated to date, 90% achieved higher levels of performance in school and later in society and, most especially, vocationally. Of the 100 able children who acted as a control group, only 20% achieved such success. Many became maladjusted adults and in some areas also suffered from difficulties with personal relationships, including a lack of success in their marriage and in parenting.     

Distributional effects of educational improvements: Are we using the wrong model?

Measuring the incidence of public spending in education requires an intergenerational framework distinguishing between what current and future generations—that is, parents and children—give and receive. In standard distributional incidence analysis, households are assumed to receive a benefit equal to what is spent on their children enrolled in the public schooling system and, implicitly, to pay a fee proportional to their income. We show that, in an intergenerational framework, this is equivalent to assuming perfectly altruistic individuals, in the sense of the dynastic model, and perfect capital markets. But in practice, credit markets are imperfect and poor households cannot borrow against the future income of their children. We show that under such circumstances, standard distributional incidence analysis may greatly over-estimate the progressivity of public spending in education: educational improvements that are progressive in the long-run steady state may actually be regressive for the current generation of poor adults. This is especially true where service delivery in education is highly inefficient—as it is in poor districts of many developing countries—so that the educational benefits received are relatively low in comparison with the cost of public spending. Our results have implications for both policy measures and analytical approaches.     

Exploring youth engagement in agricultural development: the case of farmers’ children in the Philippines as rice crop manager infomediaries

Purpose: This paper explores the intersections between community development and youth development in an initiative that mobilized farmers’ children as Rice Crop Manager (RCM) infomediaries (information mediators). RCM is an ICT-enabled nutrient management application.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study engaged 30 farmers’ children in high school level from the provinces of Pangasinan, Isabela, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Bukidnon, and Davao del Norte from November 2016 to October 2017. They interacted with the research team (the authors) and the RCM-SMS platform that sends text messages regarding fertilizer recommendations. A staff member from the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) also called the students for some follow-up questions. The research team conducted three rounds of interviews with the students concerning the messages and calls that they received and what they did with the information.

Findings: This study finds that farmers’ children can perform infomediary roles quite effectively. Academically excellent children and those involved in farm work performed best.

Practical Implications: The study provides guidance on similar initiatives tapping young people in agricultural development.

Theoretical Implications: This paper finds that while Community Youth Development (CYD) Theory provides a powerful lens in understanding community and youth development intersections, some identified outcomes may overlap and may not be very easy to observe. Hence, the identified outcomes may be revisited for clarity and to make them more all-encompassing.

Originality/Value: The paper documents actual parent-child interaction when the latter is mobilized to serve as an infomediary to access nutrient management-related information on rice.     

The construct validity of Institutional Commitment: A confirmatory factor analysis

The present study examined the underlying structure of the variable Institutional Commitment by testing for the convergence, or lack thereof, among different indicators of the construct as represented by three theoretical frameworks (Tinto, 1975, 1987; Bean, 1985; Huselid and Day, 1991). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that Institutional Commitment could be decomposed into two multiple indicators of the same latent construct: a general factor that groups items related to institutional quality, practical value of an education, utility of an education, fit between student and institution, and loyalty to the institution and another factor represented by items indicating similarity of values (Affinity of Values). Moreover, the study established the predictive validity of each subcomponent on different outcomes related to student persistence. While Institutional Commitment was found to have a significant direct effect on both students' intents to persist and actual persistence behavior, Affinity of Values was not as equally predictive of measures of student retention.Paper presented before the 1991 ASHE Annual Meeting. Boston, Massachusetts.     

Faculty development in medicine: A field in evolution

This article focuses on the evolution of faculty development in medicine. Of note, improving teaching in medical education is not a new concept. At a minimum, it was seriously discussed by pioneers like George Miller and Steve Abrahamson as early as the 1950s [Simpson & Bland (2002). Stephen Abrahamson, PhD, ScD, educationist: A stranger in a kind of paradise. Advances in Health Science Education Theory Practice, 7, 223–234]. By 2005, significant numbers of medical school faculty have participated in teaching improvement methods [Clark et al. (2004). Teaching the teachers: National survey of faculty development in departments of medicine of US teaching hospitals. Journal General Internal Medicine, 19, 205–14]. Yet, views of the importance and value of faculty development have evolved slowly. Fortunately, we are now in a more receptive era for program developers to assist faculty in their difficult roles.