Bring a sense of spirit to the Humanities part 1

For hundreds of years, from all over the ancient world, kings and commoners traveled to Delphi to ask the Oracle of Apollo about the right course of action – whether to make war or seek peace, whether to marry one person or another.  They brought rich offerings to the god and were sent on their way by the priests with riddling answers.

And yet, over the entrance to the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi was the admonition: "Know Thyself!"  This ancient wisdom suggested that the true oracle lies within.  The answers to the great human questions, public and private, are found not outside us but only through an inner journey of the seeking spirit.  The crucial importance of developing self-knowledge can best be understood in the words of another ancient piece of wisdom: The Hebraic Talmud says, "We do not see things the way they are, we see things the way we are."  In other words, we grind the lenses with which we see the world.

What exactly is the SELF?  Civilized people today generally see themselves in a physical and psychological- religious dimension but remain unconscious of any further aspect of their being.  The question is how we develop deeper insights so that we can acknowledge and integrate intuition, imagination and inspiration into our conscious everyday lives.

Development of such self-knowledge requires being able to learn to have an "open eye".  This is what liberal arts education should teach but most often does not.  The word "Liberal" has the same root as "Liberate."  Liberal Arts should be the study of what leads to freedom, as in "The truth shall set you free."  The purpose of the course is to help free one from traditional programming and become more autonomous and creative.

Soruce: http://www.religioustolerance.org/flaxman01.htm

How to Manage Your Education

I found this post at www.educationnews.org and I was really impressed by its message that sends to us.

The more prestigious the institution, the more independent you need to be. Your lecturers will have better things to do than play nursemaid, writes Paul Bray at the Telegraph.

“You can expect less support from the ‘better’ universities, who expect more from their students,” says Philip Davies, assistant director of higher education at Bournemouth and Poole College.

“Paradoxically, you often get more support and lecturer time as you go down the league table, and the best support is probably found in further education colleges that run degrees, because they specialise in helping less academically minded students.”

“You’re very much expected to organise your own life and manage your own work,” says Rosie Weatherley, president of Keele University Students’ Union, who herself graduated in 2010. “No one will come after you if you don’t hand work in, and the only person who’ll lose out is you.”

The quality of teaching can vary within the same institution, adds Weatherley. Some lecturers are really committed to teaching and their students; others seem to save their enthusiasm for private research.

There’s also a lot of self-study outside lectures and seminars, which takes commitment, dedication, focus and good time management, says Jayson Short, student advice, employability and careers service manager at London South Bank University.

Don’t expect uni to be a part-time occupation, either. Your timetable may appear to have relaxingly large gaps, but fill these with the required amount of private study – which usually exceeds the time spent in lectures and classes – and you’ll probably be working around 30 hours a week. That’s almost equivalent to a full-time job.

“You’re a group of adults who treat each other with mutual respect,” says Weatherley. “There’s also a tacit understanding that it’s not just down to the lecturer to tell you stuff, and that everyone has to contribute.”

Source: http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/159754.html

Me myself teach people to web programming and architecture programs at a study center. I really know what those guys mean. If the student don't really want to learn and he doesn't spend two times more time at home practising and studying all the lectures we have will be for nothing.

Importance of Computer Education

Computers have brought about a revolution across all industries. They have changed the face of society. They are no longer specialized tools to be used by specially trained people. They are ubiquitous and used in almost every sphere of life. Computers are the best means for storage and management of data, they can serve as huge knowledge bases and can be harnessed for all sorts of financial transactions owing to their processing power and storage capacities. As computers are a daily utility, they have gained immense importance in day-to-day life. Their increasing utility has made computer education the need of the day. 

Importance of Computer Education

By computer education, we mean, gaining the know-how of the basic concepts related to a computer and gaining the basic knowledge of computer operation. Knowing about the basic components of a computer, the basic concepts behind the use of computers and the know-how of some of the elementary computer applications constitutes computer education. Learning about the computer basics followed by a practical experience of using a computer is the key to computer education. As computers are widely used today, acquiring computer education is the need of the modern times.

Computers are not only storage devices and processing units, but also are excellent communication media. They are the means to access the Internet and get connected to the world. They are also an effective audio-visual media. Computers can be used to access a vast knowledge base and search for information archives over the Internet. Only computer education can facilitate the use of computers for purposes of communication and entertainment. 

Computer knowledge coupled with certain other job skills increases one's chances of getting a job. Those with knowledge of computers are considered trainable for many kinds of jobs. As most of the jobs involve the use of computers, computer education is an eligibility criterion for almost all of the modern-day jobs. Higher education involving network administration, hardware maintenance or software skills open doors for brighter job opportunities. 

Computer education helps one manage one's own business assets and personal finances. Computers serve as efficient means for management of information. Personal financial assets, medical records and important documents can be stored in an electronic format in a computer system. Today, banking transactions and payments of bills can be done over the Internet. Similarly, online shopping is becoming widely popular. To be in the race, it is very important to take computer education. 

The word processing applications of a computer serve as an effective means of documentation. The database management software that are a part of computer systems serve as the means of managing large amounts of data. The networking capabilities of a computer facilitate connecting to the Internet to reach out to the world. Gaming applications and media players are some of the popular computer software, which are popularly used across the world.

Computers, which have such a wide variety of applications, are indeed ruling society. To keep up the pace in this fast life of today, computer education is extremely important. Computers are an integral part of life and so is computer education!

A hot topic in schools

We take a look at the challenges facing school meals provision and the dangers of under estimating its worth - A recent study found that a predominantly processed food diet at the age of three is directly associated with a lower IQ at the age of eight and a half, compared to children who eat a healthier diet.
Did you know that?

The decline in family mealtimes is a symptom of modern life. In households where both parents work, sitting down to breakfast is often impractical, while finding time to prepare a freshly cooked meal in the evening can also be a challenge. On the other side of the coin, there are families on low incomes who do not have the financial or educational means to provide a healthy balanced diet. For their children, a school meal might be the only access they have to freshly prepared, nutritious food.

Proof that it works


A University of West England study analysed 48 of the Primaries in the Food For Life Partnership (FFLP) set up to encourage pupils and their parents to eat healthy food and learn how to cook it and grow it themselves, found that both inspection results and pupil's behaviour had improved under the scheme. More than a third (36.2%) were judged as outstanding by Ofsted, compared with 17.3% before joining the FFLP.

More than 3,600 schools are now members of the programme which encourages them to work towards Bronze, Silver and Gold levels of the Food for Life Partnership award scheme. Over 2,800 schools now serve Food for Life menus which are seasonal and freshly prepared with no hydrogenated fats or battery eggs.


The School Lunch Grant - what now?


The school lunch grant was a specific, ring-fenced grant made to local authorities and schools until March 2011. Its aim was to increase the number of children eating healthy school meals by helping schools and councils keep down the price of a school lunch. It could only be used in four ways – to pay for ingredients for school lunch; pay labour costs of catering staff; buy small pieces of kitchen equipment, for example, microwaves, ovens, combi-ovens, mixers etc; pay for the nutrient analysis software required to assess whether a menu meets the national school lunch standards and the expertise to operate the software.

The coalition government has, however, removed this ring-fencing - it now forms part of schools’ baseline budgets from the Department for Education. Commenting on its removal, Sandra Russell, National Chairman of LACA said: “As the ring-fencing status of the SLG has only just been removed, it is too early to speculate about the possible outcomes of the decision.

"LACA will continue to work with schools and Local Authorities to emphasise the importance of school meals to the development of young people and how it should form part of the whole school approach to their education - if we are nationally to tackle the obesity crisis and decrease NHS costs in the longer term.

"Considerable efforts should be made to encourage Head Teachers and School Governing Bodies to channel the School Lunch Grant towards supporting the provision of school meals, as originally designated.