As we all know, Halloween is fast approaching (tomorrow, actually...) and people are in need of costume ideas (again, a bit late...). After scouring the internet, I have compiled a brief list of the most relevant, humourous, and possibly offensive costumes for this year's festivities.
First on the list is the "Ice Bucket Challenge." This costume, involving a bucket, some plastic sheeting simulating water, and way too much hype, is sure to bring back some not-very-fond feelings of the excessive number of Ice Bucket Challenge videos posted on social media that failed to promote the real purpose of the Challenge. What was it raising awareness for, again?
If you don't wish to enrage your friends, you can go in a more subtle, yet more caustic costume, inspired by the recent tragedies in air travel. Dress as a chauffeur and adorn yourself with a sign that reads "Malaysia Airlines: Flight 370," and you are in for a long night of awkward chuckles and shameful looks. If you would rather a more subtle approach, you can always hype up a halloween party that you are "dying to go to" and end up not showing up, resulting in a number of people searching for you to no avail...
In light of the recent outbreak of Ebola, one can always dress in highly protective hazmat attire and avoid contact with everyone possible. Of course, if you live in an area in close proximity to a known ebola patient, there is always the option of dressing as an escaped Ebola patient, complete with blood stained hospital gown and biohazard armband. Trick or treating might not go over that well.
I don't really have to talk about the possibility of an ISIS member costume, complete with hostage in orange jumpsuit, as we all know how well that would go...
If you don't mind the scorn of women worldwide you can opt to dress in a Ray Rice jersey and drag around life size doll of your "fiancee." If you wish to continue this trend you can wear an Adrian Peterson jersey and carry around a switch.
There we have it. All the ideas you need to make this year's Halloween all the more offensive.
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Thursday, October 30, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Common Core: Arithmetic Plague or New Hope for the Future of US Education?
According to the Common Core standards that have been implemented in schools across the United States, children are now required to demonstrate a greater and deeper understanding of math concepts. These new standards no longer rely on memorization and regurgitation of addition and multiplication tables, but rather on having students figure out solutions to problems using more universal problem-solving approaches.
Under Common Core, teachers are allotted more time to expand on each mathematical concept and explore their underlying concepts. Due to this, some lessons are moved to later grade levels, such as multiplication being pushed from second to third grade. Although lessons are becoming slower, students are now able to more completely understand how and why concepts work rather than just learning and repeating processes.
Despite the benefit of greater understanding and higher proficiency in problem solving, Common Core is depriving students of mathematical efficiency. Instead of being able to answer a problem with speed using a single, simple method, students are now asked to solve problems using a specific method out of the numerous methods taught to them or choose the most appropriate way to go about solving the problem. It is more difficult for a student to recall an answer to a simple multiplication or addition problem because they are overwhelmed with different methods to get the same result.
In all practicality, there must be a balance between problem solving and memorization in the classroom. It is quite important that children learn problem solving skills in order to take on challenges outside of math class, such as in other classes or in circumstances outside of school, but it is necessary that they are able to recall simple solutions in order to improve the speed of such problem solving and allow for fast mental math in practical situations.
Common Core is a collection of standards that aim to better the education of children in the United States, but does require some tweaking in order to maximize student ability.
Sources:
http://edsource.org/2014/common-core-standards-bring-dramatic-changes-to-elementary-school-math-2/63665
http://hechingerreport.org/content/common-core-math-problem-hard-supporters-common-core-respond-problematic-math-quiz-went-viral_15361/
Under Common Core, teachers are allotted more time to expand on each mathematical concept and explore their underlying concepts. Due to this, some lessons are moved to later grade levels, such as multiplication being pushed from second to third grade. Although lessons are becoming slower, students are now able to more completely understand how and why concepts work rather than just learning and repeating processes.
Despite the benefit of greater understanding and higher proficiency in problem solving, Common Core is depriving students of mathematical efficiency. Instead of being able to answer a problem with speed using a single, simple method, students are now asked to solve problems using a specific method out of the numerous methods taught to them or choose the most appropriate way to go about solving the problem. It is more difficult for a student to recall an answer to a simple multiplication or addition problem because they are overwhelmed with different methods to get the same result.
In all practicality, there must be a balance between problem solving and memorization in the classroom. It is quite important that children learn problem solving skills in order to take on challenges outside of math class, such as in other classes or in circumstances outside of school, but it is necessary that they are able to recall simple solutions in order to improve the speed of such problem solving and allow for fast mental math in practical situations.
Common Core is a collection of standards that aim to better the education of children in the United States, but does require some tweaking in order to maximize student ability.
Sources:
http://edsource.org/2014/common-core-standards-bring-dramatic-changes-to-elementary-school-math-2/63665
http://hechingerreport.org/content/common-core-math-problem-hard-supporters-common-core-respond-problematic-math-quiz-went-viral_15361/
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Community Post #1: Exposing Hidden Biases at Google to Improve Diversity
Amidst the irrefutable statistics and real-world examples of "Exposing Hidden Bias at Google" is the fact that bias towards females and ethnic minorities in the workplace is existent and quite apparent. According to the article, Google has been using a series of workshops to encourage the acceptance of diversity among its employees and ingrain this acceptance into the company's culture.
One of the tools used to reveal unconscious bias in an individual is an Implicit Association Test, or IAT. Out of curiosity, I took the same test used in the workshops to reveal bias towards blacks or whites and my results were shocking. The results dictated that I was strongly biased towards whites over blacks, a result that nearly half of all other test-takers also received.
The workshops also highlighted gender bias and its effects. A Dr. Brian Welle of Google's human resources group demonstrates how strong just a miniscule amount of unconscious bias can lead to under-representation of women in business. Because of this, women receive less pay than their male counterparts and hold a lower percentage of skilled and management positions.
Dr. Welle states that we may have a greater chance at overcoming this unconscious bias by acknowledging how it affects our decision making and making an effort to force others to confront their bias. As more people become affected by the workshops or any other awareness programs, the tolerance level for diversity will rise, starting at Google.
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