Saturday, June 12, 2010

The Bay Citizen - Stanford Considers Guideline for ‘Conflict Minerals’ - NYTimes.com

Stanford Considers Guideline for ‘Conflict Minerals’

By KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI

Published: June 11, 2010

Stanford University, an incubator for dozens of Silicon Valley companies, has become the focus of a grass-roots effort to pressure the technology industry to crack down on “conflict minerals.”

Enlarge This Image

Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen

Nina McMurry, right, and Angie McPhaul have been active in a student group involved in the issue of conflict minerals.

This article is part of our expanded Bay Area coverage.

The Bay Area Blog features coverage of public affairs, commerce, culture and lifestyles in the region. We invite your comments atbayarea@nytimes.com.

Go to the Bay Area Blog »

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, armed groups force villagers to mine minerals like wolframite and cassiterite. Metals processed from such minerals are used in consumer electronics products, including laptop computers, MP3 players, cellphones and digital cameras.

On Thursday, a committee of Stanford’s trustees considered a resolution to create a new proxy voting guideline for the university’s investments. The guideline would support shareholders’ efforts to make companies trace the supply chain of the minerals used in their products.

The board, which met privately, has not announced its decision.

“This is a huge humanitarian crisis, and if Stanford can have an impact at all, we should try to,” said Nina McMurry, a senior and a member of Stand, a student organization that raised the conflict minerals issue with the university.

If Stanford adopts the guideline, it would be the first university in the country to take such action on the issue, according to the Center for American Progress, a policy institute in

Calif. gov candidates come from different worlds - Boston.com

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Educator honored for teaching language, confidence

Takuto Kimura, 13, remembers his first day in an American classroom three years ago. He did not speak a word of English. (By June Q. Wu, Globe Correspondent)

Asking more of preschool

Once considered just places to play, preschools now sandwich science and math lessons in between naps and recess. To help teachers meet the new academic rigor and to reduce socioeconomic achievement gaps that start before kindergarten, the state wants more teachers to earn bachelor’s degrees. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Quincy to lay off 75 teachers if budget is approved in vote

As the city’s School Committee finalized a budget last night that would lay off about 118 people, including approximately 75 teachers, Mayor Thomas P. Koch said residents could be hit with an incremental tax increase next year. (By Molly A.K. Connors, Globe Correspondent)

Walpole students petition homeowner flying Confederate flag

A group of Walpole High School students have been gathering the signatures of their fellow classmates, hoping to use them to persuade the homeowner who displays the Confederate flag next to the field where they play football games that it’s time to take it down. (By Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Correspondent)

College program for Randolph high school students offers credits, low fees

Just a few years ago, Randolph was considered a town in decline: School programs were being cut, MCAS scores were low, political controversies plagued Town Hall, and a series of homicides made the headlines. (By Wendy Chow, Globe Staff)

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

Calif. gov candidates come from different worlds (AP, 3:20 p.m.)
One-time flagship Philly Catholic school closing (AP, 2:20 p.m.)
In bold move, Colorado alters teacher tenure rules (AP, 12:20 p.m.)
Along Gulf coast highway, anxiety spreads with oil (AP, 10:50 a.m.)
Harvard student says he faces deportation from US (AP, 6/11/10)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

Amherst teacher honored as state's teacher of year(AP, 6/11/10)
Beverly High to require costly MacBooks in 2011 (Boston Globe, 6/11/10)
US troops killed in Iraq and Kuwait (AP, 6/10/10)
US troops killed in Afghanistan and Africa (AP, 6/10/10)
Archipelago Learning buys Educationcity for $87M (AP, 6/10/10)

Schools Matter: Rethink Afghanistan, Rethink Education

Rethink Afghanistan, Rethink Education

While America engages in the New Great Game costing billions of dollars and thousands of American lives, school districts are forced to make cuts to our public education system. This does not

Oregon college graduates struggle to launch careers in grim job market | OregonLive.com

Oregon college graduates struggle to launch careers in grim job market

Published: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 10:00 AM Updated: Friday, June 11, 2010, 7:01 PM

Bill Graves, The Oregonian
Follow

Story tools

Jamie Francis/The OregonianJackie Mroz, 22, a 2009 honors graduate from the University of Oregon, sets up the hot food line for a luncheon at the Rose Quarter in Portland on her last day of work for Ovations late last month. Mroz has juggled four catering jobs in recent months as she looks for career-level work related to her degrees in international studies and sociology. Last week, she started a 3-month, unpaid internship for a nonprofit agency in Baltimore.

They have worked four years, often longer, juggling jobs and classes, cramming for finals, studying abroad working internships — all with the hope of finding a career foothold despite the worst job market since the Great Depression.

More than 11,000 members of the Class of 2010 from Oregon’s seven public universities capped their hard work with commencement ceremonies this week and last.

Now, they move on either to graduate school or to join more than 212,000 other Oregonians looking for work, including untold thousands of last year’s graduates still searching for jobs.

Many from the Class of 2009 are living with their parents and working part-time retail jobs they could have landed without a degree. Others are taking more college classes to put off paying back student loans, which average more than $20,000. Many say they’ve lost self-confidence. Still, none of the 18 students from the Classes of 2009 and 2010 interviewed by The Oregonian expressed regret about going to college.

Job prospects for the Class of 2010, which number about 18,000 students in Oregon when you include those who graduated last fall and winter, are slightly brighter because of a recent increase in employers hiring college graduates, said Edwin W. Koc, research director for the National Association of Colleges and Employers. What’s more, recruiters will focus on the Class of 2010, he said.

“If you come out of the Class of 2009, you are going to be treated as someone who has been in the job market for a year,” he said. Employers want to see some experience, he said.

After a yearlong search, Jackie Mroz, 22, of Oregon City, is about to get some experience, but at a cost.

She put everything she had into her studies at the University of Oregon, graduating in 2009 with degrees in international studies and sociology and a double minor in nonprofit administration and African studies. She studied abroad in Senegal, took challenging courses, earned a 3.8 grade point average and raced through college in three years.

“It has gotten me pretty much nowhere,” she said.

When she graduated, Mroz figured she would quickly land a job with an international nonprofit. After two months, she took on a catering job as she broadened her search. Still living with her

Schools Matter: Tory Policy Turns Upside Down on Charters, er, Academies

Tory Policy Turns Upside Down on Charters, er, Academies

by Jim Horn

In the U. S., we have two kinds of charter schools, even though both are segregated. In the urban centers of the North, we have the "no excuses" behavioral chain gangs that contain the children of the black and brown poor in order to perform that special KIPP style brand of cognitive sterilization. In the South and Southwest, we have the exclusive high-performing white charters located in white neighborhoods, with curriculums fit for the Seths and Caitlins and with no transportation provided for the black or the brown who live in the slums.

Back in 2007 when David Cameron's chances of becoming PM were slim to none, he was preaching the virtues of the former charter variety, all under the banner of justice for the poor. From the Telegraph, May 23, 2007:

In a newspaper article yesterday, he said: "In Wisconsin, for example, a new generation of charter schools is bringing the highest standards of schooling to the poorest kids in the poorest

Saturday coffee. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Old school. Buffalo Springfield.

Saturday coffee. City Hall press flacks claim two million people lined the streets of the Loop yesterday to cheer the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. Maybe. Or maybe it was just City Hall puffery. There was defiinitely a lot of folks including several of my ...

Saturday coffee.

JUNE 12, 2010

by preaprez

City Hall press flacks claim two million people lined the streets of the Loop yesterday to cheer the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Maybe.

Or maybe it was just City Hall puffery.

There was defiinitely a lot of folks including several of my colleagues who left school before the official noon check-out time and grabbed a CTA train downtown. There is genuine excitement about the Blackhawk victory in this city that loves sports and experiences champions rarely.

I’m excited by a smaller number.

That would be the 12,000 members of the Chicago Teachers union that voted for Karen Lewis and the slate of progressive union activists in CORE. That added up to 59% of the high turnout. It blew the entrenched bureaucrats, including present CTU president Marilyn Stewart, out of their chairs and their seat of power. Stewart’s last minute pretense of militance fooled few.

Mayor Daley has something to worry about now. The new Chicago union leaders have pledged to fight for their membership and will not be satisfied by just being permitted to sit at the table.

I’m reminded of the bumper sticker I’ve seen lately: “F*ck Awareness. Find a cure.”

The hell with process. Get results.

I’m pretty sure that in the long term, those 12,000 teachers will have far greater meaning than the 2 million Blackhawk fans.

But bless ‘em all.

What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan?

NorthJersey.com: Christie orders July 1 shutdown plan

Christie orders July 1 shutdown plan

Saturday, June 12, 2010
LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY JUNE 12, 2010, 9:28 AM

BY JOSH MARGOLIN AND CHRIS MEGERIAN

THE RECORD

STATE HOUSE BUREAU

With budget talks intensifying, Governor Christie on Friday ordered his Cabinet to begin planning to shut down state government July 1 if there is no deal by the constitutional deadline.

FILE PHOTO/AMY NEWMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

"The administration remains highly confident that the budget process will be successfully completed in advance of the legal deadline," according to a memo to the Cabinet from Christie chief counsel Jeff Chiesa. He cautioned, however, that "it is appropriate to begin to engage in departmental contingency planning for the unlikely outcome that a budget is not enacted by June 30th. … It will be necessary to shut down most operations of state government."
The document, obtained by The Star-Ledger, was dated Thursday and distributed Friday.
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said his office is preparing for all possible outcomes. The governor proposed a controversial $29.3 billion spending plan in March.
"A government shutdown would be costly and disruptive and must absolutely be avoided," Drewniak said. "But we still have to be responsible, prudent and prepared."
If a new budget is not enacted by July 1, the law requires that a "state of emergency" be declared and that the state stop paying its bills or incurring new expenses until a spending plan is in place. In 2006, Jon Corzine's first year in office, a budget showdown between the governor and his fellow Democrats in the Assembly led to a weeklong shutdown.
As June opened, it appeared the Republican governor and Democrats who control the Legislature were close to an agreement on contours of a final budget. Last week, Democrats were openly saying they would provide the handful of votes necessary

National PTA Convention Happening Now | Engaging Parents In School...

National PTA Convention Happening Now The National PTA Convention is happening in Memphis this weekend. You might want to read the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s newspaper report on Education Secretary Duncan’s speech to the convention. (I’m hoping to locate a transcript) The PTA’s website ...

Our High School Will Be Making One Thousand Home Visits….This Summer Readers of this blog and my book know how highly I think of the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project. With the support of the PTHVP, staff at our school have made about 400 home visits to students each year for the past few years. This summer, though, ...

“Creating a Bridge Between Home and School” Creating a Bridge Between Home and School is the title of an article on the National Education Association website about two recent state conferences on parent engagement/involvement. It’s the latest in a series of similar conferences, with one ...

KALW : East Bay-India education connection

East Bay-India education connection

KALWNews.org
By Hana Baba
Despite the current dismal state of education funding in California and the country, a fact that can be forgotten these days is that American higher education has long been the envy of much of the world. In many countries, having a degree from a US college makes the difference between being hired or not.
So, every year, thousands of foreign students apply to study in the US. In 2008, over 600 thousand foreign students attended American colleges. The top two countries with students in the US are China and India. And while India sends many students to study in the US, until recently, no US college was allowed to set up a campus on Indian soil.
Whereas in the past decade, many US colleges have established branches and campuses in other countries, such as Northwestern, Georgetown, and Cornell Universities- all in Qatar , and Harvard Medical school in Dubai, UAE , until a few months ago, Indian law prohibited foreign educational institutions from operating campuses and degree programs in the country. (Yale has a Yale-India initiative, but it doesn't offer degrees- only collaboration with local schools.)
But last March, after years of debate, India's Union Cabinet unanimously approved the Foreign Education Bill, which permits foreign colleges to set up shop in India- therefore saving Indian nationals the trouble, time, money, separation from family, and culture-clash involved with

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/kalw/detail?entry_id=65636#ixzz0qeXNKPsp