US Education System in Crisis
US Education System in Crisis
Craig Barrett, the Chairman of Intel which is the biggest seller of computers in the world said “US Education System is in Crisis”. That is true for perhaps all countries without any exception. All the world needs a new paradigm for education. The following is the remarks by Intel leader.
Craig Barrett, who made his “one political statement” at the Intel developers’ forum being held in San Francisco, urged US politicians to act.
He told the audience: “Nations are as strong as their educational systems.
“The rest of the emerging world recognizes this is the key to staying competitive.”
He went on: “It’s time our political leaders acknowledged that and declare there is a crisis and do something about it.”
He told the BBC his views were based on his role as a roving ambassador for Intel, which sees him travel the globe on behalf of the company.
“Every country I visit recognizes the importance of education and striving to raise their level of educational capability.
“If you look at Eastern Europe, China, Russia, India, Latin America there is an increasing focus on education. Government leaders see that their competitiveness and the future of their country depends on the quality of their workforce and the education of their young people.
“We in the US have to recognize that. And it’s not just the US. Japan, the UK and Western Europe have the same challenges going forward.”
But he told the BBC the answer was not just about throwing money at the problem. For him, the greatest technology breakthrough in the classroom comes from effective teaching.
“Good teachers are the magic in the classroom.
“Personal computers aren’t magic, they are just a tool. What you need to make the educational process work is a good teacher who is knowledgeable in the subject and can get kids excited.”
The last time Mr Barrett gave the keynote address at the forum was as chief executive back in 2005. Then, he pushed home the message of how great Intel’s chips were compared to the competition at Advanced Micro Devices. He also expounded on how everyone would be using computers with Intel Itanium chips.
This year, the focus was more personal and political, with talk of Intel’s products left to other speakers at the conference.
While Mr Barrett lamented problems with the educational situation in the US, he also pointed to how technology is being used to impact on real people’s lives and effect change.
“There is such an immense amount of technology that can do such an immense amount of good around the world,” he said.
To illustrate what Mr Barrett meant, he brought a series of guests on stage to demonstrate his other mission to “bring back the human element to technology”.
Dr Johnny Lee, who recently earned his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, talked of how he converted a Wii remote control into a sensor that can track digital pens to draw or write on an electronic chalkboard.
The whole system costs about $50 and Mr Lee gives the software away free on his website. It has been downloaded 600,000 times.
He told the BBC: “It works great as an educational tool and I know some schools have a class project to make pens and now they have around 30 electronic systems where this is used.”
Matt Flannery, the chief executive of Kiva.org, was another person Mr Barrett called on to play a starring role at the forum.
His website helps people in developed countries invest in people starting small businesses in poor nations through micro-financing or mini-loans of $50-$200 (£25-£100).
He said: “So far we have affected 600,000 people’s lives and it’s allowing people to start a water sanitation business, working mothers to start a seamstress business and people to start rice farms.”
Brian McCarthy, a student from Oregon, talked to the audience about a project he was involved in to use plastic solar cells as a new option in solar technology.
The 18-year-old told the BBC it was thanks to his teachers that he is headed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and looking at working in the field of renewable energy.
“My teachers were great educators, with great after-school programmes and pushing us to go beyond what we were doing,” he said.
‘Inspire and empower’
At the end of his keynote speech, Mr Barrett threw the gauntlet down to those at the forum to do their bit to make the world a better place.
To spur people into action, Mr Barrett offered developers a $100,000 (£50,000) prize for the most innovative idea for using technology to improve education, health care, economic development or the environment.
And if money failed to do the trick, then Mr Barrett hoped a “thought for the day” message left on the pillow of a hotel he was staying at would help.
The note said: “A small deed done is better than a great deed planned.”
bbc
How to protect your computer from Computer Viruses.
How to protect your computer from Computer Viruses.
The following is the list of things to do to protect your computer from Computer Viruses.
1. Always use your anti-virus software. Make sure your anti-virus software is always turned on and scanning, incoming and outgoing email messages, and any software programs you run.
2. Use a high quality anti-virus program. There are many different anti-virus computers programs on the market some of them are better than others. Look to reputable computer magazines or websites for ratings to help you find the one that matches your needs.
3. Keep your antivirus programs up to date. Most programs come with a yearly subscription make sure you take advantage of the updates. More advanced programs allow you to schedule updates or full system scans for “off hours†like 2AM when you aren’t likely to be using your computer.
4. Backup your data regularly. Most windows computer users keep their documents in the “My documents†folder. This makes it easy to back up all of your important documents. Make weekly or monthly copies to CD or USB drives.
5. Be wary of email attachments. Treat any email attachment as potentially dangerous. Never open attachments from people you weren’t expecting. Also be careful of attachments from people you know but weren’t expecting. Many computer viruses replicate themselves by reading the contacts from an infected computer.
6. Keep your computer up to date. From time to time operating systems fall victim to security holes or issue updates. Make sure you check periodically to make sure you are running stable up to date versions of your software.
7. Use downloaded freeware and shareware files or software with caution. Try to download them from popular reputable sources that scan the programs before they are uploaded. To make sure you are safe scan the program before you install it on your computer.
8. If you use floppy disks or USB drives on public computers like your school computer lab, Kinko’s, or even digital photo printing store make sure you scan them for viruses. Public computers are notorious for not being up to date and properly protected.
9. Use text email if possible. While HTML email is prettier and allows you more control over formatting it also can carry computer viruses. If you use text based email the only way to get a virus is by opening an attachment.
10. Be wary of links in IM or instant messaging software. Don’t accept invitations from people you don’t know and never click a link from someone you don’t trust, they can easily redirect you to another website that will try to install a virus on your computer system.
Writing Skills
Writing Skills
Writing Skills as soft skills are essential in many careers. The following article briefly summarizes the writing skills and how to convert these skills into some earning.
The significance of writing skills is emphasized far and wide over and over again. Writing skills are called mandatory, indispensable, crucial and drastic ability, a ticket to the thriving future of the person.
The overwhelming majority of instructors and employers which were surveyed recently stressed that writing skills are critical both for academic and career success. The survey carried by Lin Grensing revealed that 79 percent of respondent executives cited writing as one of the most neglected skills in the business world, yet one of the most important to productivity. They also admitted that approximately 80 percent of their employees at all levels need to improve their writing skills.
To master good writing skills means not only to become well-educated and competent person, but as well taps you into the wealth of lucrative opportunities. It exactly means that you can turn your gift of eloquence into sideline and perhaps steady income. The money earned from writing can become a good support for you, so you can spend them on different insignificant trinkets, which will significantly reduce your general outcome.
Practically anyone can make fortune writing and selling simple information. The only question is how to market your skills for profit-making results. The best advice for those who are willing to earn extra money and have the ability to express their ideas coherently is turning their writing skills into regular decent income and enjoining the independence and freedom everyone can earn in addition to the tidy sums of money.
Here are some easy-to-follow techniques and tested principles, which will reveal you how to make money from writing immediately and on regular basis. So let’s single out top 7 winning principles of how to make money from writing.
P1. Become a freelance writer. Perhaps someone thinks that making money from freelance writing is a lottery and he’ll never enter the game without having a famous name. Indeed when you take the risks of freelance writing you don’t jeopardy really. If it is your subsidiary income you can afford yourself to try making some extra money. First, you work at home and spend very little time to get started. In any case you can indemnify yourself from the unrequited labor by specifying all the details with the client preliminary, checking up the reliability of the company or client you are dealing with or solicit for the prepaid part of compensation for your work.
P2. Figure out the markets that pay and might be interesting in something you are willing and able to write. Always remember that whether you have yen writing about evolution and reproduction of mollusks or about data communications there is an audience hungry for your articles. Thus, the best thing the newcomers can do is to search for the topics which enjoy the popularity of the audience. Hence, you should try to swim with the current and write the articles which are in demand.
P3. You can start selling your services through the service agency, so that to leave your resume and wait for the call. Large and even small companies often apply to such agencies looking for the writers. It can be a good chance for you to start and develop a circle of potential clients.
P4. When you build up a vast network of clients, you can cut out the agencies and offer your services to the clients before the agencies do.
P5. You can query the editors and offer them an interesting article idea you think you can write for them. Also you can suggest the editors articles which you have already written and which are related to the subject-matter of their journal, magazine or bulletin, so that to have a chance that your article will be published. Compose press-releases, short stories or reviews and submit them to the targeted publications.
P6. You can write postcards both humor and verse for sure if you feel you can do it and suggest them for card publishers. One more winning and quick strategy is slogan writing. It takes minimum time, but brings good awards. So you can offer your slogans to the advertising agencies and become their permanent slogan writer in case if your slogans really work.
P7. Writing and selling jokes is not only money making, but pleasant and fun strategy of earning extra cash. You can compose short comedy material, radio comedy sketches and scripts for comedians, radio or TV.
With these tested principles you will make big dividends from your part-time writing. As well as making money you’ll be having fun, socializing, meeting new people and boosting your self-confidence and self-esteem. And if you wish, you’ll be well on your way to a full-time career as a well-paid freelance writer.
Reference: Questionsabout.org