Education in a Multicultural Society

I can't say I agree with all the arguments put forward in this video, it can still be a nice starting point to get students to critically analyze the ideas put forth and assess the merits of the claims being made.

The right-wing ideology is worldwide, years of racist colonial acculturation, sexist and neoliberal social inequality. The culture industry was filled to disclose these conceptions.

Unit 6

A decade ago, the public was less ideologically consistent than it is today. In 2004, only about one-in-ten Americans were uniformly liberal or conservative across most values. Today, the share who are ideologically consistent has doubled: 21% express either consistently liberal or conservative opinions across a range of issues – the size and scope of government, the environment, foreign policy and many others.

Bipartisanship is at an all-time low in this nation's history, which is evident in every facet of our political system; our Congress for the past 10 years has been the most inactive it has been since the 1890's. Party members on both sides of the debate have refused to compromise, leaving many Americans frustrated. The polarization of the parties has been the primary driver of this divide, with ideological and social issues now at the forefront of any political debate, in the place of economic, foreign, and other domestic policies. With this ideological element now added to politics, we see much more aggression in terms of how Americans on either end of the political spectrum now view the other end. Although this is great in the sense that many young Americans are becoming more interested in and more involved with politics, it also leads to incorrect, fragmented views that demonize the opposing party. Americans are finding a shrinking amount of political issues to compromise on, and until we learn to do so, Congress will remain in a gridlock. 

Un site d'une grande simplicité d'utilisation bien qu'en anglais. Le principe est de choisir deux pays dans un menu déroulant pour en comparer les principaux indicateurs de développement sous la forme de petites infographies très pédagogiques.
La comparaison est évidemment un processus de raisonnement à mettre en place pour situer et caractériser en géographie. On songera ainsi à l'utilisation d'un tel outil dans le cadre de l'étude des inégalités de développement en classe de 5e et de Seconde, mais aussi pour une mise en perspective sur les Territoires dans la mondialisation en classe de 4e afin de caractériser un PMA, un pays émergent, un pays développé (cf. exemple réalisé pour l'illustration).

Dernière information sur ce site, les statistiques utilisées proviennent des bases de données open source de la CIA américaine.

After studying this comparison tool and using it to find the best of the best and worst of the worst, I picked out some highlights I'd like to share. Monaco is clearly the place to be born, earn, and live. When compared to the USA, the infant mortality rate is 71% less, the life expectancy is 10 years longer @ 84, and you'll earn 62% more money, no doubt because you have ten more years in which to do so. I believe the stats may be skewed a bit in this country comparison as the very rich live there and they have access to the best medical care, and probably don't have very many infants with them when they make the move from elsewhere, hence the low infant mortality rate. Austria is not a bad second choice as you are 33% less likely to be unemployed. On a sobering note, the life expectancy if you live in Namibia is only 52! Yikes, I'm already 53... It's far worse however in Swaziland. The life expectancy is sadly only 50.5 years and you are 44 times more likely to have AIDS than if you lived here. 26.5% of the population has AIDS! Be thankful for where you live and stop complaining, it's far worse on average in nearly all other countries.

Did you know that with 1/30th the territory of the United States, Norway still has over 25% more coastline?  I didn't either until I compared Norway to the United States using My Life Elsewhere.  This site is designed allow United States students to imagine how their lives might be different if they were born in a different part of the world.  Students would probably die 21 years earlier if they were born in Liberia and 11 times more likely to have died in infancy.   Students would be 43.8% less likely to grow up and be unemployed and have 36.3% less babies if they were born in Taiwan.  This side-by-side format is a great way to help students help make these statistics real and meaningful.  One major drawback: this site only allows users to compare a country to the United States.  If you prefer to have students compare, say Cuba to the United Arab Emirates, I would recommend that you try If It Where My Home. 

Global challenges: Development

Interactive map showing different categories of social progress

Summary: This article included an interactive map that was based on the Social Progress Index, which is an organization that measures how developed a country is based on the basic human needs available, access to education and healthcare, and personal rights and choices. The general pattern was that developed countries had higher amounts of these things, while developing countries obviously had less. This is similar, but more refined, than the UN Human Development Index, which measures more than just social factors. 

Insight: This model can go hand in hand with the UN Human Development Index, which measures the progress of each country on much more different scales. This has been more refined to social issues, but the same patterns can be seen in both indexes. 

This article discusses the Human Development Index (HDI), what it is, and how it is calculated. 

This chart displays that the top three spots on the HDI are occupied by Norway, Australia, and the Netherlands respectively, with the USA coming in fourth. As HDI is calculated by comparing aspects like literacy, standard of living, education, and life expectancy, why are two European countries and Australia in the top 3? Something to be looked at is the in-migration of each country. Immigrants arrival in large numbers in some countries can lower HDI if they are refugees or come from a country with a lower HDI, for they may be illiterate, have a low education, and therefore a low life expectancy. With in migration to the US tightly controlled but in constant motion, their HDI could be pulled down to 4th. As Norway and Australia and the Netherlands are not the main destination for refugees, their HDI could be higher.   

The HDI is the human development index which ranks countries in many different aspects. The higher the country the more developed and modern it is. The least amount of death and the longest lives are here. It is more stable the higher the country.

This relates to the topic in unit 6 of HDI. this map shows the basic HDIS of the world and the patterns formed by the HDI layout of the world. 

This map shows the Human Development Index around the world. The HDI depends on a set list of variables, ranking them from 1st to last. Nations considered to be "Western" are more developed than nations in regions such as Africa and Asia, although all nations are slowly but steadily developing, improving their Human Development Index ranking.

The HDI shows development in nations, although leaving out Inequality factors. This map also allows us to see spatially what regions tend to be more developed as well as developing.

This map pretty much met my general expectations for the size of Red Sox's and Yankee Nations. Most of New England is clearly Red Sox Nation. As a Yankee fan living in hostile territory, I was heartened to know that Yankee territory is not all that far away.  Connecticut is the true battleground in the fight for more territory. That state serves as the crossroads between New England values and culture, and New York values and culture. I think this map says a lot more about New York and New England than just who supports each baseball team. Sports is often a window into our lives and habits. If you asked me to divide New England from New York, I would probably divide it along these lines.

This is a pretty interesting map, I am unsure though if using Facebook is actually an accurate tool of determination for the Yankees and Red Sox borders, but I guess it is alright if someone is just trying to figure out a general idea of what fans live where in the North East. As assumed, most of New England was going to be fans of the Red Sox, and as the more west you went toward NY, that it would change to the Yankees. Clearly though, after looking through the article, Connecticut is where the battle hits hardest, Eastern Conn likes the Red Sox, Western Conn likes the Yankees, with a mix toward the middle. What I find quite interesting though is the map of the Mass/NY line how it shows instantly a diving line between the two teams without crossing borders.