Beefing Up Education in the U.S.

Blogger Vishakha N. Desai argues that the United States needs to keep up with the learning curve of Asian students. The most telling evidence behind this argument is that American students are doing significantly worse than Asian students on math, science, and reading tests.

Asia has invested ample amounts of money in education for many years now. And it is no shock that this investment is paying off big-time.

If the US wants to continue to be one of the strong forces in the world, they definitely need to beef up education. As Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said recently, "A nation's wealth int he 21st century will depend on the capacity of its people to learn." I couldn't agree more. Now that it is too late for the US to go back and invest money in education, we must instead react to this problem. Emulation of the Asian schooling system is the first step.

In order to increase the education of American children, the US must invest in several key catorgies:
1. Create rigorous standards
2. Strengthen Curriculum
3. Hire higher quality teachers and principles
4. Put a greater emphasis on math and science

If US policy makers can find a way to invest in those 4 key strategies, our kids will be on their way to competing with Asian students. 

Smart ATM Theft

Do you ever feel vulnerable when you are getting cash out of an ATM? I always fear that I will withdraw the $100 out of my account, and then seconds later get mugged or held at gunpoint (mind you, I live in South Central Los Angeles). A recent article I read suggests that I should not worry much about this happening.

Instead, crooks are getting smarter. They no longer need to use brute force to get your money from the ATM. They are not widely using devices called skimmers which can read the credit card information at point-of-sale machines. Your credit card information is then sent to the thief through Bluetooth or text message. The worst part is that you have no idea that you have been robbed until you get a bank statement saying your account has been cleared out. At that point, it is too late to try to prevent the damages. 

No matter how advanced our world gets, criminals will always find a way around it. Technology is an amazing thing, but it is always sad when it is manipulated to do wrong. 

Secret to Attraction: Tilt your Head

We have all at some point had a secret crush. If you have been lucky enough to get a date with your crush, you probably toiled for several hours over what to wear. A recent study suggests that you don't need to spend all that time figuring out your outfit.

Instead, you should merely tilt your head. Women were found to have been more attractive if they tilted their heads forward while on a date. Women who tilted their heads backward were found to be less feminine.

So next time you are out on a hot date (or at the bar trying to get someone to buy you a drink) pull him in by tilting your head downwards a little.

iPad Wins my Most Useless Device Award

I'm just going to come out and say it, I hate the iPad! Steve Jobs, pay close attention if you are reading this.

The iPad wins my Most Useless Device award because it does not do anything that our computres or phones cannot already do. In fact, it has even fewer features than the iPhone.Let us first view the photo above, because it does a great job of explaining my stance. The iPad doesn't have a camera (my Android phone does), it doesn't have multitasking capabilities (my Dell computer does), and it doesn't have any standard ports (both my Android and Dell do). The machine can boast a very large touch screen, but that is a thing of the past because my phone can do that too.

Blogger Josh Belzman agrees with my position, saying that he was highly disappointed when he arrived home with iPad in hand. In addition to the pitfalls mentioned above, he found a few more problems with the device. He said that it was too heavy, had expensive accessories, and does nothing that his phone and laptop didn't already do. He also brings up an important point that only an iPad owner would know. In order to use the device to its full capability you need to pay an extra $30 a month for unlimited data usage. That is on top of the already ridiculous price of $500.

Now, I do agree that the iPad can be very useful for some people. My roommate is an artist and loves to sketch on her tablet which connects to her MacBook. She says that sketching on an iPad would be much easier because she could see on the screen what lines she is drawing. This is a feature which a tablet does not provide--the images are just shown on the screen of the computer. I just haven't actually seen any artists use it to do tablet drawings. Because I haven't seen it be properly put to use, I still find it to be useless. Steve Jobs, I'll just stick with my Android and Dell for now. Give me a ring when you really create something useful.

Obsolescence of Marriage? No!

Blogger Stephanie Coontz recently wrote a post about how she thinks marriage is becoming obsolete. After receiving information from a public opinion poll on CNN, she found that 40% of Americans no longer believe in the sanctity of marriage. Also, 25% of unmarried people are not actively seeking a spouse.

Stephanie argues that marriage was considered essential in the past because of social and financial demands. In the 1950s, marriage was considered an investment for the future. Investing in a wealthy husband was even more important because woman did not yet have their place in the workforce. Additionally, marriage was just another part of growing up. If a girl was older than 22 and remained unmarried, she was the village freak.

Sixty years later, the social norms have changed drastically. Now, women go to college, hold their own in the workforce and are not encouraged to marry until age 26. With these new social norms, women also have a new found independence. Women place the focus of marriage on love, rather than money. And as a result, find it harder than ever to meet that perfect partner. There are plenty of guys out there that we can tolerate to live with for a few years, but it is much harder to find that guy that you can spend hours with that feel like mere minutes. 

While the statistics do look ominous, I think that all of these changes have been beneficial for the sanctity of marriage. In the past, women would marry so that they would have financial stability. Now women can marry men that they have fun with. I think that if you can marry someone that you can have fun with, or that is your best friend, marriage will last longer and there will be a lower divorce rate. Also, by waiting a few more years, women can really have the opportunity to figure out who they are and what they like before they jump into marriage. Hence, I do not agree that marriage will ever be obsolete, I just think that people will be more secure in the marriage decisions they make.

Barbie Pornography

I was watching the news in between classes and saw that there is a new Barbie--video recording Barbie. FIrstly, I just want to say that kids these days have it so much better than I did! I felt on top of the world lucky when my new Barbie had bending knees, and flat feet. Now, Barbie can record 30-second videos. What will they come up with next? A Barbie that can do your homework?

Anyways, the FBI has issued a warning for the doll because they think that it will be used to shoot child pornography. This is true, but I do not think it is something worth worrying about. If the creepy man next door decides that he wants to shoot child porn, he will find a way, and that is the sad truth. Cameras can be secretly planted anywhere (implanted in teddy bears, hidden in walls, behind flowers, etc.), and the fact that Barbie now has one is not going to make it any easier to shoot porn. I think the FBI needs to relax, and let all the little girls out there enjoy taking videos of their pets and friends.

TSA Abuse

Follow this link to see an extreme injustice committed in the airport recently. A woman brought breast-milk through security (which is completely allowed under TSA guidelines) and was heavily harassed by TSA officers. They first asked her to step aside into a glass cage in the middle of the security check point. They then proceeded to leave her alone in the cage for an twenty minutes before interacting with the woman again. In total, she spent an entire hour in the cage, and missed her flight. At one point the woman broke down in frustrated tears, and still received no compassion or assistance from the officers.

TSA officers explained that they were merely trying to make an example out of the woman. But I ask, what kind of point were they trying to prove? Were they trying to prove that the rules on their website are inaccurate? Were they trying to prove that TSA officers are highly insensitive? Regardless of what exactly they were trying to prove, they should have exercised some common decency by thoroughly explaining the situation.

Additionally, did the officers really think that putting someone in a glass cage for an hour would actually teach anyone a lesson? Whenever I go through security it feels like a whirl-wind, and I definitely do not have the time to sniff the roses and notice who is standing next to me. I doubt that their actions actually managed to achieve their goal of deterring others from trying to bring liquids through security.

TSA needs to reevaluate their procedures and actions. They need to remember that their customers are of key importance. If this harassment continues, then people will cease to fly. If people do not fly, then that puts a lot of TSA officers out of jobs. Hence, they need to take better care of their customers so that they can secure their jobs. Above all else though, I think the rule "treat others as you would like to be treated" is important to remember.