Daily Archives: 06/27/2011

Letter: Voters should make the election matter

Voters should make the election matter

Dear Editor,

Guyana is in a serious downward spiral and if fundamental changes are not programmed by a set of visionary and committed leaders that include leaders in civil society, there may be untold suffering for generations to come.

A cursory review of the current situation will show that crime and corruption are pervasive; the social fabric is torn, as exemplified by the upward spiral in homicides and suicides, death squads, drug trafficking, corruption, high unemployment, asylum seekers, nepotism, tensions, discrimination and marginalization, among others ills. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but we all know the anxieties.

Our public institutions, especially our courts, are overwhelmed. Our jails are full to capacity, while are schools are short of resources. Our public utilities (water and electricity supplies) are unreliable and expensive. Professionals, including teachers, engineers, doctors, nurses, and many others are migrating in large numbers, because they do not see a path to progress for themselves and their families. The time is long past to be harping back, as is usually seen in the press, on who did what to whom. This is not only childish and parochial, but it is unhelpful as it creates little camps with singular issues that are never inclusive of others who may have variations on the same theme. Moreover, staying the course as promised by the PPP/C presidential candidate for the next elections is not a serious and thoughtful praxis, given the shabby state of our social, political and economic fabric and the degraded institutional and lopsided constitutional arrangements.           Continue reading

Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education

Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises — and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script — give students video lectures to watch at home, and do you “homework” in the classroom with the teacher available to help.    (Recorded at TED2011, March 2011, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 20:27)

Source link on TED.com:  http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

THE KHAN ACADEMY – http://www.khanacademy.org/about

A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. We’re a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.

All of the site’s resources are available to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy’s materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.

Shaba Ranks – Guyanese Women

Now to lighten up a bit here is a song from Shaba Ranks on Guyanese girls and women … some of the most beautiful in the world  …..