Diego Luna
(Source: theretrospectiveblog)
How Latinos may decide the election
In the swing states of Colorado, Nevada, and Florida, Hispanics make up between 13 and 16 percent of the voting population. Looking at past history and current polling preferences, these demographics strongly support the president over his Republican rival. In Nevada a whopping 78 percent of Latinos prefer Obama to Romney, in Colorado it’s 74 percent, and even in more conservative Florida it is 61 percent. Obama’s current lead in these three states (between 1.4 and 3.9 percent) reflects in large part these votes.
These three states matter. As a New York Times interactive electoral map illustrates (you can create your own scenarios here), if Colorado, Nevada, and especially Florida swing to Obama (and assuming he prevails in “solid” and “probable” democratic-leaning states), he wins. By contrast, Romney must triumph in these battleground states to have a chance.
It’s no secret that America’s schools are falling behind. They rank 31st in math behind South Korea, Estonia, and Luxembourg. Which would really hurt their feelings if they also weren’t behind in geography.
… If we wanna help our poor students excel, we need to invest in more teachers, better resources, and newer facilities. In other words, they’re screwed.
STEPHEN COLBERT, The Colbert Report
Sigh. I spent $1,500 on my classroom at least. First-year teacher right here.
I doubt someone like Fisher would understand how her background made it easier for her to be a competitive college candidate in the first place.
No, most of these people don’t even see themselves as privileged. They simply acknowledge that they have rights and freedoms that “all” people should have, yet many of them challenge efforts to extend this access to others, particularly if there is any chance that they may not have the same entitlements to which they have been accustomed; others don’t even feel that all Americans deserve their level of access, and work diligently to keep it reserved to certain groups.
‘White privilege is a hell of a drug.’
Even kids in the most dire circumstances really want a future. They just need to have a path to it.
- Johns Hopkins researcher Dr. Robert Balfanz.
Dr. Balfanz has uncovered a series of indicators that he says can predict how likely a student is to drop out of high school beginning in SIXTH GRADE. The indicators? Attendance, behavior and course performance, which he describes as the “ABCs.”
In high-poverty schools, if a sixth grade child attends less than 80 percent of the time, receives an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course, or fails math or English, there is a 75 percent chance that they will later drop out of high school — absent effective intervention.
Middle schools are generally designed to give younger kids a more intensive level of support. If intervention doesn’t occur until high school, Balfanz says it becomes much harder to “turn kids around and put them back on track.”
reflections on teaching
(Source: plunkedd)
Race is the myth upon which the reality of racism is predicated, the wild card the racist always keeps hidden up his sleeve. The racist has the power to determine whether the card will be a diamond or a spade, whether a Chinese is black or white.
Disgusting.
![Marlen Esparza the Olympian: Going the Distance
“I knew then that she was going to blow the doors open for women’s boxing,” says Silva. “I thought, She’s going to be in front of the camera a lot.”
After graduating in 2007 from Pasadena High School, where she was class president and earned a 4.6 GPA, she was accepted to Rice University and the University of Texas. At seventeen Esparza was already a two-time national champion, and she announced to Silva that she had nothing else to prove. More importantly, she wanted to be the first person in her family to graduate from college. But Silva asked her to reconsider. “Just keep winning,” he told her, “and people will have to notice. Good things will come.”
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Mexican-American, won bronze in London when women’s boxing first debut, and she’s ranked ninth in the world. SHE’S @%@*(%&@ AMAZING!!! WATCH HER BOX.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m91dukgoNr1qbt1ggo1_500.jpg)
Marlen Esparza the Olympian:
Going the Distance
“I knew then that she was going to blow the doors open for women’s boxing,” says Silva. “I thought, She’s going to be in front of the camera a lot.”
After graduating in 2007 from Pasadena High School, where she was class president and earned a 4.6 GPA, she was accepted to Rice University and the University of Texas. At seventeen Esparza was already a two-time national champion, and she announced to Silva that she had nothing else to prove. More importantly, she wanted to be the first person in her family to graduate from college. But Silva asked her to reconsider. “Just keep winning,” he told her, “and people will have to notice. Good things will come.”
Mexican-American, won bronze in London when women’s boxing first debut, and she’s ranked ninth in the world. SHE’S @%@*(%&@ AMAZING!!! WATCH HER BOX.
