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My elementary and middle school experience often differs from those of my friends because I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to eighth grade. People always ask if we had to wear uniforms and pray all the time, but the truth is my grade school days were similar to those of public school kids. We had recess, went on field trips, and learned all the usual curriculum (although we did have religion class and go to church weekly). There were the crushes on classmates, “boyfriends and girlfriends,” and we played boys chase girls.

But what I consider my “typical” experience may not be so typical anymore. Many schools in recent years have turned to same gender classes — all boys and girls from each grade level split into their own gender-specific classes. This approach has been met with mixed reaction.

Some feel it’s good to separate children by gender. Boys and girls learn differently, especially in subjects like math, science and reading, so teaching catered to gender may help them learn better. There also is a lack of distraction from the opposite sex allowing children to be themselves without worrying about how they will be perceived. Yet others argue this type of separation isn’t really helping our children. Children all have different learning styles, despite being male or female, and if they are split, they are missing out on developing key social skills by interacting with members of the opposite sex.

A number of schools have conducted their own trial runs of these kinds of classrooms in my home state of Wisconsin. One such trial is being conducted in Janesville, about an hour from Madison. The Academy at Marshall Middle School was set-up as a trial of this kind of learning two years ago. It’s a voluntary program, parents choose whether they want their children to participate. The students take core curriculum like math, science, reading and social studies apart but come together for art, music and gym classes as well as lunch.

The program began with just sixth and eighth graders, but a seventh grade program was added after one year. Teachers and students see an improvement and say they’d never go back.

One eighth-grade boy said, “The teaching is way different…so it appeals to us more than girls. I think it has improved my school work a lot.” An eight-grade girl had similar comments, “We’re more relaxed when we’re just with other girls. I’m doing a lot better in my school work since I started this.”

Teachers at the school also concur saying they can plan and teach more effectively with a target audience.

I believe education is important, and children have a right to great schools and teachers who help them succeed. If single gender classrooms work, I think it’s good for students. But I would hate to see more sexism and separatism come from these changes. Only time will tell what sort of impact these classrooms will have on students.

Ashley Thill, Catholic school, education, gender, gender-specific classes Hide

Image of Queen Rania of Jordan courtesy of Comminit.com

I have always dreaded waking up early in the morning to get ready for school, yet the literal act of going to school is something I never really think twice about. It’s always been just another errand on my daily to-do list. Even when I was little I had plans of attending college. I would play make believe, and pretend I was living in my university dorm where my friends and family would come visit me. I always knew school was part of my life, and it was going to remain that way for quite some time.

A common misconception among many U.S. citizens is that the majority of people receive some sort of secondary schooling and eventually go on to college to receive a degree. Sadly, a startling statistic reveals only about five out of every 100 people in the world earn a college degree let alone receive a substantial education.

Kuwait is a small and oil-rich state where women are said to be among the most emancipated in the Gulf region, which is considered to be largely conservative. Women in Kuwait can travel, drive, and work without their fathers’ or husbands’ consent. They are even allowed to hold a few senior government positions. However, women in Kuwait have yet to gain the one right that most of them truly desire: the right to vote. Kuwaiti-born Queen Rania of Jordan believes that equal access to education is the crucial first step in the building process. Women in poor countries have less schooling and fewer economic opportunities. According to a new paper published by the UIS, globally, there are approximately 72 million secondary school-age adolescents who are denied access from basic levels of education. Recently, Her Majesty Queen Rania announced her joint efforts with the 1GOAL: Education for All mobile campaign, the world’s largest cause-related campaign.

In 2000, 164 world governments collaborated to create the UN Millennium Development Goals, eight international development goals that have been agreed to be achieved by 2015. Two of the goals cite ending poverty through providing education for all. 1GOAL is motivated to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school, and that girls everywhere will have the opportunity to further their educations at all levels by 2015. Since the meeting in 2000, many countries have abolished school fees, and an extra 40 million children are now going to school.

The mobile campaign will be comprised of a multitude of mobile communication tools, including mobile advertising, apps and messaging. It will enable millions of people to sign up, via various mobile responses, hopefully demonstrating to leaders around the globe and the UN that universal education is a universal demand. World leaders are meeting throughout 2010 and the coming years to discuss their ongoing commitment to education for all. The 1GOAL mobile campaign will enable tens of millions of people globally to let those leaders know that education for all is the stepping stone that can help end world poverty.

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A woman pours kerosene all over her body and lights a match. BOOM. She seeks death but instead emerges from unconsciousness to find herself in a hospital bed, wrapped in gauze and subject to skin grafts. The pain is constant and unyielding. A similar story is relived by different women hundreds of times a year in different regions of Afghanistan. About a quarter of these cases end in death, often after several days of torturous pain in a hospital bed.

The families of these women tell a different story. “It was an accident; there was a gas explosion; she would never do such a thing on purpose.” But the lies only highlight a searing point: often it is because of family problems that women turn to burning themselves, also called self-immolation. Common reasons behind this type of suicide are forced marriages, abusive husbands, poverty and lack of rights.

Within the country’s laws, women do have a right to file for divorce under narrow circumstances. However, women are considered so socially unequal to men, that this right is hardly respected. And though women must be at least 16 to be married off, some fathers ignore this, marrying off their daughters at ages as young as ten. Often it is the younger women who are attempting these suicides, women who have been recently married and may only be 16 years old. They have no education, don’t know their rights, and cannot see any other future for themselves.

When asked if she had advice for other women, one 20 year old victim of self-immolation told a BBC reporter, “Don’t burn yourself, if you want a way out, use a gun: it’s less painful.” Nurses tell stories of women who beg to be killed rather than sent back to their husbands.

Government officials from Kabul were sent to investigate this terrifying trend back in 2004, but this has not mitigated the situation. Since then, there is evidence even to support a rise in the trend. Conditions are even worse in southern regions of the country that are more rural and have tribal laws often outweighing those of the government. Many cases go unreported here, the cover-up stories of the families trumping those of the dying women.

The question then becomes, what do you do when you hear of such tales—of such inequality and desperation? As an American woman, I know almost innately that I have the power to change a bad situation. At the same time, I also feel absolutely no chance of helping these women living thousands of miles away, who are in such despair.

The Afghan Independent Rights Commission has worked to improve the condition of women, handing out pamphlets and talking to women, but has seen little to no results over five years of work. Though the government is aware of the problem, little is changing. With even stricter laws for women recently passed in the country, it is hard to see a brighter path for these women.

photo by phil borges

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Journalist Roxana Saberi’s turned 32 years last Sunday as she continues to be incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin Prison on an eight-year sentence for espionage.

Her father, Reza Saberi, recently confirmed that Saberi has been on hunger strike. Her family was told that she was initially arrested in January for buying a bottle of wine, which is against the country’s Islamic law. Iranian prosecutors later accused Roxana Saberi of working as a journalist without the proper documentation. Now Iranian officials allege that the Roxana Saberi was purchasing information about Iran’s nuclear program.

She was tried in April for espionage; her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, has filed an appeal. Saberi moved to Iran, her father’s home country, in 2003 to work as a reporter. The North Dakota native has reported for Fox News, BBC and NPR. She received a master’s degree in journalism from the Northwestern University in Chicago and another master’s in international relations at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

While in Iran, Roxana Saberi reported on a broad array of issues, including Iranian movie trends, a fatal plane crash and U.N. sanctions. Her case continues to garner international attention. The BBC called Iran officials to request “independent access to her.” U.S. officials have also expressed concern—U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for her “speedy release.”

A letter composed in March by various officials from news outlets appealed for her release, pleading for international organizations to intervene under the Geneva Conventions. They requested access to Roxana Saberi to “ascertain her health and well-being.”

www.FreeRoxana.net has been created to encourage concerned persons to write to Mohammad Khazzee, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations. His mailing address is listed on the site’s front page.

While Roxana Saberi continues her hunger strike (an April 27th Twitter update from All Day News reported Saberi lost 10 pounds since beginning her fast), her father remains in Tehran. Reza Saberi, who maintains dual citizenship, has said that he will not leave the country until his daughter returns home. “I will stay here until she is released,” he told an AP TV News reporter.

Update (May 11, 2009): Saberi was released from prison and her sentence reduced. Read it at BBC.

abdolsamad khoramshahi, bbc, cambridge university, education, fox news, geneva convention, hillary clinton, hunger strike, iran, journalism, north dakota, northwestern university, npr, reza saberi, roxana saberi, tehran, twitter, U.N. Hide

You don’t have to be a fan of modern dance to understand the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). According to Judith Jamison, the Artistic Director, you just have to be human.

“The first thing you do when you’re born is what?” asks Jamison. “You open your mouth first and wave those little chords in the air to make sure people know you’re alive. And you’re breathing, those lungs are moving. Everything is moving. It’s within us to move.”

AAADT celebrated movement and connection with its 50th anniversary last year, where Jamison also announced she will be retiring in 2011. The world eagerly awaits her announcement of a predecessor. “I’m looking for someone with great intelligence and great nerve – someone who understands the tradition of the company, but makes choices as an individual. That’s what I did. I couldn’t imitate Alvin (Ailey). All I could do was follow the road map.”

That map laid out AAADT’s mission to bring African American culture to the world. Ailey always believed that dance came from the people, and should be delivered back to the people. She began dancing at the age of 10, training in classical ballet, though her passionate style and muscular figure contradicted the ballerina’s wiry ideal. In 1965, Jamison joined AAADT as a dancer and found international stardom with the company for the next fifteen years; she took over the company in 1989.

Among the most notable of Jamison’s roles is Cry (1971), a 15-minute tour-de-force solo. Dedicated to women everywhere, Cry brilliantly conveys every emotion, role, and contradiction associated with womanhood. In her autobiography Dancing Spirit, Jamison writes, “Exactly where the woman is going through the ballet’s three sections was never explained to me by Alvin. In my interpretation, she represented those women before her who came from the hardships of slavery, through the pain of losing loved ones, through overcoming extraordinary depressions and tribulations. Coming out of a world of pain and trouble, she has found her way – and triumphed.”

Under Jamison’s leadership, AAADT expanded dramatically with developments like the Women’s Choreography Initiative, performances at two Olympic Games, and a historic run in South Africa that ended the cultural boycott of the old apartheid government. Jamison also established a B.F.A. program with Fordham University. As an advocate for arts education, Jamison is committed to advancing programs that bring dance into the community and introduce children to the arts. She is a firm proponent of the power of dance to reach across cultural divides and connect the otherwise-separated.

“[AAADT is] here to celebrate the idea of what the human body can do and how far it can reach into your soul and make you feel differently about yourself. Make you feel good. Make you feel, period,” Jamison proclaims. “Alvin was always about our being recognized – as beautiful, important, distinct, absolutely talented, brilliant people. And, in doing that, it opened a world to who we are as human beings. Everything we do is about giving back to this world. And if we can do it through talent, through movement, through dance, then we are all the more blessed for it.”

aadt, alvin ailey, arts, autobiography, ballerina, ballet, cry, culture, dance, dancing spirit, education, fordham university, judith jamison, olympics, solo, south africa, theater, women's choreography initiative Hide

Living in a refugee camp in Ghana, Lovetta Conto struggled to get food, water and an education. She still believed, however, beauty could grow even in the darkest surroundings.

She may be a bit younger than our typical That Girl (at sixteen) but she is no less inspirational. Lovetta has her own line of jewelry, called Akawelle (“also known as love”), where pieces are fashioned from discarded bullets from the Liberian Civil War. “Life” is inscribed into the leaf pendant made from melting and molding the top part of the bullet. The bottom is wrapped with gold-filled wire to hang alongside the leaf. Constructed of copper and zinc, the bullets will tarnish but Lovetta feels this only enhances the splendor.

“Even something as ugly as a bullet that was fired in a war can be made beautiful if you are willing to work to change it into something else,” Lovetta explains.

Lovetta’s dedication was recognized by Cori Stern, founder of the Strongheart Fellowship. The fellowship stresses development through enterprise, encouraging participants to create projects that “combine commerce and compassion” by benefiting peers, the community and the Fellow. The proceeds from Conto’s jewelry line are going to help construct the Strongheart House in the now peaceful Liberia.

Like her jewelry, Lovetta also has managed to take her situation and turn it into a stunning reminder of the power of hope. She struggled to build a future for herself in the refugee camp. Education is not free in most of Africa, so Lovetta’s father worked very hard to pay for her education.

“I am finally getting the education my father dreamed of for me,” she writes. “That is why I say I am not ashamed of my past. It has made me who I am.”

photos courtesy of strongheart fellowship

accessories, africa, akawelle, cori stern, education, ghana, hope, jewelry, Liberian Civil War, life, lovetta conto, refugee, strongheart fellowship, That Girl Hide

Hermione Granger from Harry Potter may be known for her book smarts, but Parisian-born actress Emma Watson also is a wizard when it comes to her studies. Watson is probably best known for playing the overachieving best friend of Harry and Ron from the hit movies based on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

After her family transplanted back to England, Watson was actually discovered at a school assembly when she was just 9 years old. She was chosen to audition for the coveted role of Hermione as a casting team visited select English schools. She eventually won the role and is currently filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Watson also appeared in the BBC production of Ballet Shoes and was the voice of Princess Pea in the animated film, The Tale of Despereaux. The talents of this young actress however extend far beyond Hogwarts and the silver screen.

A very serious student, Watson aced her A-levels last year — England’s high school finishing exams — in English Literature, History of Art and Geography. She’s in the process of narrowing down which university to attend and there have been reports she has already been accepted to such impressive institutions as Yale and Cambridge. Once she decides if she wants to attend school in the U.S. or the U.K., the almost 19-year old (her birthday is April 15) will take a break from acting to pursue a college degree.

Watson’s life doesn’t just revolve around acting and academics. This avid athlete is an accomplished skier, field hockey player and scuba diver. She also sings, dances and has quite the keen fashion sense. The well-rounded young lady makes a point to give back to others and even asked her fans, in lieu of sending Christmas gifts last year to donate to UNICEF. She supports the Millennium Promise Alliance, working to end extreme poverty by 2025 and donated Harry Potter items to be auctioned off to benefit Wild Trout Trust, a British wildlife conservation charity.

With her laserlike focus on expanding her intellectual horizons over basking in the glitz of Hollywood, Watson truly personifies the i am that girl mantra, “Smart is the new sexy.”

ballet shoes, cambridge, education, emma watson, harry potter, harry potter and the deathly hallows, hermione granger, j.k. rowling, millennium promise alliance, smart is the new sexy, tale of despereaux, unicef, university, wild trout trust, yale Hide

Spring has started to finally peek out in Chicago as I find myself standing below the large, yellow awning of “The Boring Store.” “Nothing of interest in here,” and “Not a secret spy supply store,” warn the signs in the window of the mysterious storefront. I push open the heavy door only to find an orange wall covered in surveillance cameras staring me down. I wind through a short corridor and land in a cozy and brightly colored store. Trench coats, fedora hats, magnifying glasses, secret pens and other such sundries for the private detective surround me.

I notice a small window beyond the cash register. On the other side I see large tables and rows of neatly lined, high-backed, wooden chairs. Computers and shelves of books line the walls as 4 or 5 men and women bustle around carrying stacks of papers and working on laptops. Part tutoring center, part secret spy supply store, 826Chicago is not your typical tutoring program.

826Chicago is a branch of a national organization, which has chapters in 7 cities across the U.S.: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Ann Arbor, New York and Boston. Each center is covertly and creatively disguised as a storefront for the unusual.  The San Francisco chapter lives in the back of pirate supply store; Seattle hosts a Space Travel Supply Company and L.A. provides supplies for all SoCal time travelers. Across the nation, 826 offers kids of all ages after school tutoring, creative writing workshops, in-school support for teachers and much more. Started 6 years ago by Dave Eggars, author of A Heartbreaking Work of A Staggering Genius, 826National is now a leading voice in creative education.

Mara O’Brien, Executive Director, and Kait Steele, Associate Director, at 826Chicago share the many ways they reach out to our community:

Steele: Sarah is an 8th grader [and] has been here for years. She started coming for tutoring and has now stayed through workshops… She will define herself right now as a writer, she says as much…I look at her and think, “You are in 8th grade and you are loud and proud about who you are.” That’s awesome.

O’Brien: For me, what’s so exciting is that what [these students] are excited about is academic. The fact is if you are a good writer then you are a good reader and all these things go together. They are excited about something they will use for the rest of their lives.

iatg: Even if they don’t really know it.

O’Brien: Right! And that’s the best thing.  I have parents who say, “Oh my kids don’t want to go to a tutoring program.”  And I say to them, “Well bring them here.  They won’t think they are at a tutoring program.  They’ll think they are in the spy store, you know, hanging out with cool kids and cool tutors.”

Find out more about your local chapter of 826 National

826chicago, 826national, a heartbreaking work of a staggering genius, ann arbor, boston, chicago, dave eggars, education, kait steele, los angeles, mara o'brien, New York, san francisco, seattle, student, teacher, the boring store, tutoring Hide

For many of us, when we’re 21, we are looking forward to celebrating and partying away our final year of college before we head out into the real world. We’re focused on our futures and enjoying the present.  But imagine that your life had been exactly how it had until you were 21, at which point you were shocked to discover you were pregnant. You have one more year of school to go. One more year to the real world and, suddenly, the real world is here and it’s surreal.

This is the story of Elizabeth Williams after she turned 21 and was staring down her senior year at University of Northern Colorado. The decisions she’d hoped to be dealing with at that time, weren’t quite as important as she now had to plan around a future that included someone else’s future, too. Elizabeth, pregnant through her senior year, would graduate and give birth in June to a beautiful little boy.

Now, five years later, Elizabeth and her son, Micah, lead a very full life. Elizabeth determined to live out her dreams, which now include her son, completed an online Masters degree in 2007 and works as a Children’s librarian in the Denver area.  She wouldn’t have it any other way. As a single mom, Elizabeth often appears to be running around crazy, and may sometimes even feel she is, but deep within knows she’s got a grip on her life, help from her nearby family, and the love of her life sleeping in the room next to hers.

Surely, it wasn’t her original plan. When she’d figured out her future, she’d expected it to include a strong man before any little man came along.  But things turned out differently for Elizabeth and she adapted to them. She embraces the way things are, loving and living in the moment – because, with a 5-year-old son, it’s hard to bank on predictability. There have been some curves in her road of life, but Elizabeth has used them to enjoy the breeze from a different angle and see the sun in a different way.

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The Dilemma
There is a point in every woman’s life sometime between college graduation and her 30th birthday when she stumbles across that terrifying and inevitable question: Should I go to graduate school? I have been wrestling with this decision for a while and, at 27 years old, I am beginning to feel restless, irritated and like I might be missing my moment. I have been out of school for 5 years now. I am a writer / director / actor / dramaturg and maybe I have one to many slashes in my title. I go around and around:

Where would I go?
What’s the best program?
Can I afford it?
What if I don’t get in?
Do I really want 2 more years of school?
Maybe I should join the Peace Corps.
What am I doing with my life?!

You’ve been there, right?

The Fantasy
A friend of mine is a recent graduate from the masters program at Harvard.  She applied on a whim, which is not what a lot of people do. I imagine most people spend months, maybe years. researching, preparing and applying.  It had been on her mind for a while and then she just went for it. The program she attended was rewarding, difficult and worth every penny. She’s proud of the work she did there and, while she still struggles finding work and making the next steps in her career, she knows she made the right decision because she is better informed, more prepared and ready for her career now that she has the tools she gained from grad school.

The Reality
Times are hard. Are there economic benefits to going back to school and adding more debt to my already dubious relationship with Sallie Mae?

Graduates of higher education experience higher salaries and benefits, higher savings levels and improved working conditions.  Communities of those who graduate from higher education experience increased tax revenues, greater overall productivity, increased consumption and decreased reliance on government financial support.

There are more than1.5 million scholarships worth more than $3.4 billion offered every year to students. So if it’s the money that’s making you panic, check out our past series on college financing to help you get started.

Making a Decision
There comes a time when you have to be honest with yourself.  Is this something I want? If it isn’t, then I need to give myself a break because what my parents want or my old classmates expect is not what matters.

Okay. Deep breath.

So, what do I really want?

I stop and look out.  I think about me and let the rest of it all go.

I want more.

So, here I am with my list of never ending questions, but the most important one has been answered. And that’s all that really matters because if I can’t be honest enough with myself to admit what I want and what I don’t want, then I shouldn’t be asking myself all the other questions.

education, grad school, Harvard, job, life questions, school Hide