Putting brakes on a dream - Dallas Morning News
http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/migrants/
Getting to the US from Honduras has gotten tougher and hazards abound. These guys are evaluating their options, not always entirely sure where they are along the way.
The writer Alfredo Corchado is the author of Midnight in Mexico.
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Rethinking work, German-style
I love stories like these about people who quit pursuing a career track that they don't really like and find a hands-on job they really do like. The German vocational training system was actually designed in the 1700s, yet still is effective today.
South Carolina BMW plant imports German apprenticeship program - PBS Newshour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpDAocHVxwM
Take a look at the Career Day at 2:50... of those options, which would you choose?
Dual Benefits - Stihl exports a German training system to Virginia Beach | Made in Germany - DW.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuX9ATIrlrs
Dual Vocational Training - Germany's successful system | Made in Germany - DW.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNM2BqKsxs
From college dropout to craftsman - DW.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfPIcEIJvVw
"With all the young people around [in Munster], you'd think it would be easy to fill apprenticeships. But most high school grads enroll at university instead... however 1/4 later quit."
"Young people spend years studying things they don't like... but over the years they get a much better idea of their interests and strengths, and develop the courage to explore areas better suited to their personality and interests."
Stihl plant in Virginia Beach
South Carolina BMW plant imports German apprenticeship program - PBS Newshour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpDAocHVxwM
Take a look at the Career Day at 2:50... of those options, which would you choose?
Dual Benefits - Stihl exports a German training system to Virginia Beach | Made in Germany - DW.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuX9ATIrlrs
Dual Vocational Training - Germany's successful system | Made in Germany - DW.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNM2BqKsxs
From college dropout to craftsman - DW.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfPIcEIJvVw
"With all the young people around [in Munster], you'd think it would be easy to fill apprenticeships. But most high school grads enroll at university instead... however 1/4 later quit."
"Young people spend years studying things they don't like... but over the years they get a much better idea of their interests and strengths, and develop the courage to explore areas better suited to their personality and interests."
Stihl plant in Virginia Beach
Saturday, November 14, 2015
China's "tofu construction"
Shanghai's Lotus Riverside complex block 7 collapsed in 2009, killing a construction worker
China's "tofu construction"
Some of the work done in China is top quality, and China has some fantastic cutting edge designs and innovations. But China has a problem with shoddy work. The Chinese call it "tofu construction."
Why?
The #1 problem is that China's Communist Party has placed the speed of economic development over quality. The Communist Party is not elected, so they justify their existence to the people by pointing to economic advancement under their direction. They look for symbols of their achievements, like bullet trains. But the push for rapid construction and manufacturing have often resulted in shortcuts, which can lead to disasters. This includes:
-Flooded cities
-Collapsing buildings
-Deadly cars
-Tainted food
-7 of 10 most air polluted cities in the world
Chinese bridge collapses because trucks are "too heavy" - Off the Great Wall - NTDTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8QwGdEBOeg
China's breakneck development brings flooding in its wake*Great article
http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-breakneck-development-brings-flooding-in-its-wake-1468735508
China $45 billion Shenzhen construction project collapses - TomoNews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeWPEGDhxt4
China car scores zero in crash test - Drive.com.au
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTxbbvCf3zY
China bridge collapse sends visitors into water - No comment TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knaNXcKS-qM
Beijing's urban farmers - Reuters
-Note why they want to grow their own foodhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUbvI-EMYPI
McDonald's faces food safety scare in China
http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2014/07/23/pkg-vassileva-china-meat-scandal.cnn
Getting Americans into American PhD programs
Getting Americans into American PhD programs
"There's a lot of people with potential that we've been overlooking." You can say that again.
Hard to believe, but over 50% of STEM PhDs awarded by US universities go to non-American students.
What?
As the video below shows, many American students are not even aware of the PhD opportunities that exist in their own country, paid for with their own tax dollars, so they don't even apply. In that vacuum of domestic applicants, PhD program spots are left to be snapped up by foreign students who now are increasingly heading back home to places like China or India. Put differently, to most Americans the idea of getting a PhD is foreign to them, they don't even really know what it is or entails, whereas for foreign students getting into American PhD program is a well-known avenue to go to America--on a student visa.
To be clear, this is not the fault of foreign PhD students, and there's nothing wrong with universities accepting some international students. But when they number over 50%, it shows American universities are not living up to their responsibility to recruit students from their own population, just as they do for undergrad and Masters programs. PhD programs don't bring in the exorbitant tution of other programs; in fact, universities usually pay PhD students a stipend and tuition remission. So they don't bother to recruit.
When I was a high school junior and senior, I received piles of glossy brochures in the mail from over 100 colleges. Yet I've never received a brochure about a PhD program, and rarely if ever have I seen an ad for one anywhere. I have a BA and two Masters degrees and have been to four graduate schools, and I have never had a school educate students about PhD opportunities.
US schools could do a much better job of recruiting Americans for these spots in school. It's not enough for schools to take the easy way out and say "well we can only admit who applies," because that's not true. Schools have a large degree of control over who applies by their outreach and advertising campaigns.
This video shows both sides very clearly. The first side shows how foreign students are flocking to US PhD programs, but pay attention also to the second half which shows a fantastic program at San Francisco State which is recruiting "overlooked" American students into PhD programs. The program is doing what PhD programs should already be doing for themselves. We need much, much more of this kind of recruitment in the US. Even if you thought a PhD was not for you, you could be wrong don't count it out as the video shows.
Notice that the program at SFSU aims to train "low-income and minority students whose potential in math and science may not have been realized." But the truth is you don't have to be a low-income or minority student to have not realized your potential in STEM fields. We need more programs like SFSU's. "There's a lot of people with potential that we've been overlooking."
America's Brain Drain - CBS News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4x0_WXlC1Y
"There's a lot of people with potential that we've been overlooking." You can say that again.
Hard to believe, but over 50% of STEM PhDs awarded by US universities go to non-American students.
What?
As the video below shows, many American students are not even aware of the PhD opportunities that exist in their own country, paid for with their own tax dollars, so they don't even apply. In that vacuum of domestic applicants, PhD program spots are left to be snapped up by foreign students who now are increasingly heading back home to places like China or India. Put differently, to most Americans the idea of getting a PhD is foreign to them, they don't even really know what it is or entails, whereas for foreign students getting into American PhD program is a well-known avenue to go to America--on a student visa.
To be clear, this is not the fault of foreign PhD students, and there's nothing wrong with universities accepting some international students. But when they number over 50%, it shows American universities are not living up to their responsibility to recruit students from their own population, just as they do for undergrad and Masters programs. PhD programs don't bring in the exorbitant tution of other programs; in fact, universities usually pay PhD students a stipend and tuition remission. So they don't bother to recruit.
When I was a high school junior and senior, I received piles of glossy brochures in the mail from over 100 colleges. Yet I've never received a brochure about a PhD program, and rarely if ever have I seen an ad for one anywhere. I have a BA and two Masters degrees and have been to four graduate schools, and I have never had a school educate students about PhD opportunities.
US schools could do a much better job of recruiting Americans for these spots in school. It's not enough for schools to take the easy way out and say "well we can only admit who applies," because that's not true. Schools have a large degree of control over who applies by their outreach and advertising campaigns.
This video shows both sides very clearly. The first side shows how foreign students are flocking to US PhD programs, but pay attention also to the second half which shows a fantastic program at San Francisco State which is recruiting "overlooked" American students into PhD programs. The program is doing what PhD programs should already be doing for themselves. We need much, much more of this kind of recruitment in the US. Even if you thought a PhD was not for you, you could be wrong don't count it out as the video shows.
Notice that the program at SFSU aims to train "low-income and minority students whose potential in math and science may not have been realized." But the truth is you don't have to be a low-income or minority student to have not realized your potential in STEM fields. We need more programs like SFSU's. "There's a lot of people with potential that we've been overlooking."
America's Brain Drain - CBS News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4x0_WXlC1Y
Friday, November 13, 2015
Fundamentalist Islam less than welcome in Westernized Turkey
Fundamentalist Islam is a minority in Westernized Turkey today. This video shows a completely different type of Islamic society than narrow view of a war-torn Islamic world we usually see in the news.
Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjjY750wTs0
Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjjY750wTs0
Chillin' in Harbin, China
Chillin' in Harbin - Dominic Swire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4BU_u0VTQ
Harbin is the capital of China's northernmost province Heilongjang which borders Siberia, Russia. Harbin was once a Russian city and maintains old Russian buildings including St. Sophia Cathedral. They seem to love Russian bread as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4BU_u0VTQ
Harbin is the capital of China's northernmost province Heilongjang which borders Siberia, Russia. Harbin was once a Russian city and maintains old Russian buildings including St. Sophia Cathedral. They seem to love Russian bread as well.
Russia-China border town
In a world of scarce resources, Russia's Far East is unusual, with an immense stretch of relatively unused land and resources. The prime location on the Pacific Rim near some of the world's top export economies Japan, South Korea, and China gives the Russian Far East even more potential.
A significant chunk of eastern Russia used to be part of China. On the map below you can see that today the northeast corner of China, Heilongjang province, just over the border from Russia, has 38 million people including its capital Harbin pop. 3.5 million. The Russian side, however, looks nearly empty on the map by comparison. Many Chinese people today are moving across into Russia to sell goods and to work on farms.
China border town has booming businesses - CNN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV8BS481yF0
A significant chunk of eastern Russia used to be part of China. On the map below you can see that today the northeast corner of China, Heilongjang province, just over the border from Russia, has 38 million people including its capital Harbin pop. 3.5 million. The Russian side, however, looks nearly empty on the map by comparison. Many Chinese people today are moving across into Russia to sell goods and to work on farms.
China border town has booming businesses - CNN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV8BS481yF0
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