Yoani Sanchez: Cuba's Schools Are Failing Its Children

2012-06-30-SANY0646.jpeg

To brag about the achievements of our children and to crow about the good grades they got on a test are some of the pleasures that we can't forgo when the opportunity presents itself. June comes and we bump into a neighbor or a friend and the obligatory question is, "How is your child doing studying for the final exams?" The heat takes a backseat, and summer's apathy gains some mystery with the questions: Will they pass or fail? Will they be promoted to the next grade, or not? Long nights are spent solving math problems, the tutors can't keep up with so many students, and outside the schools they post the listings with the standings. The year-end vortex sucks us in... but this year there are several new features.

After testing one educational method after another, now several batches of students trained in these teaching "laboratories" have come to the university. I am referring to those who, from the first day of junior high school, faced those so-called "emerging teachers" at the blackboard; the same teenagers who, for years, received 60 percent of their classes through a television screen. My son is a good example of this. He benefited from the abandonment of the "high schools in the countryside" program -- excellent news -- but he suffered from the restructuring of the school program, plagued with misfits, lost hours, and the poor academic preparation of the educators. He has also been affected by the high desertion rates among the ranks of teachers whose salaries remain on the symbolic, if not the ridiculous, plane. Added to this is the presence -- excessive and continuous -- of an ideology that pervades even subjects and materials as far from the political spectrum as possible.

These winds are now bringing real storms. The lack of educational quality is bumping up against an increasing rigor in the final exams for high school. The result: entire schools where they are barely able to pass three or four students; complete groups who must cram and take the test second time, and even a third; parents on the edge of nervous collapse on learning that their "intelligent" child doesn't even know the Pythagorean theorem. To the lack of control comes the firm hand; the delirious educational system starts to see reason. But we're not talking about numbers here; it concerns young people whose learning has been far below what now appears on the test. People for whom volunteerism and school experimentation have been shown to fail.


Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
Translating Cuba is a compilation blog with Yoani and other Cuban bloggers in English.
Yoani's new book in English, Havana Real, can be ordered here.

?

?

?

Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanifromcuba

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/cubas-schools-are-failing_b_1640256.html

food network good friday f/a 18 f 18 crash virginia tenebrae the lake house petrino arkansas

Morsi Is Sworn in as Egypt's President

Egypt's newly elected president has sent an implicit message of reassurance to Israel in his first major address after taking office, but he also pledged support for the "legitimate rights" of the Palestinians.

Islamist Mohammed Morsi said Saturday that his administration will continue to honor its international treaties ? a thinly veiled reference to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

AP

Egypt's President-elect Mohammed Morsi talks to his supporters at Tahrir Square, the focal point of Egyptian uprising, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, June 29, 2012. In front of tens of thousands of cheering supporters, Egypt's first Islamist and civilian president-elect vowed that nobody can take away his authority and symbolically read an oath of office on the eve of his official inauguration. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) Close

Relations between the two neighbors have become particularly tense since last year's overthrow of Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, who had forged close ties with the Jewish state during his 29-year rule.

Morsi was sworn in Saturday as Egypt's first freely elected president and the Arab world's first Islamist head of state.

The rise to power of Egyptian Islamists has been a source of alarm among many Israelis.

Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=22c69020eb6a56a855cee4d0d65ca0e5

argentina train crash nancy pelosi nancy pelosi gop debate republican debate lewis black kirkwood

Syria troops regain key Damascus suburb

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian troops flushed out rebels from a key Damascus suburb Saturday, regaining control of a key area just outside the capital after a 10-day assault that left dozens dead, hundreds wounded and caused a major humanitarian crisis.

The relentless offensive against Douma forced residents and fighters to flee, leaving a trail of destruction and bodies in the streets, activists said.

In Zamalka, another suburb of Damascus, activists said more than 30 people were killed and many others wounded Saturday evening when a mortar shell struck a car that exploded as a funeral procession was taking place.

The exact circumstances were not immediately clear. It was not known who fired the mortar.

World powers meeting in Geneva to push for an end to the bloodshed accepted a U.N.-brokered peace plan for Syria on Saturday, but left open whether President Bashar Assad could be part of a transitional government.

The sprawling suburb of Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, has been a hotbed of dissent against Assad's regime since the start of the uprising in March 2011. Securing control of the suburb for a sustained period would be a significant triumph for the regime.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local activist Mohammed Saeed said regime forces recaptured Douma late Friday. The latest offensive was the worst of several assaults on the area, the Observatory said.

"The situation in Douma is catastrophic. The suburb is badly destroyed," Saeed said via Skype, adding that he was among dozens of residents who fled on foot through the fields to safer areas for fear of being captured by security forces.

The state-run SANA news agency reported the government was still pursuing "armed terrorist groups" in its effort to "cleanse" Douma, using its term for the rebels, noting that dozens had been killed and their weapons seized.

Central Damascus is an Assad stronghold, but regime forces have battled to control the ring of suburbs and settlements in the surrounding countryside. The army launches frequent offensives in the suburbs only to see them slip back under rebel control.

Saeed said troops stormed two makeshift hospitals where seriously wounded people were being treated. "The doctors fled and the wounded remained. Their fate is unknown," he said.

The latest violence came as representatives of global and regional powers met Saturday in an increasingly desperate bid to agree on a peaceful formula to end the bloody crisis in Syria, including Assad's role in a transitional government.

The talks hosted by the United Nations at its European headquarters in Geneva were seen as a last-ditch attempt to salvage the peace plan brokered by the U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

The U.S. backed away from demands that Assad be excluded, hoping the concession would encourage Russia to put greater pressure on its longtime ally to end the violent crackdown that the opposition says has claimed over 14,000 lives.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted that Assad would still have to go, saying "it is now "incumbent on Russia and China to show Assad the writing on the wall."

Moscow had refused to back a provision that would call for Assad to step aside, insisting that outsiders cannot order a political solution for Syria.

Annan said following talks that "it is for the people of Syria to come to a political agreement."

Syrian opposition groups also planned to meet Monday in Cairo to try to agree on a common vision to deal with the next stage in the conflict, Arab League deputy chief Ahmed ben Heli told reporters.

He said the foreign ministers from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members ? the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia also were invited, as were Annan and envoys from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and Tunisia.

Previous attempts in the past weeks to hold a similar meeting at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo failed because of differences between opposition groups.

The death toll is rising daily as the conflict becomes increasingly militarized. Fighting also has left several rebel strongholds facing dire conditions.

Douma's residents suffer from daily shelling as well as shortages of food, electricity and running water, according to the Observatory. It also cited a shortage of cooking gas that has prevented people from cooking food since the latest campaign began on June 21.

The Observatory said about 100 families, mostly women and children, remain in Douma as men had to flee because of waves of arrests. Dozens of wounded people also are holed up in shelters and need urgent treatment after troops took over the main hospital in the area and damaged it, the Observatory said.

"Many of the wounded have died because of bad medical conditions," the Observatory said.

In other violence Saturday, a car bomb exploded in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, damaging a government building but causing no casualties since the building was closed for the weekend, according to SANA.

Activists also reported shelling by government troops and clashes between rebels and government forces in the central provinces of Hama and Homs, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour as well as Idlib and Aleppo to the north. Scores were reported killed in violence Saturday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-troops-regain-key-damascus-suburb-174458674.html

steve johnson norman reedus norman reedus sears office max office max cyber monday deals 2011

Chrome - Google, Inc.

Description

Browse fast with Chrome, now available on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Sign in to sync your personalized Chrome experience from your computer, and bring it with you anywhere you go.

Search fast
? Search and navigate fast, directly from the same box. Choose from results that appear as you type.

Simple, intuitive experience
? Open and quickly switch between an unlimited number of tabs. On your iPhone and iPod touch, flip through tabs the way you would fan a deck of cards. On iPad, swipe from edge to edge to switch tabs.

Sign in
? Sign in to Chrome to sync your open tabs, bookmarks, passwords, and omnibox data from your computer to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Pick up right where you left off.
? Send pages from Chrome on your computer to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with one click and read them on the go, even if you?re offline.

Privacy
? Open a tab in Incognito* to browse without saving your history. To learn more, please visit: http://goo.gl/WUx02

Source: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=Kb4OmaSXlwM&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fnz%252Fapp%252Fchrome%252Fid535886823%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D2%2526partnerId%253D30

somali pirates navy seals navy seal team 6 tim gunn tim gunn built to last obama state of the union address 2012

MyReviewsNow.net Adds DIY Home Improvement Affiliate Partner ...

MyReviewsNow.net Adds DIY Home Improvement Affiliate Partner ...

Buy Backlinks Champion was started in 1999 and is owner operated by Michael Rotkin, Buy Backlinks ... Rotkin realizes the value of Buy Backlinks over Pay-Per-Click campaigns, where ...MyReviewsNow.net Adds DIY Home Improvement Affiliate Partner ...

The comments to this entry are closed.

Source: http://backlinks.typepad.com/buy/2012/06/myreviewsnownet-adds-diy-home-improvement-affiliate-partner-2.html

white house correspondents dinner phoenix coyotes bruce irvin charlie st cloud celtics josh hamilton nba playoffs

Survey shows Chinese manufacturing slows in June

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/survey-shows-chinese-manufacturing-slows-june-030306094--finance.html

final four 2012 bridesmaids winning lottery numbers megamillions winner kansas jayhawks mega millions results louisville

AboutOne (beta)

Families of any size need a way to centralize and back up their most important information, such as medical histories, deeds to major purchases, and priceless photos. AboutOne (free) is an online hub where you can upload files, jot down important information about your loved ones, and otherwise manage all the paperwork and data that's associated with running a household.

AboutOne Use
AboutOne is simple to use and has decent search functionality, which is crucial for a service of this type. Unfortunately, it doesn't contain enough built-in suggestions for how to use it or reasons to log in often. Other online family organizers (Doxo comes to mind) encourage you to use the service by aggressively steering you toward different areas of the site every time you log in. Doxo can also link with utility providers and other billed services, much as Mint.com connects with financial accounts and paid services, giving you more reason to log in frequently. With AboutOne, on the other hand, it's easy to forget you have an account, because there's no compelling reason to visit the site?until a disaster strikes.

Set Up and Features
Signing up for an account takes little more than entering an email address, creating a password, and setting up a few additional security login measures. Once you have an account, AboutOne begins by having you enter information about your family, including pets. You can fill in details such as birthday, sex, blood type, and social security number.

Aside from entering information about family members, you can also add contacts and inventory your possessions. The contacts manager lets you import other address books as well, such as those stored in Facebook and Google.

Two other key features, a family calendar and centralized place for documents, show up as icons on the site but aren't available as of this writing (the site is technically still in beta). I should hope that by the time the site is launched in full, documents integrate neatly with possessions. If I were to list a vehicle that I own, I would also want to attach directly to it documentation for the license, registration, insurance, and any warranties associated with it, rather than stick that paperwork in a separate area.

Beta? You Betchya
AboutOne remains in beta, and having had a deeper look at its functionality and lack of finish, it's clear that it is. AboutOne understands the need to centralize important family information, but hasn't quite figured out the best way to do so yet. What's holding the service back at the moment is a compelling reason for users to return and continually update their information. It needs a hook, like Doxo's integration with services and bill pay, to keep people coming back.

More Personal & Home Software Reviews:
??? AboutOne (beta)
??? Digifit iCardio Multi-Sport Heart Rate Monitor Training (for iPhone)
??? MapMyRide+ (for iPhone)
??? Cyclemeter (for iPhone)
??? Re.vu
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/XZ72JMinVE0/0,2817,2406508,00.asp

moses tulsa shooting doug fister rick warren the perfect storm hard boiled eggs sound of music

Mayor Menino vows to fireany funds finaglers

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said a probe into alleged misuse of funds at the Boston Fire Department training academy is ongoing and that he will terminate anyone found involved in shenanigans.

?My administration does not tolerate any of that,? Menino told the Herald. ?As soon as we find out (about alleged corruption), we do an investigation. If someone is involved, we?ll take them off duty. I?m not going to allow them to infest the good, hard-working men and women on the Fire Department ... and discredit the department.?

Menino said he has ?full confidence? that Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser will deal with the brewing scandal, which officials say involves allegations that funds were misused at the department?s Moon Island training academy.

?The fire commissioner is the one who instigated the investigation,? Menino said. ?We support the fire commissioner. He has brought to light some issues existing at the training center and we?ll get to the bottom of it.?

Boston police have been interviewing training academy instructors and other Boston Fire Department employees as part of the probe, union officials say.

The investigation comes on the heels of a Herald report about a two-story house that was built without a permit on Moon Island.

Quincy officials have cited the department for a building code violation for the house, which Fraser has said was intended to be used as a training ?prop.?

Fire officials refused for weeks to say how the building was funded or who built it, but this week, the department said it cost $11,000 and was funded through a ?lumber materials account? controlled by the training academy.

The house was built by off-duty firefighters, officials said.

Source: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061142437&srvc=rss

wrestlemania 28 dierks bentley kenny chesney blake shelton academy of country music awards brad paisley zac brown band

6_minutes: DPP may lay charges against Perth GP and nurses who provided quack cures for cancer patients http://t.co/c4S18LYw

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source:

nike new nfl uniforms nfl uniforms andrew bailey the village dallas fort worth tornado dallas tornadoes dallas weather

Are you a fan of Ridley Scott's Alien?

So are you a fan of Ridley Scott's Alien or James Cameron's Aliens?

Then I humbly ask that you check out this RP

What's it about?

Aside from the obvious, this RP will focus on a fictional world called LV-339, Eos. This planet has much of the Earth's gaseous makeup and is safe for human habitation without the use of terraforming. The minor differences between the two planets is that Eos has a slightly higher oxygen content, slightly lower nitrogen content, and a healthy mixture of the same gases found in Earth's atmosphere on slightly varying levels. The water to land ratio is roughly 74% to 26%, and the land masses that cover the planet are primarily forested or marshland. Perfect habitat for our beloved Xenomorphs.

There are three phases to this RP and each one carries a different line-up of characters and goals.

Phase One is all about the research team and it's investigation of a crash site for an unknown vessel outside the boundaries of the Colony that has been established on Eos's northernmost continent. This vessel was detected by accident late at night on February 12th, 2087, and the transmission of this incident reached the ears of the Weyland-Yutani Corporations headquarters later that year in November. A research team was dispatched to investigate and document what had happened, as well as collect data on the planet outside the Colony's boundaries due to their limitations of supplies and proper equipment. What will this research team discover? I think you can very well guess what's coming... Oh, and one more thing: three research team members are going to die so be prepared for that.

Phase Two is all about the Marines from the beginning of their departure to the planet straight through to the all out war against our favorite black, serpentine foes. Heavy duty armor and equipment is at your disposal for dealing with these foes... However there is one thing I should mention. This RP is treating this encounter as if it's the first, and no OOC knowledge of the Xenomorphs is going to be tolerated from characters IC. If you know a lot about the Xenomorph in real life, keep it to yourself and in the OOC because your characters IC will never have seen or heard about them. The Marines won't know how to deal with them until it's too late, and whether we like it or not there are going to be two Marine deaths before this is done and they evacuate the planet.

Phase Three focuses on the five remaining characters (plus mine), and focuses on a new mission given to the Marines to return to the surface of Eos nine years after the initial encounter when the Aliens have taken over the entire planet's surface. There have been reports of a special Hive that is larger and houses more powerful versions of the creatures, and Weyland-Yutani wants the one running things to be captured alive and brought in for study. You can imagine how well this will sit with the Marines, being few in number and now carrying knowledge about the creatures and how they operate. Never the less, there is nothing we can do for we are thrown back to the wolves and all Hell breaks loose once again as we attempt to survive and escape the coming onslaught.

Wait, what? Two sets of characters?!

Yes, everyone who joins is required to portray two characters.

(If you'd like to squish them both into a single profile, that can be arranged but it might be a bit tricky)

Your first character is one of the research team members, and your specific field can be negotiated to change from what I have listed if you wish for a different field of study. The second character is one of the Marines, and again you can negotiate rank and profession with me before submitting your profile if you wish. The Character List I have created is just to be taken as a guideline, and there is no reason you should feel limited to what I have offered in it. If you know you can play a specific kind of Marine that I have not listed, then let me know and it's yours.

The two characters that you create will be siblings who are a part of a special program instituted by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation for underprivileged children and families. In exchange for either military service or research aid, you are granted top of the line salary and special opportunities for quick advancement so that when your services come to an end you are ready to begin life on your own without outside aid from the company.

That's about it! I'll see you inside!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/oPoMojkXVo8/viewtopic.php

world financial center shabazz muhammad angela corey zimmerman charged bonobos charles manson actuary