How Do You Get Boys to Read (about the World)?

Since authors know girls like to read, one of the ways they lure boys to a book is by making their protagonists look just like them. Jeff Kinney's wimpy kid is Greg Heffley, and J.K.Rowling's young wizard is Harry Potter.

     Karen Katz uses the same approach in her new book, Roar, Roar Baby, for babies up to two year's old. She has a little boy looking for a tiger behind flaps that open to find  animals hiding all over the world. In Temple Run: Race Through Time to Unlock the Secrets of Ancient Worlds, Tracey West has a boy protagonist who finds clues that help him navigate safely through ancient civilizations. 

     Jon Scieszka, Stephanie Roth Sisson, and Brad Meltzer use a somewhat different approach to attract young male readers. In his series, Guys Read, Scieszka collects the true stories of adventure, sports, and male comedians that he knows little dudes would like.

     By presenting the true life stories of Carl Sagan and Albert Einstein, Sisson and Meltzer provide models of what boys can do with their lives. Sisson's book, Star Stuff, takes young men to the wonders of the 1939 World's Fair to illustrate what inspired Sagan to explore the mysteries of the universe. I Am Albert Einstein, by the historian Brad Meltzer, shows boys how ordinary people can change the world, even if they like to do things their own way, or maybe because they like their own ways of doing things. (Meltzer also has written a book about Amelia Earhart to inspire young girls.)

     Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, in his book, Raising Kids Who Read, urges families to let their children know, we are a family who likes to read because we like to learn (and share) new things. Kids who see adults and older siblings reading will want to imitate them.

Education for All or One?

Is it possible to reconcile the two approaches to education that are at odds these days?

     On the one hand, there is an emphasis on using standardized tests to evaluate students, teachers, and schools. Even writing assignments require a student to follow a standardized five paragraph format that begins with a thesis followed by three paragraphs presenting arguments to justify the thesis and a conclusion.

    The other approach to education recognizes everyone's need for decent housing, health care, food, clean water, a certain amount of sleep (See the blog post, "Sleep Deprived Test Scores."), and, yes, education. But this approach also sees individuals with different abilities and argues that setting the same goals for every student is a waste of time, money, and energy. It unfairly blames students for not working hard enough and/or not wanting success badly enough. Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Oregon, also observes that what is not measured, such as creativity, sports ability, and music, unfortunately becomes unimportant.

     Researchers David Z. Hambrick, Fernanda Ferreira, and John M. Henderson point to skilled Olympic sprinters who were faster than competitors even before they were trained. They found the popular idea of a certain amount of deliberate practice only explained 26% of the variation in the skill of expert chess players and novices; 21% of variation in musical skill, and 18% of the variation in skill in sports. Genes could explain up to half the variations between experts and less skilled performers. Innate talent makes a big difference.

     In response to these differences, some have suggested engaging students in more project-based opportunities, where they can put their individual interests and talents to work creating products and services that satisfy particular needs. Through interactions with other cultures, students also can broaden their interests and discover they are good at foreign languages or new styles of painting, music, or dance (See the blog post, "Introduce Disadvantaged Kids to the World.")

     Recognizing the different abilities of students leads to the idea of evaluating students differently in ways that do not involve standardized tests. Software might be used to: 1) monitor day-to-day answers students give in math and reading assessments and in video games that test higher order thinking, 2) provide feedback, and 3) allow students to make corrections and proceed at their own paces.

     Findings that social and emotional qualities account for at least half of a student's long-term chances of success also suggest the value of learning to interact with each other during periods of undirected free play (See the earlier blog post, "Learning Can Be Fun,") and using something like the Gallup student poll to help each student understand how important his or her maturity is.

     Finally, standardized tests given on a few days during a student's education are no substitute for portfolios that look at multiple factors, such as a student's projects, group presentations, teacher-created assessments, and technology proficiency. Nor can an occasional standardized test measure the graduation rates, demographic information, and future student employment that indicate how well a school is accommodating various student abilities.

What's On the Big Screen?

Not just a jumbo tron at sporting events or a way to purchase plane tickets. New uses are being found for digital billboards and interactive touchscreens.

      Advertisers can provide health information, such as pollen counts for allergy sufferers. Missing children can be featured and found. Art can be displayed. Digital screens can raise awareness and provide early detection of childhood diseases. Newspapers have found a new media to publish weather reports, news, and travel information for visitors in real time or on a prescribed schedule.

     Some of the UK companies engaged in these new endeavors are:

• Outdoor Media Centre
• Art Everywhere initiative
• JCDeaux
• KBH On-Train Media
• Media Co Outdoor
• Manchester Evening News

Resolve to Help Kids Observe Their World

While I was picking up pine needles in the kitchen this morning, I knew our cat had brought them there on her feet from our Christmas tree in the living room. Observing this phenomena I thought how this kind of observation would illustrate, not just tell, kids how animals and birds around the world help spread seeds and bees provide the necessary function of pollinating the world's crops. (See the earlier blog post, "The Bees and the Birds.")

    Next time we go to an art museum, I mused, I should help kids observe why the light and subject matter in Italian paintings is different from that in British and Japanese ones.

     Watching a nature program on TV and taking a walk present opportunities to ask if Mexican children know what eagles are and if Chinese children have ever seen squirrels. (See the earlier blog post, "Talk with the Animals.")

     While I was waiting to pick up my granddaughter at school, I noticed how it was possible to see different wind currents by watching the way furnace smoke coming out of the school at roof level some times moved forcefully, but, at the same time, about twelve feet lower in front of the school, flags were moving very little. (See the earlier blog post, "Climate Control.")

     Seems there's a great many reasons to LOOK forward to 2015.

Recycled Fashion Firsts

Protagonists in  Gone With the Wind, Sound of Music, and Enchanted all knew how to conserve the world's resources by converting draperies into dresses. Ecouterre.com has identified seven of 2014's top designers who have done something similar to these heroines. Their creative ideas are:

• Pleather, leather-looking jewelry and clothes made from inner tubes
• Jewelry made from the fence that imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa
• Jewelry made from Detroit's peeling graffiti
• Leather waste woven into laptop and tablet sleeves
• Denim woven into seats for camper chairs
• Pine needles from discarded Christmas trees made into French designer lingerie
• Rubbish from the United Kingdom made into sneakers. 

All items are on display and described at the ecouterre.com website.

     Just as leather and denim were cut into strips and woven into new products, cut old ties from thrift shops or dad's closet into strips and weave them into squares, sew two together, leave one side open to stuff, sew up that side, and make a pillow. Or make a cat toy by filling a smaller pillow with crunchy wax  paper or aluminum foil. Look around the house to see if you can find a moth damaged sweater you can unravel to make a ball of yarn that an adult can show you how to knit into a dog sweater or a skirt for a Barbie doll.

     See earlier blog posts, "Good Works Multiply Fast" and "I Made This Myself" for other recycling ideas that will conserve the world's resources.

Chocolate's Sweet Deals

In addition to giving boxes of chocolates as gifts this holiday season, consider giving stocks in cocoa processing plants. But keep an eye on the competition, since the growing demand for chocolate among billions of people in emerging markets, which is expected to increase cocoa processing by 15% in the next ten years, can raise prices on the supply of cocoa beans which has suffered from drought conditions, and it will put a squeeze on profits.

     As an example of increased competition, check out how Olam International, headquartered in Singapore, has just become a major competitor with Barry Callebaut AG and Cargill Inc. In addition to shelling out $176 million to a U.S. peanut processor, Olam, which recently purchased the cocoa unit of Archer-Daniels-Midland for $1.3 billion, now has eight cocoa processing plants, including one in the Ivory Coast. The U.S. recently acted to block imports of the UK's Cadbury chocolate which has a higher fat content and creamier taste than Hershey's chocolate. Hershey claimed Cadbury's product names and packaging infringed on their trademark rights and licensing agreements.

     Based on projections of a growing demand for chocolate in emerging markets, there is an opportunity for cocoa bean growers in developing countries, by themselves or in conjunction with major processors, to set up their own plants to satisfy local demand. Further, since chocolate can melt when transported in warm weather, local producers have a major incentive to supply emerging markets with locally-produced chocolate products.

     The Kuapa Kokoo Cocoa Cooperative in Ghana, Africa, is already a working model of how cocoa growers can benefit by developing a relationship with processors and distributors. Before selling to the cooperative, growers were at the mercy of a state cocoa buying company that did not always pay on time and sometimes cheated when weighing their cocoa beans. Now, the cooperative, working with Divine Chocolate and the fair trade company, SERRV, (serrv.org/divine), participates in the profits generated from the production and marketing of a wide variety of gourmet chocolate bars, chocolate mint thins, Kosher certified milk and dark chocolate coins, and a day-by-day, chocolate heart-filled Advent calendar.

     For other ideas of how to make a profit in Africa, see the earlier blog posts, "Never Too Young to Invest in the Future" and "Discover Africa."

 

Changes to US-Cuban Relationships

In June, 2017, Raul Castro announced his intention to step down and President Trump announced new US regulations will change travel and business contacts that applied in President Obama's administration.

     In my earlier blog post, "Hope for the Future," I wrote that some day we would rejoice when a U.S. AID worker held captive in Cuba would be released. Alan Gross is now a free man after five years in a small room with two other prisoners.

      Calling Pope Francis the "real deal" and a source of inspiration, President Obama acknowledged the pontiff's role in restoration of normal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. The countries reopened their embassies in Washington, DC and in Havana on July 20, 2015. Two months later, Pope Francis visited Cuba before he came to the USA. During President Obama's 2-day visit to Cuba in March, 2016, he met Cuban President Raul Castro and anti-Castro activists and attended a baseball game. On November 25, 2016, Cuba announced the death of Fidel Castro, who had led Cuba from 1956 to 2006, which included the Cuban missile crisis during the administration of John Kennedy.

      The US has not appointed an ambassador to Havana, but Jose Cabanas has been appointed Cuba's ambassador to the US.

     Until President Trump's new regulations take effect, individual US travelers to Cuba can still go to the Airbnb website, airbnb.com, to book bed and breakfast accommodations and facilitate cash payments and MasterCard and American Express credit card charges. Airbnb has one million listings of unique accommodations in 190 countries.