Sex and Islam do mix, but not in America | Wajahat Ali

Muslim youth are invited to go from 0 to 60 mph with a spouse and 2.3 children without being told to start the engine

flirting contradictory and passive-aggressive U.S. with sexuality is reflected in their Muslim communities. For some, it is difficult to believe that the sexual organs work the same if they are hidden behind a burqa or a bikini. As a Muslim man, I can see that Muslims experience the same discomfort universal search "hair in new places," like any other pimply teenager, the onslaught of puberty is precisely the time when Parents need to be the "birds and bees" talk to facilitate open lines of communication to guide you through these changes.

In many Muslim families in the United States, however, provides that the conference is "Do not do it." Although "he" is not defined, everyone generally understands "" as a catch-available basis for any activity from first to fourth place with the opposite sex before marriage. Presumably, the freedom of the university automatically heal all these repressions of society and allow parents to be more open. However, the story of the humorist and journalist Ali Aman is sadly familiar to many American Muslims:

"When I started college, my mother told me:" You are there to study, if I catch you talking to a girl, I'll break your neck When I got I graduated, my mother. said, "Why not find a good girl to marry you is so old? "

For readers unaware of the religious traditions of Islam, following a reductionist stereotype of Islam as a rugged land of angry men, bearded necessarily have sex with women oppressed and joyless silent between episodes of burning American flags and eating large amounts of humus. The other extreme representation of sexuality Islamic orientalist fantasy play as shown by the creators of Sex and the City 2 and the characteristics of harems, water pipes, magic carpets and a pornocopia fetishes unfit to print.

However, Islam, practiced by the Prophet Muhammad, is refreshingly frank and humane in the treatment of sexuality. The hadith literature - collections of documents such academic, behavior and etiquette of the prophet - provides ample evidence of that. The first followers of Islam flatly asked the Prophet about sex and marriage in order to properly perform his new religion. Many books have been written by leading academics, citing healthy attitude towards sexuality prophet, who encouraged the preliminaries, joy and compassion among consenting married adults.

prophetic behavior towards sex has been abandoned by several American Muslim communities, especially those of immigrant origin, in favor of absolute silence. Issues such as recognition of realities such as pregnancy before marriage and adultery are rarely mentioned in many Muslim circles. The fear is that the recognition would serve as an endorsement, validation and inspiration for unIslamic sexual deviation

• At a Muslim youth and adolescence, many old promote repression. However, when this guy becomes a single adult in their 20s or 30s, are hit by repeated orders to "settle down". Young Muslims are expected to go from 0 to 60 mph with your spouse, children of 2.3 and a suburban house without being taught how to start the engine and how to keep the vehicle on your trip.

Sometimes, the former functions as a major prophylaxis. This is particularly visible in what is now considered the great "epidemic" of individual professionals, Muslim American women in their 30s who are facing a double standard. Unlike men, who are unfairly accused domesticity lose the love of personal ambition. As communities have failed to establish a health paradigm for social interaction, there is no quick fix. So, are increasingly marginalized, such as depreciation, ultimately destined to wander forever as the dead walk alone. Single Muslim men in their 30s are like Will Smith, I Am Legend - only representatives of an extinct species growing in the desert nomads of loneliness and depression. Assumptions are either homosexual is an actor of sexual promiscuity and therefore unfit for marriage, or having problems with your "team".

mosques and Muslim community centers to ensure gender, remain. Gender dynamics that appear in several of these social environments reflect the hypocrisy and absurdity of gender relations in Muslim countries in America. Gender segregation is often exaggerated in some mosques are actually generates the exact behavior and mentality that seeks to eliminate. These are individual Muslims like kinky sex, wild beasts ready to pounce on others as a heroine of Jane Austen unleashed on her wedding night. The walls between genres, both literal and figurative - are similar to the pink elephants. The more is asked not to think about it, the more it is not.

Find best price for : --Islam--

Britain's economy will thrive if computing becomes child's play | Eric Schmidt

Google CEO supports the campaign of the observer so that the coding class

read last week

Observer

Nouvelle Revue ("We must teach our children with the code"), with interest and admiration. In Great Britain, the debate on teaching computer science in schools is moving fast and in the right direction.

last summer, I gave a lecture at MacTaggart International Television Festival in Edinburgh. In a speech an hour on the future of broadcasting, it was a minute or two on the state of education in computer science who has made headlines and appeared to nail on the head.

The problem, I said that Britain was at risk of throwing the mainframe heritage - Bletchley Park for the BBC Micro - by not investing in the proper education of computer science. I was amazed to learn that computers are not taught as standard in British schools. Information technology and communication (ICT) has been very often teach children how to use software products such as word processing and spreadsheets, but without giving an idea of ??how the software was created.

During the last decade, the number of people studying computer science in the UK has been reduced by 23% at university level and 34% at the graduate level. Computing as an academic discipline that is less than half of 1% of A-levels taken in 2011 - which is only 4000 students

only seven months later, I am amazed at how much the climate has changed. Following the recommendations useful in the next comprehensive report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), the video game industry and the report of the Royal Society in computers in schools in January, the Secretary of 'Education, Michael Gove, is the courageous decision to abandon the current program of ICT, the liberation of the schools to teach a richer mix of computers, programming and up front.

The

Observer

campaign

the current, the

The Guardian s campaign in the digital literacy and the work of organizations such as the British Computer Society and the School of Information Technology have provided concrete and practical contributions in the debate. An innovative start-up called Decoded offers workshops to teach business people and students the basics of coding in a single day. The timely arrival of the computer cheap, accessible Raspberry Pi holds the promise of a new generation of young people to learn to write code that has not seen since the days of the great BBC Micro, which helped launching the careers of many British Google software engineers. It should be noted that only 2% of Google's software engineers tell us who were not exposed to the encoding in high school.

course, a lot of work to do to implement a curriculum for computer science viable. The courses do not yet exist and there is a severe shortage of adequately trained teachers to teach the subject. And while industry must play its role by helping to shape this new program can not and should try to dictate. In short, the stakes are too high for that. Here is why.

• Observer

also reported last week, the same debate on the teaching of computing is emerging in many countries around the world. There is a growing recognition that technology will play a decisive role in the future health of our economies and our societies. There is an urgent need to better understand and complete technology.

Last year, world population reached a record $ 7 billion, but the number of people online has reached 2 million only. For most people on Earth, the digital revolution has not yet begun. Over the next 10 years, everything will change. There will be major improvements in digital infrastructure in the developing world - cable networks go faster and go further. The smartphone revolution is universal. In 12 years, mobile phones will be 20 times faster, phones that cost $ 400 today will be available for about $ 20

In this world, elites remain, but no longer have a monopoly on progress and opportunities. Everywhere become more resourceful - nobody will be able to start a business, a means of communication or at a school in his hut or trailer. The technology will be a great leveler and countries that can provide its youth with the tools to dominate, rather than simply using prosperous.

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Sol Campbell's new Guardian column

Manager

changed everything for the better at Arsenal and could be there for another 10 years

am sure I speak for most of the former Arsenal players in recent years, when I say that my time at the club was fantastic

". It was a period where I grew up as a man and I was fortunate to be surrounded by some of the best players in the world. Be part of this environment constantly inspired me to maximize my potential.

as motivation, and success that comes from him, had fallen to the ethics of a man - Arsene Wenger. When I watch Arsenal revival - which had a small stroke at the Queens Park Rangers last week - it was he who I feel happier. He once again proved that he was a senior who is almost certainly led to my old club in another country of the Champions League, this time after overcoming difficult circumstances. But looking ahead, doubts remain about what will happen to him and the club in the future.

next season will be the largest Arsene at Arsenal since joining in 1996, a success or failure of the campaign is not appease the fans for another year in which a trophy is not you win and all they have to turn to the Champions League is.

Not that the hierarchy of the club see it that way - if for them the Champions League every year, seems to be enough, probably because it hides the internal power struggle that was happening in behind the scenes since David Dein left the club in 2007. This Alisher Usmanov has no seat board despite being the second club's biggest shareholder is interesting to say the least, and is certainly a situation that can not be good for long-term health of the Arsenal.

This struggle for power certainly can not stop Arsene, I'm sure you want to make a number of big names in the summer, the type of guy - as Lukas Podolski - who are on the right old enough to have an immediate impact.

international experience are what you need to ask Arsenal and Arsene has signed more because he saw the difference they can make. He inherited a team full of players like that, guys who were working, but also hard and tough, ready to put their bodies on the line and not think twice before doing it again. They were the foundation for success has been at Arsenal Arsene. This does not mean he was not good for them either. Arsene rejuvenated staff he inherited, with his philosophy and methods that allows you to six famous club of the era - David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Adams, Tony, Steve Bould, Nigel Winterburn and Martin Keown - to play more longer and enjoy more success than I imagined.

work

Much has been done Arsene behind the scenes, the implementing rules that have changed the mentality of every player who worked with him. Little things like having to wear boots before entering certain areas of the camp to prevent the spread of the earth - a trait he picked up during his stay in Japan, has introduced a level of professionalism and dedication Retail does not see at Arsenal. Another thing that has always been great in the diet is, with all the staff made a strict, low carbohydrate intake before and during each season. Exceptionally, it allows players to have a sweet after every meal with the rice pudding that was served at home and away games, a personal favorite.

• Arsene has not lost that focus on how the club should be run and that Arsenal will win a trophy next season, I can see it stay for at least another 10 years.

To do this, however, Arsene does not just need to rejuvenate their team this summer, but also its staff. All the best managers surround themselves with high quality, while coaches and Pat Rice and Arsene has Primorac, Boro would not be an obstacle that must add a new face, ideally one who understands and appreciates his methods and could enhance the training camp.

And who could do better than a former player of his? I dismissed as a competitor at the moment and instead of watching Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp, ??both of whom I know love to be offered as a role and who knows, could replace Arsene each time you close as head and, ideally, takes a role.
Unfortunately, I do not see what happens. Arsene mentality is a leader who does not like having someone around who could undermine its authority, or question their decisions or the person who will eventually work. But I hope they prove me wrong and it's like an appointment.

Find best price for : --Guardian----Dein----David----Champions----Arsène----Arsenal--

Ohio woman admits keeping granddaughter in barricaded bathroom

rivae Hart, 50, pleaded guilty to endangering children after the girl stopped him in the bathroom, and rarely leave for years

an Ohio woman has admitted keeping his nine-year-old granddaughter in a barricaded bathroom when she was not at school.

• prosecutors say 50-year rivae Hart, Dayton, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and endangering the children on Friday. The charges are punishable by nine months to three years in prison.

Hart and her husband, Brian Hart, were the guardians of the girl since 2004. They were charged with kidnapping and child in danger, with a trial scheduled for April 16.

Authorities say the girl was kept in a small swimming area blocked by the windows stacked and rarely allowed for several years. Police said Hart told the girl to be limited due to behavioral problems.

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Yes, schools are divided along class lines - I've lived it | Martin Dunne

My experience as a student at the end of the sixth leads me to agree with the head teachers' union that schools lack diversity

schools are divided along class lines and not diverse enough to offer students the opportunity to learn skills intangible "life of aspiration, effort and persistence the other, "according to Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

As a student at the end of sixth grade, I think he's right.

Back in elementary school, I was a member of a tribe of young new faces and hair in the wind fairly interchangeable. Some children pronounce the T a little harder, or wore skirts a little shorter, but very few of us think about our differences in social status. Instead cultural confusions were ignored, questions like "Why do not you watch TV in the family?" And "Why not eat pork?" Were treated to obtain simple answers such as "My father said that the books are better for the brain "and" Indian family ", which were readily accepted.

For me it is only when we moved in high school that I realized my position in the social hierarchy. For the first time we children were in search of employment on Saturday and towers of paper, spending and saving our own income and, especially, who wanted to be as individuals.

But of course everyone wants to be the guy who comes in. So, after developing a greater sense of the world around us, as the first year, we looked for companions unconsciously or not, had looked at similar or shared experiences, the basic appearance of musical tastes and interests. Prove that even when children are dressed in school uniform to promote equality, if they want to meet someone else in the background, it will eventually.

• As adolescence brings with it a greater understanding of our own economic situation, we focus on the world too - rebellious students make jokes about what teachers were underpaid, rate success and Percentages are exercised within the corridor walls, the distinctions were quickly established between the "chavs" and "have nots" chav. For the first time we realized that - almost a fifth of students -. Were allocated free school meals
• remember a child whose parents have "had money". He was kind, calm and excelled in all subjects. Outside of school he was a successful athlete and dedicated student, spending hours reviewing every night. It was left high school with nearly straight A * s, despite our average step rate of 40%. One of the driving forces behind its success is that his parents, who encouraged or forced, perhaps in her. But later admit in private, during his years in the same sixth success, his parents had paid for the extra tuition at home.

Most people like to believe that they belong to a kind of "gang" or "clique" at school. Although I am under no illusion that could as easily gel with long hair, middle-class fans that Green Day-striped shirt, hip hop, have certainly not a "gang" of friends. Not initially, at least.

spent my first year as a class nerd. My job was at the time, my shoes shined and I carried my books in a carrying case with zipper (I am grateful that The Inbetweeners is not the first issue until 2008, because it would immediately been compared to Will, the series "briefcase wanker"). It was not long, however, before I was frustrated by the lack of benefits that are intelligent seemed to have.

So he did what many young people come in my teens to mid-life crisis. I started wearing clothes and sovereign borrowing my father's ring. I wore baseball caps and continuously pumped hip-hop beats strong directly into my eardrum. To be incorporated in the jargon of my speech whenever possible, being careful not to push too far - anything to fit better with my friends
Meanwhile, the gentle, quiet, had distanced noisy fellow, sitting in front of all classes and occasionally look up to ask someone to return to their sovereign. But it was not what I wanted.

Gove is so busy trying to recreate the narrow education of the past that he's blind to the future | Suzanne Moore

encourage students to think outside the box is very unlikely that the box itself is idolized

A-levels are garbage. That's why I never bothered to get one. I was ahead of my time, clearly. "I will not adequately prepare for a university that I will not go," I thought. "I'd rather have a good time." I really do not know what college was. I hated school. Educational policy is made by those who loved him, and it is a fundamental error. People who do not consider the school as a prison full of idiot stupid rules should not be in charge of them. For this reason, instead of looking to the future, the current trend in education is to look only backward.

we do not have here, undoubtedly, the ingenious Mr. insists that A-levels to get stung and pushed until the elite universities which are quite good (in fact Gove, some universities have for long program in schools to help prepare students, but never mind). No Minister of Education can not afford to be seen constantly interfere while pretending the problem with our education system is that it is overcentralised.

Maybe I see this as a contradiction, because they have the advantage of a first class degree in politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford, the barometer of the creation of intelligence. But that hardly exists, it is unlikely that either the government or having the right connections. PPE clones often mate with lawyers in their attempt to dominate the world. Mutually reinforcing intellectual capacity rarely deviates from the road. This path usually means a respect for the institutions that have taken place and therefore the top of the system, we stultifying uniformity.

One of his areas of specialization is comparative nostalgia. Thus, A-levels are all silent. Too many people do very well. This is apparently a problem. We need more failure. Forget the "teachers teach" mantra. In fact, we will reduce the horizon: the kings and queens, learning by heart, streaming, to recreate the old days

• An education established in the past is to use the jargon of supposedly educated people, the current "direction of travel" (instead of traveling aimlessly, which is a philosophical challenge). Thus, we have the school uniform fetish, life goes on evaluation of aspiration, the zero tolerance policy, the overtesting, blocking the sensation of the academies. Conservatives are nothing but a seriously good job behavior, each blaming the other side by the inability of young people to learn.
A-levels are the least of the problem. The real failure is that a quarter of our children leave primary school unable to read even basic numeracy. The reaction to what was to squeeze the creativity of any residue out of the curriculum, but somehow the "love of reading," we must instill in our children is not the case.

may wonder writers on reading, but why listen to the likes of Michael Rosen, in which we knocked on phonetics, which of course children should be tested immediately when they gas? According to the Daily Mail, a government initiative to analyze the literacy levels of the school is more than 500,000 six years asked to read made-up words such as "jund", "Terg", "FAPE" and "snemp ". What a way to symbolize our obsession with testing. We tested nonsense where you could "turn and gimble in the wabe." We could make children do what they do already - imagine words. Sorry about that, this unpleasant subject of the imagination, but after watching 22 years of Education, I see the slow strangulation.

course, many will feel safer with this return to tradition, an education according to his refusal to teach students how the source code, verify and interpret data, and its division between arts and sciences, as is at this juncture that some of the best ideas are generated. This is why continuous cracks made in media studies, it is to learn to negotiate a world mediated by something other than the novels of the 19th century - crazy, huh? But it is an exercise in sentimentality, is not designed to live in the moment.

The current in both directions means that independent schools are not free at all. The intelligence, the ability to connect and create ideas, think outside the box called - these things are very unlikely to be idolized the box itself. Far from me to advocate a return to real schools where children of my friends have learned to do a painting of the drug, but for bulk purchase of the idea that this return to traditional methods "" works for everyone is stupid. The evidence says otherwise. As a policy, is more about what works for politicians that what works for children.

Find best price for : --Gove----Daily----Rosen----Michael--

Harvey Weinstein's Bully wins PG-13 rating

Motion Picture Association of America decides on a rating of PG-13 for the documentary about high school bullying, following a petition of 500,000 students strong

Bully, Harvey Weinstein, supported by documentary about high school bullying released unrated in the U.S. last week, received a PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America, following strong demand of 500,000 students.

• The PG-13 rating will allow the 13 years to see the movie in theaters. The classification took effect after director Lee Hirsch has published three cases of possession that were considered unsuitable for unaccompanied youths in the original cut, which was given an R rating Three new cases of the same curse was kept in Because of the context of the scene, in which a child being bullied hits a school bus. "We held a central place and three (words) are intact," said Hirsch told Reuters. "The whole scene is intact and ... was a great victory for me. "

The Weinstein Company has taken the unusual step of publishing the protest of the film unrated, the original classification of R MPAA, which would have prevented any young person to see the film unless accompanied by an adult. Katy Butler, 17, behind the online petition supporting the cause of the Weinstein said he was "very pleased" with the decision. "The use of written language in this film reflects what many children hear every day at school when they are bullied," he said. "No man taketh corridors and schoolyards. "

documentary

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Big family? Fine - if you're posh | Elizabeth Day

Having children is frowned upon many hurrahed or by class

symbols

state of things were fairly simple. Millionaire bankers had chauffeured Bentley discrete plates. Presidents of the company had a gold Rolex watches or Hermes handbags. Russian oligarchs had super-mega yachts with helipads and polonium-laced sushi. Ministers had high-capacity garages stocked with drums.

However, I've noticed lately, the company acquired a status symbol is more complex. Partly, of course, it is because in these times of economic austerity, it is necessary that the. Rich and successful to appear a little less rich and successful to the rest of us feel better

But instead of giving up their ornaments of vanity, it seems that 1% have simply found another way to show your superiority. Children

And yes, in an interview with

Grazia magazine, we were reminded once again that the very impressive Helena Morrissey is not Only one company chief executive of City investment by £ 50 billion that advocates for more women in the boardroom as you wish, but it also has nine children. Nine. That's two more than the dwarves in Snow White ran after.

Morrissey admitted

Grazia she had always wanted to have five, six, was a "happy accident" and before you could say, "Can Magda you an extra day a week? "that only had been expelled and three others.

not just Morrissey. Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, has four. The same applies to Michael Hintze, the billionaire hedge fund baron who enjoys dinner "kitchen" at number 10.

According knowledge working in the banking sector, four is the minimum if you want to be sure any type of career progression. Two retro looks as useless - a relic of a bygone era when portion sizes were small. Three are undecided. It is only when you get to four, you can say you're a gamer, and when

not

litter of four, the state is automatically deducted

In the lower parts of society, with many children is viewed more as evidence of an obvious lack of self-control (see

Shameless

) or a trick to make the most of the children. For the ultra-privileged, a group of children, it sends a different message that not only can not afford nannies, school fees and holidays several times, but they are ridiculously, jaw-droppingly rich. Of course, I'm an annual salary of health, he says, but you can not buy that these ovaries.

Then there is the advantage of being able to use their children as evidence that you know what it is to juggle priorities. You are a working parent, after all. Of course, you have some help, but it's not like you only have to deal with the number of children most of us struggle pee. No, you have the von Trapp family size dresses Brora rugrats to keep them entertained with private tutors and travel to the Maldives.

• Call it the effect of Victoria Beckham, if you want:. The belief that real place you can connect with "real people" because you can not stop childbearing

"For me it is different than it is for many women there," Beckham admitted in an interview with

Women Wear Daily

last year shortly after the birth of her fourth child. "It's like juggling glass balls. I love. "

Then, earlier this month, Beckham Twitter a picture of a tray of meat pies, sausage rolls of British style and snacks that had apparently prepared by the "International Day Food "in the school for their children.

Find best price for : --Twitter----Bieber----Justin----Dilcie----Beckham----Victoria----Morrissey----Helena--

Girls and coding: female peer pressure scares them off

How can we encourage girls to enter the code? Catch 'em early

For three years, we conducted a major event coding in the UK has called on young people Rewired State. We invite people over 18 years or less to achieve together a wide range of local facilities for them, and build something from government data open. It ends with a festival source overnight at the Museum National Data Bletchley Park, with lectures and presentations of what young people have built.

In our first year, 2009, 50 youth participated, this time, we expect 500. A celebration of the question I regularly ask myself is: "Where are the Girls"

The answer is: more than 5% in the festival each year are girls. You can not have seen them all on stage, because some are uncomfortable speaking in public - especially if there is a risk that they are "bothered" as a geek. As a mother of two daughters, one aged 14, who has no interest in programming, and nine years who is fascinated by one - who were particularly interested in exploring the reasons for the absence of girl geeks for years, which simply reflects the extreme boys than girls in the adult world of programming code. Here are my findings:

Girls

be aware of self-awareness and social development around puberty and have enough to deal with him to negotiate his transfer to the school, where they feel more pressure to adapt, survive and build a new social group of friends.

encryption and digital dexterity is still a niche at a young age, self-taught by the student. It is often considered a little nerd in high school, which is not taught as part of the curriculum, although that is changing in secondary schools in September 2012. Therefore, in general, to which the code has been taught. Do you teach something you really should be covered as part of these lessons is a bit like doing extra chores -

why

, many teenagers ask, would anyone do this? There is no way that most of the hormones at issue, desperate to find your place in-the-world teenagers might ridicule or isolation do - let alone be open and proud of it. (The children of the same age and social problems do not measure their social value both for the purpose of peer review.)

Last but not least, there is not much young British superstar, geek, so they relate to men or women.

Fear of exposure to ridicule is important and that's why I fall YEARS largest turnout of women just before the event. Who enroll because they want, but leave school because they can not face the possible embarrassment. If they knew what would be announced by the painfully fresh. But even painfully fresh praise does not win against the pressure of the female peer group.

So what's the answer? I hate to be limited to just a matter of a young geek, but maybe solve the problem of scarcity of women programmers can make a dent in the whole question of education programming in the national program - despite Michael Gove vision of open education. Gove solution to open the possibility of computer education, where schools can find the talent and the means to do so, still focused on Secondary Education: GCSE, mainly we still suffer the same problems that attract girls. I'm sure some teachers succeed, of course, but in general anthropology continues to work against it as a general solution.

In my opinion, Year 8 is too late. We must begin to teach literacy and digital encoding as part of the curriculum in Year 5, when most children in mathematics is strong enough. The program has fostered a familiarity with computers and the computers and minds of the young are ready to start learning programming languages. In fact the primary school children are creative, enthusiastic and less likely to develop partnerships, good or bad, with some questions. If programming can be introduced as part of the core curriculum in Year 5, I would bet my last penny by the time children are drawn through the education system would be much less disparity between the sexes. Not to mention more talented young people, with a capacity to process data pending code concern and challenge each other to design and build digital products that you and I have not even begun to imagine.

• Therefore, make a simple change: teach programming to five years and thereafter make an important and necessary part of the curriculum. Then you will see the girls.

Mulqueeny Emma is the co-founder of the Rewired State

can hack. Here's how

Find best price for : --girls----Michael----Rewired----Young--

Computer science: the teachers' view: 'There is only so much Powerpoint and Word that you can teach'

Faculty

agree that computing is the future of the school. But massive retraining is first necessary

Teachers play a crucial role in achieving the transformation of the computer program. And although many, of course, returned the Education Secretary Michael Gove, the teaching of ICT as labeling dull and boring, most agree that radical changes were made to the way IT is taught in schools .

John Stout, who teaches computer science at A-level students of King George V Sixth Form College in Southport, Merseyside, has campaigned for greater emphasis on coding, thinking and calculation theory behind calculating long. A member of the school hall computer that says. "Many of our students come here after having a very unfortunate experience of ICT in high school because many of those who teach just use Word" aa

Stout takes his 13-year-son of the little one example. "At home in his spare time, using a site called Mindcraft, which is an online game is to create new systems for this purpose, building servers, bits of programming for writing this - cram .. much earlier than that in children of school age are fascinated by the material in their most difficult lessons of the theory behind the history of computing. Turing machine, especially in this year's 100th anniversary the birth of Alan Turing, who will use his generation. "

• Amy Desmond Williams, director of teaching and learning of ICT in education and business in Sidney Stringer Academy in Coventry, has already begun the process of curricular change include the science more computer. She said: "There is only so Powerpoint and Word can be taught, it is important that students learn skills of office, but to give them the opportunity to go to take degrees in computer science, we need to teach some are thing. programming skills from the beginning as well. It was enough of this. "
• Teacher training
• Aa is the key, she continues: "When I was training only a few years ago there was really no classes for teachers who tend to be the one with ICT strong preference for desktop skills .. The theme of the computer has been closely linked to business studies. There is some panic in schools today. development of new training courses for teachers must be a priority. "

brand Clarkson, director of IT and computer science at Teesside Egglescliffe School, agrees. He said: "There was a time when departments of ICT in schools were made up of stakeholders physical education teachers who compiled the results of their football teams in the spreadsheet and a couple of professors of mathematics and physics who knew a little coding is now mainly teachers with business. finance studies. It should not be a massive retraining of teachers may have different contents that have been used for delivery. not need more teachers to that teachers with different capabilities. We have developed a generation of teachers with a skill set that is not what we need long-term future of computing in schools. "

Lisa O'Kelly

Computing and IT

Find best price for : --Word----Powerpoint----Egglescliffe----Sidney----College----Form----King--

Grammar school expansion divides Kent town

campaign a success

Sevenoaks parents' places raises concerns that wealthy families can take advantage of the system

When the first extension of a high school in more than half a century, was approved last week, the result surprised even the parents who had fought so hard to achieve.

a campaign in the sleepy town of Sevenoaks Kent, who has no school of his own, to provide its most brilliant son had raised a petition of 2,600 names.

Currently, 1,120 children in the city have to go to selective schools in nearby towns. The decision of the County Council means the schedule in relation to these schools can be built in Sevenoaks. "People power is alive and well," said Mike Whiting, Conservative County Councillor for Education in Kent.

changes in the law schools of the coalition last December had paved the way for Kent to approve the provision new elementary school, spearheaded what many fear could be a resurgence of selective education in the country.

Tory councilor Jim Wedgbury declared triumphantly. "We can make history and begin the deployment of high schools across the country"

But for others, the campaign led to a division between those who can afford tutors to get children to exclusive schools, and those who are "making do" with the state providing not selective in Sevenoaks is Knole Academy.

Mary Boyle, director at Knole, said: "Consequently, what they say about my school, my children, my staff and governors is unfair that parents of grammar school saying "the only alternative one. Knole Academy and is not to go", while most of them have not even visited.

"We are not just stumbling around in the background. We are a new school and a negative view of us has an impact. We have children who arrive with very low self-esteem after experience of 11-plus [and] we need to create a backup. just wish all these people going around saying, "Oh, my child can not go there" in reality, we can visit and see what we do here. "

She told the recent production of Knole

Twelfth Night

had demonstrated prejudice. "I tell people and it is not surprising:" What is Shakespeare? "

• Boyle said there was little interest in the new primary school places among the leaders, both public and private, in Sevenoaks and noted the logistical difficulties in the operation satellite sites.
• Boy
• Knole head and she wrote a letter to the Council, noting the impact on students to be considered a school of last resort. The head of the man Oliver Nichol, 18, said that they felt was unfairly let Knole. "My results are better than some people I know who went to grammar" he said.

"I'm glad I went to this school because it is much more inclusive, I met people from all types of bottom and made me the person I am. Ago a true team spirit. I think parents want the social prestige of having children in primary school, who are clinging to old ideas and we want to make things clear. "

advisor Whiting said Knole was a "very good choice." He said he was convinced that the recession has had a role in places like the anxious parents facing high costs for the private sector. "There is a certain pressure that comes from those who migrate here from London. Come for the selective system and, of course, puts pressure on places. Educate parents, for 11-plus in the private school sector and then in a good grammar. "

Work new grammars banned in 1998. In 2007, the Conservatives said they would rather extended schools program of the academy. But in December the education secretary Michael Gove announced that the 164 remaining grammar schools could expand and create satellite schools.
Parents who organized the petition

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Favourite science writing: Carl Sagan's Cosmos

Find best price for : --Cosmos--

Weinsteins to release Bully unrated in protest at censors

Decision

MPAA to describe the film anti-bullying R for foul language means your target audience under 17 years can not see that unaccompanied, the Weinstein Company, said

The Oscar-winning producer Harvey Weinstein will face censorship in the U.S. for the release of the documentary harassment despot without a rating.

The Weinstein Company, which owns with his brother Bob Harvey, warned the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which was given the position after the decision to censor the high profile of the hand Lee Hirsch's film an R certificate, namely children under 17 could not see unless they are accompanied by an adult in the United States. After censorship refused to revoke the decision that was made on the basis of several cases of bad words, Weinstein issued a statement yesterday announcing the film will be released without a rating.

The move means it will be in single rooms in the United States to decide to show the film. It is considered a risk: many channels tend to follow the orientation of the letter from the MPAA, especially in more conservative areas. However, Weinstein is expected that the publicity surrounding Bully and the controversy over the decision of the MPAA will change the minds of the owners. An online petition launched by the young Katy Butler prohibitive to change the classification has gained about half a million signatures.

"The small amount of language in the film who is responsible for the R rating is there because it is real," says Hirsch. "These are children who are bullied against almost daily. See that all our supporters and we are grateful for the support we have received through the board. I know the kids will come, because it goes to the theaters to let them in. "

• "Children and families in this film are the real heroes, and we believe that theater owners everywhere step up and do the right thing for the benefit of all children out there who have been victims intimidation or otherwise may have been the aggressors, "said President of Marketing Weinstein Company, Stephen Bruno." We are working to do everything we can to make this film is available in many parents, teachers and students throughout the country. "

Comment theater owners

far has been uneven. The Weinsteins have been supported by the CMA, but the National Association of Theater Owners, said last month to follow the instructions of the MPAA advising its members.

Bully follows school students in Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Iowa and Oklahoma during the 2009-10 school year, with their families. Particular emphasis is placed on the death of Tyler Long and Ty Smalley, who committed suicide after being bullied.

The MPAA says that only a small edition of the language used in the film would have come to a PG-13, allowing the film to be seen by your target audience. The filmmakers claim that the recovery is in line with the abuse suffered by children in the United States on a daily basis. They have been endorsed by celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres.
Bully opening is scheduled for March 30 in theaters in Los Angeles and New York. Still no release date in the UK and seem to have been classified by the British Board of Film Classification.

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Thailand takes first steps on long road to inclusive mainstream education

cultural barriers continue to deny access to schools for disabled children, but progress in inclusive education is finally collected

strict hierarchy in Thai society means that the drive for inclusive education requires a strong commitment from politicians and school leaders. In the last decade there has been significant progress in policy measures to implement a system that ensures that disabled children have access to regular schools. However, cultural barriers and the reluctance of some managers, the way to a fully inclusive education has just begun.

"Even when he volunteered to work for free, could still not be convinced," said Paul Lennon, a British expatriate, whose son was born with Down syndrome. When he started looking for mainstream schools for your child in Chanthaburi province six years ago, administrators in the region was denied a place. However, the National Education Act, passed in 1999 - and accompanied by signs stating: "Every person with disabilities who want to go to school can do" - supposedly guaranteed to all children with disabilities access to public education

Some managers spoke with Lennon were sensitive to the concept of inclusive education, but do not feel they had the resources and training for effective implementation. Others, with decades of experience working in special schools, was this institutional model was more appropriate.

legal education has had some success. Between 2000 and 2004 the number of students with disabilities access to education has increased from 145000 to 187000. These students learned more than 18,000 inclusive schools, which is defined by the government that those who teach children with and without disabilities. No new legislative developments in educational provision for people with disabilities, adopted in 2008, making it illegal for schools to refuse entry to children with disabilities.

After much perseverance in obtaining a school place for your child, Lennon turned his attention to helping children with access to inclusive education, helping to create the Good Foundation Child.

Nanthaporn (Nuey) Nanthamongkol, a six year old with Down syndrome, were to return to boarding school before he intervened. "Without our work, Nuey who were separated from their parents, sent to a school 80 kilometers," says Lennon. "For children with Down syndrome, this is the worst thing you could do."

• Aa Nuey
story also highlights the cultural complexities of disability in Thailand. Sermsap Vorapanya, who is the author of A Model Inclusive Schools in Thailand and has conducted a study on the Thai practice of inclusive education, said: "It is very important to understand that most Buddhists [Thailand] believe in the reincarnation is widely regarded as invalid. failure deserved positive lead past lives. "

Theravada Buddhist teaching of rebirth has led some families to inform ashamed of having a disabled child.

However, many managers in the study cited Vorapanya Buddhist belief in the necessity of compassion as a reason to support inclusive education. Meanprasat private school in Bangkok, which combines Western style "child-centered" learning a Buddhist spirit of moral ethics and regular meditation, is recognized as a national leader in the integration of educational practices . A total of 130 of its 1,300 students are disabled. The school's philosophy is that children with disabilities "should have the opportunity to mingle with society and be accepted by her." More than 5,000 teachers each year to visit the school and attend workshops to help spread good practice.

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The working poor: this country will only prosper when fair wages are paid | the big issue

need a real guarantee that a person with a family with one full-time job pays enough to live

Thank you for highlighting the plight of ordinary working families struggling to make a living in poverty ("poor workers of Great Britain", In Focus).

beyond the control of inflation paralyzes the household, but this government is too cowardly to tackle the real problems. When they learn that it is ordinary people who physically run the country: doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen, clerks, drivers and not the bankers who play with our money

The only country that develops when there are jobs that pay fair wages, social services work for the common good, and vigorous enforcement that corruption clamps.

Pat Smith

Pershore

Worcs

Conservative MP was positive that Dr. Dan Poulter has bothered to visit the Rowleys damage but that his analysis has dwelt mainly on the complexity of the benefit system than going to the "heart of the problem. "

The problem is that people can work full time (when they can get the hours or job) and still require taxpayers and state support because some employers ( with big profits and big bonuses to their CEO) does not pay a living wage and thus, in effect getting a state subsidy.

Hopefully Dr. Poulter takes the warning Sue Royston Citizen Services in the same article, that families like the Rowleys could lose 75 pounds a week in tax credits for smaller jobs.

Better yet, we hope that Dr. Poulter said his editorial on the budget in the same number to make their political bosses. This analysis provides beautifully the true heart of the problem. And it is this: the poverty of the lack of opportunities for young affordable housing, pensions, or job security, minimum wages, odd hours, child care and indifference super expensive the fate of society in general. About you, Dr. Poulter!

Gaukroger

London E11

The article clearly describes the enormous challenges faced by honest people who work hard and completely destroyed a government-backed attack on the benefit system.

Far from this system is too generous, the real scandal is that a couple with two children only - work, effort, and life care - the need to maintain profits, the same style Basic Life. They need a better support system, not a minimum wage, which can be circumvented by the "home" scams use, as the Agency limited construction mentioned in this article, but a real guarantee that a person with family employed full-time paid enough to live.

If Dan Poulter, Conservative MP seriously review this work, want to do something useful, we must support the Living Wage Campaign (www.livingwage.org.uk). It's just £ 8.30 per hour in London.

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Laurence Clark: the 'sit-down' comic fighting for the right to the good life

The actor and his wife Adele both have cerebral palsy, but this does not prevent them from raising two children while campaigning for disability rights

When Laurence Clark tells people who is an actor, you receive one of two reactions. "Anyone taking my act will be a story worthy of triumph over tragedy," he says. "Or they will use" inspiration "of the word. I" inspired "a lot".

Clark is not your average up. Indeed, it has been described as "a comic-slow" as is done in a wheelchair and uses her experiences living with cerebral palsy as a material. Next month, is touring his show,

Health risks

he describes as "a mission of a man to sell the benefits of free medical care . "And in case anyone is confused by its modes of expression clumsy, Clark was able to open his act with words." No, I'm not angry "

If some audiences may find it uncomfortable, sorry Clark. "All the comics are based on their own experience - which is work," he said, when we met at Bar Soho Theatre in London. "Nobody told Jo Brand, do not eat a cake or things of being a woman. "

Clark, 38, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth. Does not interfere with nerve signals to muscles, which often leads to complications develop in the uterus that leads to problems with posture, movement and coordination.

After a long period during which she suffered from a lack of oxygen, doctors warned his mother that he would probably have learning difficulties and be unable to s' care of itself. "I actually used" vegetables "in the word" he said.

At school, despite being interested in the drama, which was advised by the office of career to enter. "Computers are like basket weaving," Clark said, dryly. "It's a job today stereotypical disability because you can make you feel." He ended up getting a Ph.D. in computer science and biology . But he found the work boring and began writing comedy scripts. Soon it was done: "I thought it was the only way to get my stuff heard."

His appearance at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival was the first of six acclaimed performances here and happening now Clark 100 nights a year in comedy clubs across the country. Has won an order for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad - the comedian just to make it

Has it ever been interrupted? "I can only remember one time and it was just a button on the bottom, an insult."

But not only as an actor that Clark is trying to challenge our notion of what disabled people can or can not do. He and his wife, Adele, 34, who also has cerebral palsy, are parents of two healthy children: Tom, eight, nine months and James. As a couple, they refuse to be defined by their disability in a society that is still scandalously used to see prospective parents with disabilities in achieving independent living.

• When Adela was pregnant with Tom, she recalls going to the pharmacy in his hometown of Liverpool to buy folic acid tablets, and looked up and down the pocket. "She said," I do not think that people like you could have babies, "said Adela." I could write a book about all the times people say things like that for me. "
• The history of
• 'Clarks appears in a documentary tonight on TF1 as part of the season beyond the disability, a series that looks at our attitudes towards people with disabilities in the 21st century. In

not reduce the baby

, narrated by David Tennant, the Clarks are presented juggle their lives around caring for their children in much the same way than any other family. Your home is tailored to its needs (with wheelchair access and key fobs) and rely on the help of grandparents and "personal assistants" that directly depend on their care budget, which is provided by the State .

"Caregivers do not say that because it involves something you are doing so instead of something that is in control," said Lorenzo. The recent government cuts have not done that this way of life easier. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to get funding for independent living, but at the same time, people are in retirement and disability benefits being told to leave and find work.

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My hero: Stephen Haff by Peter Carey

"It was a very successful teacher, but the public school system has difficulty dealing with someone who does not fit into the mold. So he went and started his own small school

Stephen Haff

runs a school in a poor country, sometimes violent, of Brooklyn, New York, called Bushwick. The area has a large immigrant community, everyone is legal, mostly Spanish speaking. The school system is not equipped to deal with these children, some of whom arrive with no English. Stephen is a graduate of Yale, in the theater. One would expect to find a relatively bright, but left the theater and chose to teach in one of these New York schools that teachers seem to fear. He taught, but also created a theater group from the ghetto, whose version of

Romeo and Juliet

finished around the world.

It was a very successful teacher, but the public school system has difficulty dealing with someone who does not fit into the mold. So he went and started his own school as a child.

Esteban is so concerned about the "transparency", the first thing I did was to install a huge plane of glass in the front wall, so the neighborhood can see exactly what is happening in this room classes of bits. Students came from more of them: some regular after school, some were older children who had left school or the school had given them up. Soon, there were about 30 students, and soon the older students helped the younger ones. The people in the streets was difficult, but it was a friendly environment, very quiet, especially reading and writing. School called "Still Waters in a storm."

Imagine the student who was at the bottom of your reading group at school, on his return after three months to the class and discovers that she is now in the top reading group. And imagine the shy little boy who does not speak English in three months that can stand in a room and read to their classmates. Children are so happy to be there, school is the best part of their lives. Stephen, meanwhile, lives on food stamps and support of others who are trying to raise money for him. It is truly a great man.

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