Category: Alliance for Positive Youth Development

Youth and International Development

On Thursday, July 8th, a rather interesting live web chat was conducted by USAID Administrator Raj Shah and actor Kal Penn.  The topic of the web chat, “How to Make Change: Youth and International Development,” was especially important for young people who are curious about their role in the world today.  Administrator Shah directly answered …

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Oh Budget Cuts!

Budget Cuts Equal Shorter School Years for Many Children It seems as though the education reform movement that has swept through the United States is unable to conquer the growing budget crisis.  Though the issue with budget cuts has been mentioned in previous posts, it is still imperative to highlight what exactly children are going …

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The Benefits of Small Class Sizes

Recently, the quality of education in the United States has been under siege by numerous people including researchers, parents, and even educators themselves. It seems as though there are solutions to America’s education debate thrown around on an almost daily basis, but no outcome has been seen as of yet. However, there are some proven …

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The Importance of Tolerance

Teaching Children to Accept Differences in Society One of the most important tools a child needs in his or her social toolbox is the ability to be tolerant of others. The world is composed of people from different backgrounds who speak various languages, and follow diverse customs and religions. Any child, whether in the United …

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What Happened to Our History?

U.S. Students Peform Poorly in American History Exam What were the major battles during the Revolutionary War? Who was Ulysses S. Grant? What did Abraham Lincoln do that was so important? These, and a myriad of other questions, were given to a representative sample of 7,000 fourth graders, 11,800 eighth graders, and 12,400 twelfth graders …

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People Comprehension Part III

Last week, I talked about some possible exercises that could be administered in elementary schools that would allow children to develop people comprehension skills. While I certainly think it’s extremely important to begin learning and practicing these skills at a young age, I think it’s perhaps even more important to continue developing these skills as …

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Small Changes, Big Differences

Bicycles Changing Education for Girls For many people, social change is synonymous with completely altering or overhauling the rules of society. There is usually a belief that the lifestyle or principles of an entire group of people are the catalysts to an issue affecting the area. In other words, the reason why a faction of …

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People Comprehension Part II

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the importance of teaching children people comprehension skills so people can better understand each other, despite differing opinions. Personally, I think this should be part of the curriculum in elementary and middle schools, since equipping children with these skills can enable them to become more open-minded …

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Hello, Hola, Bonjour, Ciao

The Importance of Learning Languages in Schools Languages are some of the most important cultural and social building blocks of humanity. They can be barriers when people cannot understand one another or they can be connectors that bring people together. As countries become more globalized, knowing a second language has become almost essential for young …

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The Era of Cyber-Bullying

Technology has changed the way teens and pre-teens interact with one another, allowing them to exchange information at an astonishing speed.  Not only can they send a text or instant message to plan dinner dates and meet-ups, they can now IM someone to say how ugly, weird, or stupid he or she looked in school …

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