The Sustainability Generation: Why Young People Hold the Key to a Better Future

In a standard test of reasoning, you are given a candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a book of matches. Your task is to attach the candle to the wall so that it does not drip onto the table below. I thought about how to melt the wax and use it to stick the candle to the wall. What would you do? This challenge is designed to reveal functional fixedness, mental blocks against using objects in a new way. The experience that comes with age is a disadvantage here because it leads to thinking of the normal use of the box as a container for tacks. People who have never seen a tack box are less likely to have that preconception and are therefore more likely to see that the box can be emptied, tacked to the wall, and used as a support for the candle. This is why 5-year-olds do better than adults on the test. It’s also why, as a first-grader, my little brother decided to avoid clothes shopping by wearing his sweatpants backwards once there were holes in the knees

Failure, The Next Generation: Why Rigorous Standards are not Sufficient to Improve Science Learning

Although many states in the United States are adopting policies that require all students to complete college-preparatory science classes to graduate from high school, the outcomes of such policies have not always led to improved student outcomes. While there is much speculation about the cause of the dismal results, there is scant research on the process by which the policies are being implemented at the school level, especially in schools that enroll large numbers of historically non-college-bound students. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted a four-year ethnographic case study of policy implementation at one racially and socioeconomically diverse high school in Michigan. Guided by the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens, we gathered and analyzed information from administrator and science teacher interviews, observations of science classes, and relevant curriculum and policy documents. Our findings reveal the processes and rationales by which a state policy mandating three years of college-preparatory science for all students was implemented at the school. Four years after the policy was implemented there was little improvement in science outcomes. The main reason for this, we found, was the lack of correspondence between the state policy and local policies developed in response to that state policy

The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace

This interesting book aims at unraveling a significant mystery that has lain at= the heart of international diplomacy for more than a generation: Why and how has America failed to bring lasting peace to the Middle East? Specifically, why, despite so much expended Ameri- can money and political effort, does peace between the Jordan River valley and the Mediterranean look as far off today as in the last forty years? Answers to this question have never been lack- ing, yet few authors have tried to tackle it comprehensively and fairly

Who are Gen Y\u27ers and What do They Want From Their Employers?

Question: Who really are Gen Y\u27ers and what do these people want from their employers? What are new and innovative ways of employee recognitions for them? Elaborate on two or three best practices in the market

Corporate Social Responsbility in Business Courses: How Can Generation Y Learn?

This paper deals with the teaching of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Business courses to Generation Y Business students in Australian universities. Generation Y students embody particular characteristics that may seem paradoxical, such as placing an increased emphasis on an improved materialistic lifestyle alongside green marketing or climate change issues. Generation Ys also highly value a balanced work-leisure environment but are comfortable with living on high levels of debt and expenses. The question then emerges: what is the most effective method of educating Generation Y Business students about CSR? A three-fold approach is proposed: a foundation of life-long learning about the theory and principles of how one goes about making intrinsic decisions in life and business, incorporating concepts of CSR into Business units, and then applying these concepts in Business Internships

Redefining Manhood, Rebuilding Nations: How Men Can Empower Women to Lift Post-Conflict Communities

As Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asserts, "[T]here is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women." However, the involvement of men and boys is vital to achieving the rights of women and girls.Men and boys must be an active, engaged part of the solution. As violence against women has become epidemic, and with the increasing feminization of poverty, migration and HIV/AIDS, it is vital to reinvigorate the fight for gender equality. No longer is gender equality simply a women's right issue. It is a crucial social justice issue necessary for the longer-term well-being of humankind and the planet.Women are disenfranchised, economically excluded and disempowered in many parts of the world:Women and girls make up 70% of the 1.3 billion people worldwide living in extreme poverty (those living on less than $1 per day).33% of women globally are homeless or live in inadequate dwellings, such as slums.Women work 66% of the world's working hours and in most developing countries produce 60 - 80% of the food1 but only own 1% of land and hold only 14% of parliamentary seats.2As a result of their disenfranchisement, women have less access to education at all levels and fewer economic opportunities. Women's work is generally less prestigious, less desirable and less well paid. Women have less voice in household and community decisions. They are given fewer opportunities to participate in leadership positions. As a result, women are more vulnerable to exploitation and have fewer options available to them. Often economically dependent on spouses and partners, they are unable to leave abusive relationships.Men, on the other hand, are advantaged, purely on the basis of being born male because masculinity is equated with power, access, resources, differential treatment and preferential opportunities.Gender equality:increases families' income;is required for the eradication of poverty and the reduction of HIV/AIDS;leads to sustainable development;enhances the education and health of all family members

Matthew 24 and This Generation

The last few months have been a time in which I have been involved in a couple of debates with preterists. Preterism teaches that most, if not all, of the Book of Revelation and the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24—25; Mark 13; Luke 21) were fulfilled in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. If this notion is granted, then almost all of Bible prophecy is not to be anticipated in the future, but is past history. Their false scheme springs forth from a misinterpretation of Matthew 24:34 (see also Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32), by which they launch an upside-down view of eschatology, which does not look to the future but instead gazes at the past

Motivating Employees in R&D

[Excerpt] A new medicine can take as long as 15 years to develop and may cost a pharmaceutical research company $1.3 billion or more from the laboratory to the pharmacy shelf. The research environment is very different from most other jobs for a host of reasons: the high degree of uncertainty in the research process, the accessibility of individual contributions, and the unpredictable impact of any given final product. As such, the practices employed by pharmaceutical companies to reward and recognize employees in research and development (R&D) functions must reflect these challenges. This report will highlight extrinsic and intrinsic motivators thought to drive innovative behavior. This report will also present additional factors that managers should consider in the design and allocation of rewards and recognition schemes. Lastly, the research offers the best practices of other companies in related industries

Between compassion and conservatism: a genealogy of British humanitarian sensibilities

Abstract: The chapter explores continuities in modern British humanitarianism at its birth two hundred years ago and today. Modern British humanitarianism arose out of the contradictions between humanist ideals, expanding social sympathies, and fears of radical political change following the French Revolution. Its development was strongly influenced by middle class evangelical reform circles, exemplified by the abolitionist William Wilberforce. The chapter argues that British humanitarianism today follows Wilberforce’s conservative humanitarian tradition and his anti-progressive views. A final proofed version of this paper was published as a chapter:- Vanessa Pupavac (2010) ‘Between Compassion and Conservatism: A Genealogy of British Humanitarian Sensibilities’, in Didier Fassin and Mariella Pandolfi (eds) States of Emergency: Anthropology of Military and Humanitarian Intervention. New York: Zone Books (distributed by MIT Press), pp. 47-77