How the rich wanting the best for their kids is segregating our neighborhoods

The past 25 years have seen a 20 percent increase in segregation between families with children, with this segregation being greatest for the rich. In a new analysis, Ann Owens finds that as rich families with children become even richer, they spend more of their income on living in their ‘ideal ‘neighborhood. This trend works alongside the tendency for rich families to live in their ideal school district, further adding to the segregation between rich and poor

Farmers, fishers and whalemen: the colonisation landscapes of Lord Howe Island, Tasman Sea, Australia

A small dot of land in the middle of the Tasman Sea, Lord Howe Island presents an interesting and unique opportunity to examine several archaeological and historical questions relating to the colonization of islands, settlement landscapes, and the development of isolated communities. Through a combination of historical research and archaeological investigation, this project seeks to investigate the processes of development and change that were operating in the LHI settlement landscape and to arrive at an understanding of how these processes may or may not have significance for the understanding of other island colonization events, particularly prehistoric ones. Extensive background historic research utilizing various published and unpublished sources; community consultation and gathering of local knowledge; surveys of six historically known sites and excavation of four; and the synthesis of the historic and archaeological data in the creation of settlement landscape maps and identifications of resource use over time were employed as mechanisms of understanding the processes of colonization on a Pacific island, and allowed an assessment of its usefulness as an analogue for similar historic and prehistoric scenarios. The consequential thesis that is presented here outlines these research tasks and results and culminates in the general conclusion that Lord Howe Island is both a useful example and comparative case for other studies while paradoxically being subject to its own unique historic context, and is therefore limited to useful generalities rather than specifics

Irish Women Writers: An Uncharted Tradition

From the legendary poet Oisin to modernist masters like James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, and Samuel Beckett, Ireland’s literary tradition has made its mark on the Western canon. Despite its proud tradition, the student who searches the shelves for works on Irish women’s fiction is liable to feel much as Virginia Woolf did when she searched the British Museum for work on women by women. Critic Nuala O’Faolain, when confronted with this disparity, suggested that “modern Irish literature is dominated by men so brilliant in their misanthropy . . . [that] the self-respect of Irish women is radically and paradoxically checkmated by respect for an Irish national achievement.” While Ann Owens Weekes does not argue with the first part of O’Faolain’s assertion, she does with the second. In Irish Women Writers: An Uncharted Tradition, she suggests that it is the critics rather than the writers who have allowed themselves to be checkmated. Beginning with Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent (1800) and ending with Jennifer Johnston’s The Railway Station (1980), she surveys the best of the Ireland’s female literature to show its artistic and historic significance and to demonstrate that it has its own themes and traditions related to, yet separate from, that of male Irish writers. Weekes examines the work of writers like E.OE. Somerville and Martin Ross (pen names for cousins Edith Somerville and Violet Martin), Elizabeth Bowen, Kate O’Brien, Mary Lavin, and Molly Keane, among others. She teases out the themes that recur in these writers’ works, including the link between domestic and political violence and re-visioning of traditional stories, such as Julia O’Faolain’s use of the Cuchulain and Diarmuid and Grainne myths to reveal the negation of women’s autonomy. In doing so, she demonstrates that the literature of Anglo- and Gaelic-Irish women presents a unified tradition of subjects and techniques, a unity that might become an optimistic model not only for Irish literature but also for Irish people. Ann Owens Weekes is a retired associate professor of humanities and English at the University of Arizona and author of Unveiling Treasures: Attic Guide to Published Works of Irish Women Literary Writers.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_ireland/1004/thumbnail.jp

Lincoln and the Natural Environment

Review of: Lincoln and the Natural Environment, by James Tackach

Understanding the motivations of teachers at high-poverty schools what draws them and how do we keep them?

The purpose of this narrative qualitative study was to explore the motivation of teachers who enter the teaching profession and stay in the profession in a high-poverty, diverse, Title I school. This study involved interviews with a small sample of elementary teachers and included the use of personal self-reflections. Through purposive and snowball sampling, the researcher selected six licensed, elementary teachers from a school in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Each of these participants had more than three years of teaching experience in the identified setting. Through interviews with and reflective journal entries from each participant, this researcher explored three areas of interest: (1) participants\u27 original motivations to teach, (2) participants\u27 motivations for choosing to teach in a high-poverty, diverse, Title I school, and (3) the participants\u27 motivations to stay in their current teaching positions within this school setting. The themes that emerged from the participants regarding their motivations to teach included personal quality of life, personal fulfillment, and relationships with mentors. Next, half the participants described choosing to teach in a high-poverty, diverse, Title I school, while the other half stated that the school chose them. Finally, participants described several factors that influenced them to stay within the profession, including personal quality of life, making a difference, relationships with colleagues, and relationships with families and students

Amigos e família: Uma revisão na literatura sobre como os grupos sociais da escola secundária influenciam cursos avançados de matemática e ciências

In this study, we synthesized the literature on how informal contexts, namely friends and family social groups, shape high school students’ likelihood of pursuing advanced math and science coursework. Extending scholarly understandings of STEM education, we turned to the body of literature with three guiding questions: (1) What influence do friends have on advanced math and science coursetaking? (2) What influence does family, particularly parents, have on advanced math and science coursetaking? (3) Do the effects vary by gender among each social group? By synthesizing existing literature on the influence of family and friends on advanced math and science coursetaking in high school, we find that both friends and families can influence the number of advanced math and science courses students complete, but the amount of advanced coursework students complete also varies based on the gender of the individual student, the gender of his/her friends, as well as by mother or father. Implications and limitations are discussed.En este estudio, sintetizamos la literatura sobre cómo los contextos informales, denominados amigos y los grupos sociales familiares, forman la probabilidad de que los alumnos de la enseñanza media de proseguir cursos avanzados de matemáticas y ciencias. La extensión de entendimientos académicas de la educación “STEM”, nos dirigimos a la cantidad de literatura con tres preguntas de orientación: (1) ¿Qué influir amigos han avanzado cursos de matemáticas y ciencias? (2) ¿Qué influencia tiene la familia, particularmente los padres, en cursos avanzados de matemáticas y ciencias? (3) ¿Los efectos varían de acuerdo con el género entre cada grupo social? Al sintetizar la literatura existente sobre la influencia de la familia y de los amigos en cursos avanzados de matemáticas y ciencias en la enseñanza media, descubrimos que tanto los amigos como las familias pueden influir en el número de cursos de matemáticas y ciencias avanzadas que los estudiantes concluyen, pero La cantidad de estudiantes de cursos avanzados completos también varía de acuerdo con el género del alumno individual, el género de sus amigos, así como por madre o padre. Se discuten las implicaciones y limitaciones. Neste estudo, sintetizamos a literatura sobre como os contextos informais,  nomeados amigos e os grupos sociais familiares, formam a probabilidade dos alunos do ensino médio de prosseguir cursos avançados de matemática e ciências. Extendendo os entendimentos acadêmicos da educação “STEM”, recorremos ao corpo da literatura com três perguntas orientadoras: (1) Que influência os amigos têm em cursos avançados de matemática e ciências? (2) Qual influência a família, particularmente os pais, tem em cursos avançados de matemática e ciências? (3) Os efeitos variam de acordo com o gênero entre cada grupo social? Ao sintetizar a literatura existente sobre a influência da família e dos amigos em cursos avançados de matemática e ciências no ensino médio, descobrimos que tanto os amigos quanto as famílias podem influenciar o número de cursos de matemática e ciências avançados que os estudantes concluem, mas a quantidade de estudantes de cursos avançados completa também varia de acordo com o gênero do aluno individual, o gênero de seus amigos, bem como por mãe ou pai. Implicações e limitações são discutidas