21 February 2007

APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls: Objectification of Girls Damaging to Cognitive Functioning

Posted by Deborah

An APA task force has just published an executive summary of a great deal of research, all indicating that the sexualization of girls in media is damaging, not only to their mental health, but to their cognitive functioning, as well.

The entire summary (http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualizationsum.html) is certainly worthy of a thorough read, but here is an excerpt, which pretty much speaks for itself:

"Cognitively, self-objectification has been repeatedly shown to detract from the ability to concentrate and focus one’s attention, thus leading to impaired performance on mental activities such as mathematical computations or logical reasoning (Frederickson, Roberts, Noll, Quinn, & Twenge, 1998; Gapinski, Brownell, & LaFrance, 2003; Hebl, King, & Lin, 2004). . . In other words, thinking about the body and comparing it to sexualized cultural ideals disrupted mental capacity. In the emotional domain, sexualization and objectification undermine confidence in and comfort with one’s own body, leading to a host of negative emotional consequences, such as shame, anxiety, and even self-disgust. The association between self-objectification and anxiety about appearance and feelings of shame has been found in adolescent girls (12–13-year-olds) (Slater & Tiggemann, 2002) as well as in adult women."

18 February 2007

Steve Jobs Hates Teachers: The Devil in Disguise

Posted by Deborah

An Apple for the teacher? Well, probably not, as Steve Jobs would like to see teachers lose their job security. Apple, Inc., a company famous for its support of education, is headed by a man who routinely lambastes teachers' unions and believes that teachers should be subject to termination should their students fail to perform at desired levels,apparently irrespective of external and demographic factors. This is absurd. Using Steve Jobs' logic, the teachers with the toughest jobs and the most challenging students would have the least security. Furthermore, he advocates the dismantling of traditional education and the installment of grossly unfair voucher systems, which further drain the public schools of much needed funds.

These quotes speak for themselves:

http://www.statesman.com/n
ews/content/gen/ap/TX_Jobs
_Teachers.html

Apple CEO lambasts teacher unions
By APRIL CASTRO
Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN — Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions Friday,
claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public
schools until principals could fire bad teachers.

Jobs compared schools to businesses with principals serving as CEOs.

"What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told
them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they
thought weren't any good?" he asked to loud applause during an
education reform conference.

"Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, 'I can't win.'"

In a rare joint appearance, Jobs shared the stage with competitor
Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc. Both spoke to the gathering
about the potential for bringing technological advances to classrooms.

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that
they have become unionized in the worst possible way," Jobs said.

"This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is
off-the-charts crazy."

Also back in 1996:

http://www.wired.com/wired
/archive/4.02/jobs_pr.html

Wired.com Interview:

Q: Could technology help by improving education?

A: I used to think that technology could help education. I've probably
spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than
anybody else on the planet. But I've had to come to the inevitable
conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to
solve. What's wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No
amount of technology will make a dent.

It's a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical. The
problems are unions. You plot the growth of the NEA [National
Education Association] and the dropping of SAT scores, and they're
inversely proportional. The problems are unions in the schools. The
problem is bureaucracy. I'm one of these people who believes the best
thing we could ever do is go to the full voucher system."

 
Schneider Media 2006