EDUCATION

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tips Menghadapi Anak Nakal

Terkadang anda merasa dalam posisi yang sulit, jika melihat anak sendiri melakukan perbuatan nakal, mencuri, suka memukul teman teman disekolah. Entah itu nakal karena terpengaruh oleh teman-temannya di sekolah atau memang dia tergolong anak yang hiperaktif.

Nah apa yang sebaiknya anda perbuat untuk menghadapi anak yang demikian ? Baiklah, kali ini saya akan menyampaikan tips dalam menghadapi anak yang nakal.

Lakukan instopeksi pada diri Anda dan suami/istri Anda, apakah kenakalan anak tersebut merupakan cara dia menarik perhatian Anda yang di sebabkan karena kurangnya perhatian atau yang lain.

Habiskan waktu lebih banyak bersama anak Anda bisa menjadi satu cara untuk dekat dan anak akan terbuka pada Anda sehingga anak di harapkan bisa mengungkapkan kegundahan hatinya.

Jika Anda mendengar atau mengetahui dengan apa yang dia lakukan, tetaplah tenang dan jangan marah-marah atau memukul anak. Berilah pengarahan, bahwa apa yang dia lakukan itu tidak boleh dilakukan.

Meskipun itu adalah anak Anda sendiri, sebaiknya jangan terlalu melindungi. Tetaplah obyektif.

Jika memang anak berbuat salah, jangan ragu untuk menyuruhnya meminta maaf kepada temannya dan jangan pula ragu untuk memberikan hukuman padanya.

Komunikasilah dengan anak dengan penuh kasih sayang. Beri waktu pada anak untuk berjalan berdua dengan anda, ajak atau pancing mereka untuk membuka diri dan mengutarakan apa masalahnya atau keinginan dia. Beri pengertian mengenai perbuatannya selama ini.

Anda juga harus memperhatikan anak anda. Jangan biarkan anak lain mengganggu anak anda.

Jangan ragu untuk bekerjasama dengan pihak sekolah, jangan takut kalau anak anda mendapat sangsi, justru jika tidak ada kerjasama, anak bisa tambah nakal atau sulit dikendalikan misalnya jadi melakukan perbuatan nakal lain seperti drug atau narkoba karena terpengaruh dengan temen sekolahnya.
Berikan kesibukan lain, seperti baca majalah, bacaan buku, menulis cerita, blog, olah raga. Anda juga dapat meminta pendapat anak, apa yang menjadi hobinya, tentu saja kegiatan yang positif.

Jika memang anak tetap nakal dan dilakukan secara berulang ulang, janganlah ragu untuk melibatkan pihak ketiga, psikolog, guru BP turut serta membimbing anak.

[+/-] Selengkapnya...

Monday, December 8, 2008

Parental Involvement Enriches College Experience

Overprotective parents have often been accused of ruining the whole college experience. But according to a new education survey, college students today have closer contact with their parents than ever before and are more satisfied with college because of it.

Parents with a tendency to hover and get too involved in their child's life are frequently referred to as 'helicopter parents'. The term is rarely used in a complimentary context.

ABC News, Wall Street Journal, and several other news publications have produced features on helicopter parents and the dangers they pose to their children's ability to be self-reliant.

Much of the coverage has been mere speculation. There has been no hard research done to determine what kind of effect parental involvement has on a student's college experience. Until now.

2007 National Survey of Student Engagement

The annual National Survey of Student Engagement collected data from students at 24 colleges and universities in 2007. According to the survey, parents are more involved in their college student's life than ever before. More than 80 percent of parents report being more involved than their own parents were.

Percentage of Students Who Had Frequent Contact with Parents

Support Network	In-Person Contact	Electronic Contact
Mother	62%	86%
Father	54%	71%
Guardian	55%	71%

Source: 2007 National Survey of Student Engagement: First-Year Students

Interestingly, the survey found that parental involvement may actually be an enriching experience. Students who are in frequent contact with their parents were found to have a more satisfying college experience. The same was true of students whose parents frequently contact college officials on their behalf.

'Compared with their counterparts, children of helicopter parents were more satisfied with every aspect of their college experience, gained more in such areas as writing and critical thinking, and were more likely to talk with faculty and peers about substantive topics,' said George Kuh, survey director.

There can be such a thing as too much contact, though. The survey also found that students with 'hyper-involved' parents had substantially lower grades, implying that overboard involvement has the potential to inhibit academic performance.

[+/-] Selengkapnya...

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

We need a Swedish education system

The development of education year by year always change. Each government compete to find the best methods of children education system, we might colaborate some system each other to find the best one. One of them that we can considere is swedish education system. Is there something special with system there ?

check this out.

Every year thousands of children reach the pinnacle of academic achievement – three As at A-level. Last year 13,500 school pupils scaled that mountain top. Quite a cause for celebration.

But hidden within that, apparently, impressive figure is a story. Of those 13,500, just 189 were students who had been eligible for free school meals. And the number who qualify is substantial. Around 15 per cent of pupils take free school meals. And yet just 0.15 per cent of those who get the best exam results in our schools come from that background of disadvantage. That is a scandal. And it's changing that desperately unjust situation which drives the Conservative plan for radical school reform.

We believe schools should be engines of social mobility – where talent and hard work can help individuals overcome accidents of background and the barriers thrown up by prejudice and disadvantage. And we are concerned that the education system isn't delivering social mobility at the moment. As they go through school, the most disadvantaged pupils fall behind their peers.

It's because we wanted to overturn that injustice that we looked to social democratic Sweden for reform. Fifteen years ago the Swedes decided to challenge declining standards by breaking the bureaucratic stranglehold over educational provision and welcome private providers into the state system.

Since they introduced their reforms, 900 new schools have been established in Sweden, a country with a population one-sixth the size of England. Those new providers have not only created schools with higher standards than before, the virtuous dynamic created by the need to respond to competition from new providers has forced existing schools to raise their game. There is a direct correlation between more choice and higher standards – with the biggest improvements in educational outcomes being generated in those areas with the most new schools.

There have been claims that the Swedish reforms have increased social segregation but I saw all-ability comprehensives with a higher than average number of ethnic minority pupils.

It's the bureaucratic system in our own country which disproportionately favours the wealthy by allowing selection through house price. We believe that a system based on challenging complacent monopolies would give poorer parents better opportunities. New providers would naturally want to open up in areas where the parents are desperate for better schools. Areas like predominantly working-class Lewisham, where half of parents say they aren't happy with the choice of secondaries.

We would encourage new providers to locate in areas of disadvantage – through a pupil premium rewarding schools for taking children from the poorest backgrounds.

There is already evidence that what has worked in Sweden can work here. In Hackney new schools have been created outside bureaucratic control. One of them, Mossbourne, is one of the best comprehensives in the country.

And far from driving segregation, these new schools have driven up standards all round. The success of new schools has acted as a spur to their neighbouring maintained schools. A rising tide lifts all. This must be just the start. We must offer every parent access to a school of their choice.

[+/-] Selengkapnya...

Better education can help to make our roads safer

Britain's roads are relatively safe by international standards. In 2007, there were 50 fatalities per million of population in the United Kingdom. In France there were 73. In Italy the rate was more than 90. And the figures are heading in the right direction in this country too. There were 2,946 deaths and 30,000 serious injuries on British roads last year, the lowest rate since records began.

But there can be no doubt that Britain's roads could still be much safer. And the Department for Transport's new consultation paper is looking at ways to make that happen. Among other things, the consultation will examine the case for a six point licence penalty (rather than the present three points) on those caught breaking the speed limit by more than 20mph; tightening up the present drink-drive limit and the introduction of parallel "drug-drive" limits.

These seem largely sensible ideas. It makes little sense that those who stray slightly above the speed limit should receive the same punishment as those who wilfully smash it to pieces. This should reinforce the incentive for drivers to keep their speed down. Meanwhile, because Britain's drink-drive limit is higher than much of the rest of Europe, it should probably come into line with the rest of the Continent. And considering the increasing number of accidents in which drugs, from cannabis to heroin, are a contributory factor, there is a case for formalising the offence of driving under the influence of narcotics.

Yet we must be careful. A danger lies in assuming that the best way to push down fatalities and injuries is through tougher penalties on dangerous driving and modifications to the law. A plethora of regulations and detailed instructions can lull people into a false sense of security on the roads, paradoxically making them worse drivers. It is worth bearing in mind that a large proportion of crashes involve not just excessive speed, but a lack of concentration. People need to engage their brains on the roads, not just mindlessly process instructions from signs telling them to keep their speed down or to maintain adequate braking distances.

Speed cameras, sleeping policemen and tough penalties for speeders certainly have their place in the battle to improve road safety. But there is a danger of the authorities relying wholly on such techniques. We should not forget that there are other ways of improving drivers' behaviour too.

Some regional police forces have been offering drivers caught speeding a chance to attend a course on road safety instead of having penalty points added to their licence. These courses appear to have been rather successful in changing attitudes to speed. And those who attend often emerge as better drivers.

Such schemes ought to be expanded and offered to more drivers, whether they have been found guilty of speeding or not. We should remember too that the Government's success over the years in reducing drink driving rates and increasing seat-belt wearing owes as much to relentless public information campaigns as changes in the law. Peer pressure has played a big part too. It is no longer considered socially acceptable to drink and drive in Britain. We need to learn from that success.

The authorities should adopt an approach to road safety that understands that drivers are not inherently reckless automatons who can only be controlled by the firm arm of the law. They are human beings who can be educated into behaving better too.

[+/-] Selengkapnya...

Friday, October 31, 2008

St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas

St. Edward's University in South Austin was established in the late 1800s when Mrs. Mary Doyle bequeathed her 498 acre South Austin farm to the Catholic Church and Father Edward Sorin of the Congregation of the Holy Cross for the formation of an institution of higher learning. Father Sorin was also the founder of Notre Dame University, and had an illustrious and accomplished background.

In 1878, the school's first year, the students were comprised of three school boys who met in buildings which were originally part of Mrs. Doyle's farm. Later, in 1885, the President of the new school, Rev. P.J. Franciscus, improved the school and chartered the academy, as it was then called, and changed the name to St. Edward's College. A faculty was installed by Franciscus, and enrollment was increased, and later the same year, Peter J. Hurth became president of the school.

In 1903, a fire destroyed most of the Main Building, but the building was repaired by fall, and later, a tornado struck the campus, in 1922, and significant damage was sustained during the storm. In 1925, the school received its university charter, and again changed its name, to St. Edward's University, and the faculty was increased again, mostly with priests of the Holy Cross Congregation, and again, the school enrollment grew.

During the 1940s, many students enrolled by using the G.I. Bill after their service in the military, and the number of students again increased dramatically. During the next twenty years, many competent and well-trained presidents managed the school, and as it increased its enrollment even more, the faculty improved and women began attending the school in 1966. Part of the school was referred to as Maryhill College at the time, and accepted female students, and in 1970, the two schools were combined and St. Edward's became a co-educational facility.

In the early 1970s, many new programs were initiated at the school, including an innovative theatre arts program and the "New College", which was an undergraduate program for adults. In 1986, the first female president was named, Dr. Patricia Hayes, and by 1990, the school had reached an enrollment of 3000 students, its highest enrollment ever.

In July of 1999, Dr. George Martin began his tenure as school president, and Martin initiated a ten year master plan to bring St. Edward's into the league of the nation's best, small, private institutions. Martin was the 23rd president of St. Edward's, and is the most recent in a list of notable and luminary previous school leaders.

Today, St. Edward's has an enrollment of over 5,300 students and has won numerous awards for achievements in the field of education, including mention recently in U.S. News and World Report magazine praising the curriculum. The school prides itself on offering a liberal arts education which incorporates critical thinking, service to the community, and ethical practice among its students. St. Edward's is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate and Masters degrees, and the school's Social Work Program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

The school takes pride in endowing its students with the characteristics of the courage to take risks, an international perspective, and a commitment to providing opportunities for students of a variety of racial, ethnic, political, and religious, as well as economic backgrounds. St. Edward's University is an asset to Austin and Travis County, and a beautiful and well-respected university, in the heart of South Austin.

[+/-] Selengkapnya...