Student Newspapers at U.S. Colleges Face Pressure.

«They take journalism really seriously because they know the force that it is and can be».

Christiane Amanpour

Freedom of the press is one of the most valued rights protected under the United States Constitution. Among other things, the constitution’s First Amendment bars creation of any law limiting freedom of speech, or of the press.

American colleges and universities have a long history of producing journalists for the country’s news media. And many of them get their start by working at their college’s student newspaper.

These student reporters write about many subjects, from school sports to local events. But a new report suggests that some newspapers publishing stories critical of their colleges are under attack.

Who or what is threatening these publications? The report claims school administrators are to blame.

The report is called “Threats to the Independence of Student Media.” It is a joint project of four groups: the American Association of University Professors, the College Media Association, the National Coalition against Censorship, and the Student Press Law Center.

All four organizations say they support academic freedom in higher education.

Released in December, their report lists actions that college and university administrators have taken because of critical stories in student newspapers.

For example, the University of Kansas reduced financial support for its student newspaper after the student government voted to do so in April 2015.

The paper’s student editors then took a university administrator to court. They claimed the vote was retaliation for a 2014 story critical of the student government election process. Finally, the student government agreed to give the newspaper its full funding.

The report also lists actions taken against advisors to student-operated newspapers.

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For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Presenta: M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

Links. 

Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.

Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.

Refugees Improve English Skills While Waiting for Resettlement.

«People floating like pollen in search of more fertile soil».

― Andrew Crofts, Secrets of the Italian Gardener

For many refugees around the world, boredom (tediousness) is a fact of life.

While the United Nations High Commission on Refugees – or UNHCR – works on resettling them, they wait. And wait. And wait. They cannot work, enroll in a school or travel.

In 2014, several Hazara refugees in Indonesia found a way to spend their time. They created an informal school for children: the Refugee Learning Center, or RLC.

Asad Shadan is one of the founders of the RLC. He left Afghanistan after the Taliban threatened his family.

Shadan says that starting the school was a difficult process: "We asked the UNHCR to help us with some kind of educational program for three months, but after getting no response, we decided to just go for it and started a class on our own with 18 kids."

The school's website describes how the local and international community came together to help it grow.

An Australian couple paid the rent for the school. Parents gave $2.50 each to pay for carpet, whiteboards and other teaching materials. Women in the community volunteered to teach.

The program, originally an informal class, has grown into a six-room school with classes for adults and children.

The program, Shadan explains, grew quickly. "Within six months we had 100 children enrolled, and now we have 200 students and 16 teachers. It gives all of us something to do."

Thanks to donations over the past couple of years, RLC now has a library, English classes and an indoor football league.

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For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Presenta: M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

Links. 

Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.

Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.

Majority of US Undergraduates Are ‘Nontraditional’.

There is a commonly held belief in the United States about the best path to a college education.

Many Americans would say this path involves graduating from high school at age 17 or 18. Then, going off to university to live and study for just four years. And, at the end of that term, receiving a degree.

But, that is not as usual a path as people might think. U.S. Department of Education research suggests that the majority of undergraduate college students take a less traditional approach.

Carey Dwyer is an example. She graduated from high school in 2005 and began studying physical therapy at Temple University in Philadelphia. But, after her first year, she decided she wanted to study nursing instead.

[Henderson defined nursing in functional terms: "The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities ... ]

Dwyer moved back home and began seeking an associate’s degree at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Maryland in 2006. However, medical issues forced her to take time off school. She started working full-time and going to school part-time.

Dwyer faced several difficulties. But she says nothing was as hard as returning to school after she took the time off.

In 2010, Dwyer completed her associate’s degree -- also called a two year degree. She was 24. Then, she joined the Army. Using the money she earned, Dwyer completed a bachelor’s degree at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina in 2015.

Now married with three children, she says she does not mind that it took her almost ten years to complete her education. In the end, she says she only put in all the effort because she wanted to.

"Ultimately, all that matters is that I got my degree done. I didn’t get it for anyone else. I did it for me, specifically, to follow my goals and my aspirations."

Strayer University is a for-profit college with centers all over the country. Earlier this year, Strayer worked with the media company U.S News and World Report to create the 2016 College Experience Survey. The researchers gathered information from 1,000 U.S. undergraduate students.

The study findings showed that 70 percent of the students questioned were “nontraditional.”

[More in]

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For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Presenta: M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

Links. 

Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.

Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.

‘President Trump’ Worries Some International Students.

Hussain Saeed Alnahdi was one of the almost 400 international students attending the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Twenty-four-year-old Alnahdi was from Saudi Arabia. He began his studies at the school in the Midwestern part of the United States last year. But early on the morning of October 30, Alnahdi’s experience as an international student came to a violent end. An unnamed attacker beat him until he died outside a restaurant in the city of Menomonie.

A few weeks later, police announced they had arrested a suspect. They said they do not believe the attack was a hate crime, or a crime influenced by race.

But events like the attack in Wisconsin have raised concerns for many international students living and studying in the U.S.

Study in the U.S.A. is a company that supports international students who want to study at American colleges and universities. A few days before the U.S. presidential election, the company released the results of an opinion study of 1,000 international students from 130 countries. Over 65 percent of the students said they would be less likely to study in the U.S. if Donald Trump were elected president.

FPP EDU Media also works with international students. The company released its own survey of 40,000 students in June. Those results suggested 60 percent of their students felt the same way.

[More in]

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/donald-trump-worries-international-students/3608595.html

For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

Links. 

Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.

Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.

Changing Presidents Can Be a 'Very Stressful Process'.

President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office to discuss transition plans. November 10, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The election may be over, but for President-elect Donald Trump, the work is just beginning.

The president-elect’s transition team now needs to choose who will work in his administration.

It is a big job. There are positions, such as cabinet secretaries, that must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In all, there are about 4,000 jobs in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government.

They include everything from top-level advisers and cabinet members to ambassadors, agency directors, and people who answer the telephones.

[More in]

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/changing-presidents-and-transitions-can-be-very-stressful-process/3609010.html?ltflags=mailer

For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Presenta: M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

Links. 

Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.

Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.

One-Third of World’s Population Cannot See The Milky Way. [pdf and mp3] - With a Plus Extra, My Humble Opinion.

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.

197) One-Third of World’s Population Cannot See The Milky Way.

PDF

MP3

Bien, debo especificar que este tema compete al bloger Mundial del Idioma Inglés, pero como acontece que el tema es bien interesante y es bien especial, me permito agregarlo aquí. Además, la «pintura-fotografía» del Presidente Barack Obama hace un juego de interés con el tema en cuestión.

Ahora bien, brevemente,

¿Qué opinión tiene M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz sobre el conocimiento que desglosa el tema en cuestión?.

Resulta que, lo increíble y dramático del caso es que todo aquel que argumente que lo que hacen las grandes ciudades de Los Estados Unidos de América, y otras grandes y glamorosas ciudades del mundo es, simplemente, patético:

¡¿Por qué?!.

Porque envían en todas sus noches un sinfín de relámpagos artificiales al cielo. Ahora, dentro del contexto de crítica, no es descabellado decir que hombres y mujeres pierden algo de su verdadera constitución psíquico-biológica, y con ellos, también los insectos y las tortugas. Así que ese grupo de críticos tiene visos de ser acertado, con la preocupación y atención que de ello debe derivarse. En síntesis, ¿Cuánto daño puede causar y causa ya la esquizofrenia visual de las noches de las grandes ciudades del mundo?.

Bien, a través de la red telepática un interlocutor me aportó que lo que se deriva (de lo señalado) es «Desorientación Geo-Espacial».. Mal asunto pues.

For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Presenta: M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

Links. 

Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.

Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.

How the Technology Industry Is Helping Refugees.

A growing number of people are using computer software and other technology to support the needs of immigrants worldwide.

Many of these people already work in the technology industry. Some observers are calling this new movement digital humanitarianism.

Over the past two years, VOA and other media have been reporting on the immigration crisis in Europe. Many of these immigrants are coming from the Middle East and Africa. They are looking for safety and a better quality of life.

Some of the immigrants are migrants, but many others are refugees. Migrants go from one place to another for economic reasons. Refugees flee violence or political unrest in their home country and seek asylum.

The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) reports that about 65 million people were displaced at the end of 2015.

Since last year, many software developers have been creating digital solutions to help countries deal with the growing number of immigrants.

Technology is changing every part of the journey of refugees and migrants. Before going overseas, for example, they need to plan their trip. During their travels, they might need to send signals for help. After finally arriving in their new country, there are a long list of needs, such as housing, health care, jobs, and legal help.

Last month, the Migration Policy Institute released a report on these digital tools and how governments can better support their development and use.

[More in]

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/how-the-technology-industry-is-helping-refugees/3574767.html?ltflags=mailer

For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Presenta: M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

Links. 

Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.

Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.