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Posted by | EDUCATION & POVERTY | Posted on October 2nd, 2011

Fast Facts: The Faces of PovertyMore than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. Another 2.7 billion struggleto survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyondincome poverty. It means having to walk more than one mile everyday simply to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were eradicated from rich countries decades ago. Every year elevenmillion children die—most under the age of five and more than six million from completely preventablecauses like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.In some deeply impoverished nations less than half of the children are in primary school and under 20 percent go to secondary school. Around the world, a total of 114 million children do not get even abasic education and 584 million women are illiterate.Following are basic facts outlining the roots and manifestations of the poverty affecting more than onethird of our world.Health

? Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.

? More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.

? Everyday HIV/AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 people are infected with this deadly virus.

? Every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria—more than one million child deaths a year.

? Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria. Approximately threemillion people die as a result.

? TB is the leading AIDS-related killer and in some parts of Africa, 75 percent of people with HIValso have TB.Hunger

?More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day…300 million are children.

? Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.

? Every 3.6 seconds another person dies of starvation and the large majority are children under the age of 5.Water

? More than 2.6 billion people—over 40 per cent of the world’s population—do not have basic sanitation, and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water.

? Four out of every ten people in the world don’t have access even to a simple latrine.

? Five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne diseases.

Agriculture

? In 1960, Africa was a net exporter of food; today the continent imports one-third of its grain.

? More than 40 percent of Africans do not even have the ability to obtain sufficient food on a day-today basis.

? Declining soil fertility, land degradation, and the AIDS pandemic have led to a 23 percent decreasein food production per capita in the last 25 years even though population has increased dramatically.

? For the African farmer, conventional fertilizers cost two to six times more than the world market price.The devastating effect of poverty on women

? Above 80 percent of farmers in Africa are women.

? More than 40 percent of women in Africa do not have access to basic education.

? If a girl is educated for six years or more, as an adult her prenatal care, postnatal care and childbirthsurvival rates, will dramatically and consistently improve.

? Educated mothers immunize their children 50 percent more often than mothers who are not educated.

? AIDS spreads twice as quickly among uneducated girls than among girls that have even some schooling.

? The children of a woman with five years of primary school education have a survival rate 40 percenthigher than children of women with no education.

? A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth.This compares with a 1 in 3,700 risk for a woman from North America.

? Every minute, a woman somewhere dies in pregnancy or childbirth. This adds up to 1,400 womendying each day—an estimated 529,000 each year—from pregnancy-related causes.

? Almost half of births in developing countries take place without the help of a skilled birth attendant

Source:http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/3-MP-PovertyFacts-E.pdf

The Root Cause of Terrorism? It’s Not Poverty or Lack of Education

Posted by | Uncategorized | Posted on October 2nd, 2011

When it comes to identifying the root cause of terrorism, many are compelled to point fingers at poverty and lack of education. The argument, in a nutshell, goes as follows: Poor, uneducated people are easily lured with promises of heaven and can be convinced to blow up other people in order to attain it.

However, the idea does not stand its ground when confronted with facts. Marc Sageman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute compiled background data of about 400 Al Qaeda members and discovered that three-quarters belonged to the middle or upper class. He further noted that the “vast majority — 90 percent — came from caring, intact families. Sixty-three percent had gone to college, as compared with the 5 to 6 percent that’s usual for the third world. These are the best and brightest of their societies in many ways.”

Economists Efraim Benmelech of Harvard University and Claude Berrebi of the RAND Corporation also came to the same conclusion when they gathered data on Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel from 2000 to 2005. They discovered that education is very much valued in the “terrorism market.” Better educated individuals are more likely to be successful in carrying out large-scale terrorist attacks and have lower chances of getting caught.

It should also be noted that the alleged leader of the 9/11 attacks, Mohammed Atta, had a graduate degree, while both Azahari and Noordin M Top, the masterminds of most of the major terrorist attacks over the last decade in Indonesia, were skilled engineers and scientists. None of them were poor; all three came from affluent families.

Obviously, these terrorists don’t fit the poor-and-uneducated profile. As such, simply expanding education and eradicating poverty would unlikely affect terrorist recruitment. We need to look deeper. In that light, there are at least three issues that are often overlooked, each bearing a consequence in how public policies should be shaped and how we as a community should act in countering the seeds of terrorism.

First, it’s not a coincidence that many terrorist masterminds come from countries with repressive governments, like the Arab states and, arguably, Malaysia. Repressive governments tend to bar legal avenues for voicing dissent, thus making extreme demonstrations of opposition more attractive. When the cost of legal dissent increases — due to threat of legal repercussions — the relative cost of illegal dissent is lowered. Hence terrorism becomes a viable venue.

Therefore, it’s in our interest to allow dissent. Specifically for Indonesia, we need to allow organizations like Hizbut Tahrir and the Islamic Defenders Front to exist. It doesn’t mean we should let them do whatever they want. They still have to be legally accountable for their actions; if and when they employ violence or thuggery, they have to pay for their actions to the fullest extent of the law. We should also continue voicing opposition to their radical stances and gospel of hatred. However, their right to association and voicing dissent should be recognized and upheld. Perhaps it’s worth reminding ourselves that virtually no major Indonesian terrorist has been affiliated to these legal organizations.

Second, acts of terrorism and suicide bombing require the fear of the pain involved in the act and the reservation of hurting other people to be broken. The most effective way of doing this is by psychological enforcement, most notably through an authority or peers. A common trait shared by terrorists is that they have a figure of authority that they fully and unquestionably respect. It’s also very common for prospective terrorists to join a perverse cause through preexisting social bonds with people who are already terrorists or have decided to join.

So here’s what we need to understand: An education system that puts a premium on respect for authority and discourages freethinking will produce individuals that are highly susceptible to psychological enforcement. So while simply more education may not be effective in countering terrorism, how we educate matters significantly. We need to push, not discourage, our children to question the authorities — their teachers and parents — and the majority — their friends. We need to make them comfortable to be different and to disagree. This will make them significantly less vulnerable to “brainwashing” by radical ideas.

Lastly, we should heed the findings in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s research: An overwhelming majority of the educated individuals in its sample of Al Qaeda members were engineers, architects, civil engineers and scientists. People with humanities backgrounds were grossly underrepresented. Is there anything in the humanities that make its students less susceptible to radical, narrow-minded, chauvinistic ideas? In short, the answer is yes.

Students of the humanities make a conscious effort to learn different cultures, religions and values. This leads them to respect people from all walks of life, even if they don’t necessarily agree with the values those other people hold. It’s this spirit of humanities that should be integrated in our education system. The Indonesian youth need to learn, and perhaps even experience, different values. The many live-in programs already conducted by various local NGOs to bring in students of different religious and cultural backgrounds to stay with families in Aceh, Lombok and Papua should be expanded. It’s high time for us to not only tolerate diversity, but to embrace it.

At the end of the day, it’s really more complex than simply poverty and lack of education. If we’re really serious about addressing the root causes of terrorism, we need to uphold civil liberties, teach our children that it’s alright to question authorities and expose them to different values. That’s going to be a challenge not only for the government, but for all of us — parents, teachers, and the community. But nobody ever said addressing the roots of terrorism would be easy.

Poverty is the main root cause of lack of education

Posted by | Child and their Study, EDUCATION & POVERTY | Posted on October 2nd, 2011

Education is the basic right of every children and a very important aspect for progress of any nation. In Pakistan illiteracy rate is increasing on daily basis and the total figures have reached to millions it’s all because of rising poverty. Poverty is the main root cause of lack of education and rising child labour because with the rising inflation when the poor are becoming poorer than in situation there is dire need of child labor for the living and survival.
Child labor contributes much in rising illiteracy. Government schools are there in every area of Pakistan but without children and basis facilities these schools are said to call the ghost schools and without educated teachers.

Education and Poverty Alleviation

Posted by | Uncategorized | Posted on October 2nd, 2011

A common method used to measure poverty is based on incomes or consumption levels. A person is considered poor if his or her consumption or income level falls below some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs. This minimum level is usually called the “poverty line”. What is necessary to satisfy basic needs varies across time and societies. Therefore, poverty lines vary in time and place, and each country uses lines which are appropriate to its level of development, societal norms and values.

Based on this yardstick, approximately 32 percent of Pakistan’s population was estimated as living below the poverty line in 2004. However, the former government decided to adopt a different yardstick which produced more favorable figures of about 24 percent of the population subsisting below the poverty line. This enabled the government to claim that poverty had declined by ten percentage points owing to sound economic policies pursued by the government. The claim was never substantiated by data obtained through household surveys or other internationally recognized methods.

Due to high international commodity and oil prices, and a lack of policy action during the past two years an economic crisis has erupted. Inflation has taken a heavy toll and poverty has registered a sharp increase. The number of people living below the poverty line has increased to a staggering 40 percent. The government has now started to implement reforms on petroleum and power prices, tightening monetary policy and controlling expenditure. Inflation however refuses to come down below its current levels, unemployment is on the rise and new investment remains a distant dream. Pakistan’s labour force is growing at a rate of 2.4 percent. With the declining rate of economic growth, the capacity to generate employment has also fallen. With an employment elasticity of around 0.4, the growth in productive jobs during the last three years may have been no more than 1.4 percent per year.

As a result, about 1.5 million people may have been added to the ranks of the unemployed. The unemployment rate in 1998-99 was already around 6 percent, and this did not take into account the very large number of workers who were not fully occupied. Unemployment in urban areas was higher (8 percent), and, while gender-desegregated data are not available, some surveys show that the unemployment rate is higher among females than males. In its recent meeting, the Federal Cabinet deferred consideration of the new draft education policy and directed the Ministry of Education to refer the document to the Provincial Chief Ministers for their comments. Prior to this decision, an impression existed that the draft policy had been shared with the Provinces and their input had been obtained.

It is likely that the Cabinet members had not been able to find the time to go through the document. Sending the document to the Chief Ministers would give them the breathing space for firming up their views.The draft policy does not recognize that there is an inverse relationship between education and poverty. It proposes to impart technical and vocational education at the high school level. To quote from the document “courses at the secondary and higher secondary level shall be reviewed with a view to making them more relevant to the needs of the labour market in order to better prepare those students not going on to further studies.” The draft policy goes on to state that a study shall be conducted to evaluate the impact of technical matriculation and explore ways of introducing an improved system of technical and vocational education at high school level.

The stream shall offer two-way link with the academic stream and also provide links to a revamped vocational and technical sector at higher levels. Although an entire chapter is devoted to technical and vocational education, the nexus between education and poverty remains unrecognized. The draft policy recognizes the high importance of developing a broad-based and high quality sector for providing technical skills.

As the manufacturing and services sectors have expanded, skill requirements of the country have changed as well, and there are needs for technical and vocational skills even in the traditional sector as it adopts more productive techniques of production. The technical intensity of production processes will increase as new technologies become more pervasive, thereby raising the demand for TVE skills of a higher quality. With huge numbers being added to the population living below the poverty line, education becomes an all important instrument for combating poverty and the social problems that it is breeding. The emphasis and the urgency to respond to the gravity of the situation is lacking from the document.

It would have been helpful if the draft policy had dealt with the issue of poverty head on. Poverty should have been defined by using the most common definition and on the basis of this definition laying down educational goals for areas containing a majority of poor people.

The policy fails to specifically recognize that women are poorer than men, even though they may contribute more to the economy. From an early age, they perform all domestic duties including carrying water long distances, growing all the food and caring for younger children and the aged. They often work other jobs, some involving hard labour, and often for less pay than men, and the heavier workload affect their health. They have been unable to go to school, or for as many years, as boys. The draft policy fails to identify areas where cultural constraints and religious taboos mean little or no education for girls, no enforceable legal rights, lack of opportunities for training and lack of access to land, credit and employment.

The policy should have recognized that education can be a powerful tool for empowerment and building capacity and capability to challenge inequalities. The implementation of the policy through a revamped education system should produce highly knowledgeable, skillful, productive, and creative individuals. They should be able to tolerate and value differences in opinion, faith and culture and can participate and contribute to the economic well being of the country.

By Shakeel Ahmad

Source : http://pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=718

Primary education in rural areas

Posted by | Child and their Study | Posted on October 2nd, 2011

Villages in rural Sindh are a site to behold. Some are as small as a few houses but when counted together, they are home to the majority of the population in these areas. The

people of rural Sindh need basic facilities and the most basic and necessary facility is a primary school. After many years, I decided to visit my primary school — the school which laid the foundation of my education. It was from here that I started my journey. My school was a ‘one-room-one-teacher’ school. Some 10,000 such schools exist today in Sindh. I had expected the same spick and span room with neat and tidy children, along with a teacher, a pleasant and towering personality, the same as it used to be. But alas, it was not as I had thought. The sight I saw was shocking and even in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined it. The school had become a ghost school. Although there was a one-room cemented building, it had obviously been abandoned a long time ago. The electric fittings had been torn apart and the windows and doors broken.

I asked a man, who was supervising the construction of his house near the school, what had happened. He said that the school had been non-functional for several years now. I asked him where the children go to school and he replied, “To another school at the end of the village.” I breathed a sigh of relief, but my optimism proved short-lived as I found that school had also closed. On further inquiry, I came to know, that although two teachers were posted in the school, it did not open regularly. During my visit, I saw boys and girls, of school-going age, wandering around or sitting in a street shack watching television. Schools are non-functional in rural areas, mostly, because the teachers are either not available or they are not willing to teach.

The Sindh government has taken very bold and innovative steps to improve the state of education in these areas. They have taken to providing direct funding to the school management committee for the improvement of schools and are also providing scholarships to girls to boost female enrolment. The provision of free textbooks is also a major step forward, which is a big cost on the provincial exchequer but provides relief to the poorest of the poor. But still, more bold steps are required and required urgently. This year the development strategy of the Sindh government also envisions a paradigm shift and proposes to establish comprehensive schools at the Union Council level and boarding schools at the district level. This would be a step in the right direction and implementing this vision and getting desired results will necessitate a consistent and urgent effort.

By Mumtaz Ali Shah

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2011

The Effects of Poverty on Teaching and Learning

Posted by | Child and their Study, Uncategorized | Posted on October 2nd, 2011

Poverty is an issue that more and more of our nation’s children are coming face to face with. The price that children of poverty must pay is unbelievably high. Each year, increasing numbers of children are entering schools with needs from circumstances, such as poverty, that schools are not prepared to meet.This paper will examine the effects of poverty on teaching and learning. Poverty as a risk factor will be discussed as will a number of the many challenges that arise in teaching children of poverty. Implications of brain-based research for curriculum reform and adaptation will be presented.

The Concept of Being At-Risk

The term at-risk refers to children who are likely to fail in school or in life because of their life’s social circumstances. It does not appear that any one single factor places a child at-risk. Rather, when more than one factor is present, there is a compounding effect and the likelihood for failure increases significantly. Poverty is considered a major at-risk factor (Leroy & Symes, 2001). Some of the factors related to poverty that may place a child at-risk for academic failure are: very young, single or low educational level parents; unemployment; abuse and neglect; substance abuse; dangerous neighborhoods; homelessness; mobility; and exposure to inadequate or inappropriate educational experiences.

Being able to identify and understand children who are at-risk is critical if we are to support their growth and development.? In order to do this, warm and caring relationships need to be developed between teachers and children. This will enable teachers to detect any warning signs that may place children at-risk for failure, interfering with their chances for success in school and life (Leroy & Symes, 2001). Academic and behavioral problems can be indicators of impending failure. Among such behaviors are: delay in language development, delay in reading development, aggression, violence, social withdrawal, substance abuse, irregular attendance, and depression. Teachers may have difficulty reaching a student’s parent or guardian. They may also find the student does not complete assignments, does not study for tests, or does not come to school prepared to learn because of poverty related circumstances in the home environment.? These children may be unable to concentrate or focus. They may be unwilling or unable to interact with peers and/or adults in school in an effective manner. These issues not only have an impact on the learning of the child of poverty but can also impact the learning of other children.

Challenge: Diversity

The rise in the number of children in poverty has contributed to making our nation’s classrooms more diverse than ever before. This, indeed, makes both teaching and learning more challenging. This issue can remain a challenge for teachers, as opposed to becoming a problem, if focus is placed on student learning as opposed to teaching.

Teachers need to be tuned in to the culture of poverty and be sensitive to the vast array of needs that children of poverty bring to the classroom. Social contexts have a significant impact on the development of children. The social world of school operates by different rules or norms than the social world these children live in. Focus should be placed on finding a harmonious relationship between the cultural values of students and values emphasized in school. Considering that so many different cultures are represented in our society, we often encounter students who belong to more than one cultural group. They may be poor in addition to being non-English speaking or of an ethnic/racial/religious minority group (Bowman, 1994; Marlowe and Page, 1999).

High-mobility is a symptom of poverty and its surrounding social factors. Children of poverty may live in places that rent by the week or even day. They may move from town to town as their parent searches for work or runs from problems (such as an abusive spouse, criminal record, financial responsibilities). They may live in homeless shelters or battered women’s shelters that only allow brief stays. They may live on the streets. The conditions they live in and their day-to-day life experiences can have a significant effect on their education and achievement. Moving is a very emotional event for children. Combine this issue with the multitude of other issues faced by mobile and homeless children and the impact on their emotional, social and cognitive development can be overwhelming.

School attendance is often irregular. Transfer to a new school becomes the norm. Aside from the differences from the general school population due to other aspects of their poverty, mobility compounds the difficulty these children have making friends. They may behave hostilely or be totally withdrawn due to past attempts to make friends. With regard to both the academic and social aspects of school, they may figure, “Why bother? I’m just going to move again.” They also often come to school with no records from their previous schools; and it may be difficult for schools to track the records down. Teachers have no idea what these students have learned. It is challenging for schools to place these children in classrooms and get them additional services they may need. Even if placement is successful, these children will likely move again within the school year. It is also challenging to help these students to learn at least something of value while they remain in our classrooms.

Children become aware of social and economic status differences at a very young age. They also grow increasingly aware of both their own social status and that of their peers, developing class-related attitudes during their years in elementary school. Teachers can help children to develop caring and sensitivity toward different cultures including social classes. Activities and lessons should be based on how children perceive themselves and the world at the various stages of development. For example, children who are in the age range of 7-12 years are less egocentric. They focus on internal characteristics or traits of people as opposed to external, observable social class differences.? They also recognize similarities and differences among groups. At around age 11, children can consider causes and solutions to poverty.

Taking into account a spiral curriculum, at earlier ages children can become acquainted with social class and other cultural differences. During the latter years, the topic can be revisited for deeper understanding. This is a great opportunity to include community service learning projects in the curriculum, such as volunteering as a class in a soup kitchen. It is important that these activities be followed with both group discussion and individual reflection to help children think critically about their experiences (Chafel, 1997; Gomez, 2000).

As teachers, these aspects of poverty make planning and preparation absolutely critical. Content needs to be related in varying ways to meet the needs of the diverse students in the classroom. We have to consider the cultural values of these children as we arrange their learning. Constructivism is a key concept in that it respects student differences and allows students to use their own prior knowledge and experiences to make connections and learn. It affords students the opportunity to become active learners by questioning, hypothesizing and drawing conclusions based on their individual learning experiences. If there is limited foundation for children to draw upon, we need to help them develop a base of knowledge and experiences so they have somewhere to start.

By providing emotional support, modeling, and other forms of scaffolding, teachers can help students use their strengths, skills, and knowledge to develop and learn (Marlowe and Page, 1999). Learning experiences and problem solving based on real-life problems can help them deal with some of the issues they may be faced with in their lives. Learning by doing gives students the opportunity to be active and imaginative problem solvers (Bassey, 1996).? Thus, diversity actually presents us with a chance to enhance the quality of education for all our students and provide them with a variety of opportunities to develop into productive citizens. As our schools and nation become more diverse, the need for understanding and acceptance of differences becomes more important. Our challenge is to provide children with an effective multicultural education that will foster awareness, respect, and acceptance.

Challenge: The Achievement Gap

The difference in academic performance among children from different classes or groups (ethnic, racial, income) is referred to as the achievement gap. Children of poverty generally achieve at lower levels than children of middle and upper classes. The causes are numerous and are related to both the social environment in which poor children live and the education they receive in school. Factors such as the quality of student learning behaviors, home environment, past experiences with education, and teacher attitudes are among the many influences on student achievement. Slavin (1998) proposes that schools can have a powerful impact on the academic achievement and success of all children by viewing them as at-promise rather than at-risk and preparing them to reach their full potential.

A good education is often the only means of breaking the cycle of poverty for poor children. These children need an education that is founded in high standards and high expectations for all. Curriculum alignment must exist to ensure that a rigorous curriculum and assessment accompany and are aligned with the standards. What occurs in our classrooms has a significant impact on student achievement. The curriculum should be challenging to prevent decreased opportunity for higher education, which translates into less opportunity in life for them.

Content should be of high quality and be culturally relevant. A watered-down curriculum is unacceptable. Teachers should be knowledgeable of the cultures in which their students live so they can plan effective and engaging lessons. Additionally, instructional and classroom management techniques that work well with some students don’t necessarily work well with poor children. The perspective and experiences of the children need to be considered (Goodwin, 2000). Other aspects that can help close the achievement gap are discussed in the following sections: motivation, readiness and parent/family involvement.

CAREER PLANNING

Posted by | Career Planning | Posted on October 1st, 2011

What comes to your mind when you think about career planning?  Many people aren’t sure what career planning means.  For our purposes we will define career planning as “A goal that you desire to achieve in a selected field or occupation with a well thought out plan to get you there.”

WHY DECIDE ON A CAREER GOAL?

A career goal helps you focus and make decisions on what you want to do for a living. It directs you, motivates you and helps you to accomplish what you want.  A career goal helps you focus and make decisions on what you want to do for a living. A career goal can be a specific job—such as a clerk or teacher—or a career goal can be a particular field you want to work in, such as transportation or education.

A career goal may help you discover your talent, skills and abilities and possibilities that you wouldn’t have thought of.  Many possibilities exist with any career you choose. Having a career goal can guide you to doing what you want to do in your life—rather than just aimlessly drifting from job to job.

Once you choose a career, it would be to your advantage to think strategically about the steps you need to take to accomplish your goal.

The future is unpredictable; however, you should still make career goals and plan the necessary steps to your goal.

EXPECTATIONS/DISAPPOINTMENTS

With every goal there is an anticipated desired outcome.  We call this an expectation.  Our expectations help keep us motivated.  When we realize our goal, we often feel joy and satisfaction.

All of us have expectations and disappointments.  In the process in thinking about our goals, we have to be prepared to have disappointments.

Career planning is simply goal planning with the intention of setting goals for jobs and career.

However, the only career planning you need is the one that is for you and

your particular needs.

Career planning is getting information, and with that information, you make a goal, and then plan the steps needed to obtain that goal.

The world we live in works in certain ways.  The more one knows how it works, the better one can achieve those goals by utilizing the processes that will give you the advantage.  Career planning is simply goal planning with the intention of setting goals for jobs and career.

In order to remain competitive you need to be as flexible as you can and continually increase your skills.  Some things you can do are: go to school, take workshops or seminars, keep up with trade journals and talk to people who are knowledgeable in the field.  Today, it’s almost mandatory for us to take some form of training all through our career to keep up with the times.

When I talk about training or skill, I’m not just talking about things like organization and time management, although these are important.  However, stress management, problem solving, risk taking, and overcoming procrastination, to name a few, are equally, if not more important, to getting to your goal.

WHY IS CAREER PLANNING IMPORTANT?

Let’s suppose you choose a field.  Career planning is not planning for that field on a one-time only basis, but it’s a continuing process; in fact, you can call it a lifetime process.  We are always learning and growing, and as we do, our interests and needs also change. Career planning is not just making plans to obtain your “perfect” job or career, but to help you make the many adjustments there will be along the way as you learn about you and your world or work.

Career planning is estimating, predicting and calculating all the steps necessary to achieving your goals.  In the process, you are always making choices.  When you choose one alternative over another, this is called an opportunity cost.  An opportunity cost is the cost of passing up your next best choice when making a decision. In career planning, we need to always be mindful of our opportunity costs and take into consideration all that will come our way.  Those who have successful careers understand how the game of work is played.  As you can see career planning is more than just looking at jobs and positions and working hard.

The career planning process can be divided into six steps:

1. Self-Assessment

2. Career Exploration

3. Targeting

4. Career Preparation

5. Marketing Yourself

6. Career Management

Career planning is a process and is always ongoing and often runs in cycles.  When you desire change in your career, the process can be repeated many times.

In planning your career, try to find the people who can be mentors for you and assist you along the way.  Career planning is no different than any goal setting and planning.  The difference is that you are specifically separating your career and job goals from all other goals you may have.

The reason most people do not turn their wishes and dreams into reality is because they don’t take these wishes and dreams and make them goals.  A goal is a dream with a deadline.

There are many reasons why people don’t make goals for themselves.  The biggest reason is they don’t understand that the process of goal setting is a skill.  All of us have made some goals in our life and achieved them.  But most of these were not large or life changing goals like going into business, changing careers, becoming wealthy, writing a novel, going from office clerk to a top executive or becoming an expert in your field.

The successful people set goals; they plan and follow the plan.  Goal setting is a process and a learned skill with many parts to it.  Simple, short-term goals may be done in your head, but more complex, long-term goals, should be written, evaluated and monitored frequently.  The longer it takes to achieve your goal, the more you will encounter problems, changes and frustration.

Goal setting is as much art as it is science.  The more you understand the process and the more skills you acquire, the better are the chances in reaching your goal.  By seeking your goal you will help build your self-esteem and self-confidence.

Goal seeking is growth building.  Goal planning is life planning.  As you define your goal, it will define you.

Life presents us with unexpected events all the time.  So when we set out a goal we must understand that there may be many roadblocks to reaching a goal.

Barriers that come up often cause a person to abandon a goal.

Many people think that by writing down their goals, they fear they will lose their spontaneity or flexibility. Goals aren’t rigid and once it’s written it’s cast in stone and one can’t change it.  No one knows the future.  What you plan today can change dramatically in an instant.

However, a well thought out goal can anticipate many otherwise barriers that would stop you.  Barriers that come up often cause a person to abandon a goal.  It’s like running into a wall, and then you run away from it.

Suppose you want to go from a clerical worker to a manager.  Before you do anything further, ask yourself “Why do I want to achieve this goal?”  You may say, “I want to achieve this goal because I want to have more status” or “I want to increase my salary” or “I believe I can be a good leader and this can help me achieve my long term goal of becoming a top executive in my present company or another company.”

Now ask yourself “Why is this important to me?” You may say, “It’s important to me because I want to go as high up the corporate ladder as my talents and abilities will carry me.” Then ask yourself, “Why is this important to me?”  You might say, “Because I want to prove to myself and to others I’m an achiever and I want to have the prestige and status of a corporate executive.”

Ask yourself again, “Why is this important to me?”  Try doing this for as long as you can.  What you are attempting to do is get to the core reason of why you want to do something.  This exercise will help you to clarify your intentions and goals.  It will help you determine your motives and it may actually cause you to say, “Now I know what I truly want, which is status and prestige.”  By doing this you may see that there are other ways of achieving your goal besides being a corporate executive.

It’s sometimes easy to say, “I want this” when it might actually be something else you want.  This can help you save wasted effort by making sure you truly want to pursue this goal.  It will also help you with your motivation and determination when you can positively say to yourself, “Yes, this is truly what I want,” and you will be more committed to this pursuit

In summary, many people are dissatisfied in their jobs and career.  Career planning will help maximize your potential and satisfaction in your work.

Having a career plan keeps you focused and motivated.  It helps you to anticipate problems and barriers that may come and what you can do to avoid the problem or barrier, solve it and continue on, or it may point out your deficiency or weakness so you can get the skills or resource needed to deal with the potential barrier.

BY ©JEFF ROWE, 2003

Source:http://www.jobseekersadvice.com/career_advice/articles/career_planning.htm

10 Tips for Successful Career Planning

Posted by | Career Planning | Posted on October 1st, 2011

Career planning is not an activity that should be done once — in high school or college — and then left behind as we move forward in our jobs and careers. Rather, career planning is an activity that is best done on a regular basis — especially given the data that the average worker will change careers (not jobs) multiple times over his or her lifetime. And it’s never too soon or too late to start your career planning.

Career planning is not a hard activity, not something to be dreaded or put off, but rather an activity that should be liberating and fulfilling, providing goals to achieve in your current career or plans for beginning a transition to a new career. Career planning should be a rewarding and positive experience.

Here, then, are 10 tips to help you achieve successful career planning.

1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event
Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year — more often if you feel the need or if you’re planning a major career change — and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your career — what you really want out of your career, out of your life.

By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more secure in your career choice and direction — and you’ll be better prepared for the many uncertainties and difficulties that lie ahead in all of our jobs and career.

2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning
One of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path — whether straight and narrow or one filled with any curves and dead-ends — will help you plan for the future.

Once you’ve mapped your past, take the time to reflect on your course — and note why it looks the way it does. Are you happy with your path? Could you have done things better? What might you have done differently? What can you do differently in the future?

3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and Wants
Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life — not just in your job — that you feel most strongly about.

Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.

Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want or need from your work, from your career. Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.

4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies
Career planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you’re not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it’s not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths.

Think you can’t make a hobby into a career? People do it all the time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn’t until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.

5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments
Most people don’t keep a very good record of work accomplishments and then struggle with creating a powerful resume when it’s time to search for a new job. Making note of your past accomplishments — keeping a record of them — is not only useful for building your resume, it’s also useful for career planning.

Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will reveal forgotten successes, one or more which may trigger researching and planning a career shift so that you can be in a job that allows you to accomplish the types of things that make you most happy and proud.

For more about accomplishments, read: Tracking and Leveraging Accomplishments.

6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable Skills
Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don’t see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it’s much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles.

For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills — such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information — skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.

For more about transferable skills, read: Transferable Skills.

7. Review Career and Job Trends
Everyone makes his or her own job and career opportunities, so that even if your career is shrinking, if you have excellent skills and know how to market yourself, you should be able to find a new job. However, having information about career trends is vital to long-term career planning success.

A career path that is expanding today could easily shrink tomorrow — or next year. It’s important to see where job growth is expected, especially in the career fields that most interest you. Besides knowledge of these trends, the other advantage of conducting this research is the power it gives you to adjust and strengthen your position, your unique selling proposition. One of the keys to job and career success is having a unique set of accomplishments, skills, and education that make you better than all others in your career.

For more about researching careers, review our Career Research Checklist.

8. Set Career and Job Goals
Develop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes.

A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change – and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.

9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities
It’s somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career.

Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities — and then find a way achieve them.

10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement Opportunities
One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is picturing yourself in the future. Where will you be in a year? In five years? A key component to developing multiple scenarios of that future is researching career paths.

Of course, if you’re in what you consider a dead-end job, this activity becomes even more essential to you, but all job-seekers should take the time to research various career paths — and then develop scenarios for seeing one or more of these visions become reality. Look within your current employer and current career field, but again, as with all aspects of career planning, do not be afraid to look beyond to other possible careers.

Final Thoughts on Career Planning
Don’t wait too long between career planning sessions. Career planning can have multiple benefits, from goal-setting to career change, to a more successful life. Once you begin regularly reviewing and planning your career using the tips provided in this article, you’ll find yourself better prepared for whatever lies ahead in your career — and in your life.

by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.

Source:http://www.quintcareers.com/career_planning_tips.html

Grammatical Mistakes

Posted by | Language Skills, Learning Tools | Posted on September 25th, 2011

Most Annoying Grammar Mistakes in English

Posted by | Language Skills, Learning Tools | Posted on September 25th, 2011

1.  Third conditional

This is INCORRECT, although commonly used, especially in American English.

The correct form is:

If + had + past participle, would + have + past participle

* “If I had known about the party, I would have gone.”

This is CORRECT.

2.  Don’t vs Doesn’t

This is INCORRECT.

Doesn’t, does not, or does are used with the third person singular – words like he, she, and it.

Don’t, do not, or do are used for other subjects.

* “He doesn’t care about me anymore.”

This is CORRECT.

3.  Bring vs Take

This is INCORRECT.

When you are viewing the movement of something from the point of arrival, use “bring”:

* “When you come to the party, please bring a bottle of wine.”

This is CORRECT.

When you are viewing the movement of something from the point of departure, use “take”:

* “When we go to the party, let’s take a bottle of wine.”

This is CORRECT.

4.  Fewer vs Less

This is INCORRECT.

You can count the items, so you need to use the number word “fewer”.  These nouns are countable.

* “Ten items or fewer.”

This is CORRECT.

If you can’t count the substance, then you should use “less”.  These nouns are uncountable.

* “You should eat less meat.”

This is CORRECT.

5.  However

This is INCORRECT.

A semicolon, rather than a comma, should be used to link these two complete sentences:

* “We were supposed to go to the dance last night; however, it was cancelled because of lack of interest.”

This is CORRECT.

It should be noted that there ARE situations in which you can use a comma instead of a semi-colon:

* “The match at Wimbledon, however, continued despite the bad weather.”

This is CORRECT.

There is only one complete sentence in this example.  It is not a compound sentence.

6. Have vs Of

This is INCORRECT.

It should be would have:

* “I never would have/would’ve thought that he’d behave like that.”

This is CORRECT.

It’s the same for should and could:

“He should of come with me.”

This is INCORRECT.

* “He should have/should’ve come with me.”

This is CORRECT.

“She could of had anything she wanted.”

This is INCORRECT.

* “She could have had anything she wanted.”

This is CORRECT.

7.  Double negative

This is INCORRECT.

Since ‘not’ is a negative, you cannot use ‘nobody’ in this sentence:

* “I’m not speaking to anybody in this class.”

This is CORRECT.

8.  Present perfect

This is INCORRECT.

The correct form for the present perfect is:

would + have + past participle

* “He has taken the train.”

This is CORRECT.

9.  Went vs Gone

This is INCORRECT.

The correct form is:

should + have + past participle

* “I should have gone to school yesterday.”

This is CORRECT.

10.   Its vs It’s

This is INCORRECT.

It’s is the contraction of It is:

* “It’s going to be sunny tomorrow.”

This is CORRECT.

This is INCORRECT.

Its is a possessive pronoun that modifies a noun:

* “What’s that?  I can’t remember its name.”

This is CORRECT.

Which of these grammar mistakes annoys you the most?