The last post introduced the education experts at yesterday's panel discussion, "How All Children Succeed", and noted their focus on the critical role parents play in their children's education. Today's focus is on two other important issues raised in that discussion: Managing Stress and the Benefits of Failure. Managing Stress Having been a practicing child psychiatrist for eighteen years, [...]
This morning I attended a fascinating panel discussion of educational issues hosted by Kimberly Morgan, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. The discussion, "How All Children Succeed", was moderated by Michele Norris, host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered, and featured the following great group of panelists: Paul Tough, author of "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the [...]
How do you talk to your sons and daughters about spending and saving money? Teaching our children financial responsibility is one of the most important and beneficial things parents can do. Forbes.com's article "Raising Financially Savvy Kids", found here, features helpful teaching tips from Mary Hunt's recently released book, "Raising Financially Confident Kids". Hunt recommends starting financial conversations early, [...]
Last Thursday, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, which is designed to support, coordinate and strengthen the work of communities and federal agencies to ensure that African-American youngsters are better prepared for high school, college and productive and successful careers. He announced this Initiative last Wednesday night in [...]
Today's New York Times "Room for Debate" discussion takes on the topic of "The Hovering Parent", and asks a number of columnists whether helicopter parenting has started to "crash and burn". Have parents gotten so involved with managing their children's lives that they are stunting their development into young adults who can think for themselves and learn from their [...]
In 2007, a group of Black parents in Loudoun County Maryland became concerned as they watched their middle school sons fall behind in school. These parents' expectations were high: they were raising their sons in one of the state's most affluent communities and sending them to the high performing neighborhood schools. These well-educated, well employed professionals thought they were [...]
Have you heard about the commencement speech given by David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts, in which he told the graduating seniors "you are not special"? Rather than deliver the expected "go out and conquer the world" graduation speech, the teacher surprised the gathered body with comments like: You are not special. You [...]
Today's Wall Street Journal includes a story of how one family has started their son on the road to financial literacy using his allowance. The article, found here, features adorable Ryan Emah, a 7 year old second grader, who gets $3.00 a week from his parents for fufilling "basic expectations " like emptying the dishwasher and folding clothes. He [...]
A few days ago, GCP attended the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) 2012 Annual Awards Dinner in New York City. Founded in 1963, SEO began as a privately funded mentoring program designed to help underserved high school students get accepted to college. In 2005, SEO determined that more than mentoring was needed to ensure that students would not only [...]
For the third year in a row, Chicago's Urban Academy Prep, an all male charter school in one of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, will be sending its entire senior class of 85 young men to four-year colleges or universities. As reported in the Huffington Post article found here, the school also boasts an impressive record with respect to how their [...]