Many definitions have been resorted to by synthesis of literature in trying to arrive at the word fashion.Jeanette and others define fashion as 'a continuous process of change in style of dress that isacceptable and followed by large segment of the public at any particular time', Webster's NewCollegiate Dictionary, defines fashion as 'the prevailing style during a particular time'. Paul Nystran, aneconomics Professor who was the first to apply economics to fashion, defined fashion as 'Nothingmore or less than the prevailing style at any given time'.
Violence and aggression in the community college classroom is something overlooked by many. "In agiven month, 11 percent of all students reported having something stolen, 1.3 percent of all studentsreported being physically assaulted, and 12 percent of all teachers reported having something stolen, 5percent of these thefts occurring by way of force, weapons, or threats" (Barton, 1998). At this level ofeducation, it is typically assumed that students will act professionally and know how to control angerand situations of conflict. On the contrary, at this level, students may be under more stress thanelementary and/or secondary students. One in four professors witness conflict and/or violence in thecollege classroom ("One in four," 2009). Conflicts arise from many different reasons in the communitycollege classroom. Academic egos, social class, high school locale, and other factors give reason tomany conflicts in the college classroom.
In March 2008, the Center for Union Facts initiated a "contest" in which they pledged "to pay the tenworst "union-protected" teachers in America $10,000 apiece to get out of the classroom." TheAmerican Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association seem to be the real targetsof the program. Edward J. McElroy, former President of the American Federation of Teachers, said,"The misnamed Center for Union Facts, an anti-union front group run by lobbyist Richard Berman, hasannounced the launch of a new "assault" on teachers that will include television and newspaperadvertising." The Center's website talks at length about the difficulty in firing "bad teachers." In additionto telling teachers how to decertify their union, the site includes the statement that "poor-performingtenured teachers are "rarely or never" terminated." Now, two years later director Davis Guggenheimand producer Lesley Chilcott have resurrected the assault on teacher unions and tenure in "Waiting forSuperman." Current AFT President Randi Weingarten (2008) has responded by saying that "thefilm casts several outliers in starring roles-for example, "bad" teachers and teachers unions as thevillains, and charter schools as heroes ready to save the day. The problem is that these caricatures aremore fictional than factual." While disagreeing totally with the campaign and the apparent pretense ofthe documentary, I have found one basic fact to be true – "poor-performing tenured teachers are "rarelyor never" terminated."
Since the inception of the No Child Left Behind legislation, school districts have been faced with agrowing need to gather, analyze and monitor more data than ever before in their leadership of schools(Blink, 2007; Kowalski, Lasley & Mahoney, 2008; Mills, 2006). The adage that schools are "data rich"and "information poor", while comical, is often true. School systems are awash in data and drowning isa real concern for new and soon-to-be leaders. The critical task for school leaders is to turn existingstudent achievement data into a format that lends itself to answering questions and improvingoutcomes for the students. Common barriers to transforming data into knowledge in educationalsettings often include poorly designed or non-existent data systems, disorganized record management,and temperamental gatekeepers who withhold data to preserve power, or personnel who simply fail toask the right questions of the available data (Mills, 2006). Using data effectively does not require greatstatistical knowledge or high-priced analytical tools. It simply requires a desire to improve outcomes forstudents, staff, and school and a willingness to stop doing the same things and hoping for a differentoutcome (aka superstitious behavior). The ultimate goal for the training program delivered to studentsin the Masters in School Administration (MSA) program was to empower future principals to have theknowledge and skills to go beyond the usage of static reports and simple data views to develop skilland understanding of data as a dynamic entity to help support their leadership focus.
The goals and overall philosophy of education in any nation is the pre-requisite to the formation oflanguage policy and planning for education. Language generally is always a crucial phenomenon and itbecomes more crucial and controversial when it has to do with formulation of policies in education(Dada, 2005) part of the reason for this is simply because most of the language problems in manyAfrican countries are colonial legacies. The language problem is even volatile in some Africancountries like Cameroon and Nigeria. As it is going to be expanciated in this write-up, both Cameroonand Nigeria are linguistically fragmented countries. This has affected the language policy and planningfor the education of the two African countries (Oyetade, 1995).
Need achievement motivation is a hypothetical construct designed to explain inter – individual and intra– individual differences in the orientation, intensity and consistency of achievement behaviour. Schooladministrators, teachers, counseling psychologists and other school workers are particularly interestedin the patterns of academic achievement behaviours of their students. Counselling as an importantservice programme in the school setting has to complement the efforts of other school staff inpromoting good academic behaviours among students. Achievement motivation being regarded asunderlying personality characteristic (Dimmock,2004; Ijaduola,2000) which involves a learnedpredisposition to attain success in competition with an internationalized standard of excellence andnoted by Olatoye (2004)as a critical variable that have important implications for individuals approach,persistence, selection and performance on cognitive tasks, should be of tremendous interest tocounseling psychologists. Research oriented practicum effort s directed towards the establishment ofsolid methodological base for stimulating; developing and strengthening academic achievementmotivation among students are indeed urgently required to give a boost to counseling effectiveness inour educational system.
No doubt that the most striking features of this century is the technological revolution: Computers,communications and other electronic mediums are main components for any developing program inthe educational field. Therefore, the Ministry of Education in Jordan adapted an educational reformprogram aimed at utilizing information technology in schools. The program was called "Educationalreform for Knowledge Economy" ( ERFKE).School's administration was one of (ERFKE) domains. For the importance of Information Technology,the Ministry Of Education did its best to broaden the use of computers in all Jordanian schools ( AlHeleh, 2001) as part of reaching its goal of an "electronic school." Using technology by principals is oneway of developing and enhancing their leadership performance by saving time and effort. In addition,the revolution in using communication networks and new information systems, which, of course, requirethe use of computers and advanced technology, may determine the competitive advantage of anycountry (Tesurey, 2006), and helps in closing the divide between developed and developing countriesin what is called "digital divide."
The educational system of a country remains the main source of human resources that when combinedin the right quantity and quality would bring about the development of a nation (Nelson, 2002; Saint,2002; Tettey, 2002; Nunn, 2005; Mouton, Boshoff, Kulati & Teng-Zeng, 2007). The implication of this isthat the level of national development depends upon the quantity and quality of its human resourceswhich in turn depend on the type of the educational system in operation.
The importance of effective leaders has always been a key aspect to humankind development forbetterment and to make progress. As ever and as always, companies look for success and the'bottom line' is always uppermost in the minds of managers and leaders; however the current times andchallenges are somewhat different and on a different scale to previous times, which requires significantchanges from management and leaders in order to maintain ongoing success in organisations. Suchnewly introduced significant changes might result in painful and traumatic changes in the jobs and livesof the employees in the company; however such changes will always be perceived by management aspositive changes for the company. Such changes are traditionally about the ongoing search for marketsand in addition expanding markets both locally and regionally with the inclusion of new technologies; insummary the move to attempt the ultimate – expansion and the move to globalization. Employees are'somewhere' in these processes, however they are can easily and are often somewhat overlooked.
The place of Philosophy as a discipline in our world today cannot be overemphasized. It is a truismthat the present day Nigeria is a product of what the colonialists handed over to the Nigerian rulers onIndependence day, 1st of October 1960. It was a government that was born in a state of uncertaintyand was soon to manifest clearly in a bloody civil war which nobody prays to ever witness again. In ourworld today, people talk about various models, theories, and other strategies towards achievingdevelopment. Nigeria is certainly not an exception.
The documentary "Waiting for 'Superman'" shines a light on many issues in public education. The filmwas released too much fanfare in late September of 2010. It received a lot of media attention andseemed to get everyone talking about American education and how to fix its problems. NBC'stelevision networks went so far as to dedicate an entire week of programming to the topic ofeducation. Their "Education Week" aired several town hall meetings and debates with leaders ineducation. However, "Education Week" ended and with it so ended the mainstream media's coverageof education reform. I had hoped the DVD release of "Waiting for 'Superman'" this past Februarywould again provide a spark of awareness to the many challenges that face America's publiceducation system and allow a wider audience to view this eye opening film. Regretfully, the DVDrelease without much fanfare, being snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science for abest documentary Oscar nomination didn't help either. I still believe this is an important film and it canhelp make substantive changes to our country's public education system. What follows if my review oftwo of the films main messages; importance of quality teachers and effectiveness of charter schools.
This study was viewed as being significant for teachers who are interested in teaching the LD/gifted.Children who are both gifted and learning disabled are likely to benefit from the knowledge and skill ofeducators who are committed to developing both the cr4eativity and academic areas of students whoare gifted and learning disabled face obstacles in the typical classroom setting. Parents of thesestudents also might benefit from this study.Parents and students should be more aware of the availability of services their schools provide inassisting them in becoming successful. Federal laws such as PL. 94-142 mandate that all students withdisabilities are to receive a free and appropriate education and must have an IndividualizedEducational Plan (IEP) to meet their needs.
