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Education Empowers A Nation

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Education Empowers A Nation

Capacity + opportunity = success

A Human right is a pre-state right that can be claimed by every human being as an individual vis-à-vis communities (especially states).

human rights are not provided by the government, but each state must have as its main task the protection of human rights.

biological belonging to mankind is the only criterion that an individual must meet, in order to be able to demand respect for this right.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is published on December 10, 1948, in Paris, by the United Nations. The 26th article of this declaration states that education is a basic human right for everyone and this right has been detailed in the Convention against Discrimination in Education.

Education Issues

Everyone has the right to education. Education must be free, at least as regards elementary and fundamental education. Elementary education is compulsory. Technical and vocational education must be generalized; access to higher education must be open to everyone on the basis of their merit.

Education should aim for the complete creation of the human being personality and the enhancement of respect for human rights and basic values too. It needs to foster awareness, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all races or religious groups, as well as the development of United Nations activities for the maintenance of peace.

Parents have, as a priority, the right to decide the kind of education to be given to their children.

Education a basic human right. Every human being has the fundamental need of education, just like the needs of freedom, food, housing, health, work, social security … and so forth.

However, here are multiple implications of the right to education:

–       Free, compulsory and universal primary education for all.

–       A secondary education, including technical and vocational, generalized and made accessible to all by the gradual introduction of free education.

–       Higher education made accessible to all, according to individual capacities, by the gradual introduction of free education.

–       Basic education for people who have not completed their education.

–       Access to vocational training Education of equal quality, guaranteed by minimum quality standards.

–       Quality training and equipment for teachers.

–       An adequate system of scholarships and suitable material conditions for teaching staff.

–       Freedom of choice in education

The barriers of education

We recognize that education is crucial to the community growth of all the priorities of national future and is at the core of the action plan. Haiti, is recognized as an underdeveloped country, where education is a privilege not a right. Thousands of children in households are deprived of school. In the absence of financial resources, it is also difficult to track individuals for access to education. It must establish schools and professional centers for people economically disadvantaged. The government must act in this way. Education is the secret to progress, education is a significant step towards a country’s economic and social growth.

An Educational nation also reduces the risk of juvenile delinquency and reduces the number of juvenile incarceration and deaths. The government must cooperate with international institutions to encourage science and education to identify alternatives in order to promote a global awareness of diplomacy and human rights through individuals and organisations. This project and program must include the ability to learn initiative to inspire and assist children in education, encouraging, mentoring and educating girls, supporting victims of discrimination at work and human rights studies.

Also, Haiti is a country in which the effects of political uncertainty on education are detrimental. In this way, the right to training is not valued because misconception by political leaders and antagonist will discourage or even close for a long time schools and universities. People are exposed to all kind of pressures that discourage students from focusing on their studies. The stress of kidnapping and often, people even get anonymous harassing calls over the phone. In this regards the Haitian education system should also be updated, and online learning approaches should also be used to make accessible teaching and learning.

In order to do that, the country needs to provide power, families need to pay for their internet charges, provide a computer and all the other resources available that students can easily study. In Haiti, it is also important for the organization to learn what human rights are and to know how to defend and promote their rights, training master classes and online courses can be provided

My education, my freedom

Countries have huge challenges to constantly face in order to ensure respect of this human right. For instance, they need to guarantee compulsory and free education for their entire population, eliminate inequalities and disparities in education, fund or subsidise education, establish quality requirements and make promotion of the teaching profession.

As a result, the implications of the right to education, make things really complicated for governments of certain countries, which don’t have resources available to discharge these obligations.

Thousands of million people around the world, with no distinction of age, are still out of school (children and youngsters), illiterate (adults), or lack basic reading and writing skills.

The right to education is a fundamental human right and indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. Quality education is the path to the full development of human beings. It is one of the most powerful tools for lifting socially excluded children and adults out of poverty and facilitating their integration into the society.

With Education, the number of people affected by poverty is subject to decrease. It also enables a reduction of the inequalities suffered by people subject to be discriminated because of their color, origin, religion, sexual orientation and more importantly gender.

Equal opportunities, universal access to education, as well as applied and controlled quality standards are the conditions to be fulfilled for this human right to become a reality for all.

 

REFERENCES

30_basic_human_rights_list_english.pdf (opseu.org)

International Human Rights Principles | Amnesty International Canada

Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations

Celebrating the Codecademy Community’s wins of 2020

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Celebrating the Codecademy Community’s wins of 2020

Although 2020 has been challenging, we wanted to end the year on a positive note and take a look back at all the things that went well!

Here at Codecademy, there’s nothing we love more than hearing about the amazing things our learners are accomplishing with code. And in 2020 we were absolutely blown away by the awe-inspiring stories shared with us. We’ve heard stories of people that used more time at home as the opportunity to learn a new skill and change careers, stories of students building skills for the future, Codecademy for Teams customers learning to code to advance in their careers, and more.

These are just a few of the many inspiring things our learners achieved with code this year. To check out more 2020 wins — and to share your own — head over to the Codecademy Forums.

Code can be the catalyst.

Some of the biggest wins of the year were the result of starting with a small, bite-sized goal. Ioannis, a Codecademy learner in Greece, shared his inspiring story with us in the Codecademy Forums. “My goal was to start learning a new language and get at least one certificate,” Ioannis shared. In the end he ended up earning 20 certificates!

Outside of earning 20 certificates, Ioannis tells us that his biggest win of 2020 was “being able to think of an idea and build it using knowledge. I learned so much by trying to turn my idea into an actual program, and courses from Codecademy gave me a solid background to achieve it!”

In 2021, Ioannis plans to continue his learning journey. His future plans include completing the Data Scientist Career Path,  learning how to make use of Flask or Django by building a website to visualize information and interact with customers, and learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Code can reshape.

We met Jessica earlier this month after she shared her amazing career change story. “In the past 11 months,” she wrote on Medium, “I have gone from total tech luddite to functioning junior software engineer.”

Jessica started learning with Codecademy in January and, when the pandemic hit, she decided to give learning to code a serious shot. “I decided to really commit to it for the next month. I said if I like it I’ll keep going; if I don’t, that’s fine — and I loved it.”

“I had so many moments where I’d be hitting my head against the wall trying to understand and then I would finally understand and it was so rewarding.” It was those small moments that had the biggest impact and kept Jessica going. What’s Jessica’s goal for 2021? She’s preparing  for interviews and looking forward to being hired as a web engineer in the medical or health industry.

Code can reinvent.

Codecademy community member Regina went from working in the classical music world, as a piano teacher to landing a job as a software engineer in 2020. We interviewed her earlier this year and she shared advice for others thinking about making a career change. Check out Regina’s advice in the video below.

Since we last spoke with Regina, she’s taken on a job in Operations at a company called On Deck. She tells us, “My technical background + strong experience with being a previous founder led me to this role and I’m so happy in it!”

“My 2021 goal is to become better at no-code products,” Regina shared. “But everyone knows that having a strong understanding of programming helps you use these powerful tools even better.”

Code can empower.

At the end of November, Michael shared an inspiring post in the Codecademy Community Facebook group. “A year ago, I started on a coding journey with Codecademy. I’ve practiced a little every day for a whole year. I am glad that I signed up for a yearly Codecademy Pro subscription. You’ve given me more confidence in my new skills and have improved my life.”

Code can open doors.

Community member Rosita shared the story of how she became interested in coding in the Codecademy Forums earlier this year:

“About 4 years ago I started a blog about living with cerebral palsy, because I had just quit my bachelor study social work and I didn’t know what to do next. I was getting treatment in a rehabilitation center because of cerebral palsy and found out I couldn’t become a social worker anymore. But I liked blogging and I learned to type blind with just my left hand.”

“Through blogging, I discovered I liked the technical stuff behind my self-hosted WordPress website and in November 2017 I became a free member at Codecademy and started to learn the basics.”

In 2020, when lockdown began, Rosita decided to sign up for Codecademy Pro and really focus on learning. She tells us she decided, “If I don’t invest in myself, I’ll never learn to code.”

Half a year later, Rosita shared a major milestone with the community. “I have found a work experience position! This is similar to an internship because I am on a reintegration trajectory. I am going to work as a front-end developer at a marketing agency.”

Rosita is now working as a front-end developer eight hours a week. In 2021, she tells us, she looks forward to getting even more work experience. “I have achieved a lot this year and I want to continue to do the same next year.”

Code can advance.

Learning code can be an opportunity to get started in a new career, but it can also be an opportunity to advance in the career you’re already in. Back in October, Codecademy community member Anicius shared a post in the Forums about his journey from Technical Consultant to joining the development team at his company.

“After finishing university, I was offered a job at a big software development company. My first work there was as a Technical Consultant, but because I was always fascinated by software development it was the perfect opportunity to learn how everything fits together. In 2020 after COVID-19 hit, we were forced to work from home, so I had more spare time and I have joined Codecademy Pro, which has really changed my life.”

“After 7 months of learning every day here at Codecademy, reading books, and trying my own projects, I was given the opportunity from the head of development to join the development team because they were amazed how much I was able to learn in such a short time.”

Code can bring teams together.

Calli is a Product Manager at Paradox, a Codecademy for Teams customer. She and a group of PMs that she works with started their own coding group at Paradox during the pandemic.

“Having a basic understanding of code and the technical aspects, you’re able to ship higher quality products,” Calli shared with us. “You’re able to think through problems in a different way and have a better understanding of what’s possible.”

“Being able to speak the same language is very helpful [when working with Engineering teams],” Calli says. But that’s not all. The coding group has also given Calli a way to bond with her fellow-PMs during the pandemic. “It’s been super awesome,” she tells us. “It’s kind of that distraction away from everything that’s happening and it’s a good opportunity to get together and have a couple laughs.”

Code can create opportunities.

Bryan was a recipient of a free 3-month Pro membership, donated by new Pro members as part of a campaign in the Spring to help those whose work was affected by COVID-19. Bryan shared in the Forums that the Pro membership has “opened my life to so many opportunities.”

“About 3.5 months ago, I began my web development course path when I found out I was laid off from my Sales career in San Francisco. I really enjoyed solving all the course work and eventually, it came to a point where I could converse with my peers about coding. This led to a minor mentorship with a close friend who is a senior web developer. Next, were ideation meetings and through this whole process, I was able to find something I was passionate about; technology, entrepreneurship, and food.”

In July, Bryan and his partners launched a marketing campaign, got users to their website, and successfully transacted orders. “This is a great feeling, a small win,” Bryan shared. “I know this path isn’t guaranteed, but I know I have more tools in my belt to proceed forward.”

Code can connect.

Here at Codecademy, one of our biggest wins of 2020 was getting to connect with our learners — and watch as you’ve shared your own experiences and advice and inspired one another.

Back in October, Community member Ella shared a reflection on her own 35-day streak. Ella began learning back in the Spring when quarantine began. “Navigating a whole new lifestyle was a challenge to say the least. I ended up being very lucky to have the ability to work from home. With the extra time I gained back from commuting to and from work I knew it was the perfect time to explore taking classes in coding.”

Ella signed up for the 30-day challenge and, in the end, completed a 35-day streak. In her reflection, she shares:

“Overall, my experience has been really positive and fulfilling. I’ve gotten to start the journey of sharpening my skills, connect with people who are also interested in coding and get into a groove of making coding a regular part of my schedule.”

“This is only the beginning and I am truly looking forward to learning so much more. With the skills I learn, I hope to continue infusing them into my current full-time role and work on projects of my own. For anyone just starting out, Codecademy is a great place to call home and get started.”

What was your biggest win of 2020? Head over to the Codecademy Forums and share it with us!

Revisiting the Unseen Corners of the World

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Revisiting the Unseen Corners of the World

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions in place worldwide, we launched a new series to help transport you, virtually, to some of our planet’s most beautiful and intriguing places.

This week, after 40 installments, we look back at some of the highlights — from hat-making workshops in Ecuador and the wilds of Alaska to lush Zambian valleys.

A decade ago, the photographer Robert Presutti accompanied a friend to a convent in rural Georgia: the Phoka Nunnery of St. Nino. A nun and two novices had moved to the area years earlier and had begun resurrecting an 11th-century church from its ruins.

Led by the abbess, Elizabeth, the group of three slowly grew, so that by the time Mr. Presutti visited, the convent comprised six nuns and one novice. By then, the church had been completely restored.

Caleb Kenna has worked as a freelance photographer for more than 20 years, traveling Vermont’s back roads, making portraits and capturing the state’s varied landscapes.

Until a few years ago, he hired airplanes to climb skyward and create aerial pictures. Nowadays he uses a drone.

Every year, millions of pilgrims descend on Karbala, a usually quiet desert city in central Iraq, to commemorate the religious holiday of Arbaeen, one of the largest organized gatherings of people in the world. In 2019, when a small group of journalists was invited to attend, the photojournalist Andrea DiCenzo jumped at the chance to go.

The event is a spectacular display of grief, mourning and religious ecstasy. It commemorates the death of one of Shiite Islam’s most important leaders, Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

“In recent years, Iraqis and Iranians have been joined by hundreds of thousands of religious tourists from a growing number of countries outside the Middle East, including the United Kingdom, Bosnia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Australia.”

Andrea DiCenzo

Read more about Arbaeen »

The Tshiuetin line is a remote railway that runs through rural Quebec. Named after the Innu word for “wind of the north,” it is the first railway in North America owned and operated by First Nations people — and has become a symbol of reclamation and defiance.

Since 2015, during her many journeys aboard the train, the photographer Chloë Ellingson has documented the passengeres, the route and the communities it serves.

“On any given trip on the Tshiuetin train, most passengers are regulars. Some are heading to hunting grounds — like Stéphane Lessard, whom I met en route to his friend’s cabin, which he has been frequenting for 17 years.”

Chloë Ellingson

Read more about the Tshiuetin line »

A Montecristi superfino Panama hat is creamy as silk, costlier by weight than gold, and the color of fine old ivory. It is as much a work of art as it is of fashion.

The finest specimens have more than 4,000 weaves per square inch, a weave so fine it takes a jeweler’s loupe to count the rows. And every single one of those weaves is done by hand. No loom is used — only dexterous fingers, sharp eyes and Zen-like concentration.

The writer and photographer Roff Smith became interested in the hats about 15 years ago, when he read about straw hats that could cost many thousands of dollars.

Sea lions are often referred to as “dogs of the sea.” On a small island off the Baja coast, where the playful animals populate every rocky outcropping, they live up to their nickname.

The photojournalist Benjamin Lowy visited the area in 2017 on one of his first underwater assignments, after years spent covering war, politics and sports.

Although highly appreciated by safari aficionados, Zambia has long flown under the radar for first-time visitors to Africa, overshadowed by its better known regional neighbors: Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana and South Africa.

But this landlocked country boasts some of the continent’s best national parks, primarily those lining the crocodile- and hippo-infested Luangwa River.

The photographer Marcus Westberg first set eyes on the muddy-brown Luangwa when he was 23 years old. He’s been back — and to the neighboring Luambe and North Luangwa national parks — half a dozen times since.

“In Zambia, there’s something for everyone. The wildlife viewing in parts of South Luangwa can rival that of most of Africa’s top safari destinations. In Luambe you may literally have an entire park to yourself.”

Marcus Westberg

Read more about wildlife in Zambia »

Three miles off the coast of Maine, in a remote area northeast of Acadia National Park, lies a cluster of islands populated only by sheep. The Wakeman family, who live on the nearby mainland, are the year-round caretakers; they maintain the traditions of island shepherding, the cycles of which have been largely unchanged for centuries.

At the end of lambing season, a community gathers to help round up and shear the sheep. The volunteers — around 40 people — include a handful of knitters and spinners; they often wear sweaters made of Nash Island wool.

The photographer Greta Rybus began documenting the Wakemans and the islands in 2019.

“Some of the sheep spend their entire lives on these islands, from birth to death. They become the islands. Their sun-bleached bones are entrenched in the earth, embedded in the grassy knolls and wetlands where they once grazed.”

Galen Koch and Greta Rybus

Read more about island shepherding in Maine »

Southeast Alaska is inseparable from the Tongass National Forest, with the mountainous western edge of the North American continent giving way to the hundreds of islands that make up the Alexander Archipelago. The landscape is blanketed with Western hemlock, red and yellow cedars, and Sitka spruce.

But the lifting of logging restrictions may indelibly alter the region’s character.

The photographer Christopher Miller grew up exploring the fringes of the Tongass National Forest, which sits just outside his backdoor in Juneau and stretches for hundreds of miles along the coast. In 2019, he documented a 30-mile trip along the Honker Divide Canoe Route, which runs through the national forest.

Known for its soaring, glacier-capped Andean peaks and its labyrinth of fjords, Magallanes — in southernmost Patagonia — is Chile’s largest but second-least-populated region.

Daily existence here requires tenacity and resilience. Community life is facilitated in part by an unlikely source: a network of rural schools.

After coordinating with local educational authorities and teachers, and with the blessing of the students’ parents and guardians, the photojournalist Andria Hautamaki spent over a month in 2019 traveling to five such schools.

“The coronavirus pandemic has upended educational routines all around the globe, and many schools in Chile have pivoted to remote learning. But rural Chilean schools face particularly difficult challenges.”

Andria Hautamaki

Read more about rural Patagonian schools »

Several years ago, the photographer Richard Frishman began to document vestiges of racism, oppression and segregation in America’s built and natural environments — lingering traces that were hidden in plain sight behind a veil of banality.

Some of Mr. Frishman’s pictures capture sites that were unmarked, overlooked or largely forgotten. Other photographs explore the Black institutions that arose in response to racial segregation. A handful of the pictures depict the sites where Black people were attacked, killed or abducted — some marked and widely known, some not.

“Slavery is often referred to as America’s ‘original sin.’ Its demons still haunt us in the form of segregated housing, education, health care, employment. Through these photographs, I’m trying to preserve the physical evidence of that sin — because, when the telling traces are erased, the lessons risk being lost.”

Richard Frishman

Read more about the “Ghosts of Segregation” »

The waters surrounding Britain are speckled with thousands of small islands, only a small fraction of which are inhabited.

Among those who call Britain’s small islands home are a collection of wardens — caretakers who spend their lives in quiet solitude, away from the crowded corners of our urban world. Their role: to maintain and manage the preservation of their small speck of land, often while conducting research into delicate ecosystems.

Over the past three years, the photojournalist Alex Ingram has been visiting some of these remote islands, spending at least a week on each.

What’s Going On in This Graph? | Jan. 6, 2021

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | Jan. 6, 2021

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

This graph shows the number of essential and frontline workers by occupation and employment sector. The graph appeared elsewhere on NYTimes.com. About 70 percent of workers in the United States have jobs that are considered essential. A subset are considered “frontline” workers, meaning their jobs cannot be performed from home.

After looking closely at the graph above, answer these four questions:

  • What do you notice?

  • What do you wonder?

The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order.

2. Next, join the conversation online by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box. (Teachers of students younger than 13 are welcome to post their students’ responses.)

3. Below the response box, there is an option for students to click on “Email me when my comment is published.” This sends the link to their response which they can share with their teacher.

4. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, Jan. 6, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

5. By Friday morning, Jan. 8, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that included this graph, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.

More?

• See all graphs in this series or a slide show of 60 of our favorite graphs.

• View our archives that link to all past releases, organized by topic, graph type and Stat Nugget.

• Learn more about the “Notice and Wonder” teaching strategy and how and why other teachers are using this feature from our on-demand webinar.

• Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live-moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.

• Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

What Are the Greatest Songs of All Time?

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What Are the Greatest Songs of All Time?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

What songs do you consider to be among the greatest of all time? Why?

What do you love or appreciate about these songs? Is it the instrumentation, vocals, lyrics or something else that makes the music so outstanding? Would others echo your opinion, or do you think your choices are unusual?

In “What Are the Greatest 2,020 Songs Ever? Philadelphia Is Deciding,” the New York Times critic Wesley Morris writes about WXPN, a public radio station in Philadelphia that is currently counting down the 2,020 greatest-ever songs, as chosen by listeners:

It’s been a terrible year for experiences — pleasant, frivolous, collective ones, anyway. This countdown is an oasis amid the sands of monotony and worse. I’ve done no dancing at any bar or club (or illegal house party) since mid-February. But there I was in my kitchen Friday night presented with a block of nourishment, wagging my fanny against the cabinet doors as Janelle Monáe’s “Tightrope” led to Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” then the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” (traditionally, a song that keeps me seated) and “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” the most physically addictive song Stevie Wonder has written, followed by “Highway to Hell,” essential AC/DC that my body treated as if DJ Kool had produced it.

So far, the usual suspects find themselves overrepresented. (It’s a mark of a kind of progress that, at some point, Radiohead had as many songs as Steely Dan and the Who. The station’s site is keeping track.) There’s also been much too much Van Morrison and Moody Blues yet no or not nearly enough Nina Simone, Carly Simon, Alice Coltrane, Patti Smith, Reba McEntire, Madonna, Björk, Tracy Chapman, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Hole, Fiona Apple, Shakira, Beyoncé and Erykah Badu. Joni Mitchell currently leads the song count among women.

Mr. Morris offers up some of his own song suggestions, while also analyzing the subjectivity and potential disputation of such a list:

One compelling aspect of this countdown business is philosophical. At 2,000-plus songs, some percentage was probably always going to hew to XPN’s taste. Local acts like the Hooters, Amos Lee and Low Cut Connie are very much here. And believe it or not, “local” extends to Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, who, as of midday Monday, had almost 30 entries between them. But how would a countdown of the 2,020 greatest songs proceed over at, say, WDAS, where the format is now old-school R&B and “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” anchors the a.m. block? Power 99 used to have a nightly countdown show that one song — Shirley Murdock’s “As We Lay” or Keith Sweat’s “Make It Last Forever” or Prince’s “Adore”— would dominate for what felt like weeks. What would a more epochal undertaking look like? Would WMMR find a way to make inroads there, too?

And what would the same countdown reveal at a similar station in Anchorage or Montgomery or Chicago or the Bay Area? Does it matter that a few corporate behemoths have flattened pop’s palette? Can a chart still quantify local taste? Would an accurate answer prove as vexing as precise electoral polling data, because, in part, we now live on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube? Is this entire process just too random and subjective to be worth continuing?

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • What belongs on your list of most beloved songs? Is there a common theme or mood they evoke? What, if anything, does your catalog of beloved songs say about you?

  • Have your musical tastes changed over the years or largely stayed the same? Do you have a love for a specific genre or style? Or do your tastes defy categorization? Why?

  • Mr. Morris explains that part of what drives a “greatest songs” list is a regional connection. Are there any songs that your hometown or neighborhood has a special connection with?

  • Are your favorite songs the same as those of your siblings and peers? What about your parents, teachers or other adults? Do you think people of different racial or ethnic backgrounds or from different generations would have strong disagreements about the “best songs of all time?”

  • What do you think about WXPN’s attempt to compile a list of the greatest songs ever? Are you a fan of such lists? Why, or why not?

About Student Opinion

• Find all our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Gifts On the Brain

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Gifts On the Brain

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

What message do you think this image is trying to convey? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related Opinion Essay to learn more.

About Picture Prompts

• Find all our Picture Prompts in this column.
• Have an idea for a Picture Prompt? Tell us about it.
• Teachers, discover more ways to teach with our Picture Prompts and learn how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Lesson of the Day: ‘‘R’ is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Refugees’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘‘R’ is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Refugees’

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Featured Article: “‘R’ is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Refugees”

Sesame Workshop has long sought to champion diversity and social justice. Their newest muppets are 6-year-old twins Noor and Aziz who live in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Noor and Aziz are Rohingya Muslims who escaped ethnic cleansing in their native Myanmar, but the show also emphasizes that they help around the house, tell stories and love to learn.

In this lesson, you will learn about the situation for refugees in Bangladesh and then delve deeper into the significance of TV programming to support individuals and communities in need.

What do you know about what has been happening in Myanmar to the Rohingya Muslims? Watch this 90-second video created in 2017 by the United Nations.

  • If you had not heard about the crisis before, what is your reaction to what you learned from the video?

  • How do you think Sesame Street, and the muppets, could offer support in a crisis like this?Does it surprise you that Sesame Street would be involved in some way? Why or why not?

Now, watch this one-minute video introducing the two new Sesame Street characters:

Based on this video, what you think of these new muppets and the Sesame Street initiative overall? What questions do you have?

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. What are some of the characteristics of the two new muppets?

2. What significance are these new muppets likely to have for Rohingya children?

3. What does the survey conducted by Doctors Without Borders reveal about the experiences of Rohingya people, specifically children, since 2017?

4. How is Sesame Street trying to make the muppets relatable to Rohingya children? What other efforts has Sesame Street made over time to show diverse representation?

5. How did the show creators choose the interests of the main characters? Why did they make them twins?

6. What are some of the realities of life in Rohingya refugee camps that the show is not including?

To learn more about the experiences in the Rohingya refugees and to hear stories of some of the families and children, watch this video from NBC.

After you watch, respond to the following questions in class discussion or in writing:

  • What moments in this news clip stood out for you? Why?

  • How are the creators attempting to provide social and emotional support and guidance for children through the show?

  • Do you think there are limitations to the work that Sesame Street is attempting to do? What other forms of support, aid or activism do you think are important?

  • Are you able to relate to this story in any way? Were there any TV shows, books or movies that were central to your emotional or educational development as a child?

About Lesson of the Day

• Find all our Lessons of the Day in this column.
• Teachers, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to use this feature in your classroom.

How a group of Product Managers at Paradox is connecting through coding

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How a group of Product Managers at Paradox is connecting through coding

Calli is a Product Manager at Paradox, a Codecademy for Teams customer. Towards the beginning of the pandemic, she and a group of PMs at Paradox decided to start learning together on Codecademy.

The initial goal was to learn more about the technical aspects of what their teams work on to help them in their roles. But in addition to learning skills to help them better connect with their product teams, the members have also used the coding group as an opportunity to connect during a challenging time.

“It’s been super awesome,” Calli shared with us. “It’s kind of that distraction away from everything that’s happening and it’s a good opportunity to get together and have a couple laughs.”

We spoke with Calli to find out more about the coding group at Paradox. She shared the story behind why they decided to learn to code together and shared some advice for others looking to start similar groups with their own teams.

Why learn to code as a team?

There are a few benefits to learning to code as a team. Upskilling together can have huge benefits to the organization as a whole. But that’s not all. Learning together also helps with motivation and accountability. Plus, it’s fun!

Upskilling together benefits the organization

“When I started as an intern and an APM at Paradox, I didn’t have an understanding of how code actually worked,” Calli told us. Inspired by a fellow-PM that had learned to code, Calli decided to attend a bootcamp and use Codecademy to better understand the technical aspects of the product at Paradox.

“Having a basic understanding of code and the technical aspects of the work, you’re able to ship higher quality products. You’re able to think through problems in a different way,” says Calli. Learning to code has helped Calli in her role as a PM in a multitude of ways. She wanted to continue her learning journey post-bootcamp to keep improving — and a group of other PMs at Paradox were interested in learning code for the same reasons.

Because they’re learning together, Calli and the other PMs in the group are not only learning new things on their own, but they’ve also been able to learn from each other. When they meet, they try to connect what they’re learning back to work. “We always attempt to think through the things we’re currently working on,” says Calli. “Is learning this actually going to help you? Does it make you rethink what you’re currently doing?”

Learning together helps with accountability

Learning as a team can also help with motivation and accountability. When you’re meeting at a regularly-scheduled time, you’ll be more likely to make progress. And even if you don’t make progress, it’s helpful to hear about what others are learning to get that motivation back!

Calli tells us, “I always like getting the opportunity to learn more. As a product person, it’s always good to expand your knowledge.” But learning with others gives her additional motivation. “I love getting the opportunity to chat with other people that are doing similar things and bounce ideas off each other. When we talk about a product or requirements, we’re all talking the same language now.”

Learning together is fun!

Learning as a group has also been a nice distraction during a strange time. “We all worked together before the pandemic,” says Calli. “Learning with Codecademy has been an opportunity to get closer together. We have something other than work to talk about, so that’s definitely nice! And we always leave a little time at the end of our sessions just to chit chat.”

How to start your own team coding group

Thinking about learning to code together as a team at your organization? Calli’s advice is, “Just do it. It can never hurt. You go in, take the easy courses first and you move up to the harder ones and just keep learning. And have fun with it! It’s ok that we’re not perfect — that’s the point of taking courses and learning.”

If your team already has access to Codecademy, here are a few pointers:

  • Schedule a recurring meeting time to stay accountable. You may decide to meet once a week, every other week, or once a month depending on your team’s availability.
  • Go at your own pace. Don’t feel like you all have to learn at the same pace — or even take the same courses. What’s most useful to you may not be the same as what’s useful to another member of your team and everyone may be starting at different levels of experience. Use the group meetings as an opportunity to connect and talk about what you’re learning, or as scheduled time to make progress.
  • Connect what you’re learning back to work. Discuss Calli’s questions as a group: Is what you’re learning helping you in your current role? Does it make you rethink what you’re currently working on?
  • Ask questions. Maybe other members of the group will have the answers, maybe they won’t. But bringing questions up can lead to good conversations just the same.
  • Leave time for small talk! This is important, especially with everyone working remotely. Leaving time for small talk at the end can be a nice reward that’ll make you look forward to the next group coding session.

Learning together with Codecademy

If your team isn’t signed up for Codecademy yet, it’s easy to get started. You can sign up for a quote here or request a 2-week free trial to see what Codecademy for Teams is all about.

On a team and interested in sharing Codecademy with your manager or leadership team? Calli recommends coming up with a proposal to share with your manager or leadership team that explains how learning with Codecademy or learning a specific language is going to help you and your team move forward.

“Build your proposal, come up with your reason, and pitch it and be excited about it,” says Calli. “Build a case about why it’s important and the value it’s going to provide to you, your team, and your organization.”

Our 2nd Annual STEM Writing Contest

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Our 2nd Annual STEM Writing Contest

Do I need a Works Cited page?

Yes. We provide you with a separate field to list the sources you used to write your essay. You’re allowed to format your list however you want; we will not judge your entry based on formatting in this section. Internal citations are not necessary.

Can I have someone else check my work?

We understand that students will often revise their work based on feedback from teachers and peers. That is allowed for this contest. However, be sure that the final submission reflects the ideas, voice and writing ability of the student, not someone else.

Who can I contact if I have questions about this contest or am having issues submitting my entry?

Leave a comment on this post or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.

QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING WITH THIS CONTEST

I’m a teacher. What resources do you have to help me teach with this contest?

Start with our unit plan for informational writing. It includes writing prompts, mentor texts and lesson plans that can support this contest. To learn more about how to teach with this unit, register for our live webinar on Thursday, Jan. 14 at 4 p.m. Eastern.

You might also invite your students to read the winners of last year’s contest to get inspiration for their own work.

Do my students need a New York Times subscription to access these resources?

The New York Times is now available to high school students and teachers across the United States for FREE through Sept. 1, 2021. Learn more and invite your classes here. (Please note that once teachers send an invitation, students will need to accept it to get their free account.)

If your students are not yet in high school, and they don’t have a subscription, they can get access to Times pieces through The Learning Network. All the activities for students on our site, including mentor texts and writing prompts, plus the Times articles they link to, are free. Students can search for articles using the search tool on our home page (scroll down past the featured articles to the article stream). In the rest of The Times, they can access up to five free articles a month.

7 top CSS interview questions to practice

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7 top CSS interview questions to practice

This article was written by our friends at Career Karma. Check out their other interview questions roundups, including Python interview questions and JavaScript interview questions.

When looking for a new role, there are many types of jobs you will see listed:  Web Developer, Front End Engineer, UX Developer, UI Developer, Technical Writer, Developer Advocate. These are just a few examples of the titles that you might see that will probably require some sort of experience in CSS — Cascading Style Sheets.

Here we’ll take a look at some of the more popular questions that you might be asked in a CSS interview setting, along with possible responses. The interview could be a formal question-answer format, or it could take the form of a take-home assessment or project with documentation.

Either way, you will have to respond or document your knowledge in some way.

Questions to crack the CSS interview

Here are seven interview scenarios to think about when it comes to discussing CSS:

Question 1: Tell me about an approach you took to decide the layout of a project you worked on. What pushed you to choose one type of layout (Flexbox/Box/Grid) over another?

This is an interesting type of question because it requires you to think back to previous projects you have worked on. Before going into a technical or behavioral interview, be sure to study up on previous projects you completed to recall choices made.

You don’t necessarily need to defend your answers, but you need to basically speak to your reasoning. The interviewers would like to hear your thought process on why you chose the approach you did. This is valuable information to them because it hints at how you might approach a problem at their company.

What should you study about layout?

When it comes to the differences between Flexbox, Box, and Grid, there are a couple of points to remember so you can reasonDifferences between CSS Flexbox and CSS Grid through your job interview questions:

1. Box model was the first of the three layouts styles to be created. Block boxes are the main types of containers used in the box model, but inline-boxes are used (they just don’t use all the properties that block boxes do).

Each box, or container, consists of a margin, a border, padding, and content. Limitations of the box model include responsive and/or adaptive layout issues because of the static or fixed nature of the layout. The need to use the clearfix hack when you have float elements is also an issue with the box model.

2. Flexbox model was introduced after the box model to improve on some of the box model’s limitations in regards to positioning. It still uses all of the pertinent parts of the box model, but has been expanded to allow for more adaptive or responsive design.

Be sure to know that flexbox is used when you care more about the flow of the content so it can be more responsive than about the actual design of the page.

3. Grid model was the last of the three layout types to be introduced. It’s becoming more popular due to its ability to completely control content placement. It is still, however, not as popular a solution as flexbox is.

When you discuss the reasoning behind choosing box, flexbox, or grid, be sure to focus on the purpose of the layout.

  • Does the flow of the content matter? Use CSS Flexbox
  • Does the content placement matter? Use CSS Grid
  • Are you working with legacy code using CSS Box Model several years old? Use the inherited system unless there is a budget to change to one of the other preferred methods.

Question 2: How does CSS actually work ?

This question tests your ability to be able to describe what CSS is from a technical standpoint.

Start from the very beginning and describe that CSS literally means Cascading Style Sheets. It uses three ways to style the HTML document:  inline-styling, internal stylesheet, and external stylesheet.

The stylesheet is how we essentially decorate our web page. We use CSS selectors to create rules for those elements. When the CSS renders, it will take the CSS, and apply it to the document from the top to the bottom.

If there is a selector that is repeated in the stylesheet, the newest rule(s) overwrite the previous ones. Inline styles and the !important keyword maintain the highest importance and will overwrite CSS written in the stylesheet.

Question 3: Describe pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes, discuss the differences between the two, and what they are used for.

Pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes are quite often conflated. They are two distinct concepts in CSS. This question is designed to see if you know the difference.

The similarity between the two is that they are keywords that are added to a selector that lets you style the selector in a specific way.

A pseudo-element is added to a selector when you want to style a specific part of the selected element.

p::selection {
 background-color: yellow;
}

The ::selection pseudo-element styles the

tag when a user highlights text in that element. Other popular pseudo-elements are ::first-letter and ::first-line.

In contrast, the pseudo-class is added to a selector when you want to control the styling when an element is in a particular state. This applies not only to the document tree, but also to the location’s history.

button:hover {
 background-color: blue;
 color:white;
}
 
a:visited {
 color: orange;
}

a:hover {
 color: yellow;
}

All you need to remember really is that the pseudo-element styles specific parts of an element and the pseudo-class styles a specific state of an element.

Question 4: Explain the concept of specificity.

CSS Specificity concerns itself with how style rules are applied to an HTML document. Each type of selector has a number associated with it. The higher the number, the higher the specificity. Inline-styling has the highest specificity, along with ids. Universal selectors have the lowest specificity.

When a specificity is higher, that means those styling rules will win over any sort of cascading rules.

Question 5: What does a preprocessor do and why would it be advantageous to use one?

A preprocessor like SASS or LESS allows you to do a number of things:  assign variables, create mixins, and use nested rules. It makes the coding process simpler and allows your CSS to be nested like your HTML. To be used it needs to be compiled into a single CSS file that is then linked to your HTML Document.

Using a preprocessor like LESS or SASS cuts down on code reuse, assigns color schemes to variables, and prevents unintended behavior because your code is more dynamic due to the use of variables.

If there comes a time when you need to change the font or the color scheme, for instance, you can change it in one spot instead of 100 spots because you have it declared as a variable at the top of your LESS or SASS files. Preprocessors can be super useful.

Question 6: Tell me about the CSS Box model and its constituent elements.

The CSS Box Model was the first of the layout models that were introduced in CSS. It consists of margin, padding, content, and border.

  1. The margin is indicative of how far away you want your boxes to be from each other. It’s the area outside the border.
  2. Padding is the area in between the content and the border. The more padding there is, the more room there is between the content of your box and the border itself.
  3. The border of a box lays in between the padding and the margin. It frames padding and the content of the box.The feature of the box is the content. It’s what makes the box, a box.
  4. The feature of the box is the content. It’s what makes the box, a box.

Note: By default, CSS’s box-sizing property is content-box. To have more control over the size of the boxes on your page, change your box-sizing property to border-box. You can use the universal selector (*) to do so at the top of your CSS.

Question 7: How would you select every paragraph with a class name of about-me that is a child of a div?

div > .about-me {
 color: red;
}

What can you study next?

After you have mastered these concepts, you can start on learning how to animate or transform items using CSS, master a CSS preprocessor, or learn how to deploy your applications to the web!

I also highly recommend practicing your interview skills. Ask a colleague or a fellow student to give you a mock CSS interview to see how you do. The more you practice talking to people, the better you will do in an interview situation.

Good luck!

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