Month: August 2017

Because On Those Dark Winter Days, I Still Wind Up With A Roald Dahl

Yes, I remember those afternoons when I pictured myself flying over the neighborhood on the back of a bird. Back then I would only pay attention to the height of the buildings, if there were people trotting underneath and if they wore colorful scarves. Today, when I read over the same passages printed in black

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Like Pearls on a String

It has been said that the best changes in life are the ones that awaken the soul and make us reach for more, that plant a fire in our hearts and bring peace to our minds. Never had that been more true to me than in the time of my parents divorce. I was only

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Should Education Focus on Preparing Students for Employment or Broadening their Intellect?

“For those who are less fortunate, especially those who come from less-developed countries, the question of ‘why’ would not be important because their entire life almost exclusively focuses on the question of ‘how.’” I first heard the above statement while watching an American movie. The premise surprised me, prompting me to reflect on how young

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Education the up righteousness of a society

Education is defined in the dictionary as an activity of acquiring knowledge through instructions or teachings. The bible in 2nd timothy 3:15-16 says “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scripture, which are able to make thee wise.” One should also say that it encompasses both the teaching and learning of knowledge,

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Let Me Be A Girl, Not A Bride

Imagine if your parents mentioned marriage to you when you barely knew what marriage meant. Imagine if they called you a burden, told you to forget school, tore you apart from your family and allowed a man three times your age to lay his hands on you. Like a lamb to the slaughter, you’re dolled

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Jobs said it best

Steve Jobs had an innovative mind that was beyond his time. Not only did he create technology that many people cannot live or function without, but he departed from this world leaving behind many important words of wisdom. In these days, when everyone has the same store-bought clothes and manufactured phones, a person’s inner voice,

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What Teachers should be Teaching

After 20 years in and out of the Australian education system, I have come to some conclusions about the role of education. I have taught in four Australian states, in Catholic, Islamic, State and small private schools and across many learning areas and from Kindergarten to Year 12, but what I have learned is that

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Shadows of the Night

The fire flickers, casting long shadows on the ground. Eight hunched over figures are gathered around the warmth of the fire. We sit on ancient wooden benches with various blankets strewn across our legs. “Charlotte, it’s your turn to tell a ghost story,” Tim says in a monotonous manner. The light of the fire glints

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All These Childish Stories… Are They Really Worth Picking Up?

It seems to be an unspoken general rule that when you leave childhood behind, you stop reading, and sometimes even looking at, the books that you loved. As a child, I read many books by authors like Nick Butterworth, Beatrix Potter and Jacqueline Wilson, but I have to admit that after I entered my teens

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Listen and Trust Your Inner Voice

As a young boy, his teachers said he was too stupid to learn anything. As an employee, he was fired from his first two jobs on the basis of being “unproductive”. As an inventor, he made one thousand unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When asked by a reporter how it felt to fail

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