Viewing by month: January 2008

Jan 30 2008

Differences and Disabilities

Although society’s understanding of dyslexia and ADHD is improving, too many people still equate “difference” with “disability.” Every disability may be a difference, but not every difference is a disability. Children are sometimes branded “learning disabled,” even when it is their schools that actually lack ability. Schools that still treat education as a “one-size-fits-all” endeavor resent individualized instruction, which they consider inefficient. But our growing awareness of learning differences puts more enlightened schools in a difficult position: within the constraints of budgets and teaching skills, how can we best serve students with differences?

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Categories: Disabilities

0 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 9:00 AM

Jan 23 2008

Real Children Eat Real Food

A friend of mine offers this explanation of society’s woes: “We are what we eat, but we don’t know what we’re eating, so we don’t know who we are.”

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Categories: Nutrition

0 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 8:27 AM

Jan 17 2008

Don't Buy Your Education Off The Rack

Service workers sometimes suffer a curious disability: they forget how to be customers. Helpfulness becomes a habit so powerful they forget that others should be helping them sometimes. College freshmen face a similar situation. After years of obedient service to their schools and teachers, they enter college eager to please. Based on the cost of higher education, I think students need to be more assertive about customizing the college experience.

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Categories: Education

0 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 9:32 AM

Jan 9 2008

The High Cost of Not Giving

For the first time in my history as an entrepreneur, I’m trying to help some organizations go out of business. The United States has too many “perpetual” private foundations, driven by tax rules to focus on minimum distribution requirements rather than doing the great deeds for which they were founded.

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Categories: Philanthropy

1 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 11:45 AM