The primary purpose in life is to learn for many people and education has thus far become an integral part of modern-day existence. With varying fields of theory, research and application, modern-day education aims at providing the ultimate roadmap for integration and progress for students of all ages and types. Whether it be getting a degree in engineering, studying arts at a liberal arts college, receiving training or carrying out fieldwork in business markets for an MBA, individuals are always welcome and encouraged to broaden their horizons. There are also many resources online that can aid students in their education, with online tutoring at one click away and the numerous resources that allows students to compare different writing services. As options grow in size and variety, focus becomes the most important skill that one has to develop to succeed in learning. Efficiency and productivity follow once one can fully concentrate on the subject matter, separating successful individuals from struggling ones.
Mental health is a major concern for millions of people today and many believe that a proper mental health education should start during school years. Recently, New York and Virginia became the first American states to “enact laws that require schools to include mental health education in their curriculums” to integrate mental health issues into their general educational frameworks. The idea is to educate people about mental health issues at a young age and enable them to recognize and identify signs related to such issues in themselves and others around them. This way, young students will overcome the stigma associated with such issues and become more open towards treatment and therapy. Although no curriculum has been established in either of the states, the policy makers intend to increase and update education standards by drawing attention to commonly ignored details and tidbits regarding this crucial subject. In both cases, parallels between mental and physical health will be drawn to target issues such as suicide and major depression as obstacles to academic success and personal growth. The policy-makers point out that most major issues in mental health originate from childhood but are substantialized during adolescence, meaning that middle and high school years might be the best time to deal with such issues through a properly designed educational program.
Online education is fast becoming a popular phenomenon among students and business professionals, remaining as one of the most reliable and effective platforms for learning. Coursera’s founder Andrew Ng is currently working on a new online course for business professionals, designed to teach them in-depth lessons about Artificial Intelligence, its possibilities and constraints for business applications. The course’s content intends to inform business executives about the ways to form and manage AI teams, while also providing case studies regarding previous failures of AI in business. Developing a sustainable AI strategy is a major challenge for many such executives as knowledge of AI capabilities for business strategy is unfortunately limited. However, previous experimentations with AI in business also reveal clear advantages of such collaboration, such as Big Data and personalization. In this sense, Ng hopes to bring about a mental change in the way executives think with respect to AI applications for business as the current mentality assumes that AI systems can easily replace human intellect and effort whereas the reality is that the pace of progress and growth in the field is far from such a capability.
In today’s world, for people with serious dreams and aspirations, college admission is the key to making dreams come true. Recently, Harvard University was sued by the group ‘Students for Fair Admissions (SFA)’ on the grounds of discriminating against Asian-American candidates, who believe that the Harvard’s were “forcing Asian-Americans to meet a higher bar to get in.” Affirmative action has always been favored by the American educational system and Harvard’s such policies were criticized by a large number of students, parents, school officials and community members who believe that the school is openly racist towards Asian-Americans. The plaintiffs also encouraged Harvard officials to experiment with race-blind admission tactics to get a more diverse class. The school’s officials, on the other hand, believe that their conservative approach to admission was designed to motivate rural applicants to consider Harvard and following a more liberal approach would lead to “an unacceptable drop in the academic quality of an incoming class.” The plaintiffs provided a statistical analysis during the court hearing, proving that Asian-Americans were performing better in academic and extracurricular ratings, while being dragged down by Harvard’s ‘personal score’ system. SFA believes that such a system openly discriminates against Asian-American students based on their ethnic backgrounds and thus the school needs to be fined for such flawed practices.