CORRECTION SYNTHESE ONLINE COURSES

Virtual education vs classroom teaching

Traditional education has always taken place in a classroom. However, online courses are now beginning /to change the face of higher education. This topic is the main focus of a column written by Kristina Chew, a classics /professor, in The Guardian. A leading article taken from USA Today also addresses this divisive issue along with a cartoon published in /the Boston Globe. They all came out in 2013 except for a graph taken from mooclab.com dated 2017.  They raise the/ following question: Is online learning the way forward?

As Kristina Chew points out, technology is an integral part of teaching. It /enables her to remain connected with her students even after they have graduated. Besides the Internet provides her with a/ wealth of information she can use in class. In addition, an increasing number of universities now offer online course. The/ graph shows that since 2011, the number of platforms offering online classes has soared, providing education to over 100 million students/ in 23 countries. According to a consulting firm mentioned in USA Today these courses are as efficient   real-life classes. As a /result, education is becoming more and more virtual with universities increasingly relying on “massive open online courses” as Ms Chew says in her column./ Furthermore, they are affordable and may be the answer to overwhelming student debts. As indicated in USA Today, they also offer/ a large variety of classes and their reputation is improving.

Yet the cartoon from The Boston Globe paints a different picture. A /student who attended an online course is asked by his computer to click in order to toss his cap in /the air on graduation day. He thus misses out on a real-life experience. Kristina Chew claims that nothing can replace the physical presence/ of the teacher in the classroom. It makes her teaching real to the students. The lack of interaction with professors in one /of the major drawbacks of online classes and a large majority of students still prefer being in an actual classroom as/ stated in USA Today. Nevertheless, virtual education is likely to keep gaining ground beyond 2017 as the graph suggests and Ms Chew /concludes her column by wondering whether real-life teaching will one day be a thing of the past, depriving students of /actual memories of the college experience. (365 words)

SUGGESTED READING # 8

Virginia: thousands of armed protesters rally against gun control bills 

Tens of thousands of gun rights activists, many of them armed, gathered in Virginia’s capital on Monday as the governor declared a state of emergency ahead of a protest against strict new gun control laws pledged by the state’s freshly elected Democratic majority government.
Chanting “We will not comply”, gun rights activists packed the street in front of the Virginia’s state house, where the governor, Ralph Northam, had temporarily banned anyone from carrying firearms. On the streets outside, though, some protesters carried rifles and wore full tactical gear. One protester estimated that as many as 70% of the crowd was armed, most of them more discreetly, with concealed handguns. Police estimated that 22,000 people attended the rally, most of them in the streets outside the state house, where guns were allowed.[…]

The presence of thousands of armed citizens outside the elegant state capitol building was meant as a warning: Democrats, not just in Virginia but nationwide, should back off attempts to pass sweeping gun control laws.

Early in the morning, two men pushed through the packed crowd in bright red T-shirts that read “Make Politicians Afraid Again”, with the image of a military-style rifle underneath.

Conservative pundits were touting the non-violent gathering as evidence that law-abiding gun owners are not a threat to the public despite high numbers of daily shooting deaths.

Shannon Watts, the founder of gun control group Moms Demand Action, condemned the rally.

“Armed insurrectionists who threaten violence and lawlessness if they don’t get their way don’t represent the majority of Virginians,” she said.

In Richmond, a city where nearly half of local residents are black, the gun rights protesters on Monday were overwhelmingly white and overwhelmingly male. […]

Tensions in Virginia have run high since November 2019, when Democrats won control of the state government for the first time in 26 years and pledged to pass a package of gun control laws, from universal background checks to a ban on military-style assault weapons.
Since then, pro-gun activists across Virginia have organized a vigorous grassroots movement to protest against the new bills.

The Guardian, Jan 20, 2020

SUGGESTED READING # 7

Colin Kaepernick was the most important athlete of the decade

December 31, USA TODAY

Nobody could have seen the above sentence — the headline of this piece — coming. Ten years ago, Colin Kaepernick was a good college quarterback in a minor conference. His fascinating background — he’d been born and placed for adoption in Wisconsin, where a family that had lost two boys previously to heart defects took him in — was not yet well known.

Today you would need to work tirelessly to find an American who hasn’t heard of Kaepernick — and who hasn’t formed strong opinions about him in one way or another. He is one of the most polarizing figures in a polarized decade, driving debate everywhere from television to Twitter ..

My argument from early on — Kaepernick’s protest began in the preseason of 2016 — has been that it worked as intended. He sat, at first, and then kneeled during the playing of the national anthem precisely so that we would talk about the issues he wanted us to talk about: police violence directed toward black men and the systemic racism that enables it and shapes so much of how we live and have always lived in America.

The popular, cynical view is that nobody has ever changed their mind thanks to Facebook comment screeds but Kaepernick launched literally millions of these discussions.

Kaepernick’s protest also gave rise to other voices, even just within sports: Megan Rapinoe was an early adopter, kneeling during the anthem in September of 2016. Even after her breakout performance this year — in the World Cup, and as a voice fighting for the oppressed — she has lauded Kaepernick’s leadership and sacrifice…

For his part, Kaepernick has avoided the public light — unless he has control over how his image is used. He has donated at least a $1 million to various charities. He also signed with Nike and allowed the giant corporation to glom onto the authentic passions he stirred.

In late August of 2016, after he was first noticed sitting for the anthem, he gave an exclusive interview to the NFL’s Steve Wyche to explain his decision — “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said — but also showed clearly that he understood the stakes.

“I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. … If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”

SUGGESTED READING # 6

Yellow= grammar
green = vocabulary 

Why Australia's PM is facing climate anger amid bushfires

20 December 2019 BBC NEWS

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has cut short his holiday to Hawaii amid growing criticism of his leadership during a bushfire crisis ravaging huge areas of the country.

Since September, blazes in eastern Australia have killed six people, destroyed more than 700 homes and blanketed towns and cities including Sydney in smoke.

On Thursday, two volunteer firefighters heading to a blaze in Sydney's south-west also died when their fire engine was hit by a tree.

New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, has declared a state of emergency for a second time in two months.

The country is also facing a historic heatwave - the national average temperature broke the previous records on two consecutive days this week.

As the crisis rolls on, many Australians have accused the prime minister of failing to provide reassurances or support to fire-hit communities.

Mr Morrison and his government have also faced a mounting backlash over their climate policies.

Mr Morrison has called the fires a "national disaster", but he has often been accused of downplaying the severity of the crisis.

He has readily offered "thoughts and prayers" to victims, toured fire zones and praised crews - most of whom are trained but unpaid volunteers.

Mr Morrison rejected calls for greater funding of firefighters, saying existing resources were sufficient and that volunteers "want to be there".

He later pledged an additional A$11m (£5.7m; $7.5m) towards aerial firefighting.

Much criticism has focused on the government's support for coal-fired power plants. But the Labor opposition has also attracted anger over its pro-coal policies.

Several protests have been held, including thousands of people coming onto the streets in Sydney, where the air quality has been pushed to hazardous levels.

One woman left the remains of her home, destroyed by a bushfire, outside parliament in Canberra. On them she had written: "Morrison, your climate crisis destroyed my home."

Their views are not shared by all, however. Others have placed the blame for the fires on a severe drought, the sheer amount of dry land there is to burn, and what they view as natural weather cycles.