america – Page 3

Why Are Computer Science Jobs Out Of Reach For So Many Of America’s Students? They Are Growing Fast And They Pay Well

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Why Are Computer Science Jobs Out Of Reach For So Many Of America’s Students? They Are Growing Fast And They Pay Well

When it comes to the digital divide, often the focus is on how lack of internet service and basic technology will hurt students’ academic performance. This is particularly true during the pandemic, when most schools are operating online. But as a STEM educator at one of the nation’s elite historically Black colleges, I see another negative effect of the digital divide: racial disparities in the field of computer science. Computer science is one of the fastest-growing and highest-paying fields. So if students from certain groups are being shut out of the field, it means that public education is failing in its role as the great equalizer. I see some ways for that to change. But first, a few statistics. The color of computer science When you look at computer science, just 8.9% of the more ...

Biden Will Find It Hard To Undo Trump’s Costly ‘America First’ Trade Policy – Here’s Why

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Biden Will Find It Hard To Undo Trump’s Costly ‘America First’ Trade Policy – Here’s Why

Since becoming president-elect, Joe Biden has signaled that restoring America’s leadership on the world stage is among his highest priorities – an intention aptly demonstrated by his Cabinet picks. Biden’s nominees are “ready to lead the world, not retreat from it,” he said on Nov. 24. “America is back.” Perhaps nowhere is this return more urgent than in trade policy, a topic I follow closely as a scholar of international political economy. Over the past four years, President Donald Trump has ripped up trade deals, launched damaging trade wars and gunked up the workings of international trade organizations. All of this has ceded global economic leadership to China, as we can see from the trade negotiations Beijing recently oversaw with 14 other Asian nations. In November, the countries ...

Herd immunity won’t solve America’s COVID-19 problem

2Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LIFESTYLE

Herd immunity won’t solve America’s COVID-19 problem

After months battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of “herd immunity” is back in the news. This has been stoked by reports about the White House’s new pandemic advisor, Scott Altas, who has argued in favor of ending social isolation measures and simply allowing healthy people to get infected. The idea is that the virus wouldn’t spread as quickly once enough people became immune. But trying to reach herd immunity without a vaccine would be a disastrous pandemic response strategy. As mathematics and computer science professors, we think it is important to understand what herd immunity actually is, when it’s a viable strategy and why, without a vaccine, it cannot reduce deaths and illnesses from the current pandemic. What is herd immunity? Epidemiologists define the herd immunity thresho...

Insect apocalypse? Not so fast, at least in North America

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Insect apocalypse? Not so fast, at least in North America

In recent years, the notion of an insect apocalypse has become a hot topic in the conservation science community and has captured the public’s attention. Scientists who warn that this catastrophe is unfolding assert that arthropods – a large category of invertebrates that includes insects – are rapidly declining, perhaps signaling a general collapse of ecosystems across the world. The Texas frosted elfin (Callophrys irus hadros), a small butterfly subspecies found only in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, has lost most of its prairie habitat and is thought to have dramatically declined over the last century. Matthew D. Moran, CC BY-ND Starting around the year 2000, and more frequently since 2017, researchers have documented large population declines among moths, beetles, bees, butt...

Millions of America’s working poor may lose out on key anti-poverty tax credit because of the pandemic

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Millions of America’s working poor may lose out on key anti-poverty tax credit because of the pandemic

The pandemic is driving American families to the edge, with tens of millions at risk of losing their homes and over 1 in 10 U.S. adults reporting their households didn’t have enough to eat in the previous week. While Congress debates extending unemployment benefits that expired on July 31 and other additional aid, there’s an important program that already exists that could help struggling Americans get through the crisis however long it lasts. Known as the earned income tax credit, or EITC, it provides aid primarily to the working poor. In a typical year, it lifts more than 8.5 million people out of poverty, while improving the health and well-being of parents and children. Since the credit depends on earned income, many families may be at risk of losing all or some of the benefit becaus...

America’s Black female mayors face dual crises of COVID-19 and protests – but these women are used to uphill battles

24Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

America’s Black female mayors face dual crises of COVID-19 and protests – but these women are used to uphill battles

Mayors are elected to govern their cities, serve and protect citizens, maintain law and order and bring about economic prosperity. Those are tall orders today, as American cities are wracked by COVID-19 and anti-racism protests. One effect of these simultaneous crises has been to thrust Black female mayors onto the national stage. That’s because, for the first time in U.S. history, Black women lead several of the United States’ largest cities, including Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco. Black women make up just 14% of women in the United States, and their mayoral history is a short one. But it’s a history of achievement worth exploring. My upcoming book, an edited volume called “Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors” examines the background of ...

Land loss has plagued black America since emancipation – is it time to look again at ‘black commons’ and collective ownership?

19Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE

Land loss has plagued black America since emancipation – is it time to look again at ‘black commons’ and collective ownership?

Underlying the recent unrest sweeping U.S. cities over police brutality is a fundamental inequity in wealth, land and power that has circumscribed black lives since the end of slavery in the U.S. The “40 acres and a mule” promised to formerly enslaved Africans never came to pass. There was no redistribution of land, no reparations for the wealth extracted from stolen land by stolen labor. June 19 is celebrated by black Americans as Juneteenth, marking the date in 1865 that former slaves were informed of their freedom, albeit two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Coming this year at a time of protest over the continued police killing of black people, it provides an opportunity to look back at how black Americans were deprived of land ownership and the economic power that it bring...

Growing Up Black In America – Racial Prejudice

13May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Growing Up Black In America – Racial Prejudice

Black Americans have certainly faced many challenges trying to live the American Dream and partake in the many blessings other races have enjoyed here. One of the biggest hindrances black Americans have to continue facing in this country is the constant racial prejudice sent their way by white people. The original black people in this country were taken by force from Africa on ships to America where they were subjected to extreme abuse. They were made slaves, had their families separated, women violated and men whose self- esteem was reduced to nothing. They had no rights and were considered personal property. You may ask "how can a civilized people like the English fall to such abhorrent behavior? What reason could they possibly have to partake in behavior that treated a whole race o...

5 lessons from the coronavirus about inequality in America

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

5 lessons from the coronavirus about inequality in America

The coronavirus is a global threat, but the pandemic has an uneven impact across the U.S. It exacerbates existing inequalities and creates new challenges. I think this crisis can teach several important lessons about inequality in America: how it hurts, who it hurts the most, why that’s the case and what can be done about it. 1. Staying home is a luxury For millions of Americans, staying at home is a luxury they cannot afford. The comfort and well-being of all Americans depends on grocery clerks, delivery drivers and factory workers putting their own safety second so they can stay on the job. While the upper middle classes take their work with them, working and middle-class Americans are tethered to their jobs: 52% of college-educated people can work from home, as compared to just 12% of...

America’s poorest children won’t get nutritious meals with school cafeterias closed due to the coronavirus

7Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

America’s poorest children won’t get nutritious meals with school cafeterias closed due to the coronavirus

Schools aren’t only places where kids learn. They are also places where kids eat. Thanks to the National School Lunch Program, 30 million U.S. children – some 60% of all school-aged kids – regularly eat some combination of breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks at school. Federal subsidies ensure that school meals are affordable for all children to stave off hunger and malnutrition. But what is happening to meals provided by the nation’s largest child nutrition program as public schools shut their doors to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic? Based on my research on how schools provide meals for poor children, I worry that these closures might leave some of the nation’s poorest children without access to nutritious meals. School meals address hunger Despite persistent concer...