Learning Centre 032.MOV

Yesterday, my post about Teaching Globalization, appeared on Equality 101. Check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/2vn9xne

Over the weekend on Equality 101, I posted a blog about teaching social justice. Here is the link: http://equality101.net/?p=1564#more-1564 I've been thinking about this ever since and I realize that I do think lots about what I am going to teach and how best to impart information to students.

I certainly hope that this comes across in my classes. Sometimes you just don't know--it could be two years later when a student emails and mentions how important a particular class was.

Check out www.equality101.net. There are lots of great posts about education, teaching, students, pedagogy and more on the blog.

It's that time of year when most college students are thinking about the next year's classes. This is a slow teaching time for most regular faculty (note this doesn't include the sessional instructors, who usually have to teach full-time in order to stay afloat). One of the things that we forget though, is that this time of year is very busy for advisors and others who help students figure out courses and other important matter that is important to student success.

This quick note is a reminder for patience. Patience for the frantic student who needs a little reassurance about classes. For instance, I am finding that I am fielding more emails where a student really wants advice. "Which classes should I take?" A few have actually said, I want to know your recommendations. This is a big responsibility for me. Typically the student who asks, has already taken a course with me. So, I need to think about his/her interests and weigh my knowledge of the department's courses. At first I would suggest all our courses, but now I am more careful. This is not based on content, but rather thinking more strategically about the student and her/his interests and possible grad school interests.

One common response from students is that they have heard that a colleague is a GPA buster. I always smile at this and explain that if the student wants to focus on Area A, for instance, in grad school that she absolutely needs to have a class with said colleague. The majority of the students come back to my office the next term and thank me for my suggestion.

I think that when I am queried--it is acceptable for me to make course suggestions to students. I am one of three undergraduate advisors in the department. About one month left until school resumes and I can honestly say that I'm ready to teach. But, that pesky need of having the syllabi done--not completed!

Finally, the blog works. I thought I was going to have to move to Wordpress! So much to say after three weeks after my last post. I am going to discuss a recent LA Times article "LA County Sees Lifespans Lengthening" (http://tinyurl.com/327xzpr) by Molly Hennessy-Fiske.  The county examined the life expectancy of 103 cities and areas in the LA county and found that life expectancy has increased across the boards and this is good news. However, from the results Public Health officials have found that there is a race and class component to the numbers.

The results should not be a big surprise. People who have more money will have more access to better health care and this correlates into better health. Likewise, certain racial groups are apt to suffer from certain health issues. For instance, African Americans are more likely to suffer from Hypertension, Sickle Cell Anemia, and Obesity compared to the average American. And, Asians and Pacific Islanders are more likely to live longest in the county, as the report noted.

What made me do a double take,though, was the causes of death for men and women. Heart disease was the leading cause of death for both women and men. But, the secondary reason for women was breast cancer and for men it was homicide. Yes, you read that correctly, homicide was the second most common cause of death for men in LA County! Looking at the cities ranked lowest for life expectancy one can surmise that these areas have a higher concentration of African Americans: Compton, Inglewood, and Lynwood. Lancasgter and Palmdale were in the list and do not have higher concentrations of African Americans.

The five cities with the highest levels of life expectancy are La Canada Flintridge, Walnut, Beverly Hills, Diamond Bar, and Arcadia. These areas are primarily middle class, upper middle class, and upper class + neighborhoods and White majority or Asian American majority. Thus, for LA County the results demonstrate that there are real correlations between race, class, and life expectancy. What will be interesting to see, though is how these numbers changed 5-10 years post-Health Care Reform.

Kudos to LA Times writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske for a well-written article.