Inspiring Kids to Learn From Entrepreneurship

Monica Mehta on teaching business to children through kid-friendly opportunities

JibJab's Kids Books for iPad

The JibJab guys preview their new digital kids book apps for the iPad.

Overscheduled Kids: How Too Many Activities Affect Moms And Dads

According to a recent article in The New York Times, the number of activities your children are involved in doesn't necessarily have an impact on their chances for academic success later in life. It might, however, have a negative effect on a parent's emotional state, not to mention a family's finances.

On top of that, if you are constantly overstretched, you're probably not hiding it as well as you think: Research shows that kids not only sense it, but take on some of that stress themselves.

According to Betsy Brown Braun, a child development specialist and parent educator, one indicator that you've gone over the top is your physical appearance.  Read more...

How Israel Takes Its Revenge on Children Suspected of Throwing Stones

The boy, small and frail, is struggling to stay awake. His head lolls to the side, at one point slumping on to his chest. "Lift up your head! Lift it up!" shouts one of his interrogators, slapping him. But the boy by now is past caring, for he has been awake for at least 12 hours since he was separated at gunpoint from his parents at two that morning. "I wish you'd let me go," the boy whimpers, "just so I can get some sleep."

During the nearly six-hour video, 14-year-old Palestinian Islam Tamimi, exhausted and scared, is steadily broken to the point where he starts to incriminate men from his village and weave fantastic tales that he believes his tormentors want to hear.

This rarely seen footage seen by The Independent offers a glimpse into an Israeli interrogation, almost a rite of passage that hundreds of Palestinian children accused of throwing stones undergo every year.   | AlterNet

Palestinian child talks of "abuse" in Israeli prison

College Student Anxiety, Depression Levels Show Sharp Rise

University administrators say over 60 percent of college students report that their parents now expect them to work during the school year to help cover expenses.

The toll says Dr. Murray is sometimes students can barely make it to class on time or turn in assignments on time. Professors are dealing with an increase in cheating, shoddy research, slipping GPA’s and a subject that isn’t often discussed: the mental health of college students.

“Mentally and physically I see more students suffering from depression and anxiety. The economy has only added to the stress.”  - New America Media

Are schools suffering from a African-American brain drain?

"The same conversation took place in the 70s when African-Americans were compared to Jamaicans," says Charles Gallagher, PhD, professor of sociology and chair of the sociology and criminal justice program at La Salle University. "'Why are Jamaicans doing so well? What's wrong with these blacks from the United States?' This kind of narrative emerges every time there's a new immigrant group that comes to the United States that's black."

In 2007, Camille Zubrinsky Charles, PhD, professor of sociology and director of The Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, coauthored a study that showed black immigrants or their U.S. born children comprise a disproportionate number of black students at top universities. Although four years have elapsed, she says the data are still relevant, and she agrees with Gallagher's observation that findings such as hers tend to be oversimplified.  Read more...

7 Tips for Choosing the Best School for Your Child

The second most important decision you will make as a parent — apart from deciding to have the kid in the first place — is deciding which school for them to enroll in. Make the right decision and you could put them on a path toward lifelong learning, a prestigious college education and a successful career. Choose wrong, and well, you know. Talk about pressure. Luckily for parents, Peg Tyre, author of The Trouble with Boys and a former Newsweek education reporter, has a new book to help parents evaluate both schools and teachers so they can find the right place for their child. Fittingly, it's called The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve. Tyre spoke to TIME about which questions you should ask when you're evaluating a school — whether your child is starting pre-K or switching schools in the middle of fourth grade — and why math is key in every grade.  - TIME

Bullying Victims See Lower GPAs, Particularly High Achieving Blacks And Latinos, Study Shows

Bullying victims often cite lasting psychological damage as a consequence, but a new study shows that those who are bullied also suffer academically, especially high-achieving black and Latino students.

The study shows that students who reported being bullied in the 10th grade saw a slight decrease in GPA by 12th grade -- but the change is sharper for black and Latino students who tend to earn high grades.  Read more...

Minority babies almost the majority

White infants are on the verge of being displaced as the majority of newborns now that nearly half of babies in the USA are ethnic and racial minorities.

Only 50.2% of babies under age 1 are white and not Hispanic, according to the 2010 Census — a sharp decline from 57.6% just 10 years earlier.   – USATODAY.com

Moms' smoking tied to psychiatric meds in kids

Children whose mothers smoked while pregnant were more likely to end up on medications such as antidepressants, stimulants and drugs for addiction, according to a study from Finland that hints at smoking's affect on a baby's developing brain.

While the findings don't prove that cigarette smoking during pregnancy causes changes in children's brains or behavior, they offer one more piece of evidence that should encourage women not to smoke while pregnant, the researchers wrote in the American Journal of Epidemiology.  - Yahoo! News

Japan cuts radiation exposure limits for children

Japan on Friday lowered radiation exposure limits for children to below one millisievert per year while at school due to health concerns in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The education ministry delivered the instruction to all schools across the nation including Fukushima where high levels of radiation were released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 quake and tsunami.  - Yahoo! News

Children defy police in D.C., purchase lemonade at Capitol

In response to a recent wave of lemonade stand shut downs and harassment of children over such petty regulations as are used to shut them down, several activists gathered at the west lawn of the capitol in Washington, DC to sell lemonade and were arrested.  Reading more...

Back to school health checklist

Packing lunch for school can be hard on parents. I suggest you sit down with your kids and make a list of things they want to eat in their lunches. This can lead to (yet another) discussion of the foods that are nourishing and foods that are not so good for your body.

Putting food choices into a context that kids can understand can be helpful. The traffic light model works well. Green light foods are good for you. Eat as much of them as you like. These include fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, nuts, and organic meats and dairy. Red light foods are those kids should not eat, like corn syrup, diet foods with Nutrasweet, caffeine products, and artificial colors and flavors. Yellow light foods are those you should slow down on, like desserts, processed white flour products, and juice.  NaturalNews...

Alt Text: Teens Are Getting High on Social Media

A study has determined that something popular among teenagers is actually bad for them and for society. I know! Weird!

The evil popular thing this time around is social networking. Even as we speak, social networking is getting high-fives from previous teen immoralities like texting, videogames, rap music, role-playing games, heavy metal music, long hair, rock music, comic books, jazz music, chewing gum, novels, card games and music.

Apparently teenagers who use social networks are more likely to drink, smoke, take drugs and presumably worship Satan in his dark majesty than teenagers who don’t use social networks.  | Wired.com

13 year old researcher finds tree inspired solar collection more efficient

Aidan Dwyer, a 13 year old Junior High School student from New York state, noticed that the phyllotaxy of the leaves on trees he was observing while hiking through the Catskill Mountains, did so in the form of a Fibonacci sequence. Wondering if there was a reason for it, he deduced that it might be because such an arrangement provides the most efficient means of solar power collection for the trees. To find out if this was the case, he built a small solar tree from PVC pipe and small solar panels, then built another in a normal flat panel array, attached voltage readers to both, and lo and behold, discovered the tree model array was indeed more efficient, at least during times of low or indirect sunlight. Dwyer won a Young Naturist Award for his efforts after writing and submitting his essay, The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees.  PhysOrg.com

As Real As It Gets: Bullying Victims Can Fight Back With Help From Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Royalty

It's back-to-school time all over the country. For kids that get picked on, it's a return to a horror zone. Experts say that more than 150,000 children miss school every day because they are afraid of being bullied. More than half of all schoolchildren have witnessed a bullying incident and three of every four students say bullying is a problem at their school.

The bulk of bullying occurs from the fourth through the eighth grades, although it can continue through high school and even in the workplace. Bullying is intimidation or domination toward someone perceived as weaker, a way to establish superiority through coercion or force. The emotional scars are often worse than the physical beatings, and victims of bullying often become depressed and do poorly in school. Bullying can even lead to suicide.  | ThePostGame

Prevent the Top Back-to-School Infections

 

Simple precautions can help keep kids healthy as they head back to school. Teaching kids to keep their hands clean is the number one way to avoid sick days. In fact, a study published in the August issue of American Journal of Infection Control, reported that after students ages 5 to 15 received one lesson in hand hygiene where they learned to disinfect their hands with ethanol gel sanitizer three times during the school day, the number of kids who missed four or more school days due to illness dropped by 66 percent.  Read more...

 

 

More Kids Killed By Domestic Violence In 2010

A new report by the state Criminal Justice Services division determined 37 minors were killed in domestic violence incidents in the Empire State last year, up from 17 in 2009.

And the jump appears to be largely city-centric, with 25 kids killed last year, compared with seven in 2009.  | New York Daily News

Youth Pulse: Local Internet talk show targets youths

The show gives young people an outlet to express their views on issues that affect them, Muhammad said, and the Internet talk show will “inform and educate young people. Encourage them to be successful and to highlight positive, creative and intelligent youth.”

The first show will air from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 27 on Boss Mag Radio and will feature two students from Thurgood Marshall High School, Maia Brooks and Quran Lee, both 14. The students will do telephone interviews with the show’s first guest, Wise Intelligent, member of the rap group Poor Righteous Teachers, who hit the mainstream rap scene in the 1990s. Wise Intelligent will speak to the students about his book, The Manufacturing of a Dumbed Down Rapper.  Read more...

Child Identity Theft Takes Advantage Of Kids' Unused Social Security Numbers

Experts say children represent an emerging market for identity thieves who steal their Social Security numbers because they offer clean slates that can be used to commit fraud for years without detection. Many victims don't learn about the crime until they are young adults and find their credit in tatters as they are rejected for student loans, jobs and places to live.

Even as recent data breaches at large corporations have raised awareness about safeguarding consumer information, children's Social Security numbers are lying around little-guarded places not accustomed to fearing cyber-attacks -- like schools and pediatric centers -- constituting a goldmine for criminals seeking untainted identities.  Read more...

How the Science World Tells Black Kids 'Do Not Enter'

A new study released on Thursday from Science magazine found that black academics applying for biomedical research grants from the National Institutes of Health are significantly less likely to receive funding than their white peers. One-quarter of white researchers' proposals are accepted for funding, while black scientists only get the money they need 15 percent of the time. 

This kind of inequality isn't exactly encouraging for black college students who are deciding whether they want to pursue science-related graduate studies in the hopes of conducting potentially groundbreaking science research. After all, students aren't blind. They can see how hard it is for the black academics they interact with. Who could blame them if they pick a field with less racial discrimination?   - GOOD

MSF launches mass vaccination in Ethiopian camp

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) launched a mass vaccination Thursday against measles at a refugee camp in southern Ethiopia hosting Somalis who have fled a severe drought.

The Dolo Ado camps host 118,400 Somali refugees, including 78,000 who arrived this year, and on the first day 3,000 children were vaccinated.

"(Among) our 10 priorities, the first is vaccination campaign for measles," MSF emergency coordinator Guillem Perez told AFP.  - Yahoo! News

ADHD diagnoses on the rise, CDC says

More and more children are getting a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The percentage of children with the condition rose from 7% in 1998-2000 to 9% in 2007-2009, for both boys and girls. In some areas of the United States those figures are even higher. From 1998 to 2009, ADHD prevalence increased 10% in the Midwest and South.  CNN.com Blogs

Relaxing Obama hits bookstore with Malia and Sasha

At the Bunch of Grapes bookstore, Obama was greeted by shouts of "2012" and "Four More Years." Dressed casually in jeans and an untucked blue polo shirt, he introduced his daughters to patrons before setting off in search of vacation reading. The girls, meanwhile, shopped with a purpose.

"They've got to buy some books," Obama said of Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, adding that one of them had a school assignment.  Read more...

Blacks & Hispanics More Concerned Over Children's Health

The annual poll, released August 15, asked Hispanic, Black and White respondents to rank the importance of 23 health concerns for children in their own community. Different ethnicities indicated varying levels of concern for specific health issues.

Overall, blacks and Hispanics were more likely than whites to rank children’s health issues as “a big problem” in the community.  - New America Media

Dr. Boyce Watkins: Black Teen Flash Mobs: A Frightening Result Of Chronic Political Neglect

I can't help but notice how the creation of flash mobs is probably the first time in recent memory that black teenagers have gotten this much attention from media or public officials. Rather than focusing on the teenagers who are doing great things with their lives, the media loves to put a spotlight on the few scary looking black kids who decide to rob a store on a Saturday night. In spite of the media bias, there are quite a few reasons that the media, Mayor Nutter and the rest of us could have been paying attention to black teenagers in the past.

We could have spent time addressing the 40 percent unemployment rate of black teens all across America. Public officials seem to forget that an idle mind is the devil's workshop... when you combine a hot summer with nothing productive to do, teenagers are going to find their own ways to use that free time.  Read more...

31 Million U.S. Kids Live in Poverty Today As Racial Inequality Deepens

Today, one in five U.S. kids are living in poverty, says a new report on how kids are faring in the recession. Everything about the foreclosure crisis and recession and the attack on the public safety net that has made the last few years difficult for U.S. adults has also made things tough for U.S. children. But for kids of color, the numbers are much worse. 

More than one in three black kids—a full 36 percent of black youth—live in poverty and 31 percent of Latino kids lives in poverty. And for many of the indicators of child welfare that the Annie E. Casey Foundation, whose 2011 Kids Count Data Book was released on Wednesday, tracks, like infant mortality rates and school achievement, black and Latino kids fare far worse than their white counterparts.  - COLORLINES

Examining The Recession's Effects On Child Poverty

A national study on child well-being to be published Wednesday found that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009. As a result, 14.7 million children, 20 percent, were poor in 2009. That represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000, when 17 percent of the nation’s youth lived in low-income homes.

In the foundation’s first examination of the impact of the recession on the nation’s children, the researchers concluded that low-income children will likely suffer academically, economically and socially long after their parents have recovered.  Read more...

Unraveling the Black Adoption Myths in America

Adoption. At first glance it’s just another word in the dictionary. But its power is vested in the weight of the word – conjuring images of abandonment, cherished blessings, adamant secrecy and self discovery.

For African Americans adoption has yet another layer of imagery. Families being torn apart by drug use, poverty, homelessness and even death. At any given moment there are 500,000 children in foster care across the United States with 26% being African American according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010 statistics.

This statistic gives pause to Gloria King, executive director of the Oakland, Calf, based Black Adoption and Placement Resource Center. Founded in 1983 BAPRC was among the first “specialty” agencies to distill the myths surrounding adoption eligibility criteria that kept countless prospective parents from applying.  | The Atlanta Post

Child labor rules stalled at White House as farm accidents continue

Last week, two 17-year-olds were critically injured in Oklahoma when they were pulled into a grain augur while on the job. Responders had to cut the augur to free the boys, who were flown to a hospital with severe leg injuries.

Yet the White House continues to sit on new child labor rules proposed last year by the Department of Labor that some safety advocates say could have prevented that accident.  PressTV

The bionic girl: Teenager can use knife and fork for first time after being fitted with hi-tech hand

A teenager who lost her fingers to septicaemia as a toddler has been able to brush her teeth for the first time - after she was fitted with bionic fingers.

Chloe Holmes, 15, is the youngest person in Europe to be fitted with the high-tech digits.

Her parents funded £38,000 for a full set of bionic fingers on her left hand, which are controlled by electronic signals from the nerve endings in her arm stump.

Chloe is now learning basic tasks such as using a knife and fork for the first time.  | Mail Online

Sexting, retweet and woot added to the Oxford English Dictionary

The list of ridiculous Internet speak that the Oxford English Dictionary has officially recognized as real words has expanded once again this week to include retweet, woot and sexting.

The words will appear in the upcoming edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, which was first published 100 years ago. According to Angus Stevenson in the Oxford University Press blog, the 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary will contain a total of about 400 new words, including cyberbullying, domestic goddess, gastric band, sexting, slow food, and textspeak.  - Yahoo! News

Also read:

• 'Sexting,' 'Retweet,' 'Cyberbullying' Added To Concise Oxford English Dictionary
• Oxford English Dictionary joins Facebook age with sexting, retweet and cyberbullying | Mail Online

A-level results 2011 hits new record: 1 in 12 of all grades awarded is an A*

Hundreds of teenagers with straight A* grades were left without a university to go to in an u nprecedented scramble for places. Prina Shah, pictured, has been rejected from Oxford, University College London, Nottingham and Kings College London despite gaining 4 A*s in maths, further maths,  biology and chemistry.   | Mail Online

Incarceration For Profit Is Happening Nationwide! Judge Gets 28 Years For Taking Bribes From Prisons

The Kids For Cash scandal involved more than 30 state and local government officials and contractors, says ABC News.  | Disinformation

Fears for Syrian child protesters amid fresh reports of deaths

Amnesty International urged the Syrian authorities to protect child protesters amid fresh reports of young people being tortured and killed.

Video evidence has emerged in recent days of two new cases of teenagers – Thamer al-Sahri and Nazir ‘Abd al-Kader – dying after receiving injuries caused by beatings and gunshot wounds. | Amnesty International

Letting Go of Insecurities with Two Realizations

“What I am is good enough if I would only be it openly.” ~Carl Rogers

I used to spend an awful lot of time worrying about people liking me. Or what people thought of me. Or what they thought of the clothes I was wearing. Or whatever.

It’s taken me a long time to realize two things:

1. Most people really aren’t even taking notice of us. (They’re too worried about what other people think of them.)

2. Of the few who are noticing us, the people who are judging us harshly are not the people we want around us anyway.   | Tiny Buddha

'Brain-eating amoeba' kills third person

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Christian Alexander Strickland, 9, of Henrico County, became infected after he went to a fishing camp in the state.

The child died from meningitis Aug. 5 and Bonnie Strickland, his aunt, told the paper that Naegleria fowleri — or "brain-eating amoeba" as it is sometimes known — was a suspected cause of the illness.  - msnbc.com

Related articles:

• Brain-eating amoebas claim the life of a teenager in Florida
• 3 die of rare brain infection from amoeba in water - Washington Times

Kids today really are less creative, study says

It sounds like the complaint of a jaded adult: Kids these days are narrow-minded and just not as creative as they used to be.

But researchers say they are finding exactly that. In a 2010 study of about 300,000 creativity tests going back to the 1970s, Kyung Hee Kim, a creativity researcher at the College of William and Mary, found creativity has decreased among American children in recent years. Since 1990, children have become less able to produce unique and unusual ideas. They are also less humorous, less imaginative and less able to elaborate on ideas, Kim said.

Has modern society really extinguished the creative spark among our youth?

Experts say creativity is innate, so it can't really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured. - TODAY.com

All school, no play? Learning suffers without recess

Children's free playtime has dropped over the years, replaced by structured activities and screen time, including television and computer use , studies suggest. A 2003 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that a quarter of kids under age 6 watched TV for at least two hours a day; these same kids spent 30 minutes less per day playing outside than kids who didn't spend so much time in front of a screen.

At the same time, unstructured childhood time is vanishing. A pair of University of Maryland studies of children's time use found that in 1981, kids ages 6 to 12 had about 57 hours of free time per week. By 2003, kids had only 48 hours in which to choose their own activities. Time spent outdoors was especially hard-hit. - TODAY.com

Study: Children who take antibiotics more prone to contracting 'superbugs'

A group of Canadian researchers has found a link between taking antibiotics and a higher likelihood of harboring deadly "superbugs" like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which kills tens of thousands of people every year. Published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the breakthrough study found that children who take at least one antibiotic are three times as likely to develop MRSA than children who take no antibiotics, while children who take four or more antibiotics are 18 times more likely to develop MRSA.

It is commonly believed that superbugs are found only in dirty, drug-ridden hospitals, where patients end up contracting it from contaminated surfaces and surgical instruments. But according to the study, community-acquired MRSA, which means it is contracted outside the hospital setting in the general public, is becoming a major health problem, and one that appears clearly linked to overuse of antibiotics. Read more...

Stroke Rates Up in Pregnant Women, New Moms, Study Finds

According to the Wall Street Journal, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found the rate of pregnant women being hospitalized for strokes rose 47 percent between 1994-95 and 2006-7, while the rate rose 83 percent for women who had given birth within the last three months.

Now, those numbers are still very low, the newspaper reports, with just .22 hospitalizations for every 1,000 deliveries, but, still, the numbers have experts concerned. - ParentDish

Minister Farrakhan challenges educators at 3-day conference in Chicago

“If a curriculum does not prepare a student for life itself, then it is a worthless curriculum,” said Minister Farrakhan during his August 6 keynote address wrapping up the Nation of Islam's 4th Annual Educational Conference themed: “Developing A Nation of Readers.”

“The first words that Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, heard in the cave at Mount Hira was the word iqra (“read”). A command was given to a man who could not read, but yet he was commanded by Allah through the angel Gabriel, read. That word—read—that command is the command of God to all of us who languish in the bowels of ignorance where our greatness can never be manifested until and unless we learn not only how to read, but what to read, and why reading is required,” said Min. Farrakhan.

Minister Farrakhan challenges educators at 3-day conference in Chicago

Watoto From The Nile - Positive Hustle (Message to Rick Rozay and P.Diddy) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

The long awaited follow up to "Letter to Lil Wayne" is finally here for all to see. Watoto From The Nile closely examines the word "hustle" and criticizes Rick Rozay, P.Diddy, and others who claim to represent the masses of Black people to be more critical of their roles in the media. Often, the term "hustle" is used in a negative light to describe the act of selling drugs or doing some other illegal activity to hinder the growth of a community, while simultaneously growing finances for the so called "hustler". Now we take a look at the POSITIVE HUSTLE which represents life giving energy! It is all about love and building up one another daily. It is okay to make money but it is NOT OKAY to kill your people in the process.

Support Watoto From The Nile's BRAND NEW ALBUM at www.mywatotofromthenile.com. A new kick starter campaign to help fundraiser for the album will be starting soon but you can donate today to show your support! Also, be sure to download the FREE MIXTAPE while you're on the site.

Follow Watoto From The Nile on the following links....
www.mywatotofromthenile.com
www.facebook.com/watotofromthenile
www.youtube.com/watotofromthenile
Media, booking and inquiries email watotofromthenile@yahoo.com

***Get your "I LOVE BEING BLACK" apparel at www.becauseimblack.com and tell them Watoto From The Nile sent you!

Watoto From The Nile - Positive Hustle (Message to Rick Rozay and P.Diddy) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Netflix gets kid friendly amid subscriber backlash

Netflix Inc. is giving kids and their parents a new reason to embrace its Internet video subscription service amid an outcry over an upcoming price increase.

A 'Just For Kids' tab will be added to subscribers' accounts on Netflix's website beginning Tuesday. Clicking on the feature will pull up a list of kid-friendly recommendations drawn from about 1,000 movies and TV shows in Netflix's Internet video streaming library. - Yahoo!

'Psychic Kindergarten' Teaches Budding Mediums How to Explore Their Gifts

It's called "psychic kindergarten," beginner lessons for clairvoyants, where they learn how to read colored spirits, feel chakras and "blow roses." Susan Bostwick, the president of the Berkeley Psychic Institute, is also one of its teachers.
"What we do is teach people to discover, go in and find out what your abilities are, and how do you want to use them for the greater good," she said.   - ABC News


Check out:

• Psychic Kids: Paranormal Children - A&E TV
• Psychic Children: Is your child psychic? Here are the signs | Paranormal Daily News

Join Youth Pulse on Skype: YouthPulse

Call into Youth Pulse through Skype, username: YouthPulse. Also join us on Facebook & Twitter @ /youthexposhow

Young Bosses: 6 Successful Brand Builders

Learn from these business leaders how to take charge at an early age and change the game

Today, young people are making moves sooner than previous generations. Not holding back in pursuing their dreams, goals and aspirations, they are redefining how business is done and the results are immediately seen in the impact they have on the business landscape today, as well as tomorrow. But just what does it take to be a young boss? While a number of factors are involved, there are a few must-have traits for success. Here’s a roundup of a few BE Nexters who embody the advantages of youth and why it can give one a leg up to the competition. —Tennille M. Robinson  BMW – Ultimate Achievers »

will.i.am i.am.FIRST: Science is Rock & Roll TV Special on STEM

The Black Eyed Peas frontman looks to make science and technology cool for kids

Science and technology are the industries of tomorrow. Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am understands that clearly and does not want our children to be left behind. In an effort to make STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics] studies “cool,” the seven-time Grammy Award winner teamed up with Segway inventor Dean Kamen for his back to school TV special, i.am.FIRST: Science is Rock & Roll.  Read more....

Launch of Youth Expo's Radio Show: Youth Pulse

For more information go to: http://youthexposite.ning.com

Young people: Regardless of your station in life today, know that you were born to lead tomorrow.

Young people: You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change. ~The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

Saturday, August 27^th, 2011 from 11am – 2pm EST, Knowledge for LIFE’s Youth Expo Show(YES Media)^tm will launch Youth Pulse^tm  on Boss Mag internet radio station.  You will be able to hear it on the YES Network.

Youth Pulse will be a weekly, 3hour, LIVE, call-in radio show were Black youth will be in control of the mic and music.

From 11am – 2pm EST Black youth ages 13 to 23, will interview conscious Black professionals and educators on matters impacting their lives in American and around the world.  Young people across America and in foreign countries will be able to listen and call-in through their computers, laptops, and smartphones.  

Youth Pulse is collaborating with Music is Alive (MIA) and Boss Mag Radio to give young independent music artist, with a positive, fun, and conscious message, an outlet were their music can be heard by a global audience.

Youth Pulse will also work with other youth organizations, including those outside the U.S. like UniHood^tm, a youth organization based in London, U.K.

Our first show will feature conscious Hip Hop artist Wise Intelligent, pioneer of the pro-Black conscious rap group Poor Righteous Teachers.   Youth Pusle will interview Brother Wise on his new book: 'The Manufacturing of a Dumbed Down Rapper' and his new album: The UnConkable DJEZUZ DJONEZ.

Our second interview will address the topic of: "The Science of Dating."  That interview will feature Nisa Muhammad, founder of Wedded Bliss Foundation, a community-based organization helping teens, singles and couples create healthy relationships and healthy marriages so more children grow up with the benefits of a two-parent family and author of: The Science of Getting Rich in Marriage, Sacha Muhammad.

Donate here:

or to find out other ways you can support Youth Pulse Radio by downloading this PDF form: Other Ways to Support Youth Pulse.  Have a business or product that you would like to reach a global youth audience?  Become a sponsor/underwriter by contacting Steven Muhammad at 937-867-5131 or email: Know4LIFE@gmail.com (write in the subject line: Youth Pulse Sponsor). 

If you are a professional youth mentor or have a youth organization and would like to be a guest on the program contact me at the above email can write in the subject line: Seeking Interview.

For youth that would like to submit your music to be played, email your music to youthexposhow@yahoo.com.  We will play rap, jazz, neo-soul and R&B, however, the music has to sound professional, no fool language and no overt sexual content. 

Mass media is a powerful force in American Hip Hop culture. Images and messages have been used to steer Black youth toward an unproductive, self-destructive, and self-negating way of life.  Youth Pulse will give Black youth the power to turn the tide and produce positive vibrations that will ripple throughout the world.  Support Youth Pulse today by listening in every Saturday and donating.

Youth Expo Show & Youth Pulse are produced by Knowledge for LIFE, a non-profit 501c3 organization.

Planet Rock: The Story Of Hip Hop And The Crack Generation Will Premiere On September 18

VH1′s Emmy Award winning franchise Rock Docs will be back this fall with a special that promises to be one of the high points of this long-running series. Planet Rock: The Story Of Hip Hop And The Crack Generation, executive produced and narrated by former Los Angeles gang banger turned international superstar Ice-T, promises to tell the story of how the early days of hip hop became intertwined with the startling rise of the crack cocaine epidemic of the mid-eighties. We’ve got more details for you below in this press release that just hit the wires…

VH1’s Emmy Award Winning Rock Docs Franchise Delves into the
History of Crack Cocaine:

Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation Premiering On VH1 Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 10PM*

Narrated and Executive Produced by Ice-T

Completely Evil 'Kids for Cash' Judge Is Going to Jail

Perhaps you've heard of former Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr., an objectively evil person who took bribes to send kids to private prisons. The good news is that he's now going to jail! Sadly, he'll only be there for 28 years. The verdict came today after Ciavarella was found guilty of racketeering earlier this year. His case is a cartoonish example of the things that can go wrong with privatizing prisons  Read more...

Black children think the police are racist. We must teach them about the 1980s

The relationship between the police and the black community in the 1980s was extremely problematic, and I have to say that I have sympathies for the rioters of yesteryear. But the question, as so many commentators keep ignoring, is whether our relationship with race in 2011 is the same as it was in 1980.

Once, I had a black author visit my school to talk to some of the black kids about the Brixton riots. He had extensive experience and knowledge of the riots. He naively explained to the kids that life for a young black man in the 1980s was tough, that he and his friends would get stopped by the police 5 times per day on average. The kids turned up their noses in disgust. They started muttering. This man had no idea! What did he know… old man! Life is hard for young black people on the streets because the police are racist!

So my guest apologised. He said he thought that things had improved, but perhaps not.

– Telegraph Blogs

Report Says Black Youths Disproportionately Affected By Measure 11

A new report claims that Oregon's Measure 11 sentencing law disproportionately pushes black youth into the adult criminal justice system. Measure 11 mandates compulsory sentencing for most violent crimes. And if you're a youth, it means you're tried as an adult. · OPB News

The recession’s effect on children: More kids face homelessness, poverty

A larger number of children fell into poverty between 2008 and 2009 than was ever recorded before in a single year, going back to 1960. Nearly 21 percent of children lived in poverty as of 2009, the most recent year for which data is available, making children more likely than any other age group to be poor.

The number of homeless children in America's public schools increased by 41 percent between the 2006 and 2008 school years, a recent report by the Children's Defense Fund says. Homelessness among pre-school aged children spiked by 43 percent over the same period. These children are more likely to repeat a grade, fall ill, suffer from mental disorders like anxiety and go hungry than their peers, according to data from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.Mississippi, Washington, D.C., Arkansas, Kentucky and New Mexico are the states with the highest percentages of poor children. A family of four that makes $22,500 a year or less is considered to be living in poverty.  - Yahoo! News

Minority Youth Media Consumption May Hamper Academic Achievement

The study has renewed debate about whether minority youths spend too much time on media consumption and not enough on reading and studying. While some people insist that the disparity in media consumption contributes to the education gap between minority and white youths, others cite it as a positive that can aid a child's educational growth.

"I think that the results of this study coupled with the other factors that we know influence student performance," says Sharon Lewis, research director for the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocate for urban public schools and students. "When you combine all of this together, it's another indication that we need to take extra steps to reach [minority] youth.  Read more…

How being a teenage mother is 'contagious' as siblings follow the examples of elders

Teenage motherhood is ‘contagious’ within families, according to a study.

Scientists have discovered that the sister of a teenage mother is twice as likely to follow in her footsteps as a girl with no family experience of early motherhood.

And the ‘peer effect’ on girls aged 16 to 19 was shown to have a far more powerful impact than any education or advice they are given at school. It was most pronounced when the sisters were close in age.

Read more…

A couple of months ago, I went to Mexico to give talks at the National University in Mexico, UNAM. It's quite an impressive university — hundreds of thousands of students, high-quality and engaged students, excellent faculty. It's free. And the city — Mexico City — actually, the government ten years ago did try to add a little tuition, but there was a national student strike, and the government backed off. And, in fact, there's still an administrative building on campus that is still occupied by students and used as a center for activism throughout the city. There's also, in the city itself, another university, which is not only free but has open admissions. It has compensatory options for those who need them. I was there, too; it's also quite an impressive level, students, faculty, and so on. That's Mexico, a poor country.

  Read more…

Facebook Use May Lead to Psychological Disorders in Teens [STUDY]

Increasing research on social media’s effects on human interaction has revealed the development of antisocial behavior, narcissism and a slew of other character flaws and negative by-products.

Overdosing on Facebook may lead to the development of such psychological disorders in teens, according to a recent study conducted by Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University.  Read more…

Young people 'more likely to reach 100 years old'

Today's 20-year-olds are three times more likely to live to 100 than their grandparents and twice as likely as their parents, official figures show.

And a baby born in 2011 is almost eight times more likely to reach their 100th birthday than one born 80 years ago. "BBC News

Also read:

• Can we live forever?
• UK life expectancy 'on the rise'
• Nearly one in five 'to reach 100'
• 
  

NAACP panel sees education as key to lifting black men out of lives of crime, unemployment

Education is the key to breaking black men and youths out of a vicious cycle of crime and unemployment, African-American leaders said Thursday at the close of the annual NAACP convention.

The plight of black males, which have above average rates of joblessness, incarceration, HIV infection and lower rates of educational achievement, was one of the themes of the six-day convention, which was attended by more than 5,000 members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Tribune.com

Parenting Style May Affect Child's Mental Health

Matching your parenting style to your child's personality can greatly reduce the youngster's risk of depression and anxiety, researchers say.
The three-year study of 214 children and their mothers revealed that a good match between parenting styles and the child's personality reduced the child's risk of depression and anxiety symptoms by half.

But children in a mismatched relationship had twice the risk of depression and anxiety symptoms. - Yahoo! News

Kids Still See Unhealthy-Food Ads on TV, Study Finds

American children see fewer food and drink ads on television today, but most of the ads they view are for unhealthy products, a new study says.

The study also found a large jump in children's exposure to TV ads for fast-food restaurants.

The findings suggest food industry self-regulation has done little to reduce children's exposure to ads for unhealthy products, the researchers said. Yahoo! News

More U.S. kids in hospital for mental illness

American kids are increasingly likely to be admitted to the hospital for mental problems, although rates of non-psychiatric hospitalizations have remained flat, a new study shows.

From 1996 to 2007, the rate of psychiatric hospital discharges rose by more than 80 percent for 5-13-year-olds and by 42 percent for older teens.

'This occurs despite numerous efforts to make outpatient services for the more vulnerable kids more widely available,' said Joseph C. Blader of Stony Brook State University of New York, whose findings appear in the Archives of General Psychiatry. - Yahoo! News

Many Kids Now Engage in Media 'Multi-Tasking'

Apparently, today's youngsters love their media -- a lot.

So finds a new British study, which reveals that media 'multi-tasking' is all the rage among some 10- and 11-year-olds who simultaneously surf TV, laptops, cell phones and other devices.

'Children are doing lots of screen-viewing at the same time, [and] the TV was just a small part of this viewing,' noted study lead author Russell Jago, from the Centre for Exercise, Nutrition & Health Sciences in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol. - Yahoo! News

Pauline Black: Going back to my roots

Pauline Black's earliest memory is of throwing up her breakfast in response to the news that she was adopted. It was 1958, in Romford, Essex, and Pauline was four. Until then, she had been in 'blithe ignorance' about her origins, despite the fact that she was the only non-white person in her family. She knew her skin colour was different from that of the rest of her family, and that this seemed often to be worthy of negative comments, but she hadn't understood why. 'It was something that never came up, I had no notion of it,' she says. | The Guardian

Most U.S. hospitals fail to support breastfeeding

Breastfeeding protects against childhood obesity, but less than 4 percent of U.S. hospitals provide the full range of support mothers need for breastfeeding, according to a report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday.

Improving rates of breastfeeding by providing better hospital support to mothers and babies is an important strategy to improve children's health, including a reduced risk of childhood obesity, the monthly Vital Signs report said.

"Hospitals play a vital role in supporting a mother to be able to breastfeed," it said.

Read more…

Spain's youth battle unemployment

Spain has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, with one in three young people out of work, and there are few sectors of society that have managed to escape the global economic downturn.
Unemployment in the Canary Islands is higher than anywhere else in Spain, and it is particularly difficult for those that are young.
But, despite the lack of opportunities, some are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to find work.
Al Jazeera's Emma Hayward reports from the Spanish island of Gran Canaria.

8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance

Young Americans—even more so than older Americans—appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely screw them and that they are helpless to do anything about it. A 2010 Gallup poll asked Americans “Do you think the Social Security system will be able to pay you a benefit when you retire?” Among 18- to 34-years-olds, 76 percent of them said no. Yet despite their lack of confidence in the availability of Social Security for them, few have demanded it be shored up by more fairly payroll-taxing the wealthy; most appear resigned to having more money deducted from their paychecks for Social Security, even though they don’t believe it will be around to benefit them.   AlterNet