【推荐2】When I first met professor Dalecki, I respected him greatly. He walked in the class in formal business suits as if he was prepared for a conference. He greeted everyone with a loud and clear “Good morning” like Jon Stewart from Daily Show. Then he started introducing himself and told everyone his name is Jacek, atypical Polish name that no one knows how to pronounce. He shared his frustration with the class and said, “People have already invented more than ten odd ways of calling my name in the past decade, and most Americans prefer to call me Jay-cek, but it is really ya-cek.” From that moment, I knew there was something about him that made him stand out among all the professors I’d known before.

Professor Dalecki never believed in exams. He understood the huge workload that students have and never intended to make the exam questions hard for us to memorize. I once told him that I almost felt like the hell gate opened for me if I got a C. But he laughed and said, “If it were not for my loving girl friend giving me the exam questions, I can tell you I’d still be in high school somewhere in Warsaw.”

What impressed me most was the extent he would go to avoid bias (偏见) in the classroom. He could turn an entire class into a battleground where everybody gets excited for a heated debate while staying objective as a mediator (调解人) who refused to force his own opinions on any side.

I visited him during his office hours once after class, eager to find out what his stances are on some of the issues we’ve covered in the class, so I asked, “In China, people really aren’t that serious with when it is okay for teenagers to drink. What do you think of the minimum drinking age in America being set at 21?”

“I’m not supposed to answer that question,” he said.

“But why? You don’t seem to take any side during the class and I’m just curious to hear how you really feel!”

“I choose not to share it because I don’t want it to cloud your own judgments about how you think about certain things.”

At that moment, I finally understood how much effort it really took for Dalecki to let us do our thinking on our own. His incredible mindset (观念模式) still has a huge influence on me till this day. So I will end this article with his quote: “It is at this stage in the class that I must ask myself, ‘Did I lie to you?’”

【推荐3】Going to a parents’ evening at your child’s school for the first time can be an overwhelming experience, with so many topics to cover and potentially lots of different teachers to talk to. Depending on your child’s behaviour, it might be a stressful evening for you and this may be made all the more frustrating if you don’t fully understand what the educators are trying to tell you.

One former teacher has explained the true meanings behind common phrases that are used to describe kids a parents’ evening and it turns out they’re not always as straightforward as they may scem. “Super Head teacher” Leon Hady, who has set up his own e-learning platform called GuidePlus, recently spoke to Fabulous about the terms mums and dads should look out for.

The first phrase a teacher might use is that your little one “has potential!” and while this sounds good it’s actually a sign they need to try a little harder in school. Leon said, “This is a phrase often used when a child is doing the bare minimum expected despite having the capability to do more. This phrase is used as a means of letting the parent know that as a teacher, I know their child could push themselves more but is choosing not to.”

And Leon adds that “enthusiastic” is another word that teachers may use to describe kids, which sounds positive but isn’t so good. “What a teacher really means here is that while enthusiasm is a fantastic quality, it can wear thin if a child is unable to follow the rules,” he says. “For example, shouting out answers in class or feeling upset if another child is chosen to share their answer instead.”

But it’s not just bad behaviour that gets acknowledged, teachers may also say certain things if they are concerned your child is being too quiet or lacking in confidence. For this Leon suggests they might make a comment like, “I’d like to hear more from them”. Interesting!

【推荐1】Pupils who don’t pass GCSE English and maths will be kept from taking student loans (贷款) under government plans to be announced this week, which was reported last night. Ministers are also seeking to limit student numbers as part of a clampdown (取缔) on low-quality degrees.

The Department for Education proposals (提议) will include new minimum entry requirements for university to ensure pupils “aren’t being pushed into higher education before they are ready”. The reforms mark a change of New Labour and government policies which sought to encourage more people to go to university.

Under the proposals, reported by The Daily Telegraph, students who fail to achieve a Grade 4 in maths and English GCSEs will be stopped from getting student loans. The ban could also be applied to those who fail to achieve two Es at A-level. There would be exceptions for certain people, such as mature students. Ministers are said to want to ensure that “poor-quality, low-cost courses aren’t encouraged to grow uncontrollably”.

University leaders have warned that setting minimum entry requirements too high, such as requiring a Grade 5 in GCSE maths and English, would, in effect, price out many school leavers from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The announcement comes as the government prepares to publish the final part of its response to the Augar review into higher education funding. The response is said to include a consultation on minimum entry requirements for students to be qualified for government-backed loans for tuition fees.

The number of students at university used to be tightly controlled but the cap began to be lifted after tuition fees increased to f 9,000 in 2012.

The new entry thresholds(门槛) for university are widely seen as a means of controlling in student loan debt, with outstanding loans reaching £140 billion in 2020. The government plans come after the Office for Students Regulator threatened universities and colleges in England with fines and restrictions on their access to student loan funding in a move to remove “low-quality” courses.

【推荐2】How can a parent help to develop healthy self-respect in child? These tips can make a big difference:

Watch what you say.     1     Remember to praise your child not only for a job well done, but also for effort. But be truthful. For example, if your child doesn't make the soccer team, avoid saying something like, "Well, next time you'll work harder and make it." Instead, try "Well, you didn't make the team, but I'm really proud of the effort you put into it."

    2     If you're very hard on yourself, negative, or unrealistic about your abilities and limitations, your child may mirror you in the end. Raise your own self-respect, and your child will have a great role model.

Identify and correct your child's inaccurate beliefs. Helping kids set more accurate standards will help them have a healthy self-concept.     3     For example, a child who does very well in school but struggles with math may say, "I can't do math. I'm a bad student." Not only is this false, it will also set the child up for failure.     4     A helpful response might be: "You are a good student. You do great in school. Math is just a subject that you need to spend more time on."

Create safe, loving home environment. Kids who don't feel safe or are badly treated at home will suffer greatly from low self-respect. Watch for signs of ill-treatment by others, problems in school, trouble with peers, and other factors that may affect kids' self-respect.     5     And always remember to respect your kids.