text:
Servicios Personalizados
Links relacionados
- Citado por Google
- Similares en Google
South African Journal of Education
versión On-line ISSN 2076-3433
versión impresa ISSN 0256-0100
S. Afr. j. educ. vol.32 no.3 Pretoria ene. 2012
Girls' career choices as a product of a gendered school curriculum: the Zimbabwean example
Edmore MutekweI; Maropeng ModibaII
IDepartment of Education Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa firstname.lastname@example.com
IIDepartment of Education Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
The unequal distribution of boys and girls in certain subjects studied at school and its consequent unequal distribution of men and women in the occupational structure suggest some failure by schools and teachers to institute adequate measures to ensure learning equity. In this study we sought to unmask factors in the Zimbabwean school curriculum that orient girls into not only pursuing different subjects at school, but also following careers in fields traditionally stereotyped as feminine. The study was qualitative and utilized an exploratory case study as the design genre. Data were collected through classroom and extra-curricular observations and focus group discussion sessions (FGDS) with girl pupils. A sample size of 40 participants comprising 20 sixth form school girls and 20 teachers was used. These were purposively sampledfrom four schools. To analyse data we used simple discourse analyses. The main findings of this study were that gender role stereotypes and the patriarchal ideology communicated through the hidden curriculum reflected teachers' attitudes and influence that contributed to girls' career aspirations and choices.
Keywords: career-aspirations; choice; gender-typing; girls; hidden-curriculum; ideology; learning-equity; occupation; patriarchy; Zimbabwe
Introduction and background to the study
Feminist authors such as Kwinjeh (2007) and Gordon (2004) have voiced concerns about the marginalization of women in the social, economic and political spheres in Zimbabwe. The views of the aforementioned authors resulted in some positive strides in women's fight for equal recognition to their male counterparts. Legislative reforms such as the Legal Age of Majority Act of 1987 and the Matrimonial Causes Act repealed in 2008 were consequently enacted to recognize women's rights to own property independent of their husbands or fathers (Kwinjeh 2007), and to recognize them as adults who could vote, open bank accounts and even marry should they choose to, none of which was possible without the consent of a male affiliate: brother, father or uncle (Gordon, 2004). After challenging their physical abuse at the hands of men, the Zimbabwean parliament also passed the Domestic Violence Act of 2008, which deterred men from physically harming women (Mawarire 2007). Some women gender activists have been jailed and tortured for peacefully participating in protest marches against the gender discriminatory tendencies of this patriarchal society (Kwinjeh 2007), which has resulted in some of them temporarily losing the courage to oppose the prevalent restrictive authority of the ruling party. Despite these reforms, women remain marginalized in a number of areas within society, thus affecting their education and career aspirations.
Goals of the study
The goals of the study we report on herein were (i) to explore factors in the school curriculum that promoted gender role stereotypes and so informed the career aspirations and choices for girls and boys; and (ii) to better understand how teacher attitudes and expectations influenced, specifically, the girls' career aspirations. The hope was that a better understanding of the aforementioned would provide insights to draw on in future attempts to reform curricula aimed at achieving equal gender recognition and treatment.
Problem statement
Even though Zimbabwean schooling is structured to provide education that fosters freedom or autonomy to all pupils by offering subjects and equipping them with skills deemed necessary for them to take charge of their own destiny, this structure and the curricula offered within it restricts girls' career choices. Despite having received what is purported to be one of the best education systems on the African continent (Zvobgo, 2004), the stereotyping interferes with their choice of school subjects, occupational choices and, in general, their life chances.
Research questions
The study was guided by the following research questions: What factors contribute to gender role stereotypes in the Zimbabwean school curriculum? What motivates the career aspirations and choices made by girls in Zimbabwe? How do teacher attitudes and expectations influence girls' career aspirations?
Literature review
Drawing from Blackledge and Hunt's (2005) assertion that every theoretical effort is like a building block that is added to other blocks to build a house, the literature review in this study was conducted in an eclectic way, drawing from, amongst other things, a range of theoretical perspectives including feminist and cultural reproduction theories.
Gender, education and pupils' career aspirations: a feminist view
According to Kwinjeh (2007), Mawarire (2007) and Gordon (2004), gender equity issues have not received adequate attention in Zimbabwe studies. Very little attention has been given to what happens to girls within the school walls (Machingura, 2006). Research has mainly focused on equality of access to schooling for girls and, more recently, factors contributing to their high dropout rate from schools. For example, Gordon (2004), Atkinson, Agere and Mambo (2003), Gaidzanwa (1997), Jansen (2008) and Nhundu (2007) focus on curricular trends from the pre- to the post-independence era. Atkinson et al. (2003), Gaidzanwa (1997) and Jansen (2003) view colonial history as having left an indelible political, economic and educational legacy. The school curriculum inherited post-independence Zimbabwe was modelled on the English system (see also Wolpe, 2006), with Zimbabwean girls being educated for domesticity whilst boys were prepared for employment and the role of family head and breadwinner. Boys and girls were taught different practical and vocational subjects, boys having to study technical subjects such as metalwork, woodwork, agriculture, technical graphics and building, and being encouraged to pursue science subjects, whilst girls were offered domestic science subjects and typing and shorthand, and being encouraged to pursue the arts subjects.
Based on this, Atkinson et al. (2003) have argued that the colonial settler officials tended to view girls and women in terms of the Victorian image of what a woman should be, instead of recognizing actual abilities to function alongside their male counterparts. Men were consi- dered to be breadwinners and needed to be exposed to technologies and jobs that paid more and were highly esteemed. These jobs often took them away from homes, farms and rural areas, then called 'tribal trust lands'. The trend continued with the expansion of the market economy with men migrating to work in the mines, plantations and towns. Even land settlement schemes gave title deeds to men only, which meant that they had automatic rights to the proceeds of the land that included products of women's labour. It is in this sense that the colonial period is viewed as having laid the foundations for unequal educational and career aspirations between males and females and thus unequal access to economic sustainability (cf. Zvobgo, 2004). Concerned with this legacy, Gordon (2004) has argued that equality of educational opportunity should involve not only equal access to schooling but also equal treatment of boys and girls within the school and classrooms (Gordon 2004). Also in Chengu's (2010) view, equality of access without social justice for girls and women fails to address the gender imbalance. Therefore, in spite of the Zimbabwean education system's claim to be liberative, it has remained conservative, discriminatory and oppressive, especially to girls and women in matters of career choices.
The hidden culture curriculum theory and career aspirations
The views of Gordon (2004), Jansen (2008) and Machingura (2006) on the relationship between the school curriculum and career choices in Zimbabwe are based on Burrow's (2005) notion of the hidden culture curriculum. In his view, regardless of forms the curriculum takes, its content is often presented to pupils in a manner that emphasises their gender role differences. As a result, boys and girls receive different messages in school, so schooling fails to afford girls opportunities for competing on an equal footing with their male counterparts and influences education, career aspirations and choices (see also Christie, 2008; and Wolpe, 2006).
The cultural transmission theory (Sunstein, 2005) is invaluable in explaining this point further, as from birth to death the social environment points to boys and girls or men and women being different. Life thus promotes conformity with cultural definitions of behaviour and obligations associated with masculine and feminine roles. Individuals acquire ways of thinking, feeling and acting characteristic of such roles through their social experiences, most notably enculturation practices passed on across and within generations (Momsen, 2008). Boys and girls thus develop different and polarized roles that limit the horizons of the latter by locking them into a gender-stratified occupational world.
Curriculum, social class and career choices: a reproduction theoretical view
According to Bourdieu (2008), a lack of familiarity with the dominant culture (cultural capital) and the absence of the proper disposition that typically comes from such familiarity (habitus) serves as a barrier for academic achievement and career aspirations and choices, especially for girls or youth from the low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. For him, various actors in schools value certain cultural characteristics, which are conveyed through speech, attitudes, behaviour, knowledge, and other interactions in the school environment. A relevant cultural capital thus helps youth to develop the proper habitus to navigate the education system and establish clear-cut career aspirations. Conversely, youths from low-SES backgrounds are often not exposed to what is necessary to build relevant cultural capital and are therefore placed at a disadvantage as regards school and career aspirations. Schools reproduce inequalities based on SES because teachers, principals and the occupational world reward displays of dominant culture, which often translate into high educational achievement and ambitions (see also Sianou-Kyrgiou & Tsiplakides 2009).
The study was an exploratory case study to examine in-depth a curriculum that is assumed to be determining girls' career aspirations and choices (cf. Stake 2000; Yin 2009) and to highlight the issues that predispose them to career trajectories traditionally stereotype as feminine. The girls' were observed during lessons and involved in focus group discussions (FGDS) in which elements of their school culture were observed as the discussions unfolded, eliciting factors that impinge upon the girls' education and career prospects. The observations were followed by FGDS in which the girls' views on school culture were sought and probed to obtain their understanding of its influence on their career aspirations and choices.
A purposive sample of 40 participants, comprising 20 teachers and 20 sixth-form girls drawn from four schools in the Masvingo province of Zimbabwe was used. The district was chosen because it is well placed to provide insights from girls belonging to diverse socio-economic backgrounds. As one of the industrialised provinces, its population consisted of a variety of classes that provided a cross-section of girls whose career aspirations and choices were explored. This made sampling purposive (cf. Odimegwu, 2000; Fayisetan, 2004).
Data collection methods
The study was conducted for two months. Its duration was influenced by the time of the year we were allowed into schools. It was a time just before the commencement of the year-end examinations, during which time we could not collect more data without disrupting the students. This proved an opportune time as the sixth-form girls were consciously thinking of what to do after graduating from their schools. Through the FGDS we were able to engage them in ways that enabled us to collect data that proved useful to answer the questions we had posed. The participant classroom observations and FGDS we used facilitated an in-depth understanding of the messages conveyed to the girls in lessons and the meaning they attached to them (see Merriam, 1998, on the significance of process, context and discovery when probing a phenomenon). The methods are discussed in greater detail here.
Classroom observation
The role of the researchers was that of overt participant ob servers who interacted with the participants for two months. The observations were used to gain close and intimate familiarity with the interactions between teachers and their pupils. There was intensive involvement with them in the classrooms and schoolyard. Participants were thus observed in action in the classroom and during general extra-curricular activities in the school.
The approach was informed by a key principle of this method, requiring us to observe and identify a role in which to partake (Fayisetan, 2004). We watched teacher-pupil interactions that is both verbal and visual behaviour, and noted physical characteristics during lessons. These observations involved listening and recording the verbal interactions for later reflection and transcription, as well as looking at structures and patterns in the social interaction between teachers and girls. To understand these interactions it was important to look at them as reflecting the school culture in which they occurred (Fayisetan, 2004). Anecdotal and running records were also used. In order to ensure that the observations remained focused, a guide was used as part of the advance protocols. Classroom interactions were not recorded since doing so would have had unpredictable effects on participants (Odimegwu, 2000). However, field-notes were made.
Focus group discussion sessions (FGDS)
Focus group discussions with girl pupils from the four schools were given an opportunity to answer, comment, and ask questions to other participants or to respond to questions and comments made by others. Each of the four focus groups of between 6-12 members was interviewed four times for the purpose of enhancing constant reflection on the girls' own and other views. It also ensured the validity of the design used in the study by establishing it as a tool for obtaining credible data (cf. Krefting, 2007). Each interview session was for an average of 90 minutes to enable sufficient coverage of the focus group discussion items and give each girl a chance to express a view (see Appendix A). A structured interview guide (Appendix B) was used to ensure that the participants dealt with the same questions and issues. FGDS were used to capture the group dynamics and to allow a small group of girls to be guided by the researchers into increasing levels of focus and depth on key issues that needed to be discussed (Odimegwu 2000). The open conversations helped us to obtain data that clarified the attitudes, motivations, concerns and problems related to how girls chose their careers (see also Dzvimbo, Moloi, Potgieter, Wolhuter & Van der Walt, 2010; Fayisetan 2004).
Data analysis
Data analysis involved adopting simple content and discourse analyses of participants' interaction patterns and conversations emerging from classroom observations and FGDS. The analysis also included a study of a couple of text books and the wall charts displayed in the classrooms. Discourse analysis is concerned with the ideological effects of language constructions (Fairclough, 2003) and how texts contribute to establishing, maintaining and changing social relations of power, domination and exploitation (Foucault, 2006). It thus works on the assumption that individuals construct the world to make sense of it whilst reproducing or challenging ideological systems of beliefs that exist in society. In this study it was used as a lens though which to identify the gender biases characteristic of the Zimbabwean school curriculum and explore how the ideological biases embodied in this curriculum influence girls' career choices upon graduating from schools.
Walum (2008), a discourse analyst, contends that language usage is the chief vehicle that makes social interaction possible and provides an ideal illustration of the cultural transmission process. Language contains many explicit messages regarding cultural definitions of male and female roles. In the English language, for example, women are included under the rubric 'man'. Elaborating on the impact of language in communicating gender or sexual inequalities between females and males, he notes that it is through discourse communication that much of the pattern of sexist interaction is engendered and perpetuated. Discourses have been used in the past and are still being used to dehumanize a people into submission. Such discourses reflect and shape the cultural context in which they are embedded. Discussing sexism in the English language, Nilsen (2000), also a discourse analyst, contends that sexist discourse takes three language forms, namely, ignoring, defining and deprecating. In discussing these language effects, Nilsen employs a chicken metaphor which summarizes a girl's life course:
"In her youth the girl child is a chick, and then she marries and begins feeling cooped up, so she goes to hen parties where she cackles with her friends. Then she has her brood and begins to henpeck her husband. Finally she turns into an old biddy" (Nilsen, 2000:109).
The above quotation shows that in a patriarchal society language, use or discourses have an enormous impact in subordinating girls and women to the patriarchal ideologies and values embedded in their social structure.
Discourse analysis was guided by Fairclough's (2003) notion of discourses as transcending language to encompass ways of interacting and believing. Following the data coding process, patterns of emerging issues were identified for interpretation and reduced into discernible themes for analysis and discussion. Fairclough's conception of discourse analysis as both a method and theory was thus useful in identifying elements of the gender and patriarchal ideologies embedded in the school curricula. Discourses were conceived of as texts encompassing both the spoken and written modes of communicating for disseminating cultural beliefs, ideologies, values, stereotypes and prejudices (cf. Table 1). Discourses were considered as occurring at three levels: action, representation and identification and as social practices at the personal, social and professional levels (cf. Table 1).
Ethical considerations and measures for ensuring trustworthiness
The instruments for data collection (observations, FGDS and discourse analysis) were first piloted with a group of teachers and pupils from schools in the same province that the study was conducted, but in a different education district so as to guarantee their authenticity (Lincoln & Guba, 2002). The pilot study thus ensured their transferability to different schools in the province and their dependability could not be doubted (Krefting, 2007), as the differences amongst the schools, teachers and student populations within the Masvingo province proved insignificant when the main study was conducted. The patterns of interactions and attitudes within schools were generally characteristic of prevalent cultures within the province amongst the different classes within society. The presentation and analysis of the data that follows confirms this.
The observations and focus group interviews were initiated by clarifying the purpose of the research and reassuring teachers and their pupils of their rights in the study (Maphosa & Shumba, 2010; Meintjes & Grosser, 2010), especially their right to withdraw from the study at any moment as well as the confidential nature of the observations and responses made through the study. None of the participants withdrew however. Informed consent had been sought and obtained from the Department of Education and the necessary ethical clearance granted for the research as part of the advance protocols.
Findings and discussion
The following is a discussion of the research results of observations, FGDS and the discourse analyses conducted for this study, presented according to emerging themes, which are clustered under headings that link with the main questions that steered the study, namely, factors that contribute to gender role stereotypes; the influence of teacher attitudes and expectations and factors that motivate career aspirations and choices made by girls.
Factors that contribute to gender role stereotypes
It emerged from the classroom observations that in virtually all the four sixth-form classes observed boys received more teacher-initiated contact than their female counterparts. This prevalence of patriarchy and the gender role ideology in co-educational schools was manifest or evident in that boys were asked more questions than girls and they contributed more during class discussions. Also, the boys received not only more feed-back from their teachers but also more attention. In a follow-up FGDS question asking participants whether or not they felt teachers were fair in their treatment of boys and girls in the school, thirteen out of the twenty girl respondents confirmed what we had witnessed during the lessons, namely that boys were more favoured by the teachers. The following verbatim statements were made by three of the participants and supported by the majority of the girls as a response to the above question:
Participant 1 (P1): Teachers think that boys know better than us and as a result they tend to pose more questions to them.
P2: Sometimes you hear a teacher saying, 'boys please do not be as quiet as girls in classes'. To us this clearly shows that boys are encouraged to be more vocal than us girls in the school and classroom. A girl who tries to stand her ground and compete with boys is called all sorts of names just to discourage her.
P3: The surprising thing is that even female teachers ridicule girls who want to compete with boys. They even go to the extent of dressing her down by such comments as 'you reason like a boy' or ridicule her through remarks like, ' if you continue behaving like a boy, you may never get married as if to say marriage is all that matters for us girls' The participants' views expressed above represent some of the in-school factors that engender and perpetuate patriarchy and lead to the polarization of gender role aspirations in society. These results or findings are consistent with those reported by Whyte, Deem and Cruickshank (2002) in a study of secondary teachers in Birmingham, where they discovered that generally teachers (both male and female) preferred to teach boys because they were more active, outspoken and willing to exchange ideas than the girls.
The lesson observations also revealed gender bias in curricular materials, in particular, charts displayed on the walls and textbooks sampled from the classrooms for observation. The charts portrayed men and women in traditionally gender stereotyped occupations. In the analysed curricula material the central characters embodied were overwhelmingly masculine. Where women and girls did appear, they were portrayed as weak, soppy creatures, bearing little resemblance to real life females. Women were generally wearing aprons, cooking and looking after children. The responses emerging from the FGDS and lesson observations also revealed that among the sources of gender role stereotypes and the patriarchal values and prejudices are the sexist biases embodied in the school curriculum (cf. Table 1). For instance, the constant portrayal of women in traditional feminine roles: at the kitchen sink, with babies on their backs or cooking, created in learners the impression that not many women engage in paid work outside the home.
The girls' response to FGDS questions 6, 7, 8, and 9 (Appendix B) revealed that discourses have an impact on girls' career aspirations and choices. The following verbatim statements from participants confirm the above view:
P4: 'When our mathematics teacher was giving out our test scripts yesterday he commented to one of the girls (name given) saying, you did very well in a boys' subject, I hope you do not neglect girls' subjects such as home economics, which is a girls' subject.'
These findings correspond well with those of McRobbie (1982) who, in her analysis of the adolescent magazine, Jackie, discovered the ways through which adolescent femininity was constructed and upheld. The findings corroborate Walum's (2008) assertion that discourses disseminate messages regarding cultural definitions of male and female roles and contribute enormously to the social construction of gender and sexual inequality between females and males. We interpreted the portrayal of women and girls as evidence of how some of the curricular material used in schools disseminated patriarchal ideologies and values to learners. Table 1 highlights some of the portrayal of males and females in some of the curricular material used in Zimbabwean schools.
The images reflected, disseminated and buttressed the patriarchal ideology embodied in the curriculum. As a follow up to the observations we posed questions to FGDS participants on whether or not they felt the educational material they used in schools contained gender-neutral content and illustrations. They were unanimous in their responses that negative stereotypes about girls were rampant in their school curriculum, and alleged that teacher attitudes and expectations compounded the negative stereotypes about girls.
P5: Many teachers in our school think that girls should aim to become nurses, teachers and hoteliers. One can tell this from their comments, language and actions when dealing with boys and girls. When one looks at our text books, the bulk of the diagrammatic illustrationsfor people show girls and women in jobs associated with child rearing while boys and men are often depicted in more challenging jobs as if to say we cannot also do it.
These findings are consistent with those of Meyer (2008), who found that patriarchal values embodied in the school curriculum disadvantages girls as a whole. The results also support Bourdieu's (2008) assertion that through the school curriculum boys generally have access to an array of educational goodies, relevant culturally but systematically denied to girls.
The influence of teacher attitudes and expectations
Our observations and analyses of the discourses employed by teachers during their interaction with learners revealed that the discourses inherent in the teachers' attitudes and expectations about appropriate gender roles for boys and girls compound the effects of the educational literature discussed above. Responding to the FGD question on whether or not girls felt that their teachers had anything to do with the fate of girls who sometimes drop out of school, the girls' answers were generally in the affirmative, with 12 out of 20 concurring. The following verbatim statement by one of the participants attests to the above view:
P6: When a girl is absent from school some teachers joke with that saying has she gone to get married as if marriage is all that matters to us. In some situations you hear a teacher deliberately saying, if you find school work challenging, why don't you get married and look after the home?. Such comments send wrong messages to some girls, no wonder why there are more girls than boys dropping out of this school.
Responding to the question of whether the participants felt that boys and girls should follow the same subjects (question 5, Appendix B), 11 answered in the affirmative, saying that girls and boys were different and should thus pursue different subjects.
P7: As a girl I think subjects like Fashion and fabrics, Home economics and Biology are good for me because through them I am able to study things related to my duties as a woman. I should be able to sow and cook for my husband and children when I get married. With biology, I should be able to manage my health and that of my children, for example I must not reproduce children like a goat. I need to know about family planning and the like.
P8: Boys can study technical subjects and other sciences because they must know that they are the husbands and breadwinners who should earn more since they have to support their wives and children in the home. The above quoted responses confirm assertions of the cultural reproduction and transmission theories that from birth to death our social environment tells us that boys and girls or men and women are different, as social life dictates that they conform to cultural definitions that point to the behavioural expectations and obligations associated with masculine and feminine roles (Sunstein, 2005).
Probed to state whether there are subjects they consider to be better suited to boys or girls (question 6, Appendix B), 15 participants concurred that for them subjects like Mathematics and pure sciences (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) should fall in the masculine category, while the feminine category should include those such as Home Economics, Humanities and Typing. It was thus clear that, as in the texts we examined, teachers also tended to categorize academic subjects as either feminine or masculine, a practice described by Gordon (2004) as gender typing. We interpreted the above observations to imply that what was learnt at school depended on the ideologies about gender that are embedded in the curriculum in both its explicit and hidden forms.
With follow-up questions to probe pupils on what subjects they were studying, who normally helped them in the choice of subjects at the advanced school level, and whether they were treated the same as their boy counterparts when choosing subjects (questions 1, 2 and 7, Appendix B), elicited responses revealed that through the gender typing of subjects, schools channel learners into polarized occupational trajectories they ultimately follow. This idea is evident in the following statements given by some of the participants:
P9: Our teachers, both males and females advise us that subjects like Home economics, Biology and Tourism are especially ideal for girls. They advise boys to study technical graphics, physics and maths saying as boys they will eventually become men and therefore should not compete with girls on the jobs. They must follow different and challenging occupations.
These perceptions of gender roles are often accompanied by prejudicial and biased teacher attitudes and expectations, resulting in a sustained pattern of occupational disadvantage for girls, a pattern so complex that it seems intractable to those who might initiate changes in the system.
To establish the ways through which the school curriculum orients learners toward specific careers, we posed questions about the subjects studied; the jobs they wished to do upon graduating from school; and the reasons for their aspirations. The majority, 16 out of the 20 girl participants expressed an interest in the traditional female dominated careers: teaching, cosmetology, hotel and catering, and pharmacy. Not surprisingly, we also noted strong links between the subjects studied by the girls and their anticipated careers, with only four participants arguing in favour of the more male-dominated careers, such as engineering, technology and ICT. The reasons cited for such career aspirations included their families' influences, society's attitudes towards marriage, and how tasks are allocated to girls and boys in the home and school. Fourteen cited a desire not to be away from children and the home, thereby reflecting values instilled in them through gender socialization. These results corroborated Machingura's (2006) contention that although gender awareness campaigns may be under way in other spheres of society, very little attention might be given to what happens to girls within the school walls especially through the hidden curriculum of the school. The following statement captured from one of the participants' responses evidences this view:
P10: What we girls go through in school and what our parents expect us to be when we leave school give us direction as to what careers to pursue in our world of work.
Responding to question 12 on what pupils feel needs to be done to mitigate the effects of gender biases in the school curriculum and promote learning equity, the following statements represent the participants' views on the subject:
P11: Teachers need to be retrained in matters of gender neutrality so that they become part of the solution not to exacerbate the problem of gender inequality in schools.
P12: Our parents and older siblings also need to be aware that things are changing and therefore there is no need to cling to some of these ancient beliefs about appropriate gender roles for girls or boys.
P13: Our teaching and learning material needs to be relooked into with a view of eradicating gender biases, stereotypes and prejudices, which tend to promote male domination all the way.
Asked about the kind of treatment girls received in the school and classroom in comparison to boys particularly in the allocation of roles, participants of the FGDS expressed dissatisfaction with the way sexist discourses were peddled by their teachers and boys in the school. The classroom discourses revealed that teachers' beliefs about the feminine role as primarily domestic and the belief that men should be the providers and heads of families influenced their perceptions and treatment of girls. The examples of discourses captured during lesson observations are listed below:
Teacher 1 (T1): I wonder why you chose this subject (Accounting) leaving out subjects like Shona and English which are easy subjects for girls of your calibre.
T2: You boys surprise me. How can you allow these two girls to beat you in Mathematics, which is known to be a male subject? Why didn't you go for History, Divinity or English Literature and join other girls (implying that they were girls too).
T 4: As a woman I have to prepare you for one of the inescapable roles you will take in life. Biology is particularly usefulfor you as girls so that you learn about your bodies and to avoid sex and pregnancy. For you boys, it is useful for your jobs if you decide to become doctors, gynaecologists (class laughs uproariously). And you girls too, can become nurses.
The above responses indicate that not only were teachers disseminating their stereotypical gender role biases but also expectations for their pupils. The prevalence of gender biases and discriminatory practices were also noticeable in the interaction of teachers and pupils during the extra-mural activities where hockey and netball were strictly deemed feminine-only sports and cricket and rugby masculine domains. As revealed by the FGDS, school subjects such as Mathematics were dominated by boys, with the ratio to girls being 3 to 1. The FGDS also revealed that in the Arts and Humanities subjects, girls tended to outnumber boys by 3 to 2. This trend seemed to justify Mutekwe's (2007) call for a paradigm shift in the Zimbabwean school curriculum towards gender sensitivity.
Factors that motivate career aspirations and choices made by girls
Responding to the questions on how tasks are allocated to boys and girls in their schools (questions 8 and 9, Appendix B), the girls' responses clearly revealed that in addition to streaming pupils on the basis of school subjects, teachers also used gender as a basis for their allocation of different tasks to boys and girls. These tasks included what teachers themselves perceived to be gender-appropriate roles for boys and girls. At one school, boys were observed ferrying bricks to the new library construction underway, while girls were observed sweeping classrooms. Many teachers also encouraged girls to join clubs such as cookery, drama and dance as part of their co-curricular activities. They encouraged boys towards activities deemed masculine: karate, boxing, gymnastics, aerobics and judo. These findings confirmed Walker-dine's (2006) assertion that the school as a structure serves to engender and reinforce society's gender polarized role expectations and career aspirations for children.
It also emerged from the FGDS and observations that fewer women than men in Zimbabwe teach in the sciences subjects. Neither do many men teach such subjects as Home Economics, Shorthand or Typing. Three of the principals in the schools studied were male, while only one school was headed by a woman. It became clear to us that the participants were being educated in an environment in which men dominated in exercising power and authority. It also became apparent that the ratio of female to male teachers in leadership positions in many schools did not offer girls enough role models or inspiration. The situation in the four schools studied epitomized the level of gender inequality and stratification characteristic of many social institutions in Zimbabwe. It corroborated Gordon's (2004) assertion that although schools in Zimbabwe may offer girls and boys equality of access and choice to education, girls still opt for those subjects perceived as feminine and traditionally stereotyped as such. It was also clear from both the FGDS and observations made that the decision taken by girls to study or not to study a particular subject is often influenced by factors other than whether or not it is offered to them as part of the school curriculum. These factors relate to both societal and school culture and include the ways in which school subjects are gender-typed. Even when the formal curriculum does not differentiate between boys and girls, the hidden curriculum tends to influence girls to make particular choices.
Despite the efforts being made towards gender sensitivity in the curriculum, as evidenced through the informal discussions held with teachers that as part of their initiatives towards learning equity they constantly remind their pupils that there are no differences in the performance of boys and girls in all school subjects, the evidence in this study did not attest to this claim. These observations clearly pointed to the need for educators to create an equitable learning environment (Tabane & Human-Vogel, 2010) in order to overcome the divisions caused by the gendered nature of the school curriculum.
The study has shown that what teachers and pupils consider as appropriate roles or occupations for men and women have an impact on the girls' aspirations or career prospects. Teacher attitudes and expectations of their pupils' gender roles influence to a large extent the career trajectories girls eventually follow. The results of the study also attest to the view that the school, as one of the modern apparatuses of social regulation, not only defines what shall be taught and what knowledge is, but also defines and regulates both what a girl or boy pupil is and how learning and teaching are to be considered for him or her. It does so by an ensemble of apparatuses, from the architecture of the school, teacher attitudes, and expectations of gender roles as well as their treatment of pupils, to the individualized work cards and wall charts in the classrooms. This study has revealed that some curricular material or literature needs to be reviewed in order to deconstruct the gender role stereotypes, ideologies and values embedded in them.
In the light of the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made: Teachers need to play an important role in closing the ranks and gaps created by the gender role stereotyping experienced by pupils in the home and those incorporated in textbooks and reinforced by the hidden curriculum of the school. Understanding both the overt and covert ways in which gender ideologies operate and are manifest in the school curriculum is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for alleviating the effects of gender inequality and promoting learning equity. The curriculum needs to be gender sensitive or balanced as opposed to being gender blind to the plight of girls and women if it is to empower girls to be on an equal footing with boys and to compete for equal opportunities in life. Because early aspirations formed as a result of gender role socialization ultimately affect the gender balance of higher education programmes and of the workforce, promoting gender parity from the earliest levels of schooling is critical. We hope that our study will draw attention to this important issue and bring Zimbabwe closer to achieving the gender equity to which it aspires.
Atkinson N, Agere T & Mambo M 2003. A Sector Analysis of Education in Zimbabwe. Harare: UNICEF. [ Links ]
Blackledge D & Hunt B 2005. Sociological Interpretations of Education. London: Routledge. [ Links ]
Bourdieu P 2008. Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. Beverly Hills: Sage. [ Links ]
Burrow R 2005. Common Sense and the Curriculum. London: Allen and Unwin. [ Links ]
Chengu G 2010. Indigenization must empower women. Zimbabwean, 16 December, 14-16. [ Links ]
Christie P 2008. Changing Schools in South Africa: Opening the Doors of Learning. Johannesburg: Heinemann. [ Links ]
Dzvimbo P, Moloi C, Portgieter F, Wolhuter C & van der Walt C 2010. Learners' perceptions as to what contributes to their school success: A case study. South African Journal of Education, 30:479-480. [ Links ]
Fairclough N 2003. Critical Discourse Analysis: The critical study of language. Edinburgh Gate: Longman. [ Links ]
Fayisetan K 2004. 'Focus Groups'. Paper presented at Qualitative Methods Workshop, Tanzania: Ifakara, April 2004. [ Links ]
Foucault M 2006. The order of Discourse. In R Shapiro (ed.). Language and Politics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. [ Links ]
Gaidzanwa R 1997. Images of women in Zimbabwean literature. Harare: College Press [ Links ]
Gordon R 2004. Educational Policy and Gender in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research, 13(8):10-18. [ Links ]
Jansen J 2008. What education Scholars write about Curriculum in Namibia & Zimbabwe. In W Pinar (ed.). International Handbook of Curriculum Research. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. [ Links ]
Keller R 2005. Analysing discourse. An approach from the sociology of Knowledge [33 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research [On-line Journal], 6(3): Art 32. Available at: http://www.qualitativeresearch.net/fqsteste/3-05/05-3-32-e.htm. Accessed 27 October 2005. [ Links ]
Krefting L 2002. Rigor in qualitative research: the assessment of trustworthiness. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45:214-222. [ Links ]
Kwinjeh G 2007. Male authority disbanded: Understanding opposition politics in Zimbabwe. Journal of Alternatives for a Democratic Zimbabwe, 1(2):16-17. [ Links ]
Lincoln Y & Guba G 2002. Establishing Trustworthiness. In A Bryman & R Burgess (eds). Qualitative Research. London: Sage. [ Links ]
Machingura V 2006. Women's access to teacher education: a gender profile. Zimbabwe Bulletin of Teacher Education, 13(2):21-34. [ Links ]
Maphosa C & Shumba O 2010. Educators' disciplinary capabilities after the banning of corporal punishment in South African schools. South African Journal of Education, 30:387-390. [ Links ]
Mawarire J 2007.Locating women and the feminist discourse in Zimbabwean transitional politics. Journal of Alternatives for a Democratic Zimbabwe, 1(2):10-11. [ Links ]
McRobbie A 1982. Working Class Girls and the Culture of Femininity, in Women's Studies Group, Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, Women take Issue. London: Hutchinson. [ Links ]
Meintjes H & Grosser M 2010. Creative thinking in prospective teachers: the status quo and the impact of contextual factors. South African Journal of Education, 30:361-363. [ Links ]
Merriam S 1998. Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. [ Links ]
Meyer A 2008. "Cultural particularism as a bar to women's Rights: reflections on women's gender roles in an African society." British Journal of Education, 30(6):31-34. [ Links ]
Momsen J 2008. Gender and Development: Routledge perspectives on development. London: Taylor & Francis. [ Links ]
Mutekwe E 2007. The teachers' role in the de-construction of gender role stereotypes and in promoting gender sensitivity in the school curriculum. Zimbabwe Journal of Educational research, 14(1):13-33. [ Links ]
Nilsen H 2000. Using the chicken metaphor in child developmental progressions. Journal of Social Psychology, 13(6):64-67. [ Links ]
Nhundu T 2007. Mitigating gender-typed Occupational Preferences of Zimbabwean Primary school Children: The Use of Biographical Sketches and Portrayals of Female role models. Sex Roles, 56:639-649. [ Links ]
Odimegwu C 2000. Methodological issues in the use of focus group discussions as a data collection tool. Journal of Social Sciences, 4:207-212. [ Links ]
Sianou-Kyrgiou E & Tsiplakides I 2009. Choice and social class of medical school students in Greece. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30:727-737. [ Links ]
Stake R 2000. The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage. [ Links ]
Sunstein C 2005. Cultural transmission theory and its enculturation effects on children's development of social roles. Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 16:27-31. [ Links ]
Tabane R & Human-Vogel S 2010. Sense of belonging and social cohesion in a desegregated former house of delegates school. South African Journal of Education, 30:491-493. [ Links ]
Walum E 2008. How discourses communicate attitudes and cultural expectations in society. The Anthropologist: International Journal of Studies of Man, 9:91-94. [ Links ]
Walkerdine V 2006. School Girl Fictions. London: Verso. [ Links ]
Whyte J, Deem R & Cruickshank N 2002. Girl Friendly Schooling. London: Methuen. [ Links ]
Wolpe A 2006. Education and the Sexual Division of Labour. In A Kuhn & A Wolpe (eds). Feminism and Materialism. London: Routledge. [ Links ]
Yin R 2009. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Newbury Park: Sage. [ Links ]
Zvobgo R 2004. Reflections on Zimbabwe's search for a relevant curriculum. The Dyke Journal, 1:70-79. [ Links ]


text:
Senior Director of Technology and Business Management, Moffitt Cancer Center
"Before we had Zoom, video
conferencing and communications weren't that great. From an IT security
standpoint, we love the fact that Zoom encrypts. Zoom provides us a secure
Watch the Video
"Other applications don't allow for multiple members to join in a HIPAA enabled setting, but Zoom does." Read More
"Other applications don't allow for multiple members to join in a HIPAA enabled setting, but Zoom does." Read More
"Why did we choose Zoom? HIPAA compliance - that was number one. And the patients just get it." Read More
"Zoom increases the value of the CARE Network kiosk because care managers can effectively collect more caregiving and status information." Read More
"It was hands-down the best software we tested. Zoom was at least as good as, and frequently better than, many of the more expensive platforms on the market." Read More
Virtual Photo Walks
"The fact that Zoom is HIPAA compliant is crucial. It's easy, it works in low bandwidth environments, and it is secure and private." Read More
"We tested lots of products by different companies... In the end, Zoom offered the best bang for our buck, had fabulous technology, and offered a beautiful product." Read More
"Before rolling Zoom in 2013, it sometimes took ECHO from 6 to 18 months from the time of signing up a new partner to having the legacy system purchased, installed, people trained, and everything operational. With Zoom, ECHO now takes less than 18 seconds to provision an account for a new ECHO partner and about a month to become operational." Read More
"Zoom enabled people in access-challenged geographies get proper mental healthcare that they simply wouldn't be able to get otherwise." Read More
We were using Skype, but we had requirements that Skype just couldn't fulfill. Zoom has been a great meeting solution for us and a great collaboration tool." Read More
"Now that we use video, we are more accessible and can serve more people, more efficiently." Read More
"Before COVID, we had a handful of telehealth visits a week. With Zoom, that became thousands of visits." Read More
Why Healthcare Providers Choose Zoom
- Enables HIPAA compliance
- Feature-rich group video to support clinical and business use cases
- Easily integrates with healthcare environments and tools such as Epic

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Watching little lambs leap is like the opposite of counting sheep; it will wake you up and fill you with joy. But it might also cause you to turn your living room into a leaping lamb sanctuary, so be sure you have a big enough carpet budget before hitting play.
[Via Tastefully Offensive]


text:
Caballo Oversized Oblong Cushion
(42cm X 70cm)
Red Blue
This cushion measures 42 cm x 70 cm and is filled with an oversized down insert to ensure maximum comfort. It has an invisible zip in the bottom seam and is handcrafted in the U.K. from jacquard loom woven fabric. This cushion also comes with a custom hand block printed dust bag.
Jacquard is a type of fabric with a complex woven pattern which resembles embroidery. Using the Jacquard loom distinct patterns are woven directly into the fabric. Some of our intricate Guatemalan designs have been woven on a jacquard loom to preserve the minute details found in the original textiles from the Lilly de Jongh Osborne archive.
This cushion features Caballo, a Wicklewood original fabric.
Front Fabric: 23% Cotton, 77% Viscose
Back Fabric: 100% Cotton
Insert: Feather & Down
Dry Clean Only
Need help deciding whether this piece is right for your home? We are here to help! Click here to submit your questions and our in-house experts will share their decorating advice and guide you through your design decisions.


text:
The NCAA infractions committee has hit North Carolina's football program with a one-year postseason ban, a reduction of 15 scholarships and three years of probation following an investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct.
In a ruling Monday, the committee said the school was responsible for multiple violations, including academic fraud and a failure to monitor its football program. It also issued a three-year show-cause penalty for former assistant coach John Blake, who had received personal loans from an NFL agent.
"This case should serve as a cautionary tale to all institutions to vigilantly monitor the activities of those student-athletes who possess the potential to be top professional prospects," the committee stated in its report. "It should also serve to warn student-athletes that if they choose to accept benefits from agents or their associates, they risk losing their eligibility for collegiate competition."
In September, the school announced it would impose several penalties, including vacating all 16 wins for 2008 and 2009, reducing nine scholarships over the next three academic years and putting the program on two years of probation.
The school also issued a $50,000 fine but it didn't impose a postseason ban in what the school called "difficult but necessary steps." But the committee decided that wasn't enough.
The ruling caps a nearly 2-year case that ultimately led to the firing of coach Butch Davis as well as the early departure of longtime administrator Dick Baddour as athletic director. The scandal included players receiving jewelry and other gifts from people outside the program, as well as a tutor providing improper help to players on term papers.
Fourteen players missed at least one game in 2010 and seven were forced to sit out all that season, with four of those either dismissed from the team or ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA. Among that group was defensive end Robert Quinn, defensive tackle Marvin Austin and receiver Greg Little. All three players were chosen in the first two rounds of last year's NFL draft.
School officials appeared before the infractions committee in October, as well as Blake and his attorneys. Blake's close friendship with late NFL agent Gary Wichard became a focus of the investigation, including $31,000 in money transferred from Wichard to Blake that Blake's attorneys have characterized as loans from one friend to another during financial trouble. Both Blake and his attorneys have publicly denied there was any agreement for Blake to steer players to sign with Wichard once they reached the NFL.
Chancellor Holden Thorp fired Davis a week before training camp, citing the cumulative damage to the university's reputation by the probe. The Tar Heels went 8-5 under Davis in both 2008 and 2009, losing each time in the Meineke Bowl. Davis has never been tied directly to or cited for any violation in the probe.
The day after the school fired Davis, Baddour announced he would step aside early from his planned retirement this summer so that his successor could hire the next football coach. The school hired Bubba Cunningham from Tulsa as AD. He then hired Larry Fedora from Southern Mississippi as the new coach.
Defensive coordinator Everett Withers served as interim coach last season and guided the Tar Heels to a 7-6 record along with an appearance in the Independence Bowl. Withers is now assistant head coach under Urban Meyer at Ohio State.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.


text:
Steady US job gains likely continued in February
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Job growth probably continued at a modest but steady pace last month, buoyed by consumer spending and strength in the housing and auto industries.
Economists forecast that employers added 152,000 jobs in February, according to a survey by FactSet, about the same as in January. The unemployment rate likely dipped to 7.8 percent from 7.9 percent.
The Labor Department is scheduled to release the jobs report at 8:30 a.m. EST Friday.
More hiring is needed to swiftly reduce the unemployment rate, which has been stuck at 7.8 percent or above since September. Job gains of at least 100,000 a month are needed just to keep up with population growth and prevent the unemployment rate from rising.
From November through January, monthly job growth has averaged 200,000, up from 150,000 for the previous three months. Most economists expect job gains of about 180,000 a month this year. That's about the same as last year, when the rate fell 0.7 percentage point.
Some analysts say the snowstorm that struck several Northeast states in early February might have held down hiring last month by about 30,000. Others note that the storm hit on a weekend and might not have kept that many people from work.
Several other reports this week have raised hopes that hiring could soon accelerate.
A four-week average of applications for unemployment aid fell to its lowest level in five years. Applications are a proxy for layoffs. When they fall, it suggests that companies are cutting fewer jobs. More hiring may follow.
And payroll services provider ADP said its survey showed that businesses added 198,000 jobs in February, above most analysts' expectations. And January's hiring was revised higher by 23,000 to 215,000.
Small businesses have stepped up hiring in the past two months after lagging behind hiring by bigger companies since the recession ended in June 2009.
Services firms, including retailers, restaurants and construction companies, added jobs at a healthy pace in February, according to the Institute for Supply Management's monthly survey. An index of hiring by service companies slipped but remained near January's seven-year high.
The ISM's manufacturing survey found that factories also added workers in February, though more slowly than in January.
Strong auto sales and a steady housing recovery are spurring hiring and economic growth. So far, higher gas prices and a Jan. 1 increase in Social Security taxes haven't caused Americans to cut back on big-ticket purchases.
Across-the-board government spending cuts also kicked in March 1 after the White House and Congress failed to reach a deal to avoid them. Those cuts will likely lead to furloughs and layoffs in coming weeks.
New-home sales jumped 16 percent in January to the highest level since July 2008. And builders started work on the most homes last year since 2008.
Home prices rose by the most in more than six years in the 12 months that ended in January. Higher prices tend to make homeowners feel wealthier and more likely to spend.


text:
Russell, relievers faltering in closeout opportunities
SEATTLE -- Cubs reliever James Russell began the season with 17 straight scoreless outings, and has not given up a run in 31 of his 38 appearances. But the lefty also is 0-for-5 in save opportunities.
"We've had a little trouble with everyone closing out games or the eighth inning, or whatever it might be," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Saturday. "It's been tough all year long to get those outs, whether it's been the eighth or ninth inning for holds. It's been a big fistfight."
Because Russell is the only lefty, Sveum has to pick his spots as to when to use him. Bottom line, though, the job is the same.
"We've got to make pitches and get people out in those situations," Sveum said. "That's the way it is. It's not how much you use them. You've got to be able to get those crucial pitches. We're getting ahead of people and not making the pitch."
On Friday, Russell was charged with a blown save when he served up two runs to the Mariners, who eventually won, 5-4, in 10 innings.
At least Russell isn't walking batters.
"We're talking about a guy who's getting hit, he's not walking guys or throwing scuds," Sveum said. "It's more of not being able to put guys away. He's getting ahead of them in situations. The leadoff hitter was the biggest of all because [Russell] gets him 0-1 and gets the ball up and out over the plate, and the guy hits a double, and then all hell broke loose after that."
That was in the eighth inning Friday when the Cubs had a 4-2 lead. Nick Franklin doubled, and would eventually score.
"We keep getting ahead in these games," Sveum said. "We can't seem to hold them. The offense has been picking up and doing their job. We're just snakebit in closing games out."


text:
Universal's Non-Stop took in $1.61 million on Thursday to lead the daily box office for the sixth time in the past week. However, the action thriller starring Liam Neeson was down 4 percent from Wednesday, which represented one of the day's poorer daily holds among wide releases. Non-Stop performed on the very high end of expectations this week with a first place seven-day start of $36.74 million. That places the film 21 percent ahead of the $30.41 million seven-day take of 2011's Unknown.
Fox's Son of God held steady in second place with $1.37 million. The modestly budgeted biblical epic constructed from The Bible television mini-series was up a healthy 9 percent over Wednesday's performance. Son of God placed in second for the week with a stronger than expected seven-day start of $31.49 million and is performing very well with its price tag in mind. The film continues to perform very similarly to 2012's Act of Valor, which grossed $31.54 million in its first seven days.
Turning towards this weekend, Warner's 300: Rise of an Empire was off to a solid late night start with an estimated $3.3 million from late night shows that began at 8 p.m. The high-profile 3D action sequel opened a bit higher than the $2.5 million midnight launch of the original 300 back in 2007, but softer than the $4.6 million midnight launch of Watchmen back in 2009. Just how well 300: Rise of an Empire performs over the weekend will depend largely on whether or not the film has appeal with moviegoers beyond its built-in fan audience.
Fellow Warner Bros. release The LEGO Movie placed in third on Thursday with $1.04 million. The 3D computer animated blockbuster was up 7 percent over Wednesday and down just 18 percent from last Thursday. The LEGO Movie placed in third for the week with $25.66 million. That was down a healthy 30 percent from the previous frame and brings the film's four-week total to a very impressive $213.97 million.
Sony's The Monuments Men placed in fourth with $0.517 million. The George Clooney directed film was up a surprisingly strong 23 percent over Wednesday and down 28 percent from last Thursday. The Monuments Men placed in fourth for the week with $6.81 million. The film was down 37 percent from the previous week and has grossed a solid $67.50 million in four weeks.


text:
Discount Hotels Specialist
Discount Hotels, Instant Quotations and Secure Online Reservations
Founded in 1998 from a small, family-owned travel shop, we have gradually built and developed into the online presence you see today. Our core principles of Customer Care remain at the forefront of our business development.
Follow us on Facebook
Share your travel experiences, photos and advice with our Facebook friends. Plus you will also be the first to find out about special deals and limited hotel promotions.


text:
Transaction Process
On Submit the enquiry comes to Sri Sri Ayurveda
Sri Sri Ayurveda, after reviewing the enquiry, will be replying with relevant details or with a price quote.
You will have to send back a confirmation email to us with regards to the price
Sri Sri Ayurveda, then, will send you a mail with all the details. Then you can either choose to 'Add to cart' the product and shop online or just write to us to buy the product
Sri Sri Ayurveda will ship the product within specified delivery time.
You pay by Cash on delivery of the product.
Organic Tablets
Product name
Organic Ashwagandha Tablet
Your Order Details
Full Name
Email Id
Contact Number
Full Address
Enter the code shown left:
(Note: If you cannot read the numbers in the above age, reload the page to generate a new one.)


text:
Beat the Streak Report: Thursday, April 29
Sleepless in Seattle, no more.
An incredible, stupendous, fantastic, ridiculous, tell-your-little-brother 26.2 percent of all Beat the Streakers put their hopes and dreams in the hands of the man they call Ichiro. And boy, did it pay off.
Lattes were flying, rain was pouring, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were awkwardly laughing and somewhere Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton were smiling, as Ichiro rewarded their astounding faith by going 3-for-5.
In fact, it was pretty much Candyland across the board for our Streakers, as the top six choices for the day each compiled hits, which extended the streaks of almost 50 percent of our users alone.
Dustin Pedroia ended the most streaks with an 0-for-2 performance against Brett Cecil and Co., but that only accounted for 2.4 percent of our Streakers.
So pump your fist, shake your tail-feather and let it ride. (Almost) all of us are one step closer to that all-you-can-eat Red Lobster buffet.
Let's check out Thursday's picks.
Oh, hello there …
- Matt Holliday: .538 AVG (7-for-13) lifetime vs. Braves starter Jair Jurrjens
- Magglio Ordonez: .429 AVG (6-for-14) lifetime vs. Twins starter Carl Pavano
- Billy Butler: .429 AVG (6-for-14) lifetime vs. Rays starter Matt Garza
- Adam LaRoche: .400 AVG (6-for-15) lifetime vs. Cubs starter Ted Lilly
- Yuniesky Betancourt: .500 AVG (5-for-10) lifetime vs. Rays starter Matt Garza
Feeling kinda spicy?
- Laynce Nix: .417 AVG (5-for-12) lifetime vs. Astros starter Roy Oswalt. Care to do the dance of joy with Roy? Didn't think so.
- Omar Infante: .667 AVG (4-for-6) lifetime vs. Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright. You don't get bonus points for riskiness, folks.
You'll thank me later …
- Adrian Gonzalez: .226 AVG (7-for-31) lifetime vs. Brewers starter Doug Davis
- Vladimir Guerrero: .222 AVG (4-for-18) lifetime vs. White Sox starter Gavin Floyd
Leaderboard time!
The fab five is intact.
Yesterday's top five all survived, as four of them picked Ichiro to extend their streaks to 25. Amazingly, user "kot2" put his humongous streak in the hands of Derek Jeter, who's pretty much been the bane of all Streakers' existence this season; I like your style. With that said, the following five are now 43.9 percent on their way to the big bucks:
- ALbundy
- djbloom
- dodger_blue
- kot2
- olifante
Top MLB streakers
- Johnny Damon: 15 games
- Jeff Mathis: 10 games (DL)
- Geoff Blum: 9 games
- Pablo Sandoval: 9 games
43 Comments
Orlando Hudson?
morning all, going with O-Dog vs Willis today, good luck to all.
Very windy in Chicago today – wind blowing out toward left field all fly balls are potential HR balls as 30-50mph winds for this afternoon as Cubs v. Az. Going with Derrek Lee in HT BTS and Johnny Damon in BTS. Cub hitters have no track v. AZ starter(?)
Hudson looks OK to me pperkins. He is hitting well lately.
Good Luck to all today.
I went with Rhiannas boyfriend to try and extend my streak to 24. Me and AL Bundy are thinking alike too much.
I picked Rhiannas boyfriend to move me to 24 in a row. Me and AL Bundy are thinking too much alike.
Interesting, leaders picks are kinda scrambled, but 3 in the TB game. Good luck all.
Pujols out of the lineup today – switched to Ludwick at the last minute
Wow, Mauer and Morneau also out today
most of the big name players wont play a day game after a night game. thats a way to get them some rest since the season is so long
I might be crazy but I went with Theriot today for #18.
I picked Johnny Damon
I expect the Cubs game to surprisingly be relatively low scoring. Cubs win 7-2.
I want to add that this new Blog guy keeps getting better everyday. I picked Crawford to get to a 4 streak.
Johnny Damon, 0- 3 so far.
i went with Ordonez and he has delivered. it was his 2000 career hit
O-dog just took me back up to 4. Congrats to Mags for 2K.
Thanking my lucky stars I switched Mauer for Ordonez. GL to everyone out there.
Johnny Damon, you suck !
Mauer 0-1, haha
Joe Mauer pinch hit in the 8th and struck out. thats gonna sting alot of ppl. (7%) And Miggy gets the free pass in bottom half to take another 2% with him. 8 guys drop off top page of standings (1 no selection, 1furcal, miggy 0-3, damon 0-3 and Mauer 0-1) M young oised to take 2 more off top page as well, currently 0-3 end of 5.
That really blows for whoever picked Joe Mauer.
Unbelievable! Ian Kennedy's only given up one hit so far and it was to my guy, Theriot. That puts me at 18. I've had an incredible amount of luck so far but I'm encouraged by the fact that I'm now 24-1-1. That last 1 being when I took Jason Bartlett and he didn't play.
Ya baby!!!!1 Ordonez gets a hit!
Thats a streak of 17. Thanks to this new bloger dude. He's giving me lots of ideas on how to use my money:~)
apaul- keep it up. I've only gotten 2 wrong myself, 1 jeter 1Ichi and if I woulda had ichi the day jeter missed and jeter the day ichi missed I'd still b right up there with Al and Dodger with perfect, but that didn't happen so I'm at 4.
Good luck to the rest tonight. Condolences if u had mauer or cabrera.
Guys, I am at work but on break. I picked Rasmus today and he came through. Back up to 4 for me. I took a shot but he hits righties well. Happy as he'll I didn't switch to Damon. I have Cano on my other name so we will see.
Well if Orlando Hudson is O-Dog (I believe it should be O-Dawg), then Johnny Damon is O- s*** (self-censor!)^%$#@!@#$%$#!
Cubs Ryan Theriot looked good today at the plate. I'm going with him on Friday. Wind will be blowing out toward the left field again tomorrow at Wrigley Field.
Forgive my Ebonics( or lack there of ) he got nickname from his days in T.O.
On a happier note ( For two ppl anyways) Crawford just came through with first inning single. Bartlett ground out to start inning. 2 perfects will remain, 3 more still possible. Good luck to Kemp, Bartlett and Pence.
Bartlett triple. Extends another.
Good luck to you too, 00liber! And for me, it was J-Roll (from my Phils) who was my only "bad" pick so far back on 4/10.
Kemp singles and the fab 5 advance.
Kemp singles me to 24 games. Hey Fab Five don't forget about us at 25 and 24 we're coming for you. I'm really scared to go back to the Dodgers even facing Pirate Pitching. I might have to rethink my pick for Friday. hmmmmm. Congrats everyone at the top except the guy who picked Cabrera, no life size chewbacca made of leggos for you.
Any1 else play Survivor Win Streak competition?
i play HR bts and survivor.
my hitter tomorrow, Longoria 6-for-11 against Bannister and 329 for the year
I play Survivor, HR BTS and Fantasy Baseball. HR BTS is the hardest of them all.
I went with Andre Ethier yesterday and I got REALLY worried, when I loaded the boxscore up and saw only 4 hits for the Dodgers, but thankfully Ethier went 1 for 3 with 1 walk!
Weather Report
Chicago – Wrigley Field
For all of us who run up against that brick wall every day in HR BTS!
Wind blowing out to left field at Wrigley again today at 21 mph. Could be a HR kind of day. I'm going with Derrek Lee of Cubs again. Going with Ryan Theriot in BTS.
I've added Johnny Damon to my no pick list – the MVP (Mauer, Votto, Pujols) list is now the MVPD list with Damon added. ooliber – What does T.O. mean in the comment about Orlando Hudson (0-Dawg). The Southern Illinois University teams are called the Saluki's (an Eqyptian Hunting dog of the Pharohs) and they are commonly called the "Dawgs" now a "mainstream" word.
Drag, T.O. is just shortform for Toronto. Refering to Mr Hudsons days as a blue jay. Not entirely sure how the nickname came to be. �
Tonight I'm leaning very heavily towards a dodger. Morton is very hittable righty — 28 hits in 13.1 innings of work. and after only 4 hits last night I think LAD explode tonight. Looking at Kemp or Eithier. Torre has to do something with that lineup, Russell Martin should NOT be leading off. Personally I'd try Loney up top. Furcal maybe out for the weekend with tightness.�
From yahoo sports—�
Apr 29 SS Rafael Furcal, who has missed three games, had an MRI on his left hamstring that showed a slight strain. He isn't likely to go on the DL. Furcal injured himself in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader. He received an injection of platelet-rich plasma Thursday in the area of the injury.
Pick wisely, lots of good picks out there.�
Anyways good luck to the Fab 5 and those close behind.�
I play HR bts also. Last year, I had a 5-game streak, lost it and then started a 3-gamer the very next day. I was doing better at that than regular bts.
I've been playing HR BTS since it came in 5 or 6 years ago. I've never had a 5 game streak. Its almost impossible to get to 10.. I just pick Pujols everyday and hope for the best… there is absolutely no strategy with HR BTS. Complete luck.
HR BTS Strategy – Like herding cats – It can't be done.
Wrigley Field – Friday – Latest weather report: Wind gusts from the south up to 40mph – Fly Balls become HR's. I'm going with this info and taking Derek Lee who is in a terrible slump.
Go Derek! I'm going with Pujols for the 30th straight day.. I think its a solid pick lol.. I knew I should of taken John Buck last night.. but I changed to Pujols last minute hahaha
I was going with A-Rod but switched to Hanley Ramirez. He's had a two day rest and is 4/5 in previous ABs against Stammen.
Correction: Nats starter is Scott Olsen, not Stammen as reported by BTS.


text:
While Kathak dancer Prathiba raises many valid questions and highlights very valid points, there are a few that put a smile on my face.
What she meant to say is this:
I hardly ever bother to watch any outstanding classical dancers who never make it to the USA as I may start questioning myself where I truly belong and what the hell I have been doing in Texas, and, more importantly, why I learnt the Persian classical dance Kathak instead of the classical American dance of Salsa. In recent times, I have witnessed several jaw-dropping, pants-wetting modern performances in Dallas and Houston by visiting Indian dancers who, being old enough, still aspire to look like some teenage American ballet dancers. Their academic presentations made me feel like the classical (shastriya) Indian dance has now been made to sound scientific enough to be taught at the Faculty of Statistics and Measurement at the University of North Texas. The problem for Kathak still remains: to call it classical, we are yet to write a shastra (or "discover" some fake antique book) based on which it would be called "shastriya".
I have left the auditoriums giggling, jumping and throwing pieces of potato chips around like a teenager who smoked pot on a first visit to Disney Land. Today's PR specialists, even those who promote themselves as dancing under the traditional labels, incorporate interesting, simple and entertaining MTV-style movements in their dances to add dynamism – an excellent example of devolution, inborn inability to learn anything from Natya Shastra or to perform even a few stretches a day to accomplish what most American teenage ballet dancers or gymnasts achieve with ease and little pride. At the same time, there also seems to be something, such as use of those pretty useless and meaningless hand gestures, that is stagnant in its practice and even an evolution in the wrong direction, if I may be so bold. I feel I am entitled to be bold and question everything because I have an American passport.
While artistes like Uttara Coorlawala, Anita Ratnam and Michael Jackson seem to have taken evolution to a new level far away from the place they started from, questioning the concept of evolution itself, why are we still defining women based on the Ashtanayikas and not on their church affiliations or sex preferences? Based on the relationship with the hero, the Natya Shastra classifies women as the one who dresses for union with her hero (my daughter always goes to a date in the same torn jeans she wears in her bedroom), the one distressed by separation (everybody knows that once you become separated you are relieved as the costly divorce litigation is near its completion), the one having her husband in subjection (only perverts put their husbands in handcuffs in Texas), the one separated by quarrel (quarrels are needed to show that we have the right to have different opinions), the one enraged with her lover, the one deceived by her lover (cheating on one's boyfriend is absolutely the norm here), the one with a sojourning husband (who came back from Iraq), or the one going to meet her lover (on a blind date).
What about the NRI woman who thinks she is an intellectual or equal of Sigmund Freud? What about the woman who brings home the bacon, sushi, electricity bills, sanitary napkins, the Tea Party leaflets, and condoms? What about the woman who decides that she is better off as a single parent, a single woman or a lesbian in a same-sex marriage? May I remind that many women in Texas marry 4, 5 or 6 times and many don't even remember who are the actual fathers of all their children?
May I remind that although the Natya Shastra has provided us a wealth of information and is THE book every NRI dancer should avoid reading, it is religiously believed by all Texan rednecks to be written between 2nd century BC and 2nd century CE? Its views on women and statistics are as outdated as some of our old American texts that classify humans based on their US visa status or propagate the theory of creationism that contradicts the Bible or the beliefs of the Faculty of Physics at the University of North Texas. Why are we, the modern women driving expensive cars and wearing Victoria's Secret lingerie, clinging to it for dear life if some of us are in danger of being classified by the 14th Chapter not as Goddesses, Gandharvas, Humans but as belonging to other types, such as Pigs, Horses, Buffalos, Goats or even Dogs? How can our democratic society classify people as noble, mediocre or lowly?
I wish Bharatanatyam was truly evolving on all fronts and conformed to the MTV standards. As an atheist and a member of the Republican party who thinks that everyone, not just Spiderman, must wear one's underwear over one's pants, I wish we overcame the limits of beauty and religion in its practice. I wish we overcame the male chauvinistic ideas portrayed in a Bharatanatyam performance, and promoted the same-sex marriages in India. I am writing this as a woman who is tired of seeing nayikas who long, pine, and suffer for someone who resembles one of my ex-husbands. For the Muslim purists who will retort that the "lord" represents "truth" and the pining is the search for the impersonal and vague truth, my response is: Is this the only metaphor you can think of for years of imagination since the Prophet consummated his marriage with the 9-year-old Aisha?
Recently, I heard someone call the ardhanareeswara concept not as a reference to some unscientifically genderless godhead, Ida and Pingala, or to American women who are indistinguishable from the American men, but as the oldest example of gender equality and the only instance where Shiva carelessly wears unmanageable matted locks for hair while Parvati has beautiful flowing hair.
Shiva shows rage while Parvati is demure, which is absolutely unrealistic considering how much every American woman has to yell, scream and shout every day. Shiva can lift his leg over his head but Parvati (may be able to but) should not. Considering that most American women ballet dancers are excited about lifting their legs as high as possible in order to demonstrate the stylishness of their underwear, what about this really shows gender equality?
Showing that the male is all male and the female is all female is outrageous. Showing that the female does not exist without male enhances the wrong and irrational concept that the Universe that manifests in time and space comes from some unscientific Brahman that exists beyond time and space and is independent of the US Government.
Despite all the good values of Indian culture and its cuisine in particular, a major rule of our society that creates a stumbling block is "do not question your mom." We stop evolving when we stop asking questions, and the more foolish questions come into our heads, the more we evolve in the eyes of the US Government. Perhaps that is why we label anything that does not conform to these values as 'fusion' or 'modern.'
You'd think that living in a western society as NRIs would help people push the boundaries of Bharatanatyam even beyond the limits of salsa. You couldn't be more wrong! As an NRI, I have no choice but to witness painful arangetrams performed like weddings with splendor and showmanship but lacking in content and standard that we find in the old school of the American ballet. As a dancer who dances at home every week, I am tired of NRI parents badmouthing their children's gurus' practices (Question: If you hate them so much, why do you continue sending your kids to their classes instead of sending them to Madras?).
As an economic migrant who came to the US to earn money, I see all NRI and the visiting gurus treat the art simply as the business of teaching (read moneymaking) and graduating more mediocre and substandard students year after year. I do not believe in religion or investing in real estate but I believe in Statistics and Citibank where I have my savings account. Neither am I traditional to the point of being able to appreciate anything other than rock-n-roll. Yet I cannot bear to watch kids wearing their salangais along with their sandals and iPods in auditoriums that are not built according to Natya Shastra. I am tired of the standing ovation given to every kid finishing his/her arangetram, irrespective of the standard as if we were at a GOP meeting. I am even tired of the almost ritualistic applause I hear at the completion of every plain jathi, theermanam, and swaram that so takes the focus away from the the glaring evidence of absence of any dance described in 4th Chapter of Natya Shastra.
Living in the western society frees our barriers and opens new horizons. Once our barriers start feeling free, we stop reading books and begin investigating the crucial issues: which of the current US party does Nataraja belong to, and why he is not depicted as the top American bodybuilders?
Sadly, most NRI parents today seem to be focused on how many quasi-traditional or semi-traditional or newly-traditional items they can get their children to believe they learn, how many costume changes one can manage in a given arangetram, how many costumes and jewelry they can acquire on their next trip to India, etc. Lata Pada, in a recent lecture said beautifully, "Do not expect me to be a cultural babysitter for your children just because I teach them Bharatanatyam. I am here to do business with you, and not to establish some Gurukula." It seems that this is exactly what several NRIs are hoping. Instead of encouraging their children to believe they already became dancers in the true sense by sending them to Madras, they want to create replicas of Priyadarsini Govind or Rama Vaidyanathan so they can be happy that their children are, after all, Indian who can do lecture but not demonstration.
Challenging someone intellectually is, after all, easier than doing it physically. PG and RV became expert lecturers not by following status quo or by practising stretches, but by learning Business Administration, Marketing, PR and carving their own niche in the American market. Of course, there are exceptions among NRIs such as Mythili Prakash and Bhavajan Kumar, to name a few who became proficient in their business promotion.
Why am I now taking it out on the NRIs as if they come here just to earn money and invest it in Chennai properties? Three reasons exist. I live abroad and got burnt in the US sub-prime mortgage scam. I cannot comment about the current practices in India for fear of being thrown into an open manhole in T.Nagar in the rainy season. While many of them hate to read books, NRIs have the financial resources to take the risk and push the boundaries beyond the limits of the ancient Indian aesthetics and sensibility. Living in a western society, witnessing art forms such as strip dance, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, opera, etc, and receiving constant encouragement to explore and experiment should foster these experiences (or rather experiments?) even more until we start frying our dosas on Shevron engine oil instead of ghee. Sadly, I am yet to see examples of such, although the popularity of McDonalds in Chennai seems promising. And the question, "Will the NRIs who have the money and the cunning to push the boundaries and experiment help Bharatanatyam reach new heights in the eyes of Michael Jackson fans?" remains unanswered to me still.


text:
Kimberly Miller
Assistant Professor Of Clinical Preventive Medicine
Preventive Medicine
SSB 3rd floor 2001 N. Soto Street Health Sciences Campus Los Angeles
Kimberly Miller, PhD, MPH is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Dermatology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC where her research focuses on cancer control, prevention and survivorship among children, adolescents and young adults. Her research interests include quality of life, the provision of supportive care, and health care utilization among young adult cancer survivors. Dr. Miller is co-director, with Drs. David Freyer and Joel Milam, of the USC Center for Young Adult Cancer Survivorship and an affiliate member of the USC Gehr Center for Health Systems Science & Innovation.
Powered by SC CTSI


text:
Gifts for HerGifts NewGifts For Christmas
Home > Gifts for Christmas
Brand: Fiesta
Weight: 750g
Animal ornament figurines. Including dog figurines, cat figurines and bronze animal sculptures.
Ceramic Tiles. Beautiful vibrant high gloss picture art ceramic tiles.Highly decorative will enhance any room in the home.Free stand, wall hang on adhere to tiled wall.
Winter Hare ceramic picture tile art£24.99
Your Presents has gifts for all the family from bird ornament figurines to dog ornament figurines and everything in between.
Featuring heavily in the site are dog ornament figurines and cat figures. Some of these collectable animal ornaments are retired pieces and when they have gone they cannot be re-ordered. Brands stocked include are Country Artists, Leonardo, Juliana and Border Fine Arts. We also stock Arora Design Little Paws range of dogs, cats and farmyard ornaments.
We are stockists of Gund Baby. A range of plush bears for Christening gifts, wedding gifts, and many other special occasions gifts. The Blue Nosed Tatty Teddy plush toy is loved worldwide from the prestigious brand of Carte Blanche.Ranges of wildlife figurines from top brands Border Fine Arts, Country Artists and Leonardo including Lion figures, Tiger figurines and many more wildlife collectable ornaments.
We stock an unusual range of trinket boxes from Juliana including dog figures, cat figurines and many more plus a range of mice figurines from different world renowned brands.
Please bookmark us
Retriever dog ornament figurine bronze£35.99
Gazelle figurine wildlife Country Artists£29.95 £19.99
Cobra Snake figurine wildlife Country Artists£69.95 £49.99


text:
What made want to read and later post this article on my own blog? This question on Twitter: "Social media has opened the doorway to a whole new level of leadership and influence. Do you fit the profile?" Here's an excerpt: "Begin by becoming a true expert in your arena. Do your research, and then do more research. Learn to speak about your ideas with passion; become a story-teller. Your passionate disposition will recruit followers and other leaders who respect and appreciate your insight. These folks will spread the word!"
Read More from this article on Inc.com