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Money is a currency that everyone in the U.S. uses to just live and get by in life. Jobs is how you get money and a lot of people need money so many people will go really far to get some money, including involving themselves with very dangerous jobs with a mid range salary. Some examples are tree trimers and pruners, commercial pilots, and farm and ranch animal workers.

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Nearly 5,200 people died from injuries they suffered on the job in 2021. That is more than in 2020, when COVID-19 shutdowns and layoffs kept many people away from the workplace, but a bit less than the total a year before the pandemic set in.

The data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics provides a broad look at the risks faced by American workers.

Workplace injuries have been on the decline over the decades as industries adopt new safety precautions and provide more training. But some professions remain far more dangerous than others.
More: Your Life in Data: Searchable databases that help you make everyday choices
USA TODAY used the federal statistics to rank the most dangerous private-industry jobs in America. We've included the 25 occupations with the highest death rates in 2021 but provide the full rankings in our database. Fatal injury rates were calculated only for job titles held by at least 20,000 people and that reported at least four fatalities.

Search job titles

Explore the fatal and nonfatal injury rates for about 550 common jobs in America as reported to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2021 for fatal injuries and 2020 for nonfatal injuries and illnesses. The rates are expressed as incidents per 100,000 workers. VIEW THE FULL DATABASE to see where your job ranks.

Here are the 25 deadliest jobs:

1. Tree trimmers and pruners

This groundskeeping job has the highest rate of work-caused deaths and ranks 76th for nonfatal workplace injuries. The profession's fatality rate is 21 times higher than for the typical American job. The most common causes were falls, falling tree limbs and accidents involving equipment such as saws.

2. Commercial pilots

This does not include pilots of passenger planes for major airlines like you might use to travel for work or vacation. These folks navigate planes or helicopters to carry cargo and, in less common and less hazardous roles, lead air tours or navigate air ambulances. Nearly all deaths and injuries were caused by catastrophic crashes, which is why the nonfatal injury rate for the profession ranked low, at 297th.

3. Farm and ranch animal workers (including aquaculture)

People who tend to livestock big and small have the third-highest rate of deaths from their job, or 15 times higher than the typical American's work. Injury rates are not well tracked in federal labor statistics because people who are self-employed or work on farms with fewer than 11 employees are not required to complete the agency's annual survey.

4. Logging workers

The fourth-highest job fatality rate was reported for logging workers, who have led the national rankings in some years. The 2021 death rate was 13 times higher than the typical American job, and the nonfatal injury rate ranked 191st. Contact with equipment, falling objects and falls led the list of injury causes.

5. Roofers

Roofers had the fifth-highest rate of work-caused deaths and ranks 108th for nonfatal workplace injuries. That fatality rate is almost 10 times higher than the typical American job, and the injury rate is almost twice as high. Once again, falls are a leading cause of injury and death - and a one that is often preventable with the proper use of safety harnesses.

6. First-line supervisors of farming, fishing and forestry workers

These jobs often feature overseeing people who work with heavy equipment, dangerous tools, hazardous weather and large, moving objects or animals - and being hands-on with the work. So it's little surprise this occupation category reported the sixth-highest fatal-injury rate in America, or seven times higher than the typical job. The rate of nonfatal illness and injury ranked 216th.

7. Agricultural equipment operators

If you're at the controls of big equipment in an agricultural setting - tilling, planting, harvesting, feeding, herding - this is the job classification you get from the federal government. It has the seventh-highest fatal-injury rate in America, one that's more than five times higher than the typical job. Injury rates are not well tracked in federal labor statistics because people who are self-employed or work on farms with fewer than 11 employees are not required to complete the agency's annual survey.

8. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

This is the technical classification for what people commonly imagine when they hear "truck driver." These are folks driving big rigs - more than 26,000 pounds - to haul cargo from place to place. This job reported the eighth-highest fatal-injury rate in 2021 and ranked 65th for nonfatal injuries. Wrecks were the leading cause of death, but falls and overexertion were much more common injury causes.

9. Underground mining machine operators

This is the first time in recent years this job category has been included in federal rankings of fatal injuries because fewer than 20,000 people worked in these roles or fewer than four people died. But in 2021, 10 people died from the job, resulting in the ninth-highest rate of worker deaths. The nonfatal injury rate ranked 114th in 2018, the last year with available federal data.

10. Farm equipment mechanics and service technicians

This title is assigned to people who repair or maintain farm machinery and vehicles, such as tractors, combines, irrigation systems and dairy equipment, but does not include mechanics who work generally on trucks or diesel engines. It has the 10th-highest fatal-injury rate in America, or about four times higher than the typical job. The nonfatal injury rate ranked 115th.

Other jobs with high death rates

11. Sailors and marine oilers: 37.6 deaths per 100,000 workers, ranked 116th for its nonfatal injury rate in 2019, the latest year for which data was available.

12. First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers: 35.2 per 100,000 workers, ranked 93rd for its nonfatal injury rate.

13. Personal service managers, 29.9 per 100,000 workers, ranked 205th for its nonfatal injury rate.

14. Audiovisual equipment installers and repairers: 27.9 per 100,000 workers, ranked 126th for its nonfatal injury rate.

15. Painters, construction and maintenance: 27.1 per 100,000 workers, ranked 234th for its nonfatal injury rate.

16. Pumping station operators: 27.1 per 100,000 workers, ranked 129th for its nonfatal injury rate.

17. Construction laborers: 26.3 per 100,000 workers, ranked 87th for its nonfatal injury rate.

18. Electrical power line installers and repairers: 24.2 per 100,000 workers, ranked 100th for its nonfatal injury rate.

19. Roustabouts, oil and gas: 23.2 per 100,000 workers, ranked 237th for its nonfatal injury rate.

20. Maintenance workers, machinery: 22.5 per 100,000 workers, ranked 167th for its nonfatal injury rate.

21. Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining: 22.4 per 100,000 workers, ranked 504th for its nonfatal injury rate.

22. Plasterers and stucco masons: 22.2 per 100,000 workers, ranked 246th for its nonfatal injury rate.

23. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers: 22.2 per 100,000 workers, ranked 117th for its nonfatal injury rate.

24. Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse: 21.3 per 100,000 workers; a nonfatal injury rate was not available.
Your life in data: See crucial databases that can help you make everyday decisions
25: Crane and tower operators: 20.7 per 100,000 workers, ranked 242nd for its nonfatal injury rate.

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What are America's most dangerous jobs? Search our database of deadliest occupations

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Nearly 5,200 people died from injuries they suffered on the job in 2021. That is more than in 2020, when COVID-19 shutdowns and layoffs kept many people away from the workplace, but a bit less than the total a year before the pandemic set in. The data from the U.S.

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Helping the environment is very important. Many way teens can help is by planting trees, hosting cleanups, growing gardens and many more.

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6 Volunteering Ideas to Help the Environment

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Join the growing movement to protect our planet with these seven environmental volunteering ideas.

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The best way to gage the U.S economy is to look at the Major Index's such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, Nasdaq, and the Russell 2000. All major index's can show reasonable Fear or Greed depending on certain events in our nation.

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Millions of peoples lives are being improved everyday by MedTech. Med tech strives to make health care more effective and affordable by decreasing the technologies prices and finding new things in technology that can help people.

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AdvaMed - Advanced Medical Technology Association

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AdvaMed is the world's largest medical technology association representing device, diagnostics and digital technology companies.

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Summary: Crops are typically divided into six different categories and groups. Them being food crops, feed crops, oil crops, ornamental crops, and industrial crops. These are vital to our health and life.

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Resource

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Made up of a wide variety of plants grown for consumption or for profit, crops can be used for food, to feed livestock, for textiles and paper, for decoration, or for fuel.

Subjects

Biology, Earth Science

Image

Crops Growing in Thailand

Crops are plants or plant products grown to provide food, fuel, clothing, and more. The crops in a large field like this in the Phetchabun province of Thailand are too plentiful for subsistence and would be used for profit.

Photograph by Somkak Sarykunthot/EyeEm

Crops are plants, or products made from plants, that are grown and harvested for subsistence or for profit. Crops are typically divided into six categories: food crops, feed crops, fiber crops, oil crops, ornamental crops, and industrial crops. Ever since hunter-gatherer societies shifted to become agricultural societies during the Neolithic period about 10,000 years ago, crops have become the primary method of feeding humans in every corner of the world. To this day, they drive not only food distribution and consumption, but also fuel, manufacturing, and virtually every other industry.

Food crops are subsistence crops that are meant for human consumption. They include fruits, vegetables, grains, and tubers, like potatoes. Grains, which include crops like wheat, rice, and corn, are the most popular crops in the world, with wheat as the most widely grown crop overall.

Feed crops are grown and harvested to feed livestock like cows, horses, pigs, and sheep. Also known as animal feed or fodder, these crops can be grown and harvested like food crops. They can also be grown in large fields (pastures) or meadows where animals can graze (or forage) for the food. Feed crops include cereal grains (like oats), alfalfa, and various kinds of grasses and hay. Feed crops are typically engineered to meet the livestock's specific nutritional needs. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) division of the United Nations, 33 percent of the world's croplands are used for growing feed crops.

Fiber crops are grown specifically so that they can be processed into textiles, rope, or paper products. Instead of being directly consumed, fiber crops like cotton, flax, or hemp are harvested and then dried or chemically transformed to create other products. For example, fiber-rich crops like bamboo can be turned into a pulp, which can then be used to make paper.

Oil crops are grown either for primary (human consumption) or secondary (industrial) uses. Edible oil crops include corn, sunflower, and olives. Soybeans are the world's most popular oil crop. In addition to food and cooking uses, oil crops may also be used to create paints, soaps, machine lubricants, cosmetics, or fuel.

Ornamental crops are plants and trees used for landscaping or for gardening. Often grown in nurseries, ornamental crops are harvested for either direct sale to consumers, or for commercial purposes. Examples of ornamental crops include shade trees, flowering trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses.

Industrial crops are crops that are not consumed, but rather harvested and used in manufacturing processes, machines, or fuel production. Rubber is an example of an industrial crop. Rubber is created from latex, which is a substance that is found within the Hevea tree, and then processed and treated so that the rubber can be transformed into other products for a variety of industrial uses.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY Made up of a wide variety of plants grown for consumption or for profit, crops can be used for food, to feed livestock, for textiles and paper, for decoration, or for fuel. Biology, Earth Science Image Crops Growing in Thailand Crops are plants or plant products grown to provide food, fuel, clothing, and more.

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How a Car is Made: Every Step from Invention to Launch

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How a Car is Made: Every Step from Invention to Launch

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In this article it told me about the engineering process the design process and the invention process. It takes about 72 to months on average to sketch the interior and exterior colors and designs

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How a Car is Made: Every Step from Invention to Launch

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We lay out the process of vehicle creation from start to finish.

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The population of homeless people in Austin. 

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The population of homeless people in Austin. 

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While the most recent Point in Time Count estimated that 2,506 people experience homelessness on any given night, National Consultants put our homeless population at about 10,000 out of the million Travis County residents, so roughly 1 percent.

Individuals may become homeless from leaving an abusive relationship, losing a job, taking on medical debt, or losing access to credit; while others have conditions like mental illness or addiction that make it hard to maintain housing. Youth may become homeless when they age out of the foster care system or are disowned by families.

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What do we know about homelessness in Austin?

A lot, actually! While homelessness is a complex issue, information from reliable sources can help us understand more about what's happening and what we can do to create a community where everyone thrives.

How many people in Austin are experiencing homelessness?

While the most recent Point in Time Count estimated that 2,506 people experience homelessness on any given night, National Consultants put our homeless population at about 10,000 out of the million Travis County residents, so roughly 1 percent.

Why are there so many people experiencing homelessness in Austin?

The path in and out of homelessness is different for every person and includes both individual and systemic factors. A group of researchers in Austin studied homelessness locally, which aligns with national studies on the subject.

Individuals may become homeless from leaving an abusive relationship, losing a job, taking on medical debt, or losing access to credit; while others have conditions like mental illness or addiction that make it hard to maintain housing. Youth may become homeless when they age out of the foster care system or are disowned by families ( Trevor Project estimates that 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQIA+).

Systemic factors like generational poverty, affordability, racism, education, healthcare, and the criminal justice system cause instability that can lead to homelessness and complicate the process of becoming and staying housed.

According to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, Austin's acute affordability crisis can largely be attributed to the fact that "Austin's median income and its housing stock have failed to keep pace with the boom in both land prices and population."

Access to affordable housing is critical to ending homelessness.

Has the number of people experiencing homeless in Austin drastically increased?

According to ECHO, the proportion of homelessness has tracked with overall population growth since 2011. This means that as the total number of people in Central Texas has grown, so has the number of people experiencing homelessness. And with changes to our City ordinances in 2019 that allow public camping, people who were previously hidden are now more visible to us.

However, COVID-19's impact on our economy could lead to an even greater increase in the individuals and families entering homelessness.

What is the City of Austin doing to address homelessness?

Austin's Mayor and City Council made ending homelessness their top priority in 2018. The result is increased resources going to proven solutions for meeting immediate needs, creating housing solutions, and preventing more people from entering homelessness.

Ending homelessness isn't just the work of the City; for decades social service agencies, nonprofits, and religious groups have served those who are homeless in our community.

The same national consultants confirmed that Austin is on the right track, but advised that to succeed we must increase the connections between programs and the scale of investment.

What can I do to help end homelessness in Austin?

There are lots of things people can do in our community to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

1. Show kindness and compassion to those experiencing homelessness among us; it isn't always easy, but it does more to make progress than the alternative.

2. Support great organizations with your time, talent and financial resources to help them serve more individuals in need (this is the safest way to get help directly to people experiencing homelessness).

3. Advocate for policies and large scale investments to provide affordable housing, healthcare, and housing to keep people healthy and housed - and reforming those systems referenced earlier that disproportionately cause people of color to become homeless.

It's up to us

Ending homelessness is possible in Austin if enough of us - government, businesses, nonprofits, neighborhoods, schools, churches, caring individuals - work together to make it happen. We invite you to join us in creating a community where everyone has the safety, stability, and dignity of a roof over their head.
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What do we know about homelessness in Austin? A lot, actually! While homelessness is a complex issue, information from reliable sources can help us understand more about what's happening and what we can do to create a community where everyone thrives.

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Electric cars have been promoted a lot in the past 5 years and they are slowly starting to take over. Chinese and Indian government are planning to go fully electrical in the next 10-15 years.

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A global food crisis | World Food Programme

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2023: Another year of extreme jeopardy for those struggling to feed their families

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Ai intelligence is now being developed in music development and helping artists make their music like never before.

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There's a lot happening in the field of artificial intelligence right now. And that goes for music, too, both in terms of making music and producing it. Quite a few artists who have moved away from manual production are now using AI in the production process. From composition apps and mastering platforms to song identification tools and highly personalized playlists, AI is changing the way music is created and listened to. The promising technology of the future is still in its infancy, yet it has long been among us. As we all know, you're only afraid of what you don't know, right? Read more about this topic below...
Before we start: a few explanations about artificial intelligence

Many people are startled by the term "artificial intelligence", because a machine cannot be intelligent! In a philosophical sense, it can't be so, because it's only ever as smart as the human who feeds it. Even self-learning systems only get information that people have put together and can only rely on human evaluations. An AI lacks - at least so far - free will and the evaluation of something by its own taste. It has no consciousness of its own, even though scientists are already arguing about this. But: If you understand intelligence as the pure ability to solve tasks by thinking, then an AI can definitely do that.

AI: Recognise possibilities, seize opportunities

AI can be used to compose new music, create unique mashups, and also help create robotic actors. The terrain in which artificial intelligence can be used to create new things is simply limitless, and the possibilities are endless - always with the aforementioned limits imposed by programming or human provision of information. AI is also capable of creating lyrics with predetermined emotionality, creating previously unknown musical genres, and exploring the boundaries of music.

Just one of the other benefits is that AI-supported songwriting, with sometimes very unusual suggestions from the "digital box", can potentially alleviate writer's blocks. Music based in part on self-learning algorithms is like setting out for a digital horizon whose secrets are currently still deeply hidden. The only way to find out what the future holds is to keep at it. Always an encounter of the exciting kind: let's see what happens 😉.

The song Eternal from the album Proto by Holly Herndon, full AI based album

Artificial Intelligence: Impact on the music industry for years

In fact, the impact of AI music is a visionary, but no longer an absolutely new topic. Rather, artificial intelligence has already been showing its impact within the music industry for years. AI-generated mindfulness ambient music, rights-free music generation for content creators, and automated mixing and mastering have matured into significant industries for about half a decade.

Similarly, streaming services' recommendation systems are based on AI algorithms. For example, artificial intelligence is used to analyze music and its specific characteristics, identifying patterns and rolling out personalized music recommendations based on them. AI and machine learning have long since changed the face of the music industry. Never before has it been so easy to create and listen to pleasing music.

Concerns are understandable, but fears tend to be unfounded

For sure, there are potential risks. Among the main fears is that AI-powered music could render human musicians and songwriters obsolete, replacing them and thus sending them into unemployment. These fears should be taken with a grain of salt, however. After all, there's one thing AI can't do: Being creative like a musician. The concern that AI music could lead to oversaturation among listeners due to repetitive sounds or styles also seems rather unfounded. After all, everyone still decides for themselves about their own musical taste. If a genre is potentially flooded with monotony, consumers automatically turn away, but do not reject music altogether. Against this backdrop, AI music could, at best, lead to an oversaturation of itself.

As with every new topic since the invention of sliced bread, it remains imperative to use artificial intelligence ethically and morally, as well as legally. A copyright infringement by AI remains a copyright infringement; a song forged by artificial intelligence remains a forged song. Such scenarios are not created by AI in the first place. The given legal space is unaffected.

AI: Trying to decode Mozart's genome

In the meantime, there are various reference examples of how interesting projects have been implemented through the use of artificial intelligence. In 2021, for example, the music of the composer was visualized in several projects for the 100th Mozart Festival, which set out to track down the musical genome of the genius. A research team from the University of Würzburg had developed an AI with the appropriate name "Mozart Jukebox" as well as an app for augmented reality (AR). It was shown that there is not just one AI, but that it develops based on the actions of the users. Humans are therefore by no means left out in the cold.

Artificial intelligence resurrects musicians

Also from 2021 is the reincarnated release of "The Lost Tapes of the 27 Club." The only thing that was "real" about the recordings was the vocals. The vocals, however, did not come from the original artists, but from musicians from cover bands who had specialized in imitating their idols. Songs by Kurt Cobain with Nirvana, Jim Morrison with the Doors, Amy Winehouse and Jimi Hendrix were (re)composed with the Google AI Magenta. Then the music was created with digital instruments controlled by computers. The "Lost Tapes" was by no means the first musical AI project. There had already been music in the style of the Beatles, Bach or Beethoven.

AI: A special kind of human-machine cooperation

The fact that behind the compositions of current artists there is not only the "human factor" is hardly recognizable in many productions, as long as the AI is used with taste. Others quite deliberately direct the focus to digital technology. In 2018, for example, Taryn Southern launched her album with the significant name "I am AI," which was composed and produced with no less than four music programs: AIVA, Google Magenta, Watson Beat and Amper Music.

Songs with data-driven voices and sounds

Holly Herndon, along with her partner Mat Dryhurst, developed the "baby AI Spawn," fed primarily by data-driven voices and sounds. She had already launched AI-based songs before, and ultimately the full album "Proto." Some also refer to Holly as the Godmother of AI music. Okay, there are certainly quite a few musicians who could claim this title for themselves. How about Kraftwerk, for instance?

Stylistic approximation by AI

It's interesting in this context that researchers have repeatedly attempted to analyze and recreate the individual stylistic nuances of musicians. For example, scientists at the SONY CSL Research Lab have had the first complete songs written by AI, developed on FlowMachines, a system that learns musical styles from a huge database. The song "Daddy's Car" is not by the Beatles, but it is composed in their style - at least as the scientists understood it.

We see that AI music holds visionary, and no less creative, options for how music could look and sound in the future. The uniquely human attribute - emotional creativity - will hardly be slowed down. After all, it is and always will be the driving force of humanity.

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The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Music

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There's a lot happening in the field of artificial intelligence right now. And that goes for music, too, both in terms of making music and producing it. Quite a few artists who have moved away from manual production are now using AI in the production process.

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San Francisco is almost synonymous with technology as major fortune 500 companies such as but not limited to Meta, and Google. Along with the giants of tech hundreds of Tech startups have flocked to the city.

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Poor resource distribution and inequality

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Poor resource distribution and inequality

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK253872/

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The session on Resource Distribution and Global Inequality was chaired by steering committee member B.L. Turner II (Arizona State University), with presentations by Branko Milanović (World Bank), Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue (Cornell University), and Wolfgang Lutz (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis). Their presentations and the ensuing discussion are summarized below.

GLOBAL INCOME INEQUALITY: HISTORICAL TRENDS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Lead Economist, World Bank

Branko Milanović explained that he would talk about inequality, both global (among countries) and within single countries. To measure inequality, Milanović used data from the International Comparison Program, which is a large undertaking that assesses purchasing power in different nations. While details of this project's results are subject to debate, he said, the project provides a comparison of prices across nations that can be used as a baseline metric. The International Comparison Program developed a price index normalized to the United States, in which a score of 1 indicates purchasing power equivalent to that of the United States. China rated 0.4, meaning that goods and services in China cost 40 percent of what they cost in the United States. Norway rated 1.3, or 130 percent of the United States' costs. The International Comparison Project index can be used to normalize the per capita income of each nation.

Milanović defined three different concepts of inequality ( Milanović, 2005):

Concept 1: The mean per-capita income for each country is compared to the others. This disregards the overall population size of the nation and merely looks at the mean income value. Economists commonly use this metric to discuss income convergence.

Concept 2: The mean per-capita income is used, but the statistics are weighted by each nation's population. In other words, every person is counted, but each is "assigned" the mean income for his or her nation.

Concept 3: Comparisons are made using each person's individual income, without linkage to the national average. In this case, there is much more variation. Milanovi stated that in this concept, it becomes clear that there is little overlap between the income distribution of a wealthy nation and that of a poor nation-poor people from a rich country are still relatively rich overall. For instance, the mean poverty line globally is $1.25 per day, but in the United States the mean poverty line is $14-15 per day; this amount is equal to the 75th percentile of world income distribution.

Milanović then presented data showing how these different inequality concept measurements have changed in time, shown in Figure 6-1, where the inequality measure is expressed as a Gini coefficient. Under Concept 1, income has diverged, particularly in the period of globalization from 1980-2000. He explained that, in those two decades, Africa and Latin America experienced a net loss of growth. Most of the factors during globalization were working in favor of global inequality. Richer nations and China, however, fared very well. The data for Concept 2, Milanović explained, are driven by China, which brings the overall inequality measure down. China is contradictory, however; while its growth was the sole factor driving down global inequality, it was also experiencing an internal increase in inequality. In other words, China's increasing population and increasing average income contributed to lower global Gini coefficients under Concept 2. However, the Gini coefficient within China was increasing for that same time period. In 2000, India also began a period of development, bringing the Concept 2 measure of inequality down even further. In contrast to the first two measures, the data for Concept 3 are fairly level; the increase in inequality among the other nations offsets the growth of China and India.

Milanović showed that the final Concept 3 "dot" in Figure 6-1 declines slightly, by about a total of one Gini point. While this is a small fraction of the total (1 point in 70), such a decline would be a historic and positive development. The Concept 3 measure of inequality rose from around 50 in the year 1820 to around 70 in 1960, where it has remained since. Reversing this curve would be a huge evolution in the international measures of inequality.

Milanović explained that the pattern of global inequality change differs from patterns of national inequality changes. In the past, the greatest inequality has been within nations (for example, a country with rich nobility and poor peasants), with the average ratio of inequality within a nation 4:1. However, inequality is now mostly disparate among nations. Today, income is largely determined by where an individual lives, in that 70 percent of income variability is based on global rather than national inequalities. This shift is largely the result of increasing population sizes in Southeast Asia, notably China and India. Milanović noted that one could look at inequality of carbon emissions as well: Because consumption patterns vary by income level, it should be possible to assess overall emission concentrations by measuring income levels in different areas.

A participant asked Milanović if the ideal situation would be one in which everyone in the world would have the same income, and therefore there would be no inequality. He replied the Gini coefficient is a measurement tool, and he attempted to present the measurements in a neutral way, without giving opinions. The ideal Gini coefficient is more a philosophical or political issue, not a demographic one, he explained.

POPULATION-INEQUALITY-SUSTAINABILITY: BEYOND IPAT

Authors

Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, Professor ¹.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Development Psychology, Cornell University

Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue began his presentation by stating that the options for a 10-billion-person planet in the classic population-sustainability debate have usually been taken to one of two extremes: an apocalypse scenario (the Cassandra viewpoint) or a blissful scenario (the Pollyanna or Cornucopian viewpoint). He proposed searching for middle-ground options. He referred to one option suggested in a previous session, when it was stated the entire population of 10 billion could live in the state of Texas if humans lived more simply. In other words, the entire world population could survive but not thrive. Another scenario, which Eloundou-Enyegue pursued, was that consequences could be highly differentiated: apocalypse for some, bliss for others. He posited that in 2050, there may be significantly more competition and inequality. In that perspective, greater attention should be paid to inequality and to a framework that goes beyond the classic impact, population, affluence, and technology (IPAT) model.

Eloundou-Enyegue then discussed the limitations and restrictions of the commonly used IPAT model. (See the summary of Turner's presentation in Chapter 2 for an introduction to IPAT.) While IPAT is a useful tool, Eloundou-Enyegue argued that its utility is somewhat narrow, for the following reasons:

IPAT restricts sustainability to its environmental dimension, and does not include other socioeconomic factors.

IPAT is restricted to population growth, and does not consider demographic distinctions such as age, fertility, or family structure.

IPAT focuses attention mostly to high fertility countries.

IPAT's main rationale is Malthusian.

He proposed a new conceptual framework for thinking about sustainability, which he referred to as PIES (for Population-Inequality-Environmental and Economic Sustainability). He explained that PIES has three basic tenets:

1.

There is more to population than size. In other words, factors such as the population's age distribution, differential fertility behavior, and family structure and formation are also important to model.

2.

Sustainability goes beyond just environmental factors, and includes socioeconomic factors as well.

3.

Global inequality is a mediator of population effects.

Eloundou-Enyegue pointed out that the PIES model contains nothing new, but is a different way to assemble the pieces. In the IPAT framework, he said, attention is focused primarily on the poor high-fertility nations, as they contribute the most to the population variable. He characterized this as a politically sensitive issue, as IPAT can "blame" the poorer nations for unsustainable practices. Under the PIES model, population concerns extend to all nations, although the issues facing each one are different. Central to the PIES model is the importance of population distribution, and connecting population inequality and sustainability. Eloundou-Enyegue represented problematic situations in population, consumption, or equality as a triangle; the large base of the triangle represents the population concentrated in adverse conditions.

Eloundou-Enyegue then turned to the challenge of measuring global inequality. It is difficult for people to recognize signs of inequality except in the simplest of circumstances. Often it can be difficult to distinguish inequality from other related concepts such as inequity, mobility, justice, difference, and stratification. It can also be challenging to identify the appropriate comparison group-whether to compare with one's neighbors, age group, compatriots, co-workers, or the world. Eloundou-Enyegue also explained there are many types of inequality, such as income vs. outcomes, differentials vs. inequality, inequality vs. inequity (endowments and rewards), inequality vs. mobility, local vs. global, actual vs. perceived, gross vs. net, and current vs. lifetime income inequality. He used actual vs. perceived inequality as an example by asking which would be better: a situation with a lot of inequality but no one was aware of it, or a situation with little inequality but it is felt more acutely. He suggested that while between-nation inequality tends to be larger in size, within-nation inequality is perceived more acutely by its citizens.

Eloundou-Enyegue identified two components when computing inequality: income (relative differences in income across groups being compared) and demographics (relative size of groups). Decomposing inequality into these two components can reveal what has driven historical trends.

Eloundou-Enyegue then briefly discussed trends and prospects in global inequality. He said that a major trend in global inequality is a "turning inward," or involution, which is a simultaneous decline in nation-to-nation inequality and increase in within-nation inequality. Given the greater salience of within-country inequality for most people, this pattern is likely to lead to a decrease in global well-being. Eloundou-Enyegue briefly touched on Kuznets's (1955) thesis, which stated that there is an inverted U-curve between per capita income and inequality. Kuznets's assumptions of inequality may no longer hold, Eloundou-Enyegue said, as there is now an increase observed in internal inequality across the world and a decrease in social mobility.

Eloundou-Enyegue then turned to the consequences of global inequality, asking if countries with greater inequality also have greater levels of consumption. He postulated that countries with more inequality tend toward poor stewardship and less interest in preserving the natural environment. However, they also tend to have less to consume. He also asked if countries with greater inequality have greater socioeconomic instability. Citing work done in 2011, Eloundou-Enyegue stated that health and social problems increase with increasing income inequality ( Ortiz and Cummins, 2011).

In the final section of his talk, Eloundou-Enyegue discussed the demographic causes of inequality. In examining current population trends in global inequality, he looked at a number of possible factors. Between countries, he examined relative population growth, age structure, and migration and remittances. Age structure proved to be the largest contributor to inequality. Within countries in high-fertility settings, he examined differential fertility, fosterage, and teen pregnancy. Among those variables, differential fertility was the greatest contributing factor to inequality; there were significant differences between birth rates in the upper quintile and lowest quintile. In low-fertility settings, he examined increased homogamy and family formation. There, marriage rates and premarital fertility rates were the largest contributing factors.

Eloundou-Enyegue pointed out that in the classic IPAT decomposition, GNP per capita and the relative size of a country's population are the variables considered. However, overall population is not a significant variable, representing only about 1.5 percent of the contribution to global trends in between-country inequality between 1980 and 2010. This is not a surprising result, he commented, as the relative size of any given country does not tend to change much over time. Eloundou-Enyegue said in an expanded decomposition of the trends in global between-country inequality (one that includes variables such the adult per capita income, age structure, and country size), international differences in age structure turn out to be crucial. Economic trends and performance still account for most of the inequality, but a population's age structure plays a larger role than generally acknowledged. The IPAT model and Malthusian principles emphasize population size and growth, but he argued that demographic distribution matters more.

Eloundou-Enyegue said inequality trends are likely to continue, and social capital, family trends, and the life chances of children born to diverse circumstances are profoundly different. Also, increasing differences in premarital fertility, as well as an increasing tendency to marry as one's educational level increases, will also lead to greater inequality.

Eloundou-Enyegue concluded by noting that previous conversations about population and sustainability, framed by the IPAT model, reduce the population variable too much by exclusively focusing on size or growth. The PIES model is a broader framework that allows for an expanded analysis. Returning to his introductory point about the two extremes for the 10-billion-person scenario, he said that the likely scenario is that the future will be a cornucopia for a few and a disaster for many. It is a matter of policy to determine what happens, he suggested.

INTERGENERATIONAL TRADE-OFFS, DEMOGRAPHIC METABOLISM, AND THE LONG-TERM BENEFITS OF EQUITABLE EMPOWERMENT IN THE NEAR TERM

Authors

Wolfgang Lutz, Program Director, World Population ¹.

Affiliations

¹ International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Wolfgang Lutz began his presentation by commenting that intergenerational justice is a hard concept to operationalize. A focus on intergenerational trade-offs rather than on justice could be easier, but it is still difficult because the preferences of unborn generations remain unknown. It is more pragmatic to focus on trade-offs between different age cohorts already alive. In all these cases, conventional economics is not helpful. Instead, Lutz said that there should be a metric for well-being that is consistent for people who have lived at different points in history-a figure of merit that is equally valued across time. This figure of merit should incorporate aggregate indicators of well-being, which for sustainable development would not decline over time or for any subpopulation. The figure of merit should also include the depletion of natural stock and how that depletion feeds back to the future well-being of humankind. A simple metric to use is that of survival and avoiding premature death-as he pointed out, all people agree that staying alive (in good health) is a good thing. Another option for a figure of merit is the Human Development Index, which also includes education and material standard of living and thus broadens the choices people have beyond simply survival ( United Nations, 2013).

Lutz then introduced the concept of demographic metabolism, which models how societies change through intergenerational replacement. It can be used to model the future composition of a population according to relevant characteristics that persist over life (such as higher level of education, certain opinions, and identity). These cohort effects are in addition to age effects (changes that everyone experiences as a function of age) that can also be modeled. Demographic metabolism, therefore, can be seen as a predictive theory of socioeconomic change. It was originally introduced as a concept by Ryder (1965) but not operationalized until more recently. Demographic metabolism provides a useful analytical handle to understand intergenerational trade-offs by focusing on stable characteristics, and it can be used to forecast information about populations into the future. Lutz illustrated demographic metabolism with the example of the changing educational attainment distribution in South Korea. In South Korea in 1985, a significant part of the population was uneducated, but these people tended to be in the older age categories. In addition, within the older population, many more women than men were uneducated. Because of South Korea's increase in its education policies in the 1950s, the 1985 demographic data show that few people (men or women) under the age of 35 remained uneducated. Lutz presented South Korea's demographic and education data from 1985 through 2010, which clearly demonstrated demographic metabolism: As time progressed, the uneducated older people were replaced with the more educated next generation. In addition, as educational levels increased, fertility decreased, and fewer people were born into successive generations. Using this information, one can project future populations and their education levels.

Lutz said that at the global level, the most profound differential across societies is the average level of a mother's education; an increase in education contributes more than income or any other variable to the decline of both fertility and infant mortality. He cited a Science article ( Lutz and Samir, 2011) that discusses maternal education and population, and cited evidence with respect to the causality between increased maternal education and slower population growth. He stressed that education is not merely a proxy for socioeconomic status; there is strong evidence that it has direct functional causality. There is also evidence to support a linkage between maternal education and poverty reduction in Latin American countries. Figure 6-2 shows the population fraction living in poverty in Latin America as a function of the proportion of women with secondary education or greater.

Lutz then explained the scenarios used for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) analysis since 2000.The IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) only included total population size and GDP. In 2013, new shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) scenarios were developed. They offer much more social detail and include age, gender, and education in addition to urbanization and GDP. The SSP scenarios are based on the understanding that education is the third most important source of observable population heterogeneity, following age and gender.

Lutz then described population and its interactions with climate change. The human population affects climate change via consumption (energy usage and land use changes) as well as via innovation and technology (solutions for greenhouse gas emissions). He pointed out that much less is known about the effects of climate change on future human well-being, and the most relevant and critical question is to understand how dangerous climate change will be for humankind. While the IPCC reports give detailed information about likely future climate conditions with uncertainty margins, much less is known about the future adaptive capacity of societies to cope with these changes. There is also a differential effect on people and their health and mortality rates, depending upon their demographic characteristics. According to Lutz, a frequent mistake is to match future climate conditions to today's society and health capabilities; in reality, one must project both into the future.

Lutz then looked at the five SSP scenarios, including population and age- and education-pyramid information for each scenario. (The five SSPs are defined and described in the presentation by James A. Edmonds; see Chapter 4.) Under SSP2 (known as the "business-as-usual" or "middle-of-the-road" scenario), population peaks at 9.4 billion around the year 2070, with an expansion of the higher educated population and a shrinking of the uneducated population. Lutz referred to a Science article ( Lutz et al., 2008), in which, based on age specific education data, he and his colleagues showed that the distribution of education within a society is a key driver for economic growth. Furthermore, a more educated population is linked to decreased disaster mortality and increases the population's adaptive capacity to respond to climate change.

Lutz closed by reiterating the importance of understanding how dangerous climate change is to human well-being. Without an analytic answer to that question, he said it is hard to respond appropriately to the challenges posed by climate change.

DISCUSSION

During the discussion period, a participant asked if inequality is bad for health-or, alternatively, if there is an absolute poverty level that is bad for health. The participant pointed out that focusing on absolute poverty levels focuses on the lowest populations. She pointed out that the past few talks have seemingly focused instead on relative outcomes (such as the Gini coefficient) and not absolute levels. Lutz responded by saying that instead of looking for a desired level of inequality, one should focus on desired outcomes across an array of issues (such as education, land use, and income). Inequality can then be assessed in the context of those outcomes, to avoid setting any intrinsic desirable level. Eloundou-Enyegue pointed out that, in a previous discussion, some inequality was suggested as fundamentally good to spur innovation and effort, although others might argue that inequality is on principle a negative characteristic. He broke the idea up into three tiers of thinking. In the first tier, one thinks about the consequences of inequality on humanitarian grounds and concern for the poor. In the next tier, one thinks about matters of economic efficiency. In the third tier, one focuses on status and stress-even the very rich cannot shield themselves from social unrest associated with uncertainty and inequality. Thus, he said, inequality is a concern for everyone at every tier of thinking. Milanović said that inequality does have a precise definition, such as the Gini coefficient. He pointed out that Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) found a strong correlation between increasing inequality and other negative outcomes, such as increased health and mortality rates. The danger with the Gini coefficient approach, he suggested, is that it focuses entirely within national borders, and in so doing equates a rich American with a rich African and a poor American with a poor African, when in reality those populations are not at all the same.

A participant asked the speakers to draw links between the current and future intergenerational inequality, in terms of human capital, natural capital, and other capabilities. Lutz said the first step is to find one broad metric by which to assess whether intergenerational inequality is improving. He said currently the best metric is survival (life expectancy at birth), as it is universally accepted, but a more meaningful and direct metric may exist. Eloundou-Enyegue suggested a look at current patterns. Unequal societies today are likely to bifurcate further-some in the population will have the incentive to reduce fertility rates, while others will invest in larger families. The inequality of the two groups will continue to drift even further apart. The risk is that this pattern will continue indefinitely. Milanović said that migration is a tool that has the potential to significantly reduce inequality. Currently, about 3 percent of the population migrates, but 8 percent of the population would like to do so; thus, he said, there is a pent-up demand for migration.

A participant asked about the probability of escaping the lowest quintile of income-in other words, the likelihood of rising out of poverty. The participant stated that the current data in the United States vary by city; in cities such as New York and Boston, one has a 12 percent chance of leaving poverty. In Atlanta, the chance drops to 4 percent. The participant asked if absolute inequality is the only metric or if another metric can measure social mobility. Milanović responded that data on intergenerational mobility show a correlation between current inequality and lack of mobility. This is particularly true in the United States, where there is high inequality and low intergenerational mobility. Milanović said the correlation between parent and child income is quite high, around 0.5. In European countries, the number is closer to 0.3. He stated that the lack of social mobility in the United States conflicts with Americans' self-perception; they believe their children have the opportunity to move up quickly in the world (known as the "Great Gatsby curve"). Eloundou-Enyegue said that mobility in the United States has been structural in nature-that new "slots" in the middle class have opened up in addition to merely replacing someone in the middle class. If these opportunities vanish, so does mobility. Lutz pointed out that by far the most important path to upward social mobility is education, and this is true in every country in the world. The Nordic countries have high-quality public education and a correspondingly high level of social mobility. In countries where the best education is private, mobility is significantly lower. Eloundou-Enyegue countered that only so much inequality can be addressed by education alone, however, and there needs to be concerted cultivation-a deliberate attempt to invest in children beyond the classroom. Milanović noted, for example, that the average family income for a student attending Harvard University is in the second highest percentile of average American income-yet another indicator of lack of mobility.

1

2

The Gini coefficient is a statistical measure of inequality, represented as a measure between 0 (complete equality) and 1 (complete inequality).

3

The Human Development Index is a single composite metric that combines indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment, and income to measure development (United Nations Development Reports, see http://hdr​.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi [February 2014]).

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Resource Distribution and Global Inequality

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The session on Resource Distribution and Global Inequality was chaired by steering committee member B.L. Turner II (Arizona State University), with presentations by Branko Milanović (World Bank), Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue (Cornell University), and Wolfgang Lutz (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis). Their presentations and the ensuing discussion are summarized below.

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The NFL draft has been around since 1934 and yesterday was the first round of the 2023 Draft.

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Learn the history of the NFL Draft. | NFL Football Operations

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The NFL Draft has come a long way from its much humbler beginnings in the sport’s early days.

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Difficult childhoods has been scientifically proven to be a huge cause to anxiety. Extreme stress, trauma have also been proven to be huge impacts of having anxiety. Most of the time anxiety is from something that has happened and it hangs over your head and it gets you so worked up to do something like that again.

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The National Football League have just had there first round draft yesterday. After weeks of speculation quarterback from Kentucky was not picked while is counterparts were. Shockingly the Houston Texans traded for a first round 3rd pick.

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One in five teens lives with a mental health condition. Half of all mental illnesses begin by age 14 and 75 percent begin by the mid-20’s. That means more teens than we think in the United States are struggling with a mental health challenge right now and many don’t know what to do.

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Mental Health First Aid USA on June 19, 2019

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Why Teen Mental Health Needs to be Addressed - Mental Health First Aid

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“It’s not really ‘normal’ to talk about mental health with people. Being able to help everyone know about mental health and the real struggles that everyone is experiencing is important,” said Drew Voris, a recent graduate of Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Mo., and one of the students who nati…

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https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-united-states-can-end-hunger-and-food-insecurity-for-millions-of-people/

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The United States Can End Hunger and Food Insecurity for Millions of People

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Policymakers must reimagine the United States’ long-term approach to food production and distribution to build an equitable and sustainable system that works for all.

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New learning spaces are important because it helps students to become more motivated. Flexible seating is a great way to create new learning spaces.

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If you are looking for market insights into the education sector, MDR is THE industry source. Through our ongoing surveys, research, and other resources we inform education marketers about current trends and strategies for working with educators. Our latest report in the State of the K-12 Market series, The Impact of Learning Spaces on Student Success, covers the important and timely topic of the physical learning environment.

It's Time to Address How the Majority of Public Schools Were Designed

Why this topic? Why now? Some significant trends are impacting the design and function of today's classrooms, that have propelled the topic of intentional design to the forefront - especially as more charter schools are being developed and school renovations take place. Did you know that 45% of all current, public schools were built between 1950 and 1969? Furthermore, they were designed without the infrastructure to support the amount of technology used in the classroom today, or to support the sheer number of students walking through the doors - making many schools crowded and outdated.

Gen Z is Paving the Way

Generation Z is a generation of students who learn and communicate differently from previous generations, and the better schools can adapt to these digital natives, the more effective education will be for all stakeholders. This includes integrating technology in the classroom, including teaching labs and other student spaces. More and more classrooms will become increasingly blended, as course delivery becomes progressively digital.

The Impact of Learning Spaces on Student Success

70% would like larger classrooms. This report addresses a number of issues related to the physical classroom environment including:

The benefits of flexible seating and collaborative opportunities. Students are engaged and motivated when the environment allows for movement, which 85% of respondents need in their ideal classroom.

Improved integration and upgrades to support the latest capabilities of educational technology.

Adaptations of the learning environment to accommodate different learning styles including a blend of in-person and online experiences.

Who Can Use This Report?

Looking for the latest research on how the learning environment impacts student success? Curriculum and technology developers, school furniture providers, as well as related industry professionals who work to improve student success can use this research as they create their product, sales and marketing plans.

With understanding comes better planning for the future - and we all have an opportunity to create the innovative classrooms of tomorrow.
You can get the Learning Spaces Report here.
Have questions on the data in this report? Contact us at 800-333-8802 or email us at mdrinfo@dnb.com.

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The Impact of Learning Spaces on Student Success - MDR's Latest Report - MDR

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Some significant trends are impacting the design and function of today's classrooms that have propelled the learning spaces topic to the forefront, regarding the schools of tomorrow, especially as more charter schools are being developed and school renovations take place.

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Summary : In every sport your gonna get injured at least 1 time when your playing. Basketball especially as it has the highest percentage of injuries in any other sport. Some injuries include a broken leg, a fractured knee, dislocated ankle etc.

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Getting hurt is part of the game, but some injuries are worse than others. Much worse.

Worst Sports Injuries

Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann borke both the tibia and fibula in his right leg during a game against the New York Giants in 1985.

One of the few things guaranteed in sports is injuries. Almost every athlete from every sport has to deal with getting hurt at some point. Some injuries only knock out an athlete for a few days or weeks. Others keep them out for years or maybe even for good. And in rare cases, injuries become famous.

This fame can be because of the athletes involved in the injury, what caused the pain or the gruesome nature of the damage done. Many doctors will tell you that some of the strangest and least common injuries they've ever come across happened during a sporting competition.

If you can stomach it, take a look at the most famous and gruesome injuries in sports history.
Warning: The following contains graphic content some may find disturbing.

Kevin Ware - Open Fracture of Leg

Year: 2013

Sport: Basketball

What happened: Kevin Ware jumped to block a shot and landed awkwardly on his right leg.

Famous words: "I'm fine, just win the game." - Ware, while receiving medical attention on the court

Bottom line: If you prefer not to watch a clip of Kevin Ware's horrific injury, all you have to do is look at the reactions of the Louisville bench during the play. That will tell you just how gruesome a scene it was.

Ware was a backup guard on a Louisville team that went on to win a since-vacated national championship, and when jumping to defend a 3-point shot, he landed in the worst way possible. Ware's shin bone literally protruded through his skin so that his lower leg settled into a right angle.

He was somehow able to return to play just eight months after the injury and wrapped up his college career in 2016 at Georgia State.

Mick Foley - Ear Torn Off

Year: 1994

Sport: Wrestling

What happened: Part of Nick Foley's ear loosened when his head was tied between two ropes and then knocked off by his opponent.

Famous words: "I later asked what did it look like. It looked like a piece of uncooked chicken with tape on it." - Foley, on his injured ear

Bottom line: Wrestling may be scripted and "fake," but the injuries are real. Foley, in his "Cactus Jack" character, was wrestling "Big Van Vader" in Germany when Foley got his head tangled between two ropes.

When he finally freed himself, his ear was split, and then Foley and Vader began trading blows. Vader then reached at Foley's ear and off fell part of that split ear into the middle of the ring. The referee picked it up and handed it to the ring announcer, who took it to the back.

Foley could have had surgery to reattach the part of his ear, but he was booked to win the tag-team titles and didn't want to miss that opportunity.

So, to this day, he is missing part of his ear but is a one-time WCW Tag Team Champion.

David Robinson - Concussion Via Karl Malone's Elbow

Year: 1998

Sport: Basketball

What happened: Karl Malone swung his left elbow around, and it connected with the side of David Robinson's head, crumpling him to the ground.

Famous words: "I wasn't trying to hit him, of course. David's a great friend of mine. That's just a play that we run, where I turn to the basket like that." - Karl Malone

Bottom line: Karl Malone had a history of delivering deadly elbows to fellow Hall of Famers. He once bloodied Isiah Thomas to the tune of 40 stitches earlier in his career. But this elbow to David Robinson's temple seemed accidental as Malone jumped and spun around, and his elbow connected with Robinson's head.

"The Admiral" immediately fell to the ground with his head also crashing into the floor. Knocked out cold and spasming, Robinson was unconscious for two minutes and spent the night in a hospital, where Malone visited him after the game.

Even though it was accidental, "The Mailman" was still fined $5,000 and suspended for one game.

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Getting hurt is part of the game, but some injuries are worse than others. Much worse. One of the few things guaranteed in sports is injuries. Almost every athlete from every sport has to deal with getting hurt at some point. Some injuries only knock out an athlete for a few days or weeks.

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Advanced military technology has been a problem for many nations due to its high costs. Rand Research has provided recommendations to help military leaders improvised cost-estimating tools to help the military not spend as much

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Cost growth in the development and fielding of technologically advanced weapon systems has become a major economic burden for many nations and is expected to be an enduring and prevalent problem. RAND research has provided cost analyses and recommendations to help policymakers and military leaders d…

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Many experts worry the rapid developments of artificial intelligence may have unforeseen disastrous consequences for humanity.

Machine learning is designed to assist humans in their everyday life and provide the world with open access to information. However, the unregulated nature of AI could lead to harmful consequences for its users and the world as a whole. Read below to find out the risks of AI.

1. Why are humans so afraid of AI?

2. Is artificial intelligence dangerous?

3. In what situations could AI be dangerous to humans?

4. What are the real-life risks of AI?

5. What are the hypothetical risks of AI?

6. What are the privacy risks of AI?

7. Why should you perform your own research on AI?

CHATGPT AND HEALTH CARE: COULD THE AI CHATBOT CHANGE THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE?
1. Why are humans so afraid of AI?

The emergence of artificial intelligence has led to feelings of uncertainty, fear, and hatred toward a technology that most people do not fully understand. AI can automate tasks that previously only humans could complete, such as writing an essay, organizing an event, and learning another language. However, experts worry that the era of unregulated AI systems may create problems for humanity as it continues to evolve.

Some fear AI due to the unknown. Right now, the rapid growth of AI technology has humans worried that it will eventually be able to outsmart them.

" AI, if you just improve it without limitation, will be smarter than human. And by default, it will be far more powerful than human," Connor Leahy, CEO of Conjecture, told Fox News Digital.

"It will be able to deceive humans, it will be able to manipulate them. They'll be able to develop new technologies, much more powerful new weapons, new systems that we cannot understand, and we can't control."

Leahy also described what could happen if AI becomes too powerful, and the danger it could pose if it is indifferent to the human race.

"If such systems exist, it's like having an alien species on our planet. And if that alien species is hostile to us, or they even are just indifferent to us, we're in big trouble."

Some developments in AI have alarmed humans, specifically due to its inaccuracies and bias.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FAQ
AI systems can articulate complex ideas coherently and quickly due to large data sets and information. However, the information used by AI to generate responses tends to be incorrect because AI's inability to distinguish valid data. The open-access usage of these AI systems may further promote this misinformation in academic papers, articles, and essays.

In addition, the algorithms that compose the operational capabilities of AI are built by humans who naturally collaborate with their own political and social biases.

If humanity becomes reliant on AI to seek out information, then these systems could bend research in a way that benefits one side vs the other. Certain AI chat programs, such as ChatGPT, have faced allegations of operating with a liberal bias by refusing to generate information about topics like Hunter Biden's laptop scandal.

2. Is artificial intelligence dangerous?

Artificial intelligence can be advantageous to humans, including by way of streamlining simple and complex everyday tasks, and acting as a ready-to-go 24/7 assistant. However, AI does have the potential to get out of control.

"There are many already existing dangers, which are already a problem," Leahy said. "These systems already are unreliable. They can already be used to generate spam and misleading information. They can be used for catfishing. Stuff like this is already possible," he continued.

One of the dangers of AI is its ability to be weaponized by corporate entities or governments to restrict the rights of the public. For example, AI has the capability of using the data of facial recognition technology to track the location of individuals and families. China's government regularly uses this technology to target protesters and those advocating against regime policies.

Moreover, AI can be of assistance to the financial industry by advising investors on market decisions. Companies use AI algorithms to help build models that predict future market volatility and when to buy or sell stocks. However, algorithms do not use the same context that humans use when making market decisions and do not understand the fragility of the everyday economy.

AI DATA LEAK CRISIS: NEW TOOL PREVENTS COMPANY SECRETS FROM BEING FED TO CHATGPT
AI could complete thousands of trades within a day to help boost profits but may contribute to the next market crash by scaring investors. Financial institutions need to have a deep understanding of the algorithms of these programs to ensure there are safety nets to stop AI from overselling stocks.

Religious and political leaders have also noted how the rapid development of machine learning technology can lead to a degradation of morals and cause humanity to become completely reliant on artificial intelligence. Tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT may be used by college students to forge essays, thus making academic dishonesty easier for millions of people. Meanwhile, jobs that once gave individuals purpose and fulfillment, as well as a means of living, could be erased overnight as AI continues to accelerate in public life.

3. In what situations could AI be dangerous to humans?

Artificial intelligence can lead to invasion of privacy, social manipulation, and economic uncertainty. But another aspect to consider is how the rapid, everyday use of AI can lead to discrimination and socioeconomic struggles for millions of people. Machine learning technology collects a trove of data on users, including information that financial institutions and government agencies may use against you.

A common example is a car insurance company raising your premiums based on how many times an AI program has tracked you using your phone while driving. In the employment arena, companies may use AI hiring programs to filter out the qualities they want in the candidates. This may exclude people of color and individuals with fewer opportunities.

The most dangerous element to consider with artificial intelligence is that these programs do not make decisions based on the same emotional or social context as humans. Although AI may be used and created with good intentions, it could lead to the unforeseen dangers of discrimination, privacy abuse, and rampant political bias.

It can be difficult to pinpoint examples of when AI might pose a problem to humans, since predicting advancements is nearly impossible.

"There are many ways a human could be dangerous. AI doesn't have emotion. So, you have a completely sociopathic system that is smarter than all the humans that never sleeps, never rests, can work all the time and is extremely good at hacking and coding," Leahy said. "What happens if these systems fall into the hands of people who are dangerous, and who do want bad things for the world?"

4. What are the real-life risks of AI?

Artificial intelligence poses several real-life risks to individuals across the class spectrum in the United States, including economic uncertainty and legal trouble.

For example, in February 2023, Getty Images, one of the world's largest online photography companies, filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, a popular text-to-machine learning generator. AI is largely unregulated by the federal government, however, Getty's lawsuit could potentially set the legal framework for machine learning via the court system. Therefore, legal risks exist for AI generators backed by multi billion-dollar companies.

Other risks of AI include dealing with a faulty AI navigation system that leads you in the wrong direction and makes you late for an appointment or significant event. Self-driving cars operate on a complex machine learning technology and are utilized by automobile companies such as Tesla. These AI cars have malfunctioned in the past and caused accidents that have led to serious injury and death.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE QUIZ! HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW AI?
Technology, as we know it, has always had risks and rewards; this isn't a new idea.

"Every technology that has ever been invented, really, or almost every one has been a double-edged sword. They give us power, they give us more control over our environment, which can be used for good and also for evil. It can also cause harm," Leahy said.

As AI technology advances, there is more room for negative outcomes.

"If you could get 1000 Einsteins to work on any project you want for $10 an hour, what would be possible? It would be crazy what could be possible in the future there," Leahy said. "There are risks from if we can even control these systems."

If humans control AI systems, misuse of technology could be a true threat. AI also has the power to alter the day-to-day functions of today's typical society.

"How do we deal with this different society where there's no jobs? Like, why would there be jobs? You know, all the labor is automated, all the thinking is automated. What now?" asked Leahy. "I don't have an answer to this. Maybe we'll all just relax and have a great time. Or maybe we're like, 'No, we don't want this, actually we do we love having work or labor or whatever.' I don't know. I don't have the answer for this."

In the future, Leahy feels that the world will look a lot different than it does today in due time.

"The only prediction I can really make is that I don't expect this to slow down. I expect things to go even faster," he said.

5. What are the hypothetical risks of AI?

The economic devastation resulting from the accelerated development of artificial intelligence has the potential to change the lives of millions of lower and upper-income families forever. For instance, Goldman Sachs released a report in March 2023 that predicted that AI could potentially eliminate 300 million around the world, including 19% of existing jobs in the United States.

6. What are the privacy risks of AI?

Artificial intelligence is prevalent in the lives of millions of people through a variety of different technologies, including products such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana. Personal data collection is regularly used by these AI assistants in order to operate effectively.

Leahy noted the early developments in AI that pose a threat, specifically those built for cyber weapon capabilities and hacking. Governments or private corporations could use AI technology to exploit, investigate, or monitor private citizens.

"Currently, there is a lot of limitations on AI systems, where you train them on lots of data. And the truth is, many people don't really know what is in those datasets that they're trained on," Leahy explained. "These are unbelievably massive dumps of information from the Internet, and books and papers and all kinds of stuff. And a lot of that includes information that is personally identifiable information or information that shouldn't be shared unnecessarily. And these systems do suck up this information."

7. Why should you perform your own research on AI?

Artificial intelligence is a controversial topic on which experts have varying opinions. Data scientists have performed research on AI for a number of years, more than one might think, and they have individually come to differing conclusions on the benefits, drawbacks, and risks of the innovation.

Because of this, it is important to do your own research when both understanding AI and making your own decisions with respect to its risks and benefits.

One way to obtain an understanding of the level of bias that is truly present with AI is to perform your own trial and error testing with the chatbots. Ask questions or discuss topics you have a great understanding of and distinguish between truth or bias from the answers the bot outputs.

While chatbots are the latest and most exciting revolution in AI for the public, beware that it likely will not end there. Acknowledging there will be advanced innovations to come will prepare you for more research in the future.

Beyond understanding bias in AI innovations, having an understanding of the past, present, and future of the technology will also guide you in making decisions to trust or use AI. There are a number of books, blogs, podcasts, articles, videos, etc. for you to read and watch. AI education comes in nearly all forms, from basic to advanced instruction.

This technology isn't going anywhere. Rather, it is just the opposite. That is why it's important to keep yourself up to date and informed about the new technologies that come into play.

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What are the dangers of AI? Find out why people are afraid of artificial intelligence

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The unregulated nature and accelerating usage of artificial intelligence in everyday life may lead to dangerous circumstances for humanity.

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In the article I looked at it talked about specific changes in engines like the crankshaft and turbochargers. It also talked about the horsepower increased overtime.

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Differences Between Modern and Older Car Engines

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While the basic workings of old and new car engines are the same, quite a lot has actually changed.

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We all know that bullying can leave kids and teens with bumps and bruises. The effects of bullying can be both physical and emotional, and they can last for many years. For example, bullying can result in ongoing issues, such as depression, that can have various effects on teens and kids that could possibly carry on into their adult years.

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The Long-term Effects of Bullying and Depression

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Bullying can leave your child with bruises that will eventually heal, but there can be lasting effects that can wreak havoc on your child's life into their teenage years.

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avier Sotomayor won Olympic gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The Cuban great set the current high jump world record of 2.45m in 1993 and is the first man in history to jump over 8ft.

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One of two field events also referred to as vertical jumps, competitors in the high jump take off (unaided) from one foot over a four-metre long horizontal bar. They seek to clear the greatest height without knocking the bar to the ground. Athletes land on a crash mat.

All competitors have three attempts per height, although they can elect to 'pass', i.e. advance to a greater height despite not having cleared the current one. Three consecutive failures at the same height, or combination of heights, leads to elimination.

If competitors are tied on the same height, the winner is the one with fewest failures at that height. If competitors are still tied, the winner will have had the fewest failures across the entire competition. Thereafter, a jump-off will decide the winner. The jump-off will start at the next greater height. Each jumper has one attempt and the bar is lowered and raised until one jumper succeeds at one height.

The event demands speed, explosive power and agility among other qualities. At major championships the format is usually a qualification competition followed by a final.

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One of two field events also referred to as vertical jumps, competitors in the high jump take off (unaided) from one foot over a four-metre long horizontal bar. They seek to clear the greatest height without knocking the bar to the ground. Athletes land on a crash mat.

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some challenges that are on TicTok are life threatening. the privacy polices on TicTok don't add up and are very sketchy and your phone is no longer safe. it can be very inappropriate for younger viewers and they are exposed to a lot.

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TikTok is a significant stain on the already-tainted world of social media. You should delete your account today. Here's why.

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Summary: Farm animals can be very helpful in providing food and materials for us. While they give back in fertilizer (manure) they can also spread their waste in water sources.

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Livestock animals, such as cows, sheep, goats and chickens, have many roles in the farm ecosystem. They eat corn and hay grown on the farm, they provide milk, eggs, wool and meat for humans, and their waste can fertilize the soil. Animal manure contains many nutrients that plants can use to grow. Some farmers collect the manure generated in their barns and spread it on their fields. Animal waste can also be a problem, however. Bacteria in manure can cause diseases. If livestock are near streams, their waste may enter the water that other animals (including humans) may want to drink.

Wild animals are also part of the farm ecosystem. Deer and raccoons may eat a farmer's corn crop, while groundhogs can dig under their fields. Scarecrows are used to scare away wild birds from stealing grain out of farmers' fields, but they also scare away birds that might eat harmful insects. Skunks, toads, frogs also help the farmer by eating harmful insects. Farmers use fences to keep out unwanted animals.

Sheep can be rotated between pastures so they have younger, tastier plants to graze on.
Photo by Stephanie Martin

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Livestock animals, such as cows, sheep, goats and chickens, have many roles in the farm ecosystem. They eat corn and hay grown on the farm, they provide milk, eggs, wool and meat for humans, and their waste can fertilize the soil. Animal manure contains many nutrients that plants can use to grow.

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Adolescents are experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis. According to the newest data from the Center of Disease Control ( CDC), more than 1 in every 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the recent pandemic. Nearly half of students felt persistently sad or hopeless, while about two-thirds of these teenagers had difficulty completing schoolwork.

This means that in a classroom of about 30 students, it's estimated that 10 individuals were (and may still be) struggling with their mental health.

While mental health issues escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic, data shows that we have been trending in this direction for some time. In 2019, the prevalence of mental illness among youth was also notably high in comparison to years prior. According to experts, the rise in mental illness among youth could be due to a number of factors, including:

The pervasiveness of social media and its impact on youth

Heightened academic pressure among teenagers

Frequent use of substances like drugs and alcohol

Increased openness about mental health struggles

Broader issues such as racism, inequality, gun violence, and climate change affecting our society

Unfortunately, however, not all youth get professional help. In fact, most youth in the United States -  close to 80 percent  - who need mental health services do not get them.

As a parent, you may suspect your teen is struggling with their mental health. You may have noticed your teen is becoming more distant, less motivated, or exhibiting abnormal emotional or behavioral changes. Perhaps you are worried about your teen's vulnerability, especially during this back-to-school season. You are not alone.

"Does school cause mental illness?" and "How does school affect mental health?" are two very frequent questions asked by hundreds of parents. After all, sending your child off to school - whether that's middle school, high school, or college - reduces your ability to really monitor them. You are, inherently, less involved with their day-to-day activities and friendships.

While education has obvious benefits on all adolescents and young adults, going to school also comes with some inevitable risks. For example, school introduces opportunities for bullying, peer pressure, self-esteem issues, and of course, academic stress. Going to school also causes many children and teens to recognize learning difficulties. However, does school actually affect mental health? Let's find out.

Does School Cause Mental Illness?

While there are common risk factors for mental illness that are introduced in school, school itself does not cause mental health problems. Typically, mental health problems during adolescence stem from:

Biological factors, in which chemical balances in the brain cause a person to be more vulnerable to mental illness

Genetic factors, influenced by a family history of mental health problems

Environmental factors, typically in the early stages of life and adolescence

Of course, environmental factors that trigger mental health problems can happen at school, or stem from a school-related experience. For example, common reasons that teenagers struggle with mental illness include:

Stress related to academic or athletic performance

Bullying or inability to fit in with social circles

Low self-esteem and self-worth (i.e. feelings of inadequacy)

Social expectations and the desire to be or look a certain way

Verbal, physical, or emotional abuse

Traumatic experiences, such as an accident or loss of a loved one

Substance abuse, which may stem from peer pressure

Constant worry or anxiety about other life stressors

An unstable home environment or unsafe living conditions

So, How Does School Affect Mental Health?

While school alone does not cause mental illness among youth, it is important for parents to recognize that certain school-related factors could trigger the onset of a mental health problem.

For example, academic stress is a leading cause of mental health struggles in students. More than ever, adolescents and young adults feel pressure to go to college, pursue extracurricular activities, excel in their courses, and pass universal, standardized tests. In other words, some students feel like they need to balance-and excel at-it all. This is felt across a variety of student populations, no matter their upbringing, their socioeconomic status, or their learning abilities.

One  recent study, conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, found that students in "high-achieving schools" (who commonly grow up in affluent families) are at risk of developing behavioral and mental health problems as those living in foster care or poverty, those with incarcerated parents, and recent immigrants.

When facing academic stress, adolescents and young adults are more likely to develop anxiety or depression. They also experience less well-being and tend to do poorly in school. When given a better academic situation, or academic support, research  suggests that students experience improved mental health. So, what leads to academic stress?

Academic stress can be caused by:

High-stakes testing, especially standardized exams

Demanding academic coursework

Excessive homework or projects

High pressure from parents to succeed academically

Pressure to get into college or university

Overbooked schedules and the pressure to balance multiple activities and school

Fear of failure

Lack of sleep or poor appetite in trying to meet expectations at school

Transferring schools or transitioning to a new school

Classrooms that do not properly fulfill a student's developmental or learning needs

Stressful relationships with peers at school

Conflicts with teachers or peers at school

As a parent, it's important to recognize that these factors may be affecting your child, teen, or young adult. However, by having open conversations in your home, you will be able to keep in touch and keep tabs on your child's well-being. Ask questions related to your child's feelings about school and any issues they may be facing. Ask about their relationships with faculty and peers. Let them know that, as much as you want them to succeed, you also want them to be happy and healthy most of all. Tell them to prioritize their mental and physical health first and foremost. This can help to remove some of the pressure your teen places upon themselves.

You can also teach your son or daughter how to effectively cope with stress. While this will vary depending on their age, and there is certainly no one-size-fits-all approach, you can teach stress-reducing tactics such as journaling, exercise, meditation, and art therapies as ways to mitigate some of the stress your child may be facing. You can also encourage them to:

Take breaks and take time for themselves to de-stress

Set realistic yet flexible deadlines so they do not feel the need to crunch

Make a plan or to-do list, when they are unable to focus

Have open conversations with you, their parent(s), about their concerns

Develop good relationships with their teachers

Develop the ability to ask for help when it's needed - asking for help is okay!

Parents should also be open about the topic of mental health in your home. If your child is facing issues with depression, anxiety, trauma, or stress, these should be talked about. Early intervention and support for teens struggling with mental health issues can be an essential step in setting them up for long-term health and success.

How Does School Positively Impact Mental Health?

While the above focuses on the potential implications of school-related factors on mental health, it is important to make clear that education has clear, positive benefits on a person's mental well-being. According to research cited by News-Medical.net, higher levels of education are associated with better mental health, due to the availability of choices that educated people have in their lifetimes (such as the ability to choose a career, choose to travel, spend money, and more). Lower education is generally associated with a lack of control and resilience, as well as exposure to more day-to-day stressors. This can negatively impact a person's mental health and lead to disorders like depression.

Therefore, education can be key to success-physically and mentally.

How Does Mental Illness Affect School Performance?

Mental health problems are known to disrupt a person's daily life and functioning, especially when left untreated. School performance is no exception. As cited by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, mental illness can affect a student's energy level, dependability, ability to concentrate, mental aptitude, and their optimism towards success. Research also shows that depression and anxiety are also associated with lower grade point averages (GPAs), and depression often leads students to drop out of school.

For example, in a survey from the American College Health Association, college students reported that their mental health was being negatively stress (30%), anxiety (22%), sleeping problems (20%), and depression (14%). This survey was conducted in 2015, and it is highly likely that these figures have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Mental health problems affect more than just school performance, however. When left untreated, mental illness in youth can also lead to dangerous substance abuse and the development of co-occurring mental health disorders. It can also lead to incarceration, unemployment, homelessness, poor quality of life, self-harm, and suicide. For these reasons and more, addressing mental health as soon as possible is critical to helping your child.

Early Intervention is Important for Mental Illness

Most mental health problems begin during the adolescent and young adult years, with 75 percent of mental illnesses emerging by age 24. Being able to recognize your child's mental health is extremely important for their well-being, their health, and their future success. As a parent, you should know:

Mental illness is very common during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. You are not alone in this.

Mental health disorders are treatable. There are an array of treatments available to your teen or young adult. The right treatment program for your teen is out there. Call Turnbridge at 877-581-1793 to learn more.

Early intervention strategies are effective. The earlier you address mental health problems, the better chance your teen has at lasting outcomes and good health.

If you are worried about your young one facing a mental health problem, do not hesitate to reach out for help. Turnbridge is a recognized mental health treatment provider for young adults and adolescents struggling. You may contact us at 877-581-1793 to learn more, or explore our programs online.

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Does School Cause Mental Illness? | School & Mental Health | Turnbridge

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Adolescents are experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis. According to the newest data from the Center of Disease Control ( CDC), more than 1 in every 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the recent pandemic. Nearly half of students felt persistently sad or hopeless, while about two-thirds of these teenagers had difficulty completing schoolwork.

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College is a scam because it is very expensive with very little education output, the main benefit is a good report on your resume.

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In many societies, the ultimate goal for children once they graduate from high school is to continue on to a college education. Many feel that with a degree, young adults will be much more prepared for their future, having the ability to lock down a secure and stable job that will allow them to live a comfortable life thereafter. But is college a reasonable investment in this day and age? Many people are wondering if college is a scam, based on the high cost of tuition. And, if it is a scam, what are your alternatives?

Is A College Education Worth It Or Is College A Scam?

As tuition costs (especially in the United States) have gone up exponentially, and as it's getting harder and harder for young people to find a well-paying job even with their degree, many are starting to question whether or not college in the United States is worth it or not.

Is college one of the biggest financial scams in the world, or is it still a stepping stone on a journey towards a reliable and stable future? Or, can it be both? And are there any alternatives? Let's dig in to find out all the facts.

How Many College Students Are Just Keeping Up With The Joneses?

One of the things that we have to look at when deciding whether or not to attend college is the reasons we are considering going down this path in the first place. According to a study mentioned, 44% of undergraduates are not able to identify the industry they want to work in once they graduate. Therefore, we can assume that most people choose to go to college simply because it's what "everyone is doing" and what everyone in society has done before them.

So, when you go to a college campus, you have to wonder how many of the students are only there because they felt they had to appease their family, fulfil expectations, etc., versus how many are genuinely there because they want to be there and are certain that earning a degree will benefit their future. There's no question that there's somewhat of a stigma attached to those who choose a different path from college, so many will attend simply to "keep up with the Joneses."

6 Reasons Why People Think College Is A Scam

While there may be several reasons that people are beginning to think that college is a scam, the main reason is due to the costs which run parallel to this idea that college is the only way.

For many of us, in our parents' and our grandparents' generation, tuition was affordable, and it was almost guaranteed that you'd find a (well-paying) job shortly after graduation. But, as tuition has gone up and many graduates are jobless with debt, we must dig a little deeper to understand whether college is worth it or not.

1. The Accessibility Of The Internet

The first reason that many people believe that college is a scam is due to the accessibility we have to the internet today. Way back when, people who wanted a different life had to go to college to learn, as there weren't many other options. This is especially true for people who came from more rural areas.

However, today, we can essentially look up anything we want with a few strokes at the keyboard. People can access all kinds of information with the internet. Of course, you can't possibly learn everything online - certain careers require actual applied skills that likely require a formal or hands-on classroom environment to learn. But the internet has definitely made all different types of paths and futures accessible to anyone who is willing to self-educate.

2. The Cost And Student Loans

The number one reason people think college is a scam is the sheer cost and the student loans that students need to take out in order to pay for their tuition.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the average price for in-state tuition for the 2019-2020 year was $10,116, with public out-of-state tuition costing $22,577 on average, and private colleges costing $36,801, with some costing as much as $50,000.

Remember, these prices are just for one year, and most students go for four. This means many students have to take out loans for school, with very high interest rates and the inability to declare bankruptcy on the loans themselves if they have a hard time in the future. Because of this, most students graduate college already tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and if they do land a job, a lot of their earnings will go towards paying off this debt.

3. Degrees Are Not Always Necessary

But, isn't college necessary, no matter the cost? Many people support going to college despite the tuition amount, because they believe it's the only path towards a stable and promising career that will set you up for life.

Well, today, some of the world's biggest companies - like Google, Apple, and Netflix - no longer require their employees to have a college degree. This is mostly due to the fact that people are able to self-educate the necessary skills, while their employer can fill in any gaps with training and mentoring. In addition to this, many feel that attending a trade school or even opening a business is a much more viable (and less expensive) option.

4. College Is A (Big) Business

Surely the money a student is spending on their degree goes to a good cause, no? Not exactly.

While the faculty needs to be paid and students benefit from clubs, events, and activities on campus, most institutions of higher education are simply in it for the profit. More often than not, colleges are just big businesses. And, even with many offering scholarships and grants, it's usually the students who end up being taken advantage of while the college continues to deepen its pockets.

5. The Cost Of Books

If you thought tuition wasn't enough, there's also the cost of books. CollegeBoard states that students pay nearly $1,300 a year on average for their books and other school supplies in any given year.

Although student loans may cover these costs, most students have to pay for these supplies out of pocket. Once a course is complete, it's likely the book won't be needed anymore. And, most won't be able to re-sell the books for the same cost they bought them at.

6. The Cost Of Room And Board

In addition to books and supplies, the cost of room and board is another reason why many think college is a scam. One of the appeals of college in the United States is the experience of living on a college campus, which means that many students will choose to live in dorms. According to CollegeBoard, room and board for the 2019-2020 year was about $12,000 on average.

4 Actual College Scams

So, whether or not college is a scam is really up to you to decide. But, aside from this, there are also actual college scams that students and potential students need to look out for if and when they consider enrolling in school.

1. Financial Aid And Scholarship Scams

Because of the high costs of college, most students will need to seek out financial aid and/or scholarships to help cover these costs. Today, there are now many companies that will take advantage of students with these services, by promising something they won't deliver on. They may have interest rates or hidden terms and conditions that require the student to pay back the money or they require students to pay in order to get these services in the first place.

2. Roommate And Rental Housing Scams

For students looking to save money on room and board by living off campus, there's always the risk of falling victim to a roommate and/or rental housing scam. Because many students are coming from far away or out-of-state, they are often inexperienced with finding housing. People will take advantage of this with fake rental ads, encouraging these students to do something like sending over money to "hold their room." Of course, there was no room to begin with, and now this scammer has the money you've set aside for living expenses.

3. Phone And Phishing Scams

Once the Internet knows you're a college student or a prospective college student, there are scammers that will use this knowledge to call you or email you and pretend to be the university, a bank, or institution that provides grants/loans/scholarships, etc. They'll sound legitimate, and ask you to confirm your information which the scammer did not have in the first place. Now they have your Social Security number, name, birthdate, address, etc. If someone calls you, never give this information without first doing your due diligence.

4. Online And Social Media Scams

The internet and social media has made life easier for many people, but it is also a way to easily get scammed. Social media sites can advertise fake universities, freebies and giveaways, as well as surveys to earn money or a gift card. Again, these can all be used to collect your sensitive information.

How To Avoid A College Scam (And Still Get Your Degree)

As you can see, it's clear why many people today feel that college is a scam, or at the very least, how it can leave you vulnerable to other scams. At the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with wanting to earn your degree, because in many cases, a degree is not only valuable, but may also be necessary for whatever career you want to pursue.

If you can, therefore, eliminate some of the things that make people consider college a scam - such as the high costs - then it may actually be a very good deal.

The University of the People, for example, is the first accredited institution of higher education in the United States that's tuition-free, so you don't have to worry about spending thousands of dollars on a degree that may or may not help you out in the future.

What's The Right Choice For You?

So, with all things considered, what is the right choice for you? Is college still worth it, or are you better off choosing a different path?

Ultimately, that decision is up to you, but there are a few things you can do to mitigate your concerns about whether or not college is a scam:

Choose a more affordable school.

Check out the job placement rates for programs you're interested in.

Save money where you can by buying or borrowing used textbooks.

See if you can join a work study program to save money on tuition.

Try vocational school or learning a course online before deciding on a degree.

Finally, if you're certain that a degree is for you, then consider getting your degree tuition-free at UoPeople!

You might also be interested in:

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College Is A Scam: The Truth Behind The Tales

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In many societies, the ultimate goal for children once they graduate from high school is to continue on to a college education. Many feel that with a degree, young adults will be much more prepared for their future, having the ability to lock down a secure and stable job that will allow them to live a comfortable life thereafter.

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Add a link to a relatively reliable source that shares more information about your specific issue.

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Climate change is a long-term weather change, Climate change is caused by humans using oils, gases, and coal from their homes. Compared to the past, the world is 1.1c warmer than the 19th century. Scientists have found that in a few years that 10%-15% of the ocean's species could be wiped out within a few years. Also, many ice caps are melting, causing polor bears and other species to get speperad from their young and they can't find food, so they are staving.

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What is climate change? A really simple guide

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Human activities are causing world temperatures to rise, posing serious threats to people and nature.

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/

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Language: English | French

Abstract

Over the past decade, the unfortunate reality is that the income gap has widened between Canadian families. Educational outcomes are one of the key areas influenced by family incomes. Children from low-income families often start school already behind their peers who come from more affluent families, as shown in measures of school readiness. The incidence, depth, duration and timing of poverty all influence a child's educational attainment, along with community characteristics and social networks. However, both Canadian and international interventions have shown that the effects of poverty can be reduced using sustainable interventions. Paediatricians and family doctors have many opportunities to influence readiness for school and educational success in primary care settings.

Keywords: Education, Interventions, Poverty, School readiness

Résumé

Depuis dix ans, l'écart des revenus s'est creusé entre les familles canadiennes, ce qui est une triste réalité. L'éducation est l'un des principaux domaines sur lesquels influe le revenu familial. Souvent, lorsqu'ils commencent l'école, les enfants de familles à faible revenu accusent déjà un retard par rapport à leurs camarades qui proviennent de familles plus aisées, tel que le démontrent les mesures de maturité scolaire. L'incidence, l'importance, la durée et le moment de la pauvreté ont tous une influence sur le rendement scolaire de l'enfant, de même que les caractéristiques de la communauté et les réseaux sociaux. Cependant, tant au Canada que sur la scène internationale, il est possible de réduire les effets de la pauvreté au moyen d'interventions soutenues. Les pédiatres et les médecins de familles ont de nombreuses occasions d'agir sur la maturité et la réussite scolaire dans le cadre des soins de premier recours.

Poverty remains a stubborn fact of life even in rich countries like Canada. In particular, the poverty of our children has been a continuing concern. In 1989, the Canadian House of Commons voted unanimously to eliminate poverty among Canadian children by 2000 ( 1). However, the reality is that, in 2003, one of every six children still lived in poverty. Not only have we been unsuccessful at eradicating child poverty, but over the past decade, the inequity of family incomes in Canada has grown ( 2), and for some families, the depth of poverty has increased as well ( 3). Canadian research confirms poverty's negative influence on student behaviour, achievement and retention in school ( 4).

Persistent socioeconomic disadvantage has a negative impact on the life outcomes of many Canadian children. Research from the Ontario Child Health Study in the mid-1980s reported noteworthy associations between low income and psychiatric disorders ( 5), social and academic functioning ( 6), and chronic physical health problems ( 7). Since that time, Canada has developed systematic measures that have enabled us to track the impact of a variety of child, family and community factors on children's well-being. The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) developed by Statistics Canada, Human Resources Development Canada and a number of researchers across the country was started in 1994 with the intention of following representative samples of children to adulthood ( 8). Much of our current knowledge about the development of Canadian children is derived from the analysis of the NLSCY data by researchers in a variety of settings.

One of the key areas influenced by family income is educational outcomes. The present article provides a brief review of the literature concerning the effects of poverty on educational outcomes focusing on Canadian research. Canadian data are placed in the perspective of research from other 'rich' countries. We conclude with some suggestions about what we can do, as advocates and practitioners, to work toward reducing the negative impact of economic disadvantage on the educational outcomes of our children.

POVERTY AND READINESS FOR SCHOOL

School readiness reflects a child's ability to succeed both academically and socially in a school environment. It requires physical well-being and appropriate motor development, emotional health and a positive approach to new experiences, age-appropriate social knowledge and competence, age-appropriate language skills, and age-appropriate general knowledge and cognitive skills ( 9). It is well documented that poverty decreases a child's readiness for school through aspects of health, home life, schooling and neighbourhoods. Six poverty-related factors are known to impact child development in general and school readiness in particular. They are the incidence of poverty, the depth of poverty, the duration of poverty, the timing of poverty (eg, age of child), community characteristics (eg, concentration of poverty and crime in neighborhood, and school characteristics) and the impact poverty has on the child's social network (parents, relatives and neighbors). A child's home has a particularly strong impact on school readiness. Children from low-income families often do not receive the stimulation and do not learn the social skills required to prepare them for school. Typical problems are parental inconsistency (with regard to daily routines and parenting), frequent changes of primary caregivers, lack of supervision and poor role modelling. Very often, the parents of these children also lack support.

Canadian studies have also demonstrated the association between low-income households and decreased school readiness. A report by Thomas ( 10) concluded that children from lower income households score significantly lower on measures of vocabulary and communication skills, knowledge of numbers, copying and symbol use, ability to concentrate and cooperative play with other children than children from higher income households. Janus et al ( 11) found that schools with the largest proportion of children with low school readiness were from neighbourhoods of high social risk, including poverty. Willms ( 12) established that children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) households scored lower on a receptive vocabulary test than higher SES children. Thus, the evidence is clear and unanimous that poor children arrive at school at a cognitive and behavioural disadvantage. Schools are obviously not in a position to equalize this gap. For instance, research by The Institute of Research and Public Policy (Montreal, Quebec) showed that differences between students from low and high socioeconomic neighbourhoods were evident by grade 3; children from low socioeconomic neighbourhoods were less likely to pass a grade 3 standards test ( 13).

POVERTY AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Studies emanating from successive waves of the NLSCY have repeatedly shown that socioeconomic factors have a large, pervasive and persistent influence over school achievement ( 14- 16). Phipps and Lethbridge ( 15) examined income and child outcomes in children four to 15 years of age based on data from the NLSCY. In this study, higher incomes were consistently associated with better outcomes for children. The largest effects were for cognitive and school measures (teacher-administered math and reading scores), followed by behavioural and health measures, and then social and emotional measures, which had the smallest associations.

These Canadian findings are accompanied by a large number of studies in the United States that have shown that socioeconomic disadvantage and other risk factors that are associated with poverty (eg, lower parental education and high family stress) have a negative effect on cognitive development and academic achievement, smaller effects on behaviour and inconsistent effects on socioemotional outcomes ( 17- 19). Living in extreme and persistent poverty has particularly negative effects ( 18), although the consequences of not being defined below the poverty line but still suffering from material hardship should not be underestimated ( 20). Furthermore, American studies found strong interaction effects between SES and exposure to risk factors. For instance, parents from disadvantaged backgrounds were not only more likely to have their babies born prematurely, but these prematurely born children were also disproportionately at higher risk for school failure than children with a similar neonatal record from higher income families ( 18).

It is worth noting that international studies have consistently shown similar associations between socioeconomic measures and academic outcomes. For example, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessed the comprehensive literacy skills of grade 4 students in 35 countries. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assessed reading, math and science scores of 15-year-old children in 43 countries ( 21). At these two different stages of schooling, there was a significant relationship between SES and educational measure in all countries. This relationship has come to be known as a 'socioeconomic gradient'; flatter gradients represent greater 'equity of outcome', and are generally associated with better average outcomes and a higher quality of life. Generally, the PISA and the NLSCY data support the conclusion that income or SES has important effects on educational attainment in elementary school through high school. Despite the results shown by the PISA and the NLSCY, schools are not the ultimate equalizer and the socioeconomic gradient still exists despite educational attainment. Test results can be misleading and can mask the gradient if the sample does not account for all children who should be completing the test. A study ( 13) completed by the Institute of Research and Public Policy demonstrated only small differences between low and high socioeconomic students when test results were compared in those students who sat for the examination. However, when results were compared for the entire body of children who should have written the examination, the differences between low and high socioeconomic students were staggering, mainly due to the over-representation of those who left school early in the low socioeconomic group.

Longitudinal studies carried out in the United States have been crucial in demonstrating some of the key factors in producing and maintaining poor achievement. Their findings have gone well beyond a model that blames schools or a student's background for academic failure. Comparisons of the academic growth curves of students during the school year and over the summer showed that much of the achievement gap between low and high SES students could be related to their out-of-school environment (families and communities). This result strongly supports the notion that schools play a crucial compensatory role; however, it also shows the importance of continued support for disadvantaged students outside of the school environment among their families and within their communities ( 22).

A Human Resource Development Canada study ( 23) titled "The Cost of Dropping Out of High School" reported that lower income students were more likely to leave school without graduating, which agrees with international data. In a nonrandom sample for a qualitative study, Ferguson et al ( 24) reported that one-half of Ontario students leaving high school before graduating were raised in homes with annual incomes lower than $30,000. Finally, in Canada, only 31% of youth from the bottom income quartile attended postsecondary education compared with 50.2% in the top income quartile ( 25). Once again, the evidence indicates that students from low-income families are disadvantaged right through the education system to postsecondary training.

REVERSING THE EFFECTS OF POVERTY

The negative effects of poverty on all levels of school success have been widely demonstrated and accepted; the critical question for us as a caring society is, can these effects be prevented or reversed? A variety of data are relevant to this question, and recent research gives us reason to be both positive and proactive.

Early intervention

There is a direct link between early childhood intervention and increased social and cognitive ability ( 26). Decreasing the risk factors in a child's environment increases a child's potential for development and educational attainment. Prevention and intervention programs that target health concerns (eg, immunization and prenatal care) are associated with better health outcomes for low-income children and result in increased cognitive ability ( 27). However, it is the parent-child relationship that has been proven to have the greatest influence on reversing the impact of poverty. Both parenting style ( 28) and parental involvement, inside and outside of the school environment ( 29), impact on a child's early development. Characteristics of parenting such as predictability of behaviour, social responsiveness, verbal behaviour, mutual attention and positive role modelling have been shown to have a positive effect on several aspects of child outcome. Parental involvement, such as frequency of outings ( 29) and problem-based play, creates greater intellectual stimulation and educational support for a child, and develops into increased school readiness ( 26).

Interventions act to advance a child's development through a range of supports and services. Their underlying goal is to develop the skills lacking in children, that have already developed in other children who are of a similar age. There is general agreement that interventions should be data driven, and that assessments and interventions should be closely linked. A primary evaluation of a child and family support systems is, therefore, pivotal in the creation of individualized interventions to ensure success in placing children on a normative trajectory ( 30). Ramey and Ramey ( 30) determined that interventions have sustained success for children when they increase intellectual skills, create motivational changes, create greater environmental opportunities and/or increase continued access to supports.

Karoly et al ( 31) reported the magnitude of effects that early intervention programs have on children. Measured at school entry, they found a pooled mean effect size of around 0.3, with many programs having effect sizes between 0.5 and 0.97. This means that for many interventions, children in the program were, on average, one-half to a full standard deviation above their peers who were not in the program. Interestingly, they found that interventions that combined parent education programs with child programs had significantly higher effect sizes. Furthermore, interventions that continued beyond the early years showed significantly lower fade-out effects. The results strongly support the notion that early interventions should include the whole family and be continued beyond the early years. Constant evaluation of interventions should be completed to ensure that the benefits for children are maximized using these key components.

Highly regarded early interventions

The High/Scope active learning approach is a comprehensive early childhood curriculum. It uses cooperative work and communication skills to have children 'learn by doing'. Individual, and small and large group formats are used for teacher-and-child planned activities in the key subject areas of language and literacy, mathematics, science, music and rhythmic movement. There has been ongoing evaluation of the approach since 1962 using 123 low-income African-American children at high risk of school failure ( 32). Fifty-eight children received high-quality early care and an educational setting, as well as home visits from the teachers to discuss their developmental progress. By 40 years of age, children who received the intervention were more likely to have graduated high school, hold a job, have higher earnings and have committed fewer crimes.

Similar positive effects of preschool intervention were found in the evaluation of the Abecedarian project ( 33). This project enlisted children between infancy and five years of age from low-income families to receive a high-quality educational intervention that was individualized to their needs. The intervention used games focused on social, emotional and cognitive areas of development. Children were evaluated at 12, 15 and 21 years of age, and those who had received the intervention had higher cognitive test scores, had greater academic achievement in reading and math, had completed more years of education and were more likely to have attended a four-year college. Interestingly, the mothers of children participating in the program also had higher educational and employment status after the intervention.

One of the oldest and most eminent early intervention programs is the Chicago Child Parent Center program. The intervention targets students who are between preschool and grade 3 through language-based activities, outreach activities, ongoing staff development and health services. Importantly, there is no set curriculum; the program is tailored to the needs of each child ( 34). One crucial feature of the program is the extensive involvement of parents. Multifaceted parental programs are offered to improve parental knowledge, their engagement in their children's education and their parental skills. An evaluation of the Chicago Child Parent Center Program was completed by Reynolds ( 34) using a sample of 1106 black children from low-income families. They were exposed to the intervention in preschool, kindergarten and follow-up components. Two years after the completion of the intervention, the results indicated that the duration of intervention was associated with greater academic achievement in reading and mathematics, teacher ratings of school adjustment, parental involvement in school activities, grade retention and special education placement ( 34). Evaluation of the long-term effects of the intervention was completed by Reynolds ( 35) after 15 years of follow-up. Individuals who had participated in the early childhood intervention for at least one or two years had higher rates of school completion, had attained more years of education, and had lower rates of juvenile arrests, violent arrests leaving school early.

Later intervention

A common question concerns the stage at which it is too late for interventions to be successful. Recent findings (N Rowen, personal communication) from an uncontrolled community study in Toronto, Ontario, have suggested that a multisys-temic intervention as students transition to high school can produce dramatic results. The Pathways to Education project began because of a community (parents) request to a local health agency to help their children succeed in high school. The community consisted mainly of people from a public housing complex, with the majority of families being poor, immigrants and from visible minority groups. The Pathways project grew out of a partnership between the community, the health centre and the school board, and was funded by a variety of sources. The core elements of the program include a contract between the student, parents and project; student-parent support workers who advocate for the student at school and connect parents to the project and/or school; four nights a week of tutoring (by volunteers) in the community; group and career mentoring located in the community; and financial support, such as money for public transit and scholarship money for postsecondary education dependent on successful academic work and graduation. The Pathways project has been running for six years, and the results for the first five cohorts of students have been exciting. In comparison to a preproject cohort, the absentee and academic 'at-risk' rate (credit accumulation) has fallen by 50% to 60%, the 'dropout' rate has fallen by 80% to a level below the average for the board of education and the five-year graduation rate has risen from 42% to 75%. Of the graduates, 80% go on to college or university, compared with 42% before the Pathways project. While these initial results must be replicated in other communities, they suggest that, even at the high school level, interventions can be startlingly effective, even in a community with a long history of poverty, recent immigration and racism. As the proponents of Pathways move to replication, they will need to be careful to untangle the effects of community commitment, school board collaboration and the rich set of collaborations that have been a hallmark of this first demonstration project. Nevertheless, Pathways has made it clear that Canadian communities possess the capacity to change the education outcomes of their children and youth. While it takes resolve and resources to achieve such effects, initial analysis suggests that over the lifetime of the students, each dollar invested will be returned to Canada more than 24 times ( 36)!

Schools make a difference

Canadian and international research on educational outcomes has revealed important data on the effects of schools and classrooms. Frempong and Willms ( 37) used complex analyses of student performance in mathematics to demonstrate that Canadian schools, and even classrooms, do make a difference in student outcomes (ie, students from similar home backgrounds achieve significantly different levels of performance in different schools). Furthermore, schools and classrooms differ in their SES gradients (ie, some schools achieve not just higher scores, but more equitable outcomes than others). These general findings were corroborated by Willms ( 38) using reading scores from children in grade 4 and those 15 years of age from 34 countries. Once again, it was demonstrated that schools make a difference and that some schools are more equitable than others. According to Thomas ( 10), activities other than academics, such as sports and lessons in the arts, have been shown to increase student's school readiness despite SES. These activities should be encouraged in all schools to maximize school readiness. A key to making schools more effective at raising the performance of low SES students is to keep schools heterogeneous with regard to the SES of their students (ie, all types of streaming result in markedly poor outcomes for disadvantaged children and youth).

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Balancing the consistent evidence about the pervasive negative impact of poverty on educational outcomes with the hopeful positive outcomes of intervention studies, what can we do in our communities to attenuate the effects of poverty and SES on academic success? Here are some important actions:

Advocate for and support schools which strive to achieve equity of outcomes;

Advocate for and support intervention programs that provide academic, social and community support to raise the success of disadvantaged children and youth;

Make others aware of the short-, medium- and long-term costs of allowing these children and youth to fail or leave school;

Never miss a personal opportunity to support the potential educational success of the children and youth who we come into contact with;

Advocate for system changes within schools to maximize educational attainment (eg, longer school days and shorter summer vacations); and

Advocate for quality early education and care to minimize differences between children's school readiness before entering school.

Paediatricians and family doctors have many opportunities to influence readiness for school and educational success in primary care settings. Golova et al ( 39) reported intriguing results from a primary care setting. They delivered a literacy promoting intervention to low-income Hispanic families in health care settings. At the initial visit (average age 7.4 months), parents received a bilingual handout explaining the benefits of reading aloud to children, literacy-related guidance from paediatric providers or an age-appropriate bilingual children's board book. Control group families received no handouts or books. At a 10-month follow-up visit (mean age 17.7 months), there was no difference between groups on a screening test for language scores; however, intervention families read more often to their children, reported greater enjoyment of reading to children and had more children's books in their homes. Given this suggestive finding, there are a number of points that paediatricians and family doctors should consider as they deliver primary care:

Observe and encourage good parenting - mutual attention and contingency of interaction (taking turns and listening to each other), verbal behaviour (amount of talking and quality), sensitivity and responsiveness (awareness to signs of hunger, fatigue, boredom and providing an appropriate response), role modelling and reading to their children;

Encourage parents to increase their knowledge of child development, particularly age-appropriate needs of and activities for their children. Explain to them, for instance, how ear infections can severely affect a student's language development, and that good nutrition and hygiene can lower the frequency and severity of infections;

Encourage parents who do not have their children in institutionalized care to attend parent-child centres and programs. These programs usually do not charge fees and require no formal arrangements. Examples are the Ontario Early Years Centres, the Aboriginal Head Start Program in Northern communities, and programs related to the Alberta Children and Youth Initiative;

Indicate the importance of parental support and networks - keep a message board in your office and post a list of community-based organizations in your neighborhood; and

Keep in mind that poverty is not always obvious. One in five low-income families is headed by a parent who works full-time all year; thus, it is often difficult to tell if a family is in need ( 40).

REFERENCES

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28. Chao R, Willms D. The effects of parenting practices on children's outcomes. In: Willms D, editor. Vulnerable Children. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press; 2002. pp. 149-66. [ Google Scholar]

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Articles from Paediatrics & Child Health are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

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The impact of poverty on educational outcomes for children

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Over the past decade, the unfortunate reality is that the income gap has widened between Canadian families. Educational outcomes are one of the key areas influenced by family incomes. Children from low-income families often start school already behind ...