Love in Jiangnan

On Saturday, the Obama administration released its blueprint for overhauling the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act. US lawmakers are to consider the blueprint – and make their own revisions – as part of a reauthorization process for the education law.

Although the administration’s proposals would change many things about No Child Left Behind, one central component would remain: annual tests in reading and math for students.

On the other hand, one component that is likely to go away is the very name “No Child Left Behind.” Administration officials have indicated that the law should take on a new name, though this point wasn’t brought out in the blueprint.

Beyond the likely name revision, here are five key changes that the Obama administration is proposing:

• The goal of student proficiency in reading and math by 2014 would change to a standard of “college and career readiness” for students by 2020. As 2014 has approached, it’s become clear that the proficiency goal won’t be reached in that time frame. With the new goal, administration officials are focusing less on grade-level attainment and more on the skills that students will need for school or work after high school.

In a development related to this goal, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) have drafted a set of “common coreâ€

• Although reading and math tests would remain in the administration’s proposal, schools could also include student performance in other subjects as part of overall measurements of progress. Critics say that the current education law has narrowed the curriculum for students: Many teachers zero in on math and reading at the expense of other subjects to help students prepare for the required tests.

Now, administration officials are encouraging a broader outlook. “Students need a well-rounded education,” the blueprint declares, and it cites disciplines including history, civics, foreign languages, and the arts.

• Evaluations of schools would shift, being less punitive and offering more rewards. A common complaint of No Child Left Behind is that it labels too many schools as simply failing. The new proposal sets forth a multitiered system: One tier would identify the 5 percent of schools struggling the most in each state, while other tiers would apply to schools facing less-severe challenges. Different remedies are outlined for different tiers in the blueprint.

And the proposal outlines opportunities for rewards. “The schools, districts, and states that are successful in reaching performance targets … will be recognized,” the blueprint reads. “Rewards may include financial rewards for the staff and students ….”

• More federal funding would be switched from formula-based allocations to competitive grants. The new system would build on the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program, which has offered stimulus money to states that both apply for the education funds in a competition and demonstrate a reform-oriented approach. That setup has encouraged states to adopt more reforms promoted by the US Education Department.

The Obama administration’s budget for 2011 would increase competitive funding by $3 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

• Schools that miss certain targets would not be required by the federal government to provide students with tutoring or with the option to transfer. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has objected to such requirements in No Child Left Behind, according to Education Week.

But this proposed change could meet with resistance from Congress, especially Republicans. Education Week quotes Alexa Marrero, a spokeswoman for Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee: “It’s disappointing to see [tutoring] and school choice removed from the parental toolbox, particularly because it appears the focus is shifting to the needs of schools rather than the needs of students.”

(written by Judy Nichols Douglass Judy Nichols Douglass.)

 Lots of PC users are troubled with slow computer speed no matter how fast their computers are right now. Actually, there may be a great number of possible reasons to computer’s low productivity, which resulting in kinds of solutions to fix a slow computer such as adding more RAM, upgrading hard drive. Here are some ways that help your slow computer to regain some of the speed and performance instantly.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama has called for “courage” from Democratic lawmakers unnerved by looming final votes on his historic health care plan in a pivotal political week that may shape his presidency.

Obama made a lightning trip to Ohio to showcase the plight of a cancer-stricken woman deprived of health insurance, while a game of political brinkmanship unfolded in Washington as Democratic leaders hustled for votes.

“We need courage — that’s what we need,” Obama roared, at a raucous rally in Strongsville, Ohio, a state where people live in fear of losing health insurance when their jobs disappear in tough economic times.

“We need courage, that’s what we need… we need an up or down vote — it’s time to vote,” Obama said, before dashing back to Washington to rejoin the fray in what the White House says is the last week of a year-long struggle.

Democratic leaders are imposing intense pressure on wavering Democrats as they seek a 216-majority vote this week in the House of Representatives, part of a complex legislative minuet to enact reform also involving the Senate.

It is a desired hope for all job hunters to leave a good impression to the interviewers. But sometimes some mistakes occur inevitably. Here are some worst mistakes that you can not do during the job interview.

1. Arriving late.
2. Arriving too early.
3. Lighting up a cigarette, or smelling like a cigarette.
4. Bad-mouthing your last boss.
5. Lying about your skills/experience/knowledge.
6. Wearing the wrong (for this workplace!) clothes.
7. Forgetting the name of the person you’re interviewing with.
8. Wearing a ton of perfume or aftershave.
9. Wearing sunglasses.
10. Wearing a Bluetooth earpiece.
11. Failing to research the employer in advance.
12. Failing to demonstrate enthusiasm.
13. Inquiring about benefits too soon.
14. Talking about salary requirements too soon.
15. Being unable to explain how your strengths and abilities apply to the job in question.
16. Failing to make a strong case for why you are the best person for this job.
17. Forgetting to bring a copy of your resume and/or portfolio.
18. Failing to remember what you wrote on your own resume.
19. Asking too many questions.
20. Asking no questions at all.
21. Being unprepared to answer the standard questions.
22. Failing to listen carefully to what the interviewer is saying.
23. Talking more than half the time.
24. Interrupting your interviewer.
25. Neglecting to match the communication style of your interviewer.
26. Yawning.
27. Slouching.
28. Bringing along a friend, or your mother.
29. Chewing gum, tobacco, your pen, your hair.
30. Laughing, giggling, whistling, humming, lip-smacking.
31. Saying “you know,” “like,” “I guess,” and “um.”
32. Name-dropping or bragging or sounding like a know-it-all.
33. Asking to use the bathroom.
34. Being falsely or exaggeratedly modest.
35. Shaking hands too weakly, or too firmly.
36. Failing to make eye contact (or making continuous eye contact).
37. Taking a seat before your interviewer does.
38. Becoming angry or defensive.
39. Complaining that you were kept waiting.
40. Complaining about anything!
41. Speaking rudely to the receptionist.
42. Letting your nervousness show.
43. Overexplaining why you lost your last job.
44. Being too familiar and jokey.
45. Sounding desperate.
46. Checking the time.
47. Oversharing.
48. Sounding rehearsed.
49. Leaving your cell phone on.
50. Failing to ask for the job.

I tried my best to make every day meaningful, but sometimes feel a little tired and boring.  It was bright sunning in the morning, which made me  happy. But unexpected, it suddenly turned cloudy in the afternoon.  I don’t know why sometimes I hate such kind of days,  maybe because of the cold and wet weather. But now, I find that everything is so beautiful: the buildings/ people, umbrella in the rain, so beautiful. It has passed a day, a very nice day!

At one moment during Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s press conference Sunday, it was easy to confuse who he was criticizing when he denounced efforts by some countries to lower the value of their currency to boost trade.

“What I do not understand is the practice of depreciating one’s own currency and attempting to pressure other countries to appreciate theirs for the purpose of increasing exports,” he told reporters during a nationally televised event that wrapped up the annual session of China’s parliament. “In my view, that is a kind of trade protectionism.” (See pictures of the making of modern China.)

Wen was presumably referring to the United States: President Obama declared in a speech last week that he wanted to double U.S. exports over the next five years, and challenged China to adopt a “market-oriented exchange rate” for its currency, the renminbi. But the policies that Wen was criticizing are in many respects what China has pursued for years. The renminbi has been pegged against the dollar since mid-2008, and overseas economists say the currency may be undervalued by as much as 40%. Trade is a key component of economic growth for China, the world’s largest exporter, and the government is wary of any sort of collapse that could contribute to unemployment. Efforts to boost exports, including the currency peg, have helped Chinese manufacturers weather the worst of the global downturn last year and grab more market share from some competitors. Last month Chinese exports grew 45.7% over February 2009, up from a 21% increase for January.

Wen’s comments follow a period of deteriorating Sino-U.S. relations that began late last year, when he was accused of snubbing Obama during the Copenhagen climate talks. On Sunday, Wen said that it was he who had been slighted first when he wasn’t invited to a meeting of national leaders during the conference in Denmark. He responded by sending a deputy official instead, which prompted criticism from some delegations.

Relations between the two powers came under strain again in January after Obama approved a $6.4 billion arms package to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China considers part of its territory. A month later Obama met the Dalai Lama at the White House, further angering the Chinese, who consider the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to be a “splittist” who advocates independence for Tibet. Wen blamed the U.S. for the recent difficulties, specifically citing the Taiwan arms sale and the Dalai Lama meeting. “The responsibility for the serious disruption in US-China ties does not lie with the Chinese side but with the U.S.,” he said. (See pictures of China’s infrastructure boom.)

Taiwan and Tibet have long been points of dispute between the U.S. and China. During 2009 they were largely avoided, as Obama delayed final approval of the arms sale that was initially greenlighted by his predecessor, George W. Bush, and postponed the Dalai Lama meeting to avoid offending Beijing ahead of his first state visit to China. Following this year’s arms sale announcement, however, China cut off high-level military exchanges with the U.S. that had only recent been restored following its protest over a previous weapons package that was approved by Bush in 2008.

The broaching of two sensitive issues in such a short period would alone inevitably weaken ties, but other issues have contributed. After U.S. Internet giant Google threatened to pull out of China in January, citing Chinese censorship and sophisticated hacking attacks on its infrastructure, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cited China in a speech in support of online freedom. China and Google have held talks recently, and the Financial Times reported Saturday that the company was “99.9 %” certain to close its google.cn site, which is aimed at Chinese users and censors search returns according to Chinese regulations.

But trade looms even larger as a source of tension between the two sides. Last year China’s economy expanded at a robust 8.7% last year despite the global downturn. As the U.S. and other nations struggle to resume growth and reduce high unemployment, they are eyeing China’s performance with both envy and agitation. In April, the U.S. Treasury Department is required by law to declare whether of not China manipulates its currency – an announcement that would fuel calls in Congress for retaliatory measures against China.

In his speech on Sunday, Wen shot down expectations that China would allow the value of the renminbi to appreciate significantly, saying it was correctly valued and would remain “basically stable at a reasonable level” this year. “We oppose nations finger-pointing or even using forceful methods to compel a country to raise the value of its currency,” Wen said. He also worried openly about the value of China’s dollar denominated assets, including $895 billion in U.S. Treasury debt. He warned the U.S. not to depreciate its currency to boost trade, as it would hurt the value of Chinese-held assets. The U.S. depends on China’s treasury purchases to fund its budget deficit, which is forecast to exceed $1.5 trillion this year. Still, U.S. lawmakers are unlikely to give much credence to Wen’s statement that he doesn’t understand how a country could devalue its currency to boost trade. It is, after all, China’s own policy.