Test Scores and Housing Costs by Motoko Rich Essay - 80

Test Scores and Housing Costs by Motoko Rich - Essay Example As the paper highlights schools that do not perform well on state tests will likely have a cheaper cost of living in the surrounding areas. This is because the demand is not so high for these schools and so house prices remain relatively low in order to encourage people to buy houses. Other factors of course play a role, such as poverty, but poor quality of housing is a major contributor towards academic performance. This paper declares that in looking at the reasons why housing prices and education are linked, there can be two ways to describe it: either low cost housing contributes to poor academic performance or low education results in cheaper housing. The most obvious choice would seem to be the first one, but studies say otherwise. Jonathon Rothwell, a senior research analyst in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, mentions that it has been proved that when students from poor backgrounds attend schools with students from more affluent backgrounds their educational performance improves as a result. This suggests that academic performance rests solely on the performance of teachers and not due to economic background. However, teachers likely choose to teach at schools in close proximity to where they live, so the better teachers will prefer to teach where the standard of living is higher.  In looking at the reasons why housing prices and education are linked, there can be two ways to describe it: either low cost housing contributes to poor academic performance or low education results in cheaper housing.  

Music Education for Chinese Pupils Dissertation - 1

Music Education for Chinese Pupils - Dissertation Example Chinese music has evolved since ancient times under the influence of religious, philosophical and ideological doctrines (Reimer, 1989). In Confucian treatises the concept of the cosmological nature of the music was developed, its social and political role was highlighted. Music in Confucianism was regarded as one of the means of governance, as well as a significant factor in educating people and in achieving social harmony. According to the ideas of Taoism, the music was to facilitate the natural expression of psycho-emotional reactions of man, its fusion with nature. The school music education, which was developed during one of the most complex, saturated with global cataclysms, the period in the history of the country, gradually became a public system, marked by both significant achievements and serious shortcomings. Nowadays the assessments of achievements of challenges facing China’s school education are prerequisites for successful reform. Music became a compulsory subject in secondary schools of China in 1912. In accordance with the suggestions for the educational course of the country, made by Education Minister Tsai Yuanpey (1912), the role of arts education plays the significant role in shaping the personality, thus, particular attention should be paid to music teaching in secondary schools. This document determined a new status of the given subject. The lessons of music education ceased to be selective subject and moved into the category of compulsory in both junior and secondary schools (Mingyue, 1985). Further development of mus ic education in the Chinese school was influenced by the Movement of May 4, 1919, which was initiated by the university intelligentsia.