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Do you have ever wonder that what is the reason behind the success of one particular blog?Most of us will definitely answer it is definitely about the content of the blog.

But, there is one more thing…

What makes us think that content is a really good blog content? Have you think about it?

The answer is all about the title above – Versatility of Capability

Roughly, capability is about our performance and skills on particular stuff while versatility is our very own personality and variety of skills that we show to others.

So, how Versatility of Capability can make a good content?

Nobody knows everything!
What is capability in blogging actually?

I do realize that capability of having enough knowledge on the matter that we are going to blog is only a small portion of the big picture that most of us have failed to see. Nobody knows inside out about something. The most crucial thing that we need to focus is to keep updating ourselves with knowledge from time to time.

By knowing this reality, blog newbie have no reason to stop blogging although there are thousands of blog out there that keep stressing on 1 matter - the important of having enough knowledge on the matter that we want to blog before we make our decision to blog.

You need to keep focus on your mission. Most of people out there have lost in the bigger picture – Nobody knows about something inside out. We just need to keep ourselves update with knowledge from time to time.

Own Mind, Own Styles

The other capability that I believe is crucial in having great blog content is capability of how we distinguish ourselves through our writing.In writing our blog content, we have to keep in our mind of writing something that nobody has read before and totally new to them.

Through this, in our point of view, the quality of our blog content is much higher as we are not confining ourselves with ‘blogging frameworks’ through others’ blog which we read and try to adapt their writings or styles for our blog.

On for our followers’ point of view, they will now find a totally new and fresh approach and content of blog. They will definitely appreciate our writings as they now will not read writings that they think that have seen or read before which then lead to the wrong idea of reading out writings – from getting new knowledge to try to remember and look for the blog that our reader feel have seen the articles that we have ‘written’ in our blog.

By having our very own kind of contents and style of writing, we have more freedom to share our thoughts in our very own words without feelings afraid of being different with others.We must to keep in mind of being of different is not because we are bad but it is because we are special – we have own thoughts and capable of making up our own mind and decision.

Who are you?

There is also a huge importance in representing ourselves as us in our own blog. Most of us including me tend to be someone else in our very own blog.

We tend to blog about something not because we love to blog about it but it just because everybody are doing the same thing. Unfortunately, not all are able to cope of being someone else in their blog and another in area life. Finally, we will lost in the ocean that we have no clue about.

The capability of being yourselves can be the hardest thing that you have to encounter. We probably feel afraid of someone else will look down on us and they for disregard our writings because of thousands of reason such as lack of knowledge.

But, why do you have to go through those feelings? You are who you are. You have to face your fears and overcome it with guts.

You must keep in mind two important things that I have said before – nobody knows everything about something, keep update yourselves and be yourselves – have your own mind and thoughts.

You have to tell others about who actually you are. As you become more transparent to your audience, your followers will appreciate you much deeper – be loyal to you and your blog in returns for your trust on them. You should know one thing - People love to get to know author of a blog for two reasons – the blog is really good or terribly bad. So, which one is you?

Is versatility of capability really important?

Absolutely! Capability that we need is not solely about having the knowledge of the matter that we want to blog. It is about everything – from how we structured our sentences, the tone of our writings, how we let ourselves be more approachable as compared to others to how we say thanks to our blog readers in keep supporting our blog.

So, what do you think? Is the knowledge of the matter that we are blogging about having actually smaller portion in the bigger picture as compared to the idea we think about before?

What your say? I really love to hear from you.

Hey , sorry for not upgrading my blog recently, have been indulge in another new blog of mine.HAHA

Anyway, I have this topic lingering in my mind for such a long time and i would roughly share with you what is in my mind  regarding this issue.

the WHO just declared a full blown pandemic http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8094655.stm

 

From that article , few points need to be noted: - WHO chief Dr Margaret Chan said the move does not mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths. - However, the current pandemic seems to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people. -”Moving to pandemic phase six does not imply we will see increased in deaths or serious cases.” - Experts have warned that poorer nations, especially those in the southern hemisphere now heading into their winter season, face the greatest risk from the flu pandemic. Final paragrapgh: -Flu expert Professor John Oxford said people should not panic as the outbreak was milder than others seen in the past century. -”It is global and fulfilling the requirements of a pandemic but I don’t think anyone should worry because nothing drastic has happened between yesterday and today.”

rate good bad

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IMO, To speed up the process of screening all arriving passengers, government can hire more and more health care staff to help the screening process. If still no enough health care staff, airport staffs can be trained to help them.

Screening all arriving passengers will not cause flight delay. It is the health care staff to do screening for passengers, not the flight crews or pilots.

Government can co-operate with the airline company to help the transit passengers who missed their onward flight due to screening process, and put them into another flight for free. For passengers which connect to AirAsia or other low-cost carriers’ flight, government can sponsor the expenses for the passengers, who missed their onward flight, in purchasing the new air ticket. And government have every right, they have the right to order an airline company to put the passengers, who missed onward flight due to screening process, into another flight for free.

And, although it is not necessary to screen the departure passengers, if government plan to do it, they can order the airline company to open the check-in counter earlier, and order the airline company to send a SMS or direct calling the passengers to inform them about the earlier closing of check-in counter, then the passengers will try their best to arrive in the airport earlier.

However, the above statements are only my opinions.=)

 

Think about a time when you accidentally touched something hot, like the kitchen stove or an iron. Before you hadThe human body is a marvelous creation. One of its really awesome features is its reflex system. Reflexes are sort of an automatic safety response system in your body, and they work to protect you from harmful situations. time to think about what was happening, you had jerked your hand away from the hot -surface. That immediate response was caused by a reflex.

The heat and pain sensors in your hand sent a message to the spinal cord, which sent a message to the arm and hand muscles. That message was something like, “Yikes, get me out of here!”

While all that was going on, a message was on its way to your brain, allowing pain to register after you had already pulled your hand away.

The brain is the control center of the human body. It communicates via chemical messages with the different systems that make up the body, such as the muscular, digestive, and circulatory systems. When your reflexes kick in, they activate the nervous system, which relays a message to the muscular system, telling it to “Move!”

Other things happen in your body as well when your reflexes are activated. Think back on some of your own experiences and think how you felt after you had a real scare or did something that put yourself in harm’s way.

Can you remember feeling your heart pounding? Your pulse racing? Maybe your face felt very hot, or you even started shaking involuntarily. Your body reacts in many ways that are not within your control.

In this project, you’re trying to find out whether loud noises affect the rate at which a person’s heart beats. Form a hypothesis by thinking about some of your own experiences, and using your observations and research.

You’ll need to get several people to agree to participate in your experiment. The first thing you’ll do is determine the resting heart rate of each person with whom you’re working. To do that, you’ll need to locate the pulse point on each person’s wrist. That’s where you can feel the beating caused by regular contractions of the heart.

Record the number of beats you feel for 10 seconds, and then multiply that number by six. That will tell you how many times the person’s heart beats in one minute, while at rest. Heart rate varies throughout the day in most people. A resting heart rate may be 70 beats per minute, while, during strenuous exercise, it could increase to 160 or 170 beats.

There are several ways you could conduct this experiment. One would be to get someone to be your assistant, and have him or her sneak up behind the person whose pulse you’ve just taken and drop a large, heavy book on the floor. The unexpected sound should be enough to startle your subject, after which you can immediately check the heart rate again to see if it’s changed.

Check the person’s pulse every minute for three minutes to see if the heart rate changes. If he or she was startled by the noise and the heart rate increased, perhaps it will decrease again as the effect of the noise wears off.

If you don’t have someone to help you, you can make a loud noise yourself once you’ve established the resting heart rate. Be a little creative with this experiment.

This experiment will work best if you repeat it several times with different people as your volunteers. Check to see if you notice any patterns in the heart rates of the different people. Did everyone’s heart react the same way? Was the age of the person a factor?

The more data you can collect concerning the effect of loud noise on heart rate, the more reliable your results will be. Repeating the experiment several times will give you the data you need to either prove or disprove your hypothesis

You run into the kitchen after a hard morning on the soccer field, and you’re so hungry you can’t wait to eat. You grab the bread from the bread drawer and the cheese from the fridge. You get some juice and some potato chips, and you’re ready to make a yummy cheese sandwich—your favorite!

But when you pull out a couple of slices of bread, you find that there’s something green and disgusting growing on them. And then you notice that the cheese is covered with little white spots. Yuk! What the heck is it?

It’s mold. It not only looks gross on foods, some kinds of it can make you sick if you eat it. Where did it come from? How did it get on your bread? Is it growing on any other foods in your house? It wasn’t on the chips. Or in your juice, either. But what about those cookies you stashed under your bed a week or two ago? Or the beef jerky your brother keeps in his desk drawer? Will those foods be moldy when you go to retrieve them? Yikes!

The facts are that molds grow better on some foods than others, and that various factors contribute to their growth. You’ll be learning a lot about molds in this section. Are you ready to get started?

So What Seems to Be the Problem?

In this project, you’ll be trying to figure out on what kinds of foods, and under what conditions, molds grow best. Working in an orderly, organized manner, you’ll conduct an experiment that will help you to solve the problem.

You’ll learn a lot about molds as you work through this project. You’ll find out, for instance, if they prefer light or darkness, wet foods or dry foods, and heat or cold. You may be able to figure out when you’ve finished why there was mold on the bread and cheese you planned to use for your sandwich, but not on the potato chips.

If you want to, you can use the title of this section, “Which Foods Do Molds Love Best?” as the title of your science fair project. Or you can think up your own title, or use one of these:

• Comparing the Growth Conditions of Molds
• Where and How Do Molds Grow Best?

Once you’ve got a clear idea of the questions you’ll be trying to answer, keep reading to learn a little bit more about mold, and to think about the point of this science fair project.

What’s the Point?

Why do we care about how mold grows? Or care about mold at all, for that matter? Wouldn’t it be better to just ignore this mold business and hope it goes away?

For starters, scientists think that molds have been around for about three billion years, making it highly doubtful that they’ll disappear anytime soon.

Second, the study of molds has led to much knowledge and many benefits, including the discovery of penicillin, a medicine obtained from a mold called Penicillium notatum. Penicillin was the first antibiotic drug used, and is credited with saving countless lives. Other beneficial molds are those used to age and flavor cheeses (think blue cheese), and those used to make soy sauce.

If you like to drink soda, you need to give credit to the molds that manufacture the citric acid used to flavor many soft drinks. And certain types of fungi are used to improve soil conditions for farming.

The study of molds also has revealed which ones are dangerous and should be avoided. Some molds can cause allergic and respiratory problems, while others produce toxins that can be extremely harmful—even in small amounts.

You’ve probably already encountered quite a few molds and fungi, some of which can be quite surprising. Listed below are a few facts you may not have known.

• If you have, or ever have had, athlete’s foot, you can blame a fungus for your misery.
• The mold that grows on bread is called black mold, even though it doesn’t always appear black.
• If you ever see a white fungus growing on the tropical fish in your aquarium, watch out. That fungus can be harmful, and sometimes even fatal to fish.
• Did you know that the mushrooms on your Friday night pizzas are actually a type of fungus?
• Warm, damp conditions in your bathroom make it the perfect breeding spot for a mold we commonly refer to as mildew.
• Slime mold—wouldn’t you love to get a look at that?—is a type of mold that’s primarily found in damp, moist woodlands. It grows on decaying logs and leaves.
• Certain large trees and ornamental plants like roses can become infected with a variety of fungus diseases, leaving the plants helpless to overcome the blight.
• A terrible fungus called Phytophthora infestans struck and destroyed Ireland’s potato crop in the years between 1846 and 1850, causing more than one million people to starve to death and millions more to flee the country. That period became known as the Irish Potato Famine.

As you can see, there are many practical reasons to learn about molds and fungi. They have affected people, animals, and plants for thousands of years, and will continue to do so.

Knowing how molds grow on and affect the foods you eat can help you protect that food, and prevent or slow down the damage caused by molds.

In this science fair project, you’ll work with five samples each of three different foods: bread, cheese, and oranges.

Your control group is those foods, as they are normally found in your house. For instance, the cheese control would be the cheese that’s normally kept in your refrigerator. The bread would be the loaf stored in the plastic bag it comes packed in, and the oranges would be those that are kept in your house in the fridge or in a basket or bowl on the counter.

The variable group you’ll work with is the same foods, but they will be sealed in zipper-lock bags and placed in different areas of your home. You’ll need to create different environments in which to store the foods in order to conduct your experiment.

What Do You Think Will Happen?

Every home has areas with different temperatures and humidity levels. Your bathroom, for instance, is a humid spot. If your home has an attached garage, it’s probably cooler than inside your house. The inside of a dresser drawer that’s rarely opened has a different environment than the kitchen. The windowsill on which the sun shines every morning is much different from the damp, dark cellar.

In this experiment, you’ll be locating five different growing environments within your own house. Look for locations that are dry and dark, cold and dark, moist and warm, brightly lit, dark and damp, and so forth.

Once you’ve located the different growing environments, you’ll be placing three bags in each of the five locations. One bag will contain oranges, one bread, and the other cheese. You’ll need to take daily observations of the food in all of the bags.

What you need to do now, before you start the experiment, is to come up with a hypothesis, or a guess about what will happen. Do you think that the foods you keep in a dresser drawer will get as moldy as those stashed in the bathroom?

Think about where you may have observed molds and fungi in your home. Are there particular areas where you’ve noticed mildew or a moldy smell? If so, consider that when you’re making your hypothesis. And think about what foods you may have seen molds growing on in the past. What similarities were there in those foods? Were they all kept in the refrigerator? Were they foods that had been sitting around the kitchen for a while because nobody liked them, or food that had already been cooked?

Some foods are more hospitable to molds than others, and molds grow better in some environments more than others. In your experiment, you’ll be working to determine which foods molds grow best on, and in which environments.

Consider all the information you may already know. Then you can make an educated guess about the results of your experiment.

Materials You’ll Need for This Project

The materials you’ll need for this project are minimal and easy to get. They are as follows:

• Five slices of bread (You can use any type of bread you have available, but all five slices should be the same.)
• Five slices of orange
• Five slices of cheese
• Fifteen zipper-lock sandwich bags
• One permanent marker

You don’t necessarily need to put a whole piece of bread or an entire piece of cheese into each bag. A half piece will do just fine. And you should be able to get five slices out of a single orange.

Conducting Your Experiment

Follow these steps to conduct your experiment:

1. Using the permanent marker, label five bags “bread.”
2. Label five bags “orange slice.”
3. Label five bags “cheese.”
4. Place a piece of bread into each of the appropriately marked bags.
5. Place a piece of orange into each of the appropriately marked bags.
6. Place a piece of cheese into each of the appropriately marked bags.
7. Securely close and seal each bag.
8. Select one bag containing bread, another containing an orange slice, and another containing cheese. Group these three bags together as SET 1.
9. Repeat Step 8 to make four more sets of each food.
10. Place each set of three bags in a location of your home that has a different growing environment.
11. Using the permanent marker, label each bag with its location. Each set of three bags will have the same location marked on the bag.
12. Observe each bag once a day for two weeks. Try to look at the bags at about the same time each day in order to allow fairly equal growth time. Record everything you notice about the contents of each of the 15 bags on a chart like the one in the next section, “Keeping Track of Your Experiment.”
13. At the end of two weeks, place all of the sealed lunch bags in the kitchen trash bag. Mom won’t be at all happy with you if you leave bags of moldy food lying around.

Well, to complement what my english lecturer assign us to do, i will post my opinion on the ways to save environment.
Ways to save the environment:          

1)Change Your Lightbulb
The hottest thing in household energy savings is the compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL), a funny-looking swirl that fits into standard sockets. CFLs cost three to five times as much as conventional incandescent bulbs yet use one-quarter the electricity and last several years longer. They are available virtually everywhere lightbulbs are sold. Most labels don’t say “CFL” (GE calls its bulbs Energy Savers), and in some cases the telltale twist is enclosed in frosted glass. The wattage gives them away: many 7-watt CFLs are comparable to a regular 40-watt bulb, 26 watts is the typical CFL equivalent of 100 watts and so on. Or just look for the Energy Star label.

CFLs have come a long way since they were first introduced in the mid-’90s (they don’t flicker as much when you turn them on, for one thing), but because each bulb still contains 5 mg of mercury, you’re not supposed to toss them out with the regular trash, where they could end up in a landfill. So the bulbs are one more thing for you to sort in the recycling bin.

Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs (see item 4), don’t have this problem, but they can require a bit of DIY rewiring. LEDs work great as accents and task lights, and you can also buy LED desk and floor lamps. But if you’re just looking to put a green bulb in your favorite table lamp, CFL is the way to go.

2)Ride The Bus

With transport accounting for more than 30% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, one of the best ways to reduce them is by riding something many of us haven’t tried since the ninth grade: a bus. Public transit saves an estimated 1.4 billion gal. of gas annually, which translates into about 14 million tons of CO2, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

Unfortunately, 88% of all trips in the U.S. are by car. Partly, that’s because public transportation is more readily available in big urban areas. One promising alternative is bus rapid transit (BRT), which features extra-long carriers running in dedicated lanes. Buses emit more carbon than trains, but that can be minimized by using hybrid or compressed-natural-gas engines. A study last year by the Breakthrough Technologies Institute found that a BRT system in a medium-size U.S. city could cut emissions by as much as 654,000 tons over 20 years.

Thanks to high gas prices, miles driven per motorist dropped in 2005 for the first time since 1980, according to the Pew Research Center. The U.S. is ready to change. We’re just waiting for the bus.

The original version of this article misstated the total amount of CO2 emissions saved annually by public transit. It is 14 million, not 1.5 million, tons.

Reduce plastics bags.

The plastic bags you bring home from the supermarket probably end up in a landfill. Every year, more than 500 billion plastic bags are distributed, and less than 3% of those bags are recycled. They are typically made of polyethylene and can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade in landfills that emit harmful greenhouse gases. Reducing your contribution to plastic-bag pollution is as simple as using a cloth bag (or one made of biodegradable plant-based materials) instead of wasting plastic ones. For your next trip to the grocery store, BYOB.

The scenery of TAnjung Bungah Beach which i happen to snap it out =)

 

Potential health effects of exposure to static and time varying electric and magnetic fields need scientific clarification. Electromagnetic fields of all frequencies represent one of the most common and fastest growing environmental influences, about which there is anxiety and speculation are spreading. EMF exposure now occurs to varying degrees to all populations of the world, and the levels will continue to increase with advancing technology. Thus, even a small health consequence from EMF exposure could have a major public health impact.

Concerns have been expressed that exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields at power frequencies (50/60 Hz) could lead to an increased incidence of cancer in children and other adverse health effects. The evidence comes primarily from residential epidemiological studies. These studies suggest that children exposed to ELF magnetic fields have an associated increased risk of leukaemia.

Radio frequency (RF) fields are used to great benefits in many facets of everyday life, such as radio and TV transmission, telecommunications (eg mobile telephones), diagnosis and treatments of disease and in industry for heating and sealing materials. With the rapid introduction of mobile telecommunications devices, especially among the general public, there has been a focus on the problems associated with near field RF exposure to the head from the small radiating antenna of mobile phones. In addition, concerns persist that exposure to pulsed and amplitude modulated RF fields may cause specific health effects.

As societies develop, greater use of certain technologies leads to increasing exposure to static electric and magnetic fields. This is especially the case in industry, transport, power transmission, research and medicine. Possible health effects from static fields have never been properly assessed. Given the rapid expansion of medical devices and imminent introduction, potentially on a large scale, of magnetic levitation transport systems that use strong static magnetic fields, any health impacts need to be properly assessed.

As part of its charter to protect public health and in response to public concern over health effects of EMF exposure, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the International EMF Project in 1996 to assess the scientific evidence of possible health effects of EMF in the frequency range from 0 to 300 GHz. The EMF Project encourages focused research to fill important gaps in knowledge and to facilitate the development of internationally acceptable standards limiting EMF exposure.

Why the effects of a mobile phone really are bad.

Results conclude that the human body is put under the same strain when on a mobile phone than when it is put through a course of radiation already known to be harmful to humans. every one has basic survival instinct,  if a fire is hot, we move. Well that is in our inner stress reaction. This is routed back to our genes, we try to adapt to situations and over millions of years, we evolve. The mobile phone revolution is a new phenomenon that evolution knows nothing about yet. As nothing in the bodies genes knows how to protect itself, disease slowly develops as no stress reaction was triggered and nothing was done. Although most tests carried out in Europe suggest only radiation that cooks you’re brain is harmful. Other scientific studies compel some worrying reports and findings.

Just as radiation is carried from mast to phone through radio waves, the cells in our bodies do just that. There is a constant exchange of information between living cells in our body. When man-made radiation was put together, no one thought the signals produced could interfere with the bodies natural exchange of information. The cells in a human body are sensitive to alien energy, the energy from a mobile phone is several billion times stronger than those of the cells, which can cause the body to malfunction.

Electromagnetic radiation caused by a mobile phone call for 2-3 minutes can alter the way your body responds, reacts and functions for up to 3 hours after the call. Every particle of our body spins around its own axis like a minute merry go round. This spinning motion creates a radiation field around each particle. If some sort of unevenness is brought in to the motion, it is transformed in to an electromagnetic wave spreading in all directions like ripples on water. Each of the body’s particles spins and at the same time wobbles slightly due to its magnetic field and the electromagnetism within its field. This generates a very complex pattern of radiation known as the spin generated electromagnetic field, or the spin field.

So even if a radiation signal is not strong enough to fry you’re brain, it will cause damage within the body’s natural defence system. Blood cells slow down the work rate of carrying blood and oxygen round the body. The spin effect is altered and the body is left in unknown territory and finds it difficult to regroup for sometime after. The body’s harmonious function is not able to operate as particles are out of synchronisation with each other.

The potential lethal electromagnetic force in your household appliances

All electrical appliances emit electromagnetic fields - EMF’s

Mobile Phones: Headaches, skin tingling and heating, fatigue, neck growths, lack of concentration and  memory loss, irritableness, restlessness, depletion, even tumours, cancer and cataracts have also been associated the use of analogue and digital cordless phones. - Only use for short periods at a time, keep it in a bag or outer layer of clothing, turn off in places like hospitals as radiation levels are normally high enough, don’t get a talk plan with lots of free minutes enticing you to use them all up, swap ears from time to time, put volume higher and hold further away from head, attach a Biophone to you’re phone today.

Clock Radios: Best kept at least 4 ft away from you’re head because they give off high fields. Electro-mechanical clocks emit more than electronic digital ones. Closer than 4 ft and you may feel more tired and take longer to lose that flu or infection. Try attaching a Biophone to it for great results.

Computers: Most modern computers give off relatively low levels of EMFs but do still try to minimise exposure by keeping the computer, especially the screen, as far away as practical. Laptops generally emit low EMFs but when used with a mains adaptor plugged in they can cause dizziness and faint spells. Try to recharge it away from where you are, then use it from the battery supply. Place a cactus in the office or computer room. The spine of a cacti attracts charged irons and can change ionisation levels in the room. Take breaks when needed. Very good to attach a Biophone on the monitor.

Under wire Bras: These can act as antennae, re-radiating external EMFs, including microwave frequencies, into the body. With breast cancer on the increase it may be better with out the under wire. Use non wire alternatives.

Photocopiers: Known to give out high levels of EMFs, generated from around the motor. Best to stand 30 inches back whilst copying in progress.

Electric kettles: Both traditional and jug type create high EMF levels. Heating water using electricity can change its molecular structure. Some people who react badly to this change may suffer from headaches, eye problems or tremors. Neutralise the effect by standing the cup/mug/glass on a Vitaflow whilst pouring.

Beds: Metal framed beds and bedsprings can become magnetised by electricity in wiring and appliances , causing restlessness and insomnia. Try an alternative bed-base and unsprung mattress, preferably with natural materials. Keep electrical appliances at least 3 ft away from a bed head area.

Hairdryers: High currents produce the heat. The motor gives off high EMFs near the handle, dropping only a little at a drying distance of 6-18 inches away from you. The fields are higher when on higher settings. The fact that a hairdryer is only used for a short time at any one interval is not as important as the fact as the fact that the user is exposed to high levels of EMFs during that period. Metal hair clips can increase the EMFs from the working hairdryer. It is best not to use a hairdryer after 7pm as high levels of EMFs near to the head are known to interfere with the body’s production of melatonin which helps the body to repair its self.

Alternative education as a concept is not widely known in Malaysia (and this blog aims to promote such a concept). But what exactly do we mean by alternative education?

                                
Definition
Alternative education, quite simply, means any form of education that takes place outside the traditional schooling system. As described further by the Alternative Education page on Wikipedia:

Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education, describes a number of approaches to teaching and learning other than traditional schools. Educational alternatives are often rooted in various philosophies that are fundamentally different from those of mainstream education. While some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, others are more informal associations of teachers and students dissatisfied with some aspect of mainstream education.

“Traditional schooling” in this context refers to the usual, mainstream forms of schooling - primary school, secondary school, college, university. These are usually characterized by standardized curricula and examinations, as well as a set grading system. Teaching is usually lecture-based (with the occasional experiment or two) and the emphasis is on getting recognized and acceptable grades and scores (as opposed to, some argue, creativity and actual learning). Alternative education pursues other routes and methods of learning, putting a higher focus on experiential learning, creativity, and individuality.

Types Of Alternative Education
Amongst the various forms of alternative education include (but are definitely not limited to):

• Alternative school systems, such as democratic schools and Steiner schools
• Alternative modes of teaching/evaluation, as practised by many colleges including the ones on Colleges That Change Lives - for example, Hampshire College provides completely individualized degrees with evaluations instead of grades, while College of the Atlantic offers degrees in “human ecology” involving subjects and projects from humanities, environmental sciences, and social sciences
• Home-based learning, which covers homeschooling, as well as deschooling and unschooling (like homeschooling without a set structure)
• Workshops, alternative educational programs, and “lifelong learning” classes such as Esalen, which is directed towards spirituality and theraputic healing, or Tower Hamlets Lifelong Learning, which offers classes to the people in the Tower Hamlets neighbourhood in London
• Study abroad & cultural exchanges - popular ones include AFS, Up With People, and Raleigh International
• Mentoring in various areas (personal, educational, career), whether being the mentor or having one
• Volunteering in various causes and projects, short-term or long-term
• Activism in various causes, whether related to education (such as education reform or student rights) or not
• Online-based learning such as the Open University and MIT OpenCourseWare
• Travel, which may incorporate many of the ideas above (cultural exchange, workshops, so on)
• Creative ventures such as auditions, performance, or creative production
• Employment, whether as part-time or full-time jobs, work-studies, co-ops (university programs whereby some semesters are spent in class and some in the working world, such as what is offered by NorthEastern), apprenticeships, internships, or entrepeneurships
• and tons more.

Why Alternative Education?
Most people go into alternative education as traditional educational methods do not suit them. Amongst the various criticisms of traditional mainstream education include:

• It doesn’t allow for creativity or more “out-of-the-box” approaches
• Rote memorization is given emphasis over creativity and critical thinking - even so-called “creative” subjects have to conform to a standards body’s idea of “creative”
• More emphasis is given on letter grades than on actual learning
• It does not account for varying learning styles (especially experiential learning)
• Students tend to be stuck in a “bubble” or an “ivory tower” surrounded by academia, without really knowing or understanding the real world around them
• Their knowledge is limited to what is spoonfed to them for exams; once the exams are over, it’s promptly forgotten
• Students learn only for exams, jobs, prestige or grades - there is a lack of a sense of learning for the sheer delight of learning
• There is not enough space for dissent or disagreement - students that disagree with their teachers do not get enough respect or consideration for their ideas
• The students’ welfares and personalities are not taken into consideration; only their ability to churn out grades and follow orders
• The subjects taught in school are not to the students’ interest; what the students are interested in can’t be explored in traditional schools

Through alternative education, students will be able to:

• Express their creativity
• Explore and learn about themselves and the world
• Meet different types of people of all interests and personalities
• Gain real-world experience of many issues
• Gain independence and individuality
• Learn through styles that best suit them
• Learn different skills and subjects that may not be offered by mainstream schooling
• Gain a more holistic and well-rounded education

These are only some of the reasons and benefits that pull people towards alternative education.

Is Alternative Education a replacement for Traditional Education, or a supplement?
That depends on the individual. Some people elect to forego traditional schooling entirely, building their entire educational life on alternative methods (this is especially true for unschoolers or even “uncollegers”). Some have gone through some form of traditional schooling but then move on to more alternative methods - for example, a high school student that enters an alternative college, or a college graduate that then signs up for workshops and travels extensively. Many people - especially those new to alternative education - will usually use it to supplement their traditional educational experiences - for instance, a school student could take art classes on weekends, or participate in volunteer activities during their spare time.

Who is Alternative Education for?
Alternative educational methods are extremely varied and diverse; there’s bound to be something for everyone. The type of people who tend to be most successful in alternative education - or even look to it in the first place - are those that are driven, open-minded, dedicated, creative, independent, and self-sufficient. They are usually already unorthodox and very out-of-the-box and they have a very different way of looking at life.

How will Alternative Education affect my Degree/Career/Life?
It is possible to earn a degree or have a job through alternative educational methods (some colleges, for instance, award credits based on life experience). Alternative education can be considered a way of life; one is constantly learning, and their choices in life are based on what they want to learn or experience. Many people who choose alternative education do not have conventional lives - the usual “school-college-degree-job-family” route espoused by many - which suits them fine; they would rather have a life that is full of experiences, memories, and moments.

That is a basic primer of alternative education. If you have any questions or suggestions, do feel free to comment.

A tecaher sharing with their students on how to study smart.

Good grades and goals can be achieved if one puts in enough time and effort.