Editorial Expresses U.S. Government's Commitment to Global Girls' Education

An Aug. 17 editorial on the Voice of America News website indicates that the U.S. government is strongly in favor of increased educational opportunities for girls throughout the world:

Girls' education brings enormous benefits far beyond improving the lives of the girls themselves. Once an educated girl becomes an adult, there are many continuing benefits of her education, not only for herself, but also for her community.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, a woman’s wages in developing countries will increase by 20 percent, on average, for each additional year of education she receives beyond grade three or four. ...

Her chances of contracting HIV will be greatly diminished, and she will be more likely to participate in local politics. A literate woman's children will have a greater chance of surviving past the age of five, because a mother who can read is more likely to take her children to a clinic, and to be able to follow a doctor's directions.

Her children will also be more likely to go to school. And education is the single most effective way to break inter-generational cycles of poverty and providing a path out of poverty.

This message of support for girls' education is similar to statements made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in recent visits to South Africa and other nations where the effort to educate girls does not always receive the support it deserves.

Critic Blasts Film for Sending Harmful Message to Female Students

In an Aug. 20 review of the film "Post Grad," critic Rafer Guzman says that even though it was written and directed by women, the film sends a harmful message to female students:

The premise of "Post Grad," a recession-era comedy about a chronically unemployed college graduate, sounds timely. But the film's typically Hollywood message is timeless: If you're a woman, your dreams and plans are meaningless without a man.

That "Post Grad" would telegraph this to an audience of young girls -- who, like the film's central character, Ryden Malby (Alexis Bledel), might want to use their education to establish fulfilling careers -- seems almost as insidious as encouraging children to smoke.

Screenwriter Kelly Fremon and director Vicky Jenson, Guzman writes, were "too busy sticking to convention" to create an alternative to what he believes is the film's anti-empowerment message.

South Carolina County to Eliminate Single-Sex Classrooms in Public Schools

A South Carolina county school board has narrowly voted to end a gender-specific education experiment in a public middle school -- but supporters of the program argue that the decision is an unwise move that denies students the opportunity to benefit from the advantages of single-sex education.

John Sweeney, editor of scnow.com, provided the following details in an Aug. 7 article:

Williamsburg County District School Board voted to discontinue the single gender education program currently in place at Kingstree Middle with a vote of three for, two opposed and one abstention.

Those who opposed the program said sufficient evidence did not exist to justify the method of education’s continuance. Others speaking in favor of single gender pointed out that the program was working and if given more time, additional statistics would support that claim.

The philosophy behind the technique is that students are able to focus more intently on lessons when members of the opposite sex are not around. According to some statistic presented, a female’s brain capacity is further developed than a males earlier on in life. Therefore, the males learn at different rates than females and should be put in settings conducive to that end.

Bishop Desmond Tutu Calls for Increased Efforts to Educate Girls

On Aug. 12, Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa was one of 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the United States government can bestow upon a civilian.

In conjunction with Tutu's presence in Washington, D.C., to receive the award, the Washington Times published an article in which, among other topics, the renowned bishop called for increased support for the effort to educate girls -- an effort that he said was necessary for both economic and humanitarian purposes:

A recent study looked at what it cost 65 countries around the world that were failing to educate their girls to the same level as their boys. What they found is that those countries consequently lose $92 billion every year for this mistake.

While the rest of the world is combating the economic crisis by investing in goods and services, one of the most pragmatic economic stimuli for the continent of Africa, and indeed for the rest of the world, is to invest in the education of our youth -- especially our girls. A small investment now will yield huge dividends in the future. ...

Education has also been called a "social vaccine" for preventing HIV/AIDS. Not only do children, particularly girls, learn how to protect themselves, but they are also less likely to be forced into prostitution to provide for their families if they are in school, and able to earn a living wage as a result of their education.

Finance Expert Says 'Princess Syndrome' Threatens Girls' Independence

In an article that appeared in the Aug. 9 edition of The Washington Post, Janet Bodnar of Kiplinger's Personal Finance argued that the "princess syndrome" threatens the independence of girls who are inadequately educated about financial matters:

The princess syndrome starts early, with lines of clothes for toddler girls emblazoned with the word "princess." One friend watched in horror as her 5-year-old had an in-store meltdown because she wanted a Snow White outfit.

As girls get older, they assume that there will be a prince who will pay the bills. A recent study by Capital One found that among graduating high school seniors, two-thirds of the male students rated themselves "highly" or "very" knowledgeable about personal finance. That compares with slightly less than half of the female students.

The news about girls and finance isn't all bad, Bodnar reports: "A recent study by Women & Co. ... found that among affluent women, 94 percent discuss financial topics with their daughters, and that mothers and daughters talk about finances more often than sex, drugs or politics."

Study Associates Childhood Abuse with Early Sexual Activity

According to an Aug. 10 MedPage Today article, researchers with University of Maryland School of Medicine have determined that children who experience physical or emotional abuse are more likely to engage in early sexual activity than are non-abused peers -- with girls appearing to be more strongly affected by the abuse:

At 14 years of age, adolescents with a history of maltreatment other than sexual abuse were 2.15 times more likely to report having had sexual intercourse than teens with no maltreatment history ...

Both boys and girls were more likely to have sex by age 14 if they were sexually abused, but girls reported more emotional distress as a result of sexual abuse. Girls were also more likely than boys to have early sex if they were physically abused.

"This study confirms our first hypothesis that child maltreatment, defined as sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, or neglect, before the age of 12 years predicts adolescent sexual intercourse at 14 years, when sexual intercourse is less common (21 percent), and at 16 years, when sexual intercourse is more common (51 percent)," the authors wrote in their report, which was published on the website of the journal Pediatrics.

Experts Concerned About Teens' Willingness to Bare All Online

Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have made it much easier for teens to communicate and keep in touch with each other, but concerns have arisen about the degree to which these sites facilitate (and record) words and behaviors that young people may later regret.

San Francisco Chronicle writer Jill Tucker took a closer look at this potential problem in an Aug. 10 article:

From behind their bedroom doors, more than one out of every 10 teenagers has posted a nude or seminude picture of themselves or others online -- a "digital tattoo" that could haunt them for the rest of their lives, according to a poll being released today. ...

"We've got to stop kidding ourselves about this," said James Steyer, chief economic officer and founder of San Francisco-based Common Sense Media, which commissioned the study. "There are enormous consequences from inappropriate behavior online." ...

It's a "playground with no parental supervision," said Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, George Adkins Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, who found in a study released earlier this year that 54 percent of teens demonstrate risky behavior online.

British Study Finds Young Girls Outdo Boys in Several Key Academic Areas

A survey of about 230,000 British five-year-olds has revealed significant discrepancies is the early development of boys and girls. According a July 30 article by Daily Telegraph Home Affairs Editor Tom Whitehead, the researchers discovered that girls outdo boys in a number of basic tasks:

Three in 10 boys have trouble reciting the alphabet, while nearly one in five cannot count to 10, compared with only 23 per cent and 15 per cent respectively among girls.

While three in four girls (74 percent ) could write a simple shopping list, or a letter to Santa, only half of boys (54 percent) could do so at the same age.

The results, which were released for the first time today, also showed almost eight in 10 girls could hold a pencil by the age of five, compared to about six in 10 boys.

The research, which was conducted under the guidance of Britain's Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), was designed to measure the progress of students who participated in Early Years Foundation Stage education.

The data in this study were collected before September 2008, when enrollment in EYFS became compulsory, the Daily Telegraph reported..

Mom Warns Others After Daughter's Dangerous Internet Experience

It's among every parent's worst nightmares: Your teenage daughter disappears after developing, online, a relationship with a much older man. Linda Squires experienced this nightmare firsthand, and now she's warning other parents about the dangers of the Internet.

According to an Aug. 4 article in England's Daily Mail newspaper, 14-year-old Claire Squires had recently returned home after disappearing for seven days with a 23-year-old man that she had met online. When they first struck up their online friendship, the man claimed to be a girl who was the same age as Claire:

The pair were finally spotted on a Norfolk beach miles from her home and she was escorted back by police officers at 4 a.m. [Aug 3] ...

"Claire is a beautiful young girl with an attractive slim figure and she has been putting pictures of herself online. It's worrying." [Linda Squires said]. "I don't want to suffocate her but I am going to monitor what is going on."

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British Politician Proposes Ban on Altered Images in Ads Directed at Teens

According to an Aug. 3 article by the United Kingdom's Press Association, a movement is underway in Great Britain to ban the use of airbrushing and other forms of photographic manipulation in advertisements that are designed for young consumers.

The effort, proponents say, is intended to help offset body-image problems that some believe are the result of unrealistic beauty standards established by manipulated photographs.

"We need to achieve a change in the media and in the way women are pressured to conform to a narrow image of beauty -- it's a lofty ambition but it's important to make a start." Member of Parliament Jo Swinson said in the Press Association article. "It's part of our culture now but it's a very damaging culture. It's not even as though these airbrushed images are attainable -- it's not how they look."

Swinson's proposal is slated to be discussed in further during a Liberal Democrats' conference in September.

Summer Program Designed to Spark Girls' Interest in Math, Science

For the past decade, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) has partnered with Stanford University to create a summer program designed to increase girls' interest in math and science.

According to a July 21 article by Shannon Burkey of the Saratoga News, the "Tech Trek" program bring students to southern California for a week that is filled with academics and inspiration:

During the weeklong overnight camp, the girls will attend classes and labs in math and various categories of science, including computer robotics, DNA extraction and veterinary science, take field trips and meet women in math- and science-related fields.

In addition to the broad range of classes the girls take, they also have the chance to pick a main interest such as marine biology, solar energy or space science and focus on that during the week. Each of the disciplines is taught by high school and middle school math and science teachers or professional women in those fields.

"The most crucial time is in the middle school years," Nancy Hobbs, a member of the Los Gatos-Saratoga branch of the American Association of University Women, told the Saratoga News. "That is the time when they start to think math and science is not girly and they want to do something else."