@ Immigration to the U.S.A

(1)  Immigration to the U.S.A

As of 2006, the United States accepts more legal immigrants as permanent residents than all other countries in the world combined. Since the liberalization of immigration policy in 1965, the number of first- generation immigrants living in the United States has quadrupled, from 9.6 million in 1970 to about 38 million in 2007. 1,046,539 persons were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 2008. The leading emigrating countries to the United States were Mexico, India, and the Philippines.

Recent debates on immigration have called for increasing enforcement of existing laws with regard to illegal immigrants, building a barrier along some or all of the 2,000-mile (3,200 km) U.S.-Mexico border, or creating a new guest worker program. Through much of 2006, the country and

Congress was immersed in a debate about these proposals. As of   April 2010, few of these proposals had become law, though a partial border fence was approved and subsequently canceled.  

(2) Contemporary Immigration

(1) Until the 1930s, the gender imbalance among legal immigrants was quite sharp, with most legal immigrants being male. As of the 1990s, however, women accounted for just over half of all legal immigrants, shifting away from the male-dominated immigration of the past.

(2) Contemporary immigrants tend to be younger than the native population of the United States, with people between the ages 15 and 34 substantially overrepresented.  

(3) Immigrants are also more likely to be married and less likely to be divorced than native-born Americans of the same age.

(3) The Impact of  9/11 on the US Immigrants 


80% of immigrants say the government has become tougher on enforcing immigration laws since 9/11, and 30% report that they personally have experienced discrimination.


Public attitudes about immigration in the U.S. have been heavily influenced by the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. After the attacks, 52% of Americans believed that immigration was a good thing overall for the U.S., down from 62% the year before, according to a Gallup poll. Half of Americans say tighter controls on immigration would do "a great deal" to enhance U.S. national security, according to a Public Agenda survey.


(4) Top Ten Foreign Countries - Foreign Born Population Among U.S. Immigrants

Country	2000	2004	2010	2010	%(2010)
Mexico	175,900	7,841,000	8,544,600	9,600,000	23.7%
China	50,900	1,391,000	1,594,600	1,900,000	4.7%
Philippines	47,800	1,222,000	1,413,200	1,700,000	4.2%
India	59,300	1,007,000	1,244,200	1,610,000	4.0%
Vietnam	33,700	863,000	997,800	1,200,000	3.0%
Cuba	14,800	952,000	1,011,200	1,100,000	2.7%
El Salvador	33,500	765,000	899,000	1,100,000	2.7%
Dominican Republic	24,900	692,000	791,600	941,000	2.3%
Canada	24,200	678,000	774,800	920,000	2.3%
Korea	17,900	701,000	772,600	880,000	2.2%
Total Pop. Top 10	498,900	16,112,000	18,747,600	21,741,000	53.7%
Total Foreign Born	940,000	31,100,000	34,860,000	40,500,000	100%

(5) Video Clip 

 

* This Vidio Clip Source  is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SGSJx-JCmQ

   This is used here for an educational purpose.

* The infomation about 'Immigration to the U.S.A' was extrated from 'Wikipedia'.

   That was also used here for the educational purpose.

* The Pictures above was copied from 'immigrationdnatesting.us' & 'libertarianviewpoint.com'.

   They were used here for the educational purpose as well.

@ Burrhus Frederic Skinner

(1) Who is B.F. Skinner?

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904 – 1990) was an American behaviorist, author, inventor, social philosopher, and poet. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.

Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his own philosophy of science called Radical behaviorism, and founded his own school of experimental research psychology—the experimental analysis of behavior. His analysis of human behavior culminated in his work Verbal Behavior, which has recently seen enormous increase in interest experimentally and in applied settings.
Skinner discovered and advanced the rate of response as a dependent variable in psychological research. He invented the cumulative recorder to measure rate of responding as part of his highly influential work on schedules of reinforcement. In a June, 2002 survey, Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century. He was a prolific author who published 21 books and 180 articles.


(2) Reinforcement (pigeon experiment)


See the U-tube attached bellow. 





(cf) This video clip was extracted from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepqpTtKbwo.
      This clip is used here for the educational purpose.  




(3)  Influence on education


Skinner influenced education as well as psychology. He was quoted as saying "Teachers must learn how to teach ... they need only to be taught more effective ways of teaching." Skinner asserted that positive reinforcement is more effective at changing and establishing behavior than punishment, with obvious implications for the then widespread practice of rote learning and punitive discipline in education. Skinner also suggests that the main thing people learn from being punished is how to avoid punishment.
In The Technology of Teaching, Skinner has a chapter on why teachers fail (pages 93-113): Essentially he says that teachers have not been given an understanding of teaching and learning. Without the science underpinning teaching, teachers fall back on procedures that work poorly or not at all, such as..

1. using aversive techniques. They produce escape and avoidance and undesirable emotional effects.
2. relying on telling and explaining. "Unfortunately, a student does not learn simply when he is shown or told."
3. failing to adapt learning tasks to the student's current level.
4. failing to provide positive reinforcement frequently enough.

Skinner suggests that any age-appropriate skill can be taught. The steps are

1. Clearly specify the action or performance the student is to learn to do
2. Break down the task into small achievable steps, going from simple to complex.
3. Let the student perform each step, reinforcing correct actions
4. Adjust so that the student is always successful until final the goal is reached
5. transfer to intermittent reinforcement to maintain the student's performance

Skinner's views on education are extensively presented in his book The Technology of Teaching. It is also reflected in Fred S. Keller's Personalized System of Instruction and Ogden R. Lindsley's Precision Teaching.


(3) Negative Criticsm


Chomsky also reviewed Skinner's Beyond Freedom and Dignity, using the same basic motives as his Verbal Behavior review. Among Chomsky's criticisms were that Skinner's laboratory work could not be extended to humans, that when it was extended to humans it represented 'scientistic' behavior attempting to emulate science but which was not scientific, that Skinner was not a scientist because he rejected the hypothetico-deductive model of theory testing, that Skinner had no science of behavior, and that Skinner's works were highly conducive to justifying or advancing totalitarianism. The fields of Relational Frame Theory and ACT Therapy are currently attempting to deal with most of these suggestions.



**This information source is from 'Wikipedia'.

@ If I were a president

Citizens greet the new President outside the White House. President Byung Promises to Put Schools First In his first press conference, President You presented a balanced budget to the American people. The first item discussed in the press conference was the President's first priority in the budget. " As I mentioned before, we need to reform it. Our nation is faceing a variety of challenges from the out world. Many developing countries like China and Korea are fostering their competitiveness, pouring a lot of energy into the education. If we neglect to educate our children, we will be overtaken by them in a near future. Education is an investment for the future. It is the time to prepare for the future. That`s why we can`t postpone the investment on the education. ," the President said. The President's budget called for 35% to fund education; 10% to support the military; 15% to be spent on crime prevention; 20% to fund the environment; and 20% to finance health care. The President explained why less money was given to certain budget items. " As you know, we, the United States of America, have long thought of ourselves as the poice of the world. But no more. That doesn`t mean that we are going to neglect our defence. Defencing our nation is directly related to our national interest. But we need to allocate our budget and cut off the national deficit. I`ll strengthen the strategic coalition with our allies. I will never look down on the importance of defence, especially facing the challenges from the terrorist countries. I will allocate the budget to the millitary more strategically. You will see the blue print about it near future. ," the President explained. President You Names Top AdvisorsDuring the news conference, the President also named his advisors, selecting Thomas Teacher, Francesca Famous, and Dr. Teresa Thermometer. " Now, This country needs to invest the future. I will reform the school system and forster the potential power to cope with the tough world. Besides, we have a obligation of taking care of the poor, the old who need some medicare, whoch is the base of the leader nation and will be the base to level up our strength at the long sight. And, the reason I choose Ms Famous is that she will help me work without worrying about money or reelection. ," the President announced. On concluding his press conference, the newly sworn-in President of the United States continued to perform his first full day of duties.