Hasta La Gadget!

While editorial opinion seemed to be running against the recent 11^th-District ruling that reinstated Florida’s gag law, there were some notable exceptions, chief among them being an op-ed that appeared in the Pensacola News Journal written by Marion Hammer. As a career NRA lobbyist, this lady has a long and courageous history fighting for the rights of gun owners in the Gunshine state, as well as for standing up for the oppressed in general, having been responsible not only for Florida’s concealed-carry law but also as the architect of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, the first of its kind in the U.S.

Hammer begins her diatribe by reminding readers that the real agenda of physicians is to rid the country of guns, and she lifts anti-gun statements from the AAP website to support her case. She then goes on to remind physicians that if they “genuinely wish to offer safety information [they] can simply hand out firearms safety and safe storage brochures to all patients. Interrogating parents and children about what they own or have in the home is not only an intrusion but is a violation of privacy rights.”

Now I know that the press is very sensitive to anything that even remotely smacks of censorship, hence, if someone wants to express their opinions the editorial policy usually means that the writer can say more or less anything they damn well want to say. But if Hammer thinks she’s presenting anything other than a total fiction about the role and responsibilities of the physician in counseling patients, then either her own physician never went to medical school, or she simply doesn’t have the faintest idea about what physicians actually do. Her statement that doctors are violating privacy by inquiring about items in the home is a mind-boggling distortion of the doctor-patient relationship and I only hope that she has the good sense to avail herself of medical care that’s a little more aware of the requirements of the Hippocratic Oath than she seems to be.

In a way I can’t blame her for promoting a vision of medical care that’s so at odds with the reality of doctor-patient relationships, because there’s even a physician out there named Robert Young, who basically said the same thing in an op-ed piece published by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Like Hammer, Dr. Young also believes that physicians should limit their concern about gun ownership to handing out gun safety brochures developed by the NRA, whose gun-safety program for children, Eddie Eagle, has never been shown to have any positive safety results at all.

I’m not surprised that Ms. Hammer would follow Dr. Young’s lead in advocating the distribution of gun safety materials to patients. After all, she’s a lobbyist for the NRA and all their training courses emphasize safe use of guns. On the other hand, the NRA avoids the issue of safe gun storage like the plague, because the last thing they would endorse are mandatory laws requiring gun owners to lock away their guns. After all, if guns are locked away to keep them from the kids, how will the “good guys” with the guns stop the “bad guys” with the guns?

Physicians need to ask patients if they lock away their guns for the same reason they ask patients whether their children are constrained while sitting in the car. Unlocked guns are a health risk just like unlocked seat belts, and if Marion Hammer wants to dispute the studies which link gun ownership to higher levels of child mortality and morbidity, she’s also has the Constitutional right to promote the idea that the moon is made out of cheese.

As Kim Kardashian and Kate Middleton prove, pregnant stars sell magazines. But how does that exposure affect non-famous women who are also pregnant? A recent study from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand provides an answer, and it’s not positive.

The researchers found that when a pregnant woman exhibits an interest in pregnant celebrities as well as a high concern for her physical appearance, she is likely to experience reduced levels of prenatal attachment. Translation: Those “baby bump” headlines are not only hurting your body image; they also might be severing the natural bonds between women and their babies-to-be.

“If you look at pregnant celebrities, they’re shown wearing bikinis late in pregnancy, and they’ve still got a beautiful figure with just this little kind of pregnancy ‘bump,'” Dr. Jayne Krisjanous, Ph.D., one of the authors of the study from the School of Marketing and International Business at Victoria University of Wellington, told The Huffington Post.

Krisjanous, a former midwife, and her research partners, James E. Richard and Aaron Gazley, surveyed 468 women during their first pregnancies to examine their pre-existing values, attitudes and lifestyle behaviors as they related to pregnant celebrity media consumption. The researchers were inspired by the notable rise in cesarean rates after all of the “Too Posh To Push” headlines during Victoria Beckham’s four pregnancies, and they wanted to formally look at how pregnant celebrity culture affects expectant women.

“People look at celebrities and say ‘Why am I so much bigger? How can they just have this little bump and my hips and waist are changing?'”

In the study, they honed in on body image, using the survey answers to measure five factors: usual concern for physical appearance, pregnant celebrity attraction, pregnancy weight worry, pregnancy body image dissatisfaction and, of course, prenatal attachment, defined as a relationship in which the mother seeks “to know, to be with, to avoid separation or loss, to protect, and to identify and gratify the needs of her fetus.” This information allowed Krisjanous and her co-authors to look at each woman and determine the “extent to which respondent is excited by, anticipates and enjoys the process of being pregnant and the changes happening to her body.”

Ultimately, the study showed an alarming link between attraction to celebrity pregnancy and disruption in prenatal attachment. This effect was seen in those concerned about appearance and gaining weight during pregnancy.

People internalize ‘bump-watching’ more than they think.

When pregnant women draw comparisons between their bodies and the bodies of those with a mere “bump,” the harmful effects start with self-image before manifesting as a lack of connection with the baby.

“People look at celebrities and say ‘Why am I so much bigger? How can they just have this little bump and my hips and waist are changing?” Maggie Baumann, a psychotherapist in Newport Beach, California, who specializes in treating people struggling from eating disorders, told The Huffington Post. “It’s unrealistic and negative feedback to the normal population of women that are pregnant.”

Baumann is a recovering “pregorexic” who now runs a web-based support group for moms with eating disorders. She wrote about her struggle with “pregorexia” for MomLogic.com in 2009 and has been an advocate for the cause ever since. During her second pregnancy, her eating disorder kicked in as she felt her body changing, albeit naturally. This intense self-scrutiny led her to engage in unhealthy behaviors, such as over-exercise and diet restriction, and caused her to disassociate from her unborn child, much like the respondents in Krisjanous’ study.

“I had this internal negative dialogue that I was losing control of my body,” Baumann said. “I know this sounds horrible, but at the time, because I was sick, I thought of my baby as this alien taking control of my body. I’m thinking that this thing is taking control of my body — I’m not attaching to it, because I didn’t sense that it was a baby until it was born. That was when I was able to think, ‘Here’s my baby; I can hold my baby; I can feed my baby.’ All of those things that are important for attachment really didn’t happen until after I had had my baby.”

Art by Noelle Campbell

Celebrity culture is a common topic in Baumann’s support group, as moms and moms-to-be bemoan the media’s focus on pregnant celebrities who manage to squeeze into bikinis, bandage dresses and skinny jeans all the way into their third trimesters.

“They talk about how it seems unattainable when you look at these women when you’re pregnant,” Baumann explained. “[Celebrities] have personal chefs, personal trainers and you really don’t know what’s Photoshopped. Then they emerge right after they have their baby, and they look like they’ve never even had a baby.”

Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to these messages, said Krisjanous, since many of them are experiencing these body changes for the first time or don’t have access to proper medical advice. One of the hardest things for women to hear, she explained, is talk of the celebrity “baby bump.”

“You see all of the time that it’s described as a ‘bump’ — you know, the ‘perfect little bump’ or the ‘pregnancy bump,'” Krisjanous said. “A pregnancy is much more than that. It’s a complete body change. For most women, just maintaining that little ‘bump’ is unachievable.”

But where does the obsession with pregnant celebrities start?

Krisjanous said that stars are at the peak of their beauty during their fertile years, which plays into society’s fascination with aesthetics. To this day, Demi Moore’s 1991 Vanity Fair cover, featuring the star posing naked and pregnant, is considered one of photographer Annie Leibovitz’s most recognizable photos. Not to mention, many subsequently pregnant celebrities, such as Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, have played homage to the iconic image with their own nude pregnancy covers.

While cover lines like “My Body After Baby” and “98 Lbs. & Pregnant” weren’t as prevalent when Baumann was expecting in the late 1980s, she received her fair share of positive feedback for her svelte maternity body, which echoed the idolization put toward today’s pregnant stars. All of these accolades were given as she nearly miscarried at 11 weeks pregnant and had her fetus diagnosed with intrauterine growth retardation, as a result of poor nutrition, at seven months. By the time she went into labor, she was 5 feet 8 inches and weighed just above 135 pounds.

“People were commenting, ‘You have such a good body and you’re pregnant. How do you do that?'” Baumann said. “When I went in for my cesarean in 1987, two of the OR nurses were pregnant at the time and they were looking at me going, ‘Oh my gosh, you look so good. How did you stay so small?'”

Bottom line: Avert your gaze from the expecting 1 percent.

It’s worth noting, however, that even Krisjanous doesn’t think all celebrity attention or even body focus is bad — it’s merely when coupled with insecurity that prenatal attachment was negatively affected. She said that most women aren’t concerned with staying small while they’re with child. They look at these headlines and think, “Well, I can’t look like that,” and have perfectly normal attachments to their fetuses.

But for those who are affected by celebrity culture, low prenatal attachment can open the door to a slew of problems, such as postpartum depression and a low level of attachment with the baby post-birth, according to previous research.

“The media is showcasing this pregnant celebrity that’s thin and bikini-wearing, but keep in mind that that’s not necessarily the full picture.”

And since it doesn’t seem the media will be shifting its focus away from celebrity pregnancies anytime soon, both Krisjanous and Baumann said it’s up to women to stay above the pressure to maintain small pregnant bodies. They suggest getting information from credible sources, such as websites that are recommended by health practitioners, and taking body image concerns directly to doctors.

“Women just need to be sensible about what they believe is true through the media in terms of celebrities and maintaining their appearance,” said Krisjanous. “The media is showcasing this pregnant celebrity that’s thin and bikini-wearing, but keep in mind that that’s not necessarily the full picture.”

As for Baumann, she instructs the women in her group to understand that, although thin pregnant bodies might be healthfully achievable for some women, they shouldn’t feel compelled to emulate these ladies’ behaviors or try to achieve their bodies through unhealthy means, even if magazines are holding them up as paradigms of pregnancy.

“We’re looking at a very, very small segment of the population that are being shown in the media, but we have to remember that maybe 1 percent of the population are celebrities. And who are usually celebrities? People that have attractive bodies,” she said. “I’m trying to let them look at the whole picture, because what we’re seeing in the media is really a very small picture of what’s really out there.”

Until websites and magazines start showcasing a range of pregnant bodies, it looks like women will have to use their imaginations to see that full picture — or they can simply take a look around at all of the beautiful, diverse, non-celebrity pregnant bodies walking the streets each day.

Going back to school is a painful process for everyone involved — whether it’s a little separation anxiety from the kiddos or simply the agony of getting everyone up in the morning. Even eating breakfast can be a struggle, but one Japanese company found a way to make that entire process just a little more “bearable.”

Introducing the Ernest Bread Pop Up! A “Teddy-Bear Toast Stamp” that already makes mornings a little brighter just by looking at the cute little faces. Although it’s no substitution for sleeping in a little more, if you’re already getting up, it might as well be for an adorable toasted treat.

The concept of the stamp is a cute one — not only does it “pop” up, but it also has three wee interchangeable expressions to etch into toast or breakfast sandwiches. We would say that it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread, but that’s way too cheesy.

Take a look!

If you’re looking for another panda-rific way to change up meals, try these cute Panda Pocket Makers. And if you’re simply an overachiever, you can make your kid the talk of the lunch table by packing a Japanese Bento Box.

(h/t Bored Panda)

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“The Global Search for Education series takes important issues related to global education and gives them context.” — Adam Steiner

Diane Ravitch, Howard Gardner, Sir Ken Robinson, Pak Tee Ng, Pasi Sahlberg, Tony Wagner, Yong Zhao, Krista Kiuru, Peter Vesterbacka, Randi Weingarten, Jonathan Jansen, Michael Fullan and Andy Hargreaves, among others, have been chosen for our first Global Search for Education Top 10 List.

We asked Adam Steiner, a technology integration specialist for the Holliston Public Schools in Holliston, Massachusetts and a doctoral researcher at Boston College, to make an assessment of the over 250 interviews we’ve published and give us his view of our top ten articles.

Adam is the co-author with Dr. Elizabeth Stringer of a forthcoming book on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and technology (scheduled release date of March 2015 from Rowman & Littlefield). He joins me to discuss the Top 10 in today’s edition of The Global Search for Education.

Adam, I like your first selection – my 2012 interview with Diane Ravitch. How have The Global Search for Education articles helped you as an educator?

The Global Search for Education series takes important issues related to global education and gives them context. Given the various threads of my personal and professional life, the interviews have helped to put it all in a broader context and give it a larger meaning.

As a teacher, your 2012 interview with Diane Ravitch, in particular, represents the need for teaching to remain a respected profession. I know that my first few years of teaching were such a challenge and would have been impossible if I felt the community did not respect my work. Diane Ravitch rightly argues that a well-respected teaching profession requires higher expectations for teachers and stricter requirements for entry into the profession.

1. The Global Search for Education: The Education Debate 2012 with Diane Ravitch

“Diane Ravitch rightly argues that a well-respected teaching profession requires higher expectations for teachers and stricter requirements for entry into the profession.” — Adam Steiner

Can I assume that the articles you selected as Nos. 2 and 3 on your list are related to your experience as a technology integration specialist?

Absolutely. Over the past five years, my professional focus has shifted from classroom teacher to technology integration specialist. My particular focus has been on the use of assistive technology in partnership with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to support inclusive classrooms. Singapore is an amazing example of a country that is using technology to help transform its educational system and there is no better person to speak to this than Pak Tee Ng, Professor at the University of Singapore – the best known expert on the Singaporean education system. He emphasizes that Singapore is seeking out uses of technology that transform teaching and not just prop up traditional modes. Tony Wagner continues this theme in my third choice when he talks about technology as a source of pedagogical transformation. In your interview, Tony talks about visiting a school system that had invested tens of thousands in interactive whiteboards in classrooms. Despite the innovative technology, the teaching had not changed – the devices were simply being used as sophisticated test prep tools. As a technology integration specialist, I find myself promoting and supporting the purchase of classroom technology. However, I am also constantly checking to insure that my work is promoting innovative teaching and not just equipment.

2. The Global Search for Education: Got Tech? – Singapore with Pak Tee Ng

3. The Global Search for Education: Education Technology with Tony Wagner

I was pleased that my interview with Yong Zhao made no. 4 on your list. As an education researcher, what interested you most about this article?

China is on a continual journey of self-examination of its own schools. There is no better guide in this irony than Yong Zhao, University of Oregon Professor and expert on the Chinese educational system. Dr. Zhao emphasized efforts to lessen the gap between wealthy and poor, powerful and powerless, a topic that has huge implications for the United States and our disturbing inequality. He described a pernicious selection of students into a hierarchical arrangement of schools and a need for a broad cultural shift that would measure the value of a school intrinsically rather than in comparison to other schools. The growing emphasis on large-scale standardized testing in the US would seem to run contrary to this effort.

4. The Global Search for Education: Focus on China with Yong Zhao

“Jonathan Jansen’s South African experience has powerful ramifications for any country looking to make significant reform. He emphasizes the importance of approaching reform with an eye toward systemic change rather than tackling issues in a piecemeal fashion.” — Adam Steiner

No. 5 on your list – a look at Finland’s education system for inspiration in the Global Search series.

I had the privilege to hear Dr. Pasi Sahlberg speak at Boston College and this interview illuminated several of the topics he discussed. Three points hit home with me. First, Finland has made a massive investment in teaching such that the profession is now one of the most sought-after jobs in the country. Second, there is an emphasis on equitable schooling that reaches every child rather than in boutique private or quasi-public schools. Third, emotional well-being is valued over test results. My fear is that the United States is moving in precisely the opposite direction on all three fronts.

5. The Global Search for Education: More Focus on Finland with Pasi Sahlberg

I was very pleased that you nominated my interview with Jonathan Jansen for the Top 10.

Jonathan Jansen’s South African experience has powerful ramifications for any country looking to make significant reform. He emphasizes the importance of approaching reform with an eye toward systemic change rather than tackling issues in a piecemeal fashion. Jansen also emphasizes the public-private partnership as key to making significant change.

6. The Global Search For Education: Education Is My Right – South Africa with Jonathan Jansen

As a parent, I know fun and learning resonates with you.

Helping my children with their homework, driving them to a soccer or gymnastics practice, or watching them listen to music or draw a picture – sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the many hats I wear, but there have been several interviews in the Global Search series that have helped me to manage these competing needs. This sixth interview I selected looked at technology and “fun learning” with several Finnish education leaders, including Krista Kiuru, Finnish Minister of Education and Science, and Peter Vesterbacka and Sanna Lukander of Rovio Entertainment, the creators of Angry Birds. We need to find ways for our kids to learn and to discover in fun and interesting ways. This is a challenge given the nature of elementary school education these days. How to find time for “fun learning” when there is so much math and literacy-focused homework to do?

7. The Global Search for Education: Fun and Learning with Krista Kiuru, Peter Vesterbacka, Sanna Lukander

“Howard Gardner covers a great deal of territory in this interview, from the role of the federal government in education to teacher education to charter schools, but what stands out most to me is his statement: “…education in the arts needs no justification in terms of ‘transfer’ to other subjects or to its generation of wealth; it is a ‘good’ in itself.” — Adam Steiner

Howard Gardner had more to do with inspiring the Global Search series than he will ever know – tell me about no. 8 on your list.

8. The Global Search for Education: The Education Debate 2012 with Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner covers a great deal of territory in this interview, from the role of the federal government in education to teacher education to charter schools, but what stands out most to me is his statement: “…education in the arts needs no justification in terms of ‘transfer’ to other subjects or to its generation of wealth; it is a ‘good’ in itself.” This is a powerful reminder that we need to build in time for our kids to enjoy the arts. If schools are going to put primary emphasis on English and math skills, this becomes even more important.

We couldn’t have a Top 10 list without Sir Ken Robinson.

You had an amazing conversation with Sir Ken Robinson, in which he describes the arts as a discipline in the same way that math, science and English are disciplines. It adds another layer to Howard Gardner’s argument about the importance of the arts. Sir Ken also emphasizes the value of approaching art and other subjects in an interdisciplinary fashion.

9. The Global Search for Education: More Arts Please with Sir Ken Robinson

Michael Fullan and Andy Hargreaves have contributed so much great work to this series – why did you select this particular interview about the teaching profession?

For me, teaching has been too often a lonely profession. I have felt that my development as a professional was distinctly separate from the needs of my colleagues. This Global Search interview, in particular, addressed this loneliness and the need to improve the profession of teaching with a collective, collaborative approach. It approached the topic from the practical side by engaging Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, and from the scholarly side by connecting with Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan, professors and researchers on the cutting edge of educational change.

10. The Global Search for Education: In Search of Professionals – Part 1 with Michael Fullan, Andy Hargreaves, Randi Weingarten

C. M. Rubin and Adam Steiner

All photos are courtesy of Gallery De Buck, New York. The artist is Sanna Kannisto. The series is called: Trust and suspicion, 2014. For more information.

.Join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. MadhavChavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Honourable Jeff Johnson (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. EijaKauppinen (Finland), State Secretary TapioKosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor PasiSahlberg (Finland), Professor Manabu Sato (Japan), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (LyceeFrancais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page

C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorld, and is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.

1. I am entirely car dependent in my day to day existence.
2. My car is over a decade old requiring frequent TLC.
3. I don’t like to get ripped off. 

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