Featured May Events

On Thursday May 17^th, Aisia Lambert who has helped start and directed the Foundations Christian Academy for the past seven years, will be giving a lecture in the Jose Maria Vargas University Library on Missing Children Avoidance from 7:30-8:30pm. Mrs Lambert has a Masters Degree in Literacy (Birth to 8^th Grade) from Canisius College in New York and has an Ungraduate Degree in Elementary Education.

On Tuesday May 10^th, Jose Maria Vargas University will be hosting a self-defense Mother’s day  event from 545-645pm. Ismael Negron who is a certified Krav Maga Instructor will be leading the class. Krav Maga is a very useful style of self defense. This event is free and opened to the public.

Colleges and Universities Leaning Away from Relying on SAT Scores

Many students struggle under the pressure to perform well on college entrance exams.  The burden of having a life decision rest in the hands of tests like the SAT and ACT can cause severe performance anxiety. This can be eased with preparation, but the preparation for the test varies as individuals who attend better schools in wealthier areas tend to do better on the test. In the book, “SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions,” by Wake Forest University Professor of Sociology Joseph Soares not only addresses this aspect of the SAT process, but also argues aspects of gender bias against women in the math section and racial biases against minorities built into the verbal section of the SAT.

With this type of scholarly rhetoric recently getting more attention, more and more American colleges and universities are implementing test-optional policies for admissions as they acknowledge that the test scores do not necessarily reflect the individual’s capacity for learning. In fact, Wake Forest University, Soares employer, actually dropped the SAT as a requirement for admission and as admitted a stronger and more diverse freshman classes (Editorial of the Winston-Salem Journal: http://rethinkingadmissions.blogs.wfu.edu/2012/01/15/sat-scores-dont-tell-the-entire-story/)  By relying more on classroom performance instead of test scores, Universities like Wake Forest University have attracted a more diverse pool of freshmen as there is not such a hard line drawn with the emphasis of test scores on student’s qualifications

Buying Books online at JMVU

What was once a dreaded expense and hassle of college life has now evolved to make your life easier as the world of book buying has finally caught up with the rest of the world’s technology.  Coursesmart.com is the ultimate bookstore and is here to make your career in college a little easier and perhaps a little cheaper.

 This website is designed to be your bookstore in the digital world. Although you can still purchase regular textbooks from this site, the site’s niche is to provide you with Digital Textbooks which you can read on your IPad, IPhone, MAC and even Laptop.  One feature of this is that you can choose how you would like to view the book. You can choose whether you want one page displayed, two pages or have all the pages displayed on the screen to navigate you through the whole textbook. Another useful option that the digital books provide is that you can even make notes on the side of the text book as you read the material so it accommodates the student who likes to make notes as they read. 

So by choosing to use digital books, you not only take away the hassle of carrying around a backpack full of books, but you can also have constant access to your course material. This would be beneficial because it will make your life as a college student more efficient and productive because whether you are waiting for a bus, in the waiting room of the doctors office or having lunch you will be able to utilize minutes to read your material; plus you may be able to save an extra couple of bucks which is always important especially in this day and age. For more information, go to coursesmart.com and watch some of their video tutorials on how the website work.

Is Facebook an Addiction?

Has the most widely used and known social networking site, Facebook connects literally millions of people worldwide. Although not its intention, this connection can leave people almost too connected in the sense that they are always connected to the network and essentially, depending on your view of the amount of hours spent on Facebook, waste a large amount of time on the website. Almost half of Facebook's users visit the website every day and some of its users spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook allowing the hours of the day to slip away. Facebook has become such a part of people lives that some would say that it is an addictive behavior.

A simple Google search of the term ‘Facebook Addiciton,’ brings up numerous sites specifically dedicated to a perceived Facebook addiction. There is facebookaddiction.com, fbaddiction.org and thefacebookaddiction.com. While "Facebook addiction" or "Facebook addiction disorder" are not medically approved terms, the reality of addictive behaviors on Facebook are a growing problem for many Facebook users and the psychology field is beginning to weigh in whether there is a true Facebook Addiction. Michael Fenichel, an American psychologist, believes that it is such a problem that he’s even introduced a new term to describe such an addiction: Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD). He claims that this is a condition that is defined by hours spent on Facebook, so much time in fact that the healthy balance of the individual’s life is affected

Social networking is an unbelievable tool, but the reality is that more and more, social networking has become part of life in the 21^st Century. It keeps you in contact with old friends and family, it helps grow new friendships, but one could certainly spend too much time on Facebook. So take a step back and ask yourself “Do I spend too much time on Facebook?” Because chances are that you might.

Importance of Bi-Lingual Education

The subject of Bi-lingual education has picked up some traction over the past couple of decades and certainly has caused some debate. On one hand, some people feel that individuals coming to America should learn English and others feel that given the current global context that Americans should begin to adopt other languages. How to go about implementing this is where most of the debate is sparked and where emotions get fueled. However, if you were to take emotion, culture and politics out of the equation and focus on an individual’s growth, bi-lingual education certainly can be a positive because the only true way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it.

Perhaps it is because some people view this subject as Spanish versus English, but when you think of a global context, other countries understand the doors that are being open by being bi-lingual. An example could be someone in China, learning Arabic.

The obvious benefit of being bi-lingual in this current global market is that it places you in a pool of being more marketable during your job search than someone who only knows one language.  And depending on where you are in the country, it will depend on whether you are even working. For examples, many positions in South Florida are not even listed as ‘Fluent Spanish Preferred,’ as a qualification but ‘Fluent Spanish Required.’ It also helps being bi-lingual because it improves the dynamic of the organization you are a part of as it makes you flexible to work with diverse populations. This is especially true with Government jobs as well because of the diverse populations that they work with.

You may also be in line to receive better pay as a bi-lingual professional because the company is rewarding you for being an asset to their organization. Researchers have shown that employers pay people who are bilingual more than those who know only one language. If one is fortunate to rise to an executive position in a company, a bilingual executive can look forward to earn anywhere to over five percent more than the employees who speak only one language.

Stepping outside of the business world and reiterating the individual’s development, research has shown that students who learn more than one language have greater analytical and problem solving abilities, much like a student who can play an instrument. Such children are much more creative, confident and have a higher IQ than their peers who know only one language. Students who are multilingual have better vocabularies and can express themselves in a number of ways. With the knowledge and understanding of a different cultures and language, the perspective of the individual grows. Bilingual education does nothing other than opens up opportunity for the individual.

Social Media at JMVU

With the world adopting social media more than ever, Jose Maria Vargas University has recently decided to utilize its audience of upwards to 35, 000 followers on Facebook and has aggressively added to its online presence over the past couple of months. The posts of Jose Maria Vargas University can range from useful recipes, health tips, reminders of events on campus and words of motivation. As an educational institution, each posts attempts to be thought provoking and generally useful to the individual reading them. There are numerous posts that will let you know what happened ‘This Day In History,’ as well as numerous scholarly and news articles that discuss current events and issues relevant to the world at large.

So take a second out of your day and do not forget to ‘Like’ us the next time you are on Facebook! We have also developed a Twitter feed and you can follow us at @JMVU1!