"Psychology and the Good Life" is a completely new class for Yale University students implemented by Laurie Santos (psychology professor and the head of one of Yale’s residential colleges). Within 3 days over 1200 people signed up for this class and at the same time broke the record held by "Psychology and the Law'' course in 1992. Dr. Santos wants to show her students another perspective of life - happier and less anxious. Even though, the class is impressively successful, the University can not afford losing students' attention from other courses. Fortunately, Dr. Santos will carry on changing Yale's society by publishing her speeches online.
Striking amount of students signed for classes just in a few days speaks for itself. I can't imagine how many people would participate if such courses were held in schools all around the world. Does it mean that our educational system is failing or maybe it's because Yale is a top University so it requires more effort and hard work? Why so many students feel like they need to learn how to live a more positive life? I think we should somehow combine effective work with happiness, these aspects can't be excluded from each another, but sadly that's exactly what many students do.
ps: I wouldn't mind courses like this in our school, even once a month :)
link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/nyregion/at-yale-class-on-happiness-draws-huge-crowd-laurie-santos.html
wtorek, 6 lutego 2018
poniedziałek, 8 stycznia 2018
The Boy Who Stayed Awake For Eleven Days
In 1964 Randy Gardner, a high school boy with a group of friends came up with an idea of breaking the world record for staying awake for as long as possible. The original purpose of their experiment was to examine whether people could gain paranormal abilities or skills as a consequence of not sleeping enough, but very soon boys resigned from it and decided to monitor the behaviour of a human deprived of sleep. In fact, Gardner had sacrificed his health to such a degree that he had been awake for 264 hours and at the same time he had broken the record set by a DJ from Honolulu who had kept his eyes open for over 10days! The results of this project helped to discover how humans' brain works and how dangerous the lack of sleep can be. Even though Randy turned out to be fine and extremely lucky, he started to suffer from insomnia.
Side note: His friend William Dement is now a Stanford University sleep scientist :)
I think what they did was completely irresponsible and stupid because we all know that a human can die just after 3 days without sleep, but the truth is they weren't aware of that. Actually, there always must be "the first time" to find out right? We should probably be grateful for the knowledge that we gained from their experiment, however I still believe it wasn't the brightest idea and I don't quite understand why their parents were ok with that??
Side note: His friend William Dement is now a Stanford University sleep scientist :)
I think what they did was completely irresponsible and stupid because we all know that a human can die just after 3 days without sleep, but the truth is they weren't aware of that. Actually, there always must be "the first time" to find out right? We should probably be grateful for the knowledge that we gained from their experiment, however I still believe it wasn't the brightest idea and I don't quite understand why their parents were ok with that??
poniedziałek, 1 stycznia 2018
"Christmas May Be Over, but Holiday Shopping Is Not"
Lately, economic statistics show that more and more people decide to splurge their money not only before Christmas but also after. Surprisingly the day after the holiday is the fourth busiest shopping day of the season according to ShopperTrack. Meaning that over the past 5 years the number of consumers who did their shopping after Christmas has raised from 5% to over 40%. Because of this significant growth major companies in US such as Macy's or Abercrombie&Fitch are changing their selling strategies. For example, they place sale items next to the full-prize, new collection products in order to make people buy both. Also, they boost the online shopping experience by allowing easy
returns in even more stores. In results, consumers are in a shopping spirit from 24th of November, the whole December and now till the end of the first week of January.
On one hand it means that general wealth (in this case) of Americans is rising, which is a good sign, but on the other hand Christmas time is starting to be associated more with a shopping activity than with tradition, religion, family time etc. I'm completely aware of the fact that not everyone believe in God but I think, those who actually do are forgetting the essence, the main idea behind Christmas day and it shouldn't be this way. The 24th of December does not mean that we have to get the biggest present or that our ornaments should be better than our neighbours's. But what can I change in the world of global consumptionism and money.
returns in even more stores. In results, consumers are in a shopping spirit from 24th of November, the whole December and now till the end of the first week of January.
On one hand it means that general wealth (in this case) of Americans is rising, which is a good sign, but on the other hand Christmas time is starting to be associated more with a shopping activity than with tradition, religion, family time etc. I'm completely aware of the fact that not everyone believe in God but I think, those who actually do are forgetting the essence, the main idea behind Christmas day and it shouldn't be this way. The 24th of December does not mean that we have to get the biggest present or that our ornaments should be better than our neighbours's. But what can I change in the world of global consumptionism and money.
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