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Seven celebrities who really care about education

More celebrities are taking time to get involved in humanitarian projects - and many of them are focusing on the importance of education at home and abroad., justin bieber, taylor swift, priyanka chopra, selena gomez, dolly parton.

Movie star Ben Affleck is a man of many parts – actor, writer, director and producer. He’s won countless awards including two Oscars and three Golden Globes. Yesterday he added another – Favourite Humanitarian at the People’s Choice Awards 2015 (pictured above).

Ben was awarded the title for his work with the Eastern Congo Initiative , a non-profit he co-founded. Its work includes helping vulnerable children through education and health projects, as well as reintegrating former child soldiers into their communities. 

Ben’s award made us think about other celebrities who are making a difference in the world of education, both at home and abroad. Here are seven of the best – some are actors but they all just happen to be famous singers too! And you can do your bit for education too, by signing the #UpForSchool Petition that calls on world leaders to keep their promise that all children would be in school by the end of this year.

The Colombian star founded Fundación Pies Descalzos in 1997. Her organisation provides displaced and underprivileged children in the South American country with access to quality education. She was invited to The White House by President Obama in 2010 to discuss early childhood development and in 2011 was appointed as a member of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Last year she joined the fight to get all of the world’s children into school by becoming a member of the Emergency Coalition for Global Education Action .

Watch Shakira talk about the importance of education:

JUSTIN BIEBER

The Canadian is an active supporter of Pencils of Promise , a charity committed to education that builds schools, trains teachers and funds scholarships in the developing world. The charity has built 252 schools since 2009 and in 2013 Justin went to Guatemala to see how the project works.

Watch the video below to see how he joined in building a school in the jungle and chatted to the local children during a trip he described it as a “magical experience”.

TAYLOR SWIFT

The best-selling artist of 2014 moved to New York last year and dedicated all proceeds of her October single Welcome to New York to the city’s public schools. Taylor has a history of helping. In 2012 she donated $4million to launch the Taylor Swift Education Center  at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. In the same year also donated $60,000 to the music departments of six US colleges.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA

The Bollywood actress, singer and former Miss World is a vocal advocate of women’s rights and girls’ education. She was made a UNICEF National Ambassador for child rights in 2010, supports the UN Girl Up campaign and is a narrator on the 2013 film Girl Rising . Priyanka has said that her desire to help others has come from her parents, who were both doctors, and who volunteered in their spare time to offer health care to the rural poor in India. 

Nigerian singer Waje – whose three-octave range was honed in church singing gospel but who has since branched out into soul and hip-hop – launched Waje’s Safe House in 2012. The initiative provides support via NGOs to women and children across Africa. She said the idea came after she visited a children’s school at the slum quarters of Makoko in Lagos and its first project was financing to the Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School in the deprived area (pictured below). The money went towards refurbishing the building and providing new furniture.

SELENA GOMEZ

The youngest ever UNICEF ambassador, American actor and singer Selena visited Nepal last year. At the Satbariya Rapti Secondary School, she watched children studying maths, science and spoke to members of a “child club”. She said: “Many of the children I talked to expressed a desire to be future leaders in their society, and I was moved to hear them emphasise the importance of education.”

DOLLY PARTON

Dolly’s literacy program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library , sends one book every month to each enrolled child from the day they are born until they go to primary school. She laughingly says that children refer to her as “the book lady”. Almost 700,000 children in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia are a part of the project which  distributes more than 8.3 million free books to children annually.

Watch a report on Dolly’s work:

Ben was awarded the title for his work with the Eastern Congo Initiative, a non-profit he co-founded. Its work includes helping vulnerable children through education and health projects, as well as reintegrating former child soldiers into their communities. 

The Colombian star founded Fundación Pies Descalzos in 1997. Her organisation provides displaced and underprivileged children in the South American country with access to quality education. She was invited to The White House by President Obama in 2010 to discuss early childhood development and in 2011 was appointed as a member of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Last year she joined the fight to get all of the world’s children into school by becoming a member of the Emergency Coalition for Global Education Action.

The Canadian is an active supporter of Pencils of Promise, a charity committed to education that builds schools, trains teachers and funds scholarships in the developing world. The charity has built 252 schools since 2009 and in 2013 Justin went to Guatemala to see how the project works.

The best-selling artist of 2014 moved to New York last year and dedicated all proceeds of her October single Welcome to New York to the city’s public schools. Taylor has a history of helping. 

In 2012 she donated $4million to launch the Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. In the same year also donated $60,000 to the music departments of six US colleges.

The Bollywood actress, singer and former Miss World is a vocal advocate of women’s rights and girls’ education. She was made a UNICEF National Ambassador for child rights in 2010, supports the UN Girl Up campaign and is a narrator on the 2013 film Girl Rising . Priyanka has said that her desire to help others has come from her parents, who were both doctors, and who volunteered in their spare time to offer health care to the rural poor in India.

Nigerian singer Waje – whose three-octave range was honed in church singing gospel but who has since branched out into soul and hip-hop – launched Waje’s Safe House in 2012. The initiative provides support via NGOs to women and children across Africa.

She said the idea came after she visited a children’s school at the slum quarters of Makoko in Lagos and its first project was financing to the Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School in the deprived area (pictured below). The money went towards refurbishing the building and providing new furniture.

Dolly’s literacy program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, sends one book every month to each enrolled child from the day they are born until they go to primary school. She laughingly says that children refer to her as “the book lady”. Almost 700,000 children in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia are a part of the project which  distributes more than 8.3 million free books to children annually.

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Education is essential to helping children around the world reach their potential. School allows them to learn, grow, interact, and build confidence.

Increasing access to education is also one of the greatest ways to combat poverty. It helps people gain access to more job opportunities and resources, and improved access to education can strengthen a community’s health , economy , environment , and more. 

Take Action: Tell the UK Government: Let’s Be the Generation to Get Every Child in School

For around  263 million children around the world, however, the benefits of education are currently out of reach because they’re unable to attend school due to conflict, natural disasters, poverty, and other factors.  

While improving access to education is ultimately the work of governments, these 10 celebrities are standing up for education and fighting to keep kids in school.

1. Drake 

Drake’s song “God’s Plan” generated a record-breaking 4.3 million Spotify streams in the US on the first day that it was released, but the hit of his album Scorpion  is much more than just a catchy song.

“God’s Plan” also became an anthem for philanthropy after Drake donated $75,000 while filming the song’s music video. Drake surprised Miami Senior High School students by donating $25,000 to their school and brand-new uniforms designed by OVO, Drake’s fashion label. Drake then gave a $50,000 scholarship to Destiny James, a first-generation college student at the University of Miami. 

In total, Drake gave out $1 million to residents of Miami while filming the music video for the song.

“God’s Plan,” which has over 800 million views on YouTube , not only shows Drake helping those in need. It also inspires viewers to give back to their communities as well.

Read More: Drake Just Donated $75,000 to Students in Florida

2. Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton’s charity Imagination Library , which sends books to children. donated its 100 millionth book since it was founded in 1996. 

While the program started in the singer’s home state of Tennessee, it now serves millions of children in four countries around the world.

“I always like to say that 100 million books have led to 100 million stories,” Parton said in a statement . 

Read More: Dolly Parton's Charity Just Donated Its 100 Millionth Book to Kids

3. Beyoncé 

Beyoncé’s BEYGood Initiative funded $100,000 worth of academic scholarships to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in April. 

This came after her HBCU-inspired Coachella performance, which drew inspiration from HBCU s’ bands, styles, and culture.

HBCUs are schools that provided an education to African Americans during segregation before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Today, these schools have a rich history and provide higher education to diverse student bodies. HBCUs help thousands of people thrive academically, especially minorities and people of color.

The Homecoming Scholars Award Program helped students at four HBCUs: Xavier University of Louisiana, Wilberforce University, Tuskegee University, and Bethune-Cookman.

Last year, Beyoncé started the Formation Scholars program to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her album “Lemonade.” The scholarship helped to send four students to Berklee College of Music, Parsons School of Design, and two HBCUs, Howard University and Spelman College.  

Read More: Beyoncé Is Funding 4 Scholarships to Historically Black Universities and Colleges

4. Gina Rodriguez

When Gina Rodriguez won her first Emmy for her role in Jane the Virgin , she decided to pay the prize money forward. She ended up donating the winnings to fund a full college scholarship for an undocumented high school student.

Rodriguez partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Los Angeles to select a Latinx teen who attends Princeton University. Because of Rodriguez’s donation, the student will be able to attend all four years of school without any financial strain or burden.

Read More: 'Jane the Virgin' Star Uses Emmy Money to Send Undocumented Girl to College

5. Nicki Minaj

An estimated 95% of American colleges are too expensive for most low-income students, according to a report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy last year. 

When you factor in level of income, the United States is the sixth most expensive country to receive a college education in. The average student loan borrower in the US has $37,172 in student loans, which is enough to buy a brand new Audi A4 or put a down payment on a house. This is a $20,000 increase from 13 years ago, and the rising level of student loan debt can be a huge financial strain on postgraduates who are just entering the workforce. 

For 37 of Nicki Minaj’s college-age fans, otherwise known as “barbs,” this financial burden dissipated when the pop star announced that she would pay their full tuition or remaining student loans. She also paid for fans’ books and other education-related fees, according to Money .

Read More: Nicki Minaj Just Paid Off 37 College Students' Tuitions

6. LeBron James

In the fourth grade, LeBron James missed around 100 days of school because of a lack of structure in his life. He moved about a dozen times in the fourth grade, and the person he viewed as a father figure was in jail at the time. He had numerous other family and economic hardships that prevented stability. With the help of a sports mentor, James returned to school with better attendance, which eventually helped him to become the accomplished NBA player he is today.

James is now helping other kids stay in school after opening the “I Promise” school in July. The school, in Akron, Ohio, is designed to help at-risk kids and kids who are falling behind academically. 

James has gone above and beyond to make sure the students are provided with the proper resources to excel. The school provides free meals and an on-site food bank. It offers therapy, classes to deal with trauma, free Chromebook laptops for the kids to do their homework, and more. 

The I Promise school also helps the parents of these students as well by offering GED classes and job training programs. This way the kids can be further mentored at home and the community can be uplifted as a whole.

Read More: 7 Amazing Things About LeBron James' New School for Low-Income Students

7. Chance the Rapper

For the second year in the row, Chance the Rapper’s nonprofit Social Works partnered with Lyft to help the Chicago Public School System. During their Round Up & Donate campaign in September, Lyft customers had the option to round up their fares to the nearest dollar. The extra change was then donated to The New Chance Arts and Literature Fund, which focuses on arts enrichment education.

Chance has long been an advocate for education, especially when helping in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. In the past few years, he’s hosted the teacher’s awards in Chicago, donated to public school systems , and supplied computers to students in impoverished areas.

Rihanna has been an active philanthropist and a true Global Citizen by publicly advocating for education. In September, Rihanna was named the  education ambassador of Barbados , where she's from. In this role, she promotes education, tourism, and investment for the island. 

Over the past year, Rihanna has used social media to help improve access to education not just in Barbados, but all over the world. With over 88 million Twitter followers, Rihanna tweeted several world leaders asking them to help fund education initiatives, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. She asked Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte to donate €100 million to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), an organization that put 70 million kids into school between 2002 and 2015.

Rihanna has been vocal about education advocacy both on- and offline. In the Guardian, she published an op-ed about her goal to ensure that every child gets to go to school and spoke about her role as an ambassador for the GPE.  

“Education is a lifelong journey,” she wrote . “We never know everything, but we constantly evolve as we learn more about our communities, this ever-changing world, and ourselves.” 

Read More: Rihanna Just Added Barbados Education Ambassador to Her Resume

Diddy pledged to donate $1 million to open a third Capital Preparatory School in his home state of New York earlier this year. The school will be built in the Bronx, which is the borough with the highest school dropout rate in New York City, according to Mayor de Blasio's office. With Diddy’s donation, Capital Prep will be able to educate more low-income students and people of color.

“It’s about educating our children, bringing them up as leaders, bringing them up to fight for social justice,” Diddy said. Preparing them for this world we live in.”

Diddy has previously worked with the school’s founder Dr. Steve Perry to open locations in Harlem, where he grew up, and Bridgeport, Connecticut.   

Capital Prep said that it’s sent 100% of its low-income, minority, and first-generation high school graduates to four-year colleges every year since its first class graduated in 2006. 

Read More: Diddy Just Pledged $1 Million to Open a School for Underserved Students

10. Millie Bobby Brown

On this year’s World Children’s Day, UNICEF chose British actress Millie Bobby Brown to be its goodwill ambassador. The Stranger Things  star is the youngest person to ever serve in the role at the age of just 14.

The actress plans to use her platform to stand up for bullying, education , and child poverty.

Millie Bobby Brown has been a victim of bullying herself. She deactivated her Twitter account in June after being cyberbullied. 

As a goodwill ambassador, she aims to help make schools a safer, kinder, and more accessible place for kids to learn.

Read More: 'Stranger Things' Star to Take on Bullies in New UN Role

Defeat Poverty

10 Celebrities Who Are Fighting To Keep Kids In School

Dec. 13, 2018

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Why more and more teachers are joining the anti-homework movement

The word homework doesn’t just elicit groans from students. Many veteran educators aren’t fans of it either.

Barbara Tollison, a high school English teacher with nearly four decades in the classroom, stopped assigning homework five years ago. In lieu of writing papers, she asks her 10th graders in San Marcos, California, to read more books before bed.

“For the kids who understand the information, additional practice is unnecessary,” she told TODAY Parents . “The kids who need more support are going to go home and not do it right. It's just going to confuse them more. They don’t have the understanding and they need guidance.”

Tollison is part of a growing movement that believes learners can thrive academically without homework. According to Alfie Kohn, author of “ The Homework Myth ,” there’s never a good excuse for making kids work a second shift of academics in elementary and middle school.

“In high school, it’s a little more nuanced,” Kohn told TODAY Parents . “Some research has found a tiny correlation between doing more homework and doing better on standardized tests . But No. 1, standardized tests are a lousy measure of learning. No. 2, the correlation is small. And No. 3, it doesn’t prove a causal relationship. In other words, just because the same kids who get more homework do a little better on tests, doesn’t mean the homework made that happen.”

Kohn noted that “newer, better” studies are showing that the downside of homework is just as profound in 16-year-olds as it is in 8-year-olds, in terms of causing causing anxiety, a loss of interest in learning and family conflict.

Parents Is homework robbing your family of joy? You're not alone

“For my book, I interviewed high school teachers who completely stopped giving homework and there was no downside, it was all upside,” he shared.

“There just isn’t a good argument in favor of homework,” Kohn said.

Katie Sluiter, an 8th grade teacher in Michigan, couldn’t agree more. She believes that the bulk of instruction and support should happen in the classroom.

“What I realized early on in my career is that the kids who don’t need the practice are the only ones doing their homework,” Sluiter told TODAY Parents .

Sluiter added that homework is stressful and inequitable. Many children, especially those from lower-income families, have little chance of being successful with work being sent home.

“So many things are out of the student’s control, like the ability to have a quiet place to do homework,” Sluiter explained. “In my district, there are many parents that don’t speak any English, so they’re not going to be able to help with their child’s social studies homework. Some kids are responsible for watching their younger siblings after school.”

Parents Too much homework? Study shows elementary kids get 3 times more than they should

Sluiter also doesn’t want to add “an extra pile of stress” to already over-scheduled lives.

“Middle school is hard enough without worrying, ‘Did I get my conjunctions sheet done?’” she said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s just too much. We need to let them be kids."

Kohn, who has written 14 books on parenting and education, previously told TODAY that moms and dads should speak up on behalf of their children.

"If your child's teacher never assigns homework, take a moment to thank them for doing what's in your child's best interest — and for acknowledging that families, not schools, ought to decide what happens during family time," he said. "If your child is getting homework, organize a bunch of parents to meet with the teacher and administrators — not to ask, 'Why so much?' but, given that the research says it's all pain and no gain, to ask, 'Why is there any?'"

Related video:

Rachel Paula Abrahamson is a lifestyle reporter who writes for the parenting, health and shop verticals. Her bylines have appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and elsewhere. Rachel lives in the Boston area with her husband and their two daughters. Follow her on Instagram .

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Credit: August de Richelieu

Does homework still have value? A Johns Hopkins education expert weighs in

Joyce epstein, co-director of the center on school, family, and community partnerships, discusses why homework is essential, how to maximize its benefit to learners, and what the 'no-homework' approach gets wrong.

By Vicky Hallett

The necessity of homework has been a subject of debate since at least as far back as the 1890s, according to Joyce L. Epstein , co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. "It's always been the case that parents, kids—and sometimes teachers, too—wonder if this is just busy work," Epstein says.

But after decades of researching how to improve schools, the professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Education remains certain that homework is essential—as long as the teachers have done their homework, too. The National Network of Partnership Schools , which she founded in 1995 to advise schools and districts on ways to improve comprehensive programs of family engagement, has developed hundreds of improved homework ideas through its Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program. For an English class, a student might interview a parent on popular hairstyles from their youth and write about the differences between then and now. Or for science class, a family could identify forms of matter over the dinner table, labeling foods as liquids or solids. These innovative and interactive assignments not only reinforce concepts from the classroom but also foster creativity, spark discussions, and boost student motivation.

"We're not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them," says Epstein, who is packing this research into a forthcoming book on the purposes and designs of homework. In the meantime, the Hub couldn't wait to ask her some questions:

What kind of homework training do teachers typically get?

Future teachers and administrators really have little formal training on how to design homework before they assign it. This means that most just repeat what their teachers did, or they follow textbook suggestions at the end of units. For example, future teachers are well prepared to teach reading and literacy skills at each grade level, and they continue to learn to improve their teaching of reading in ongoing in-service education. By contrast, most receive little or no training on the purposes and designs of homework in reading or other subjects. It is really important for future teachers to receive systematic training to understand that they have the power, opportunity, and obligation to design homework with a purpose.

Why do students need more interactive homework?

If homework assignments are always the same—10 math problems, six sentences with spelling words—homework can get boring and some kids just stop doing their assignments, especially in the middle and high school years. When we've asked teachers what's the best homework you've ever had or designed, invariably we hear examples of talking with a parent or grandparent or peer to share ideas. To be clear, parents should never be asked to "teach" seventh grade science or any other subject. Rather, teachers set up the homework assignments so that the student is in charge. It's always the student's homework. But a good activity can engage parents in a fun, collaborative way. Our data show that with "good" assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, "I learned what's happening in the curriculum." It all works around what the youngsters are learning.

Is family engagement really that important?

At Hopkins, I am part of the Center for Social Organization of Schools , a research center that studies how to improve many aspects of education to help all students do their best in school. One thing my colleagues and I realized was that we needed to look deeply into family and community engagement. There were so few references to this topic when we started that we had to build the field of study. When children go to school, their families "attend" with them whether a teacher can "see" the parents or not. So, family engagement is ever-present in the life of a school.

My daughter's elementary school doesn't assign homework until third grade. What's your take on "no homework" policies?

There are some parents, writers, and commentators who have argued against homework, especially for very young children. They suggest that children should have time to play after school. This, of course is true, but many kindergarten kids are excited to have homework like their older siblings. If they give homework, most teachers of young children make assignments very short—often following an informal rule of 10 minutes per grade level. "No homework" does not guarantee that all students will spend their free time in productive and imaginative play.

Some researchers and critics have consistently misinterpreted research findings. They have argued that homework should be assigned only at the high school level where data point to a strong connection of doing assignments with higher student achievement . However, as we discussed, some students stop doing homework. This leads, statistically, to results showing that doing homework or spending more minutes on homework is linked to higher student achievement. If slow or struggling students are not doing their assignments, they contribute to—or cause—this "result."

Teachers need to design homework that even struggling students want to do because it is interesting. Just about all students at any age level react positively to good assignments and will tell you so.

Did COVID change how schools and parents view homework?

Within 24 hours of the day school doors closed in March 2020, just about every school and district in the country figured out that teachers had to talk to and work with students' parents. This was not the same as homeschooling—teachers were still working hard to provide daily lessons. But if a child was learning at home in the living room, parents were more aware of what they were doing in school. One of the silver linings of COVID was that teachers reported that they gained a better understanding of their students' families. We collected wonderfully creative examples of activities from members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. I'm thinking of one art activity where every child talked with a parent about something that made their family unique. Then they drew their finding on a snowflake and returned it to share in class. In math, students talked with a parent about something the family liked so much that they could represent it 100 times. Conversations about schoolwork at home was the point.

How did you create so many homework activities via the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program?

We had several projects with educators to help them design interactive assignments, not just "do the next three examples on page 38." Teachers worked in teams to create TIPS activities, and then we turned their work into a standard TIPS format in math, reading/language arts, and science for grades K-8. Any teacher can use or adapt our prototypes to match their curricula.

Overall, we know that if future teachers and practicing educators were prepared to design homework assignments to meet specific purposes—including but not limited to interactive activities—more students would benefit from the important experience of doing their homework. And more parents would, indeed, be partners in education.

Posted in Voices+Opinion

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Education Reform Is Becoming A Celebrity Cause

Juana Summers

Whoopi Goldberg spoke out against teacher tenure during an episode of The View. John Shearer/AP hide caption

Whoopi Goldberg spoke out against teacher tenure during an episode of The View.

Celebrities are becoming a prominent fixture in the debate over K-12 education.

This week Whoopi Goldberg used her platform on ABC's The View to speak out against teacher tenure.

"To me, bad teachers don't do anybody any good. So the union needs to recognize that parents are not going to stand for it anymore," she said.

Goldberg's says she's not sorry her comments on teacher tenure riled The View 's audience.

Goldberg followed up with a YouTube video , responding to the backlash she'd received after making those statements. Her mother, she notes in the video, was a teacher, and Goldberg describes herself as "all about teachers."

"I like great teachers. I don't like bad teachers, so I don't think bad teachers should be given the gift of teaching forever — badly," she says.

Goldberg follows Campbell Brown, the former CNN anchor, into the tenure debate ignited by a California lawsuit. David Boies, the high-profile trial lawyer known for his role in the legal challenge that overturned California's gay marriage ban, also recently joined Brown's group, the Partnership for Education Justice.

The Celebrity Anti-Common Core Caucus

And it's not just teacher tenure. Hollywood is lining up on both sides of the Common Core, too.

Comedian Louis C.K., who now boasts more than 3.6 million Twitter followers , used his account to blast the academic standards, long a punching bag for some conservatives and now a growing number of liberals too.

"My kids used to love math," he tweeted ."Now it makes them cry. Thanks standardized testing and common core!" And he didn't stop there, following up over the next few days with a string of tweets trashing the standards.

On David Letterman's show in May, Louis C.K. elaborated , noting that he's the parent of two young girls: "The tests are written by people that nobody knows who they are. It's very secretive. ... A lot of the year is about the tests. Teaching to the test, they called it."

Other celebrities joined in. Singer Regina Spektor , for example, was among those who tweeted their agreement.

While Louis C.K. has led the charge against the Core, there has also been some under-the-radar support for the standards. Actress Eva Longoria's and singer John Legend's foundations have each put money toward a TV ad supporting the Core, according to Politico .

And NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas wrote an op-ed in support of the Common Core.

Comic Louis C.K. is one of many celebrities to come down hard on the Common Core academic standards. Eric Leibowitz/FX hide caption

Comic Louis C.K. is one of many celebrities to come down hard on the Common Core academic standards.

"There has been a lot of misinformation lately about the origin and purpose of these standards," he wrote . "The facts are simple. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need to be college and career ready in the 21st century."

The Latest Cause Célèbre

It's long been part of the celebrity career path in Hollywood for stars to burnish their images — and their credentials as serious artists — by taking on an important issue. Think Bono and Africa, or Angelina Jolie and human rights.

Education offers a natural fit, and famous people can bring a lot of attention to a seemingly dense policy debate.

"For those of us who are education nerds, we're talking about this kind of thing all the time," says José Luis Vilson, a math educator and the author of This Is Not a Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class and Education . "But it isn't until a lightning rod comes into a situation that it gets more attention."

Celebrities, Vilson explains, are powerful "beacons" for education issues.

"People weren't analyzing Common Core that well until [Louis C.K.] stepped in. The general population either said, 'Hey, Common Core is gonna be around,' or they didn't know about Common Core," he says.

But, Vilson points out, that's very different from doing the hard work of education reform.

"They can highlight something as far as dialogue," he explains, "but they're not actually going to move policy the way people on the ground who have no face or name can move policy."

Before Louis C.K.

If Louis C.K. has become the new poster child for the celeb-critique of standardized testing, Matt Damon is the old guard.

His mother is an expert on early childhood education and professor emerita at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. Damon has long followed education, though his main advocacy area is the push for clean and safe water .

In 2011, Damon spoke at the "Save Our Schools" rally in Washington, D.C., and his passionate remarks against standardized testing went viral .

"I don't know where I would be today if my teacher's job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test," he told the crowd. "I sure as hell wouldn't be here, I do know that."

And Damon's involvement showed once again that, when celebrities talk, people listen.

He returned to the issue again this spring, taking questions on Reddit's "Ask Me Anything" section, where he again blasted standardized testing.

"Far too much emphasis has been put on these tests," he added. "You're going to get teachers teaching to the test, and you're not actually giving them the leeway to do their jobs."

Does It Matter?

So, does any of this publicity actually matter in the debates over the future of education?

Diane Ravitch, a former assistant secretary of education and education historian argues that it does.

Louis C.K. and his celeb comrades in arms, she argues, have changed the terms of the Common Core debate.

"Don't underestimate what Louis C.K. accomplished," Ravitch — who has become an outspoken opponent of the Common Core — wrote in a blog post .

Louis C.K., she wrote, "was able to break through the carefully crafted narrative that had been spun by Arne Duncan, Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, and other advocates for the new standards."

His celebrity gave him a platform, she added. "His standing as a parent of public school children gave him credibility."

10 Inspiring celebrity quotes about education

BY Reader's Digest Editors

13th Sep 2022 Life

Celebrities through the ages, including poets, scientists and philosophers, reflect on the nature and importance of education

Even if your school days are long behind you, the importance of learning never goes away. These quotes from celebrities are sure to inspire you to stay curious, inquisitive and hungry for knowledge even if you never plan to set foot in a classroom again.

1. William Butler Yeats, poet

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" – William Butler Yeats

2. Emma Goldman, activist and writer

"No one has yet realised the wealth of sympaty, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure" – Emma Goldman

3. Larry King, television and radio host

"I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening" – Larry King

4. Albert Einstein, scientist

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school" – Albert Einstein

5. W Edwards Deming, engineer

"Learning is not compulsory…neither is survival" W Edwards Deming

6. Julia Cameron, teacher and writer

"Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself" – Julia Cameron

7. Aristotle, philosopher

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" – Aristotle

8. Robert Frost, poet

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence" – Robert Frost

9. Smiley Blanton, psychiatrist and writer

"A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education" – Smiley Blanton

10. Mark Twain

"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge" – Mark Twain

Read more: 10 Celebrity quotes about being alive

Read more: Interview: Jane Fonda

Keep up with the top stories from  Reader's Digest  by  subscribing  to our weekly newsletter

Is Homework Good for Kids? Here’s What the Research Says

A s kids return to school, debate is heating up once again over how they should spend their time after they leave the classroom for the day.

The no-homework policy of a second-grade teacher in Texas went viral last week , earning praise from parents across the country who lament the heavy workload often assigned to young students. Brandy Young told parents she would not formally assign any homework this year, asking students instead to eat dinner with their families, play outside and go to bed early.

But the question of how much work children should be doing outside of school remains controversial, and plenty of parents take issue with no-homework policies, worried their kids are losing a potential academic advantage. Here’s what you need to know:

For decades, the homework standard has been a “10-minute rule,” which recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. Second graders, for example, should do about 20 minutes of homework each night. High school seniors should complete about two hours of homework each night. The National PTA and the National Education Association both support that guideline.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot program for the coming school year, lengthening the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. “We really want kids to go home at 4 o’clock, tired. We want their brain to be tired,” Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said in an interview with a local TV station . “We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice, and we want them to go to bed. And that’s it.”

A New York City public elementary school implemented a similar policy last year, eliminating traditional homework assignments in favor of family time. The change was quickly met with outrage from some parents, though it earned support from other education leaders.

New solutions and approaches to homework differ by community, and these local debates are complicated by the fact that even education experts disagree about what’s best for kids.

The research

The most comprehensive research on homework to date comes from a 2006 meta-analysis by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. The correlation was stronger for older students—in seventh through 12th grade—than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

Cooper’s analysis focused on how homework impacts academic achievement—test scores, for example. His report noted that homework is also thought to improve study habits, attitudes toward school, self-discipline, inquisitiveness and independent problem solving skills. On the other hand, some studies he examined showed that homework can cause physical and emotional fatigue, fuel negative attitudes about learning and limit leisure time for children. At the end of his analysis, Cooper recommended further study of such potential effects of homework.

Despite the weak correlation between homework and performance for young children, Cooper argues that a small amount of homework is useful for all students. Second-graders should not be doing two hours of homework each night, he said, but they also shouldn’t be doing no homework.

Not all education experts agree entirely with Cooper’s assessment.

Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, supports the “10-minute rule” as a maximum, but she thinks there is not sufficient proof that homework is helpful for students in elementary school.

“Correlation is not causation,” she said. “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?”

Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs , thinks there should be more emphasis on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to eliminate homework for younger kids.

“I have no concerns about students not starting homework until fourth grade or fifth grade,” she said, noting that while the debate over homework will undoubtedly continue, she has noticed a trend toward limiting, if not eliminating, homework in elementary school.

The issue has been debated for decades. A TIME cover in 1999 read: “Too much homework! How it’s hurting our kids, and what parents should do about it.” The accompanying story noted that the launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to a push for better math and science education in the U.S. The ensuing pressure to be competitive on a global scale, plus the increasingly demanding college admissions process, fueled the practice of assigning homework.

“The complaints are cyclical, and we’re in the part of the cycle now where the concern is for too much,” Cooper said. “You can go back to the 1970s, when you’ll find there were concerns that there was too little, when we were concerned about our global competitiveness.”

Cooper acknowledged that some students really are bringing home too much homework, and their parents are right to be concerned.

“A good way to think about homework is the way you think about medications or dietary supplements,” he said. “If you take too little, they’ll have no effect. If you take too much, they can kill you. If you take the right amount, you’ll get better.”

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Write to Katie Reilly at [email protected]

Infographic Plaza – Where information meets visualization

What celebrities say about homework [infographic].

We often listen to stories of famous people not finishing their education or being terrible at school. Sometimes these stories come from an “unknown source” or we read about it in some gossip magazines and we can’t tell if any of it is a fact.

The urban legends of billionaires not finishing their college serve as a justification for unfinished science homework. If you ever wondered how important homework was and still is to successful people, this infographic will help you understand. Would big stars really reach such heights if they weren’t disciplined and committed? What part of the schooling process had the greatest impact on developing work habits for talented people?

Various celebrity quotes tell a story of how doing your math homework in school can help you gain work discipline for the future. Furthermore, although some of them weren’t among the best in their class they still have a positive attitude towards the importance of preparations process. Great results don’t come without some form of investment, the least you can do is invest your time in doing homework.

Great movie stars and successful business people witnessing in favor of the importance of homework on their road to the top.

Source: https://123writings.com/infographic-does-homework-influence-on-future

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How These 15 Celebrities Are Helping Shape Our Future

Senior Reporter, HuffPost

Children in your community may be learning in schools founded by celebrities famous for their work in music or movies.

In recent years, a select group of public figures and celebrities have lent their philanthropic hands to opening schools across the country or abroad. While some, like famed rapper Pitbull, have opened charter schools in their home communities , others, like actress Angelina Jolie, have founded schools in disadvantaged communities overseas .

Some of the celebrity-operated schools have been successful, and some have seen their share of problems. For others, it’s too soon to tell. Of course, you don't need a teaching background to be influential in education .

Here's a list of celebrities who have opened schools in recent years.

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School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

The Pros and Cons of Homework

Updated: December 7, 2023

Published: January 23, 2020

Homework is a word that most students dread hearing. After hours upon hours of sitting in class , the last thing we want is more schoolwork over our precious weekends. While it’s known to be a staple of traditional schooling, homework has also become a rather divise topic. Some feel as though homework is a necessary part of school, while others believe that the time could be better invested. Should students have homework? Have a closer look into the arguments on both sides to decide for yourself.

Photo by  energepic.com  from  Pexels

Why should students have homework, 1. homework encourages practice.

Many people believe that one of the positive effects of homework is that it encourages the discipline of practice. While it may be time consuming and boring compared to other activities, repetition is needed to get better at skills. Homework helps make concepts more clear, and gives students more opportunities when starting their career .

2. Homework Gets Parents Involved

Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.

3. Homework Teaches Time Management

Homework is much more than just completing the assigned tasks. Homework can develop time management skills , forcing students to plan their time and make sure that all of their homework assignments are done on time. By learning to manage their time, students also practice their problem-solving skills and independent thinking. One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made.

4. Homework Opens A Bridge Of Communication

Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents can see where their children are struggling. In the same sense, parents can also see where their children are excelling. Homework in turn can allow for a better, more targeted educational plan for the student.

5. Homework Allows For More Learning Time

Homework allows for more time to complete the learning process. School hours are not always enough time for students to really understand core concepts, and homework can counter the effects of time shortages, benefiting students in the long run, even if they can’t see it in the moment.

6. Homework Reduces Screen Time

Many students in North America spend far too many hours watching TV. If they weren’t in school, these numbers would likely increase even more. Although homework is usually undesired, it encourages better study habits and discourages spending time in front of the TV. Homework can be seen as another extracurricular activity, and many families already invest a lot of time and money in different clubs and lessons to fill up their children’s extra time. Just like extracurricular activities, homework can be fit into one’s schedule.

The Other Side: Why Homework Is Bad

1. homework encourages a sedentary lifestyle.

Should students have homework? Well, that depends on where you stand. There are arguments both for the advantages and the disadvantages of homework.

While classroom time is important, playground time is just as important. If children are given too much homework, they won’t have enough playtime, which can impact their social development and learning. Studies have found that those who get more play get better grades in school , as it can help them pay closer attention in the classroom.

Children are already sitting long hours in the classroom, and homework assignments only add to these hours. Sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and can cause health problems such as obesity. Homework takes away from time that could be spent investing in physical activity.

2. Homework Isn’t Healthy In Every Home

While many people that think homes are a beneficial environment for children to learn, not all homes provide a healthy environment, and there may be very little investment from parents. Some parents do not provide any kind of support or homework help, and even if they would like to, due to personal barriers, they sometimes cannot. Homework can create friction between children and their parents, which is one of the reasons why homework is bad .

3. Homework Adds To An Already Full-Time Job

School is already a full-time job for students, as they generally spend over 6 hours each day in class. Students also often have extracurricular activities such as sports, music, or art that are just as important as their traditional courses. Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors. Homework prevents self discovery and having the time to learn new skills outside of the school system. This is one of the main disadvantages of homework.

4. Homework Has Not Been Proven To Provide Results

Endless surveys have found that homework creates a negative attitude towards school, and homework has not been found to be linked to a higher level of academic success.

The positive effects of homework have not been backed up enough. While homework may help some students improve in specific subjects, if they have outside help there is no real proof that homework makes for improvements.

It can be a challenge to really enforce the completion of homework, and students can still get decent grades without doing their homework. Extra school time does not necessarily mean better grades — quality must always come before quantity.

Accurate practice when it comes to homework simply isn’t reliable. Homework could even cause opposite effects if misunderstood, especially since the reliance is placed on the student and their parents — one of the major reasons as to why homework is bad. Many students would rather cheat in class to avoid doing their homework at home, and children often just copy off of each other or from what they read on the internet.

5. Homework Assignments Are Overdone

The general agreement is that students should not be given more than 10 minutes a day per grade level. What this means is that a first grader should be given a maximum of 10 minutes of homework, while a second grader receives 20 minutes, etc. Many students are given a lot more homework than the recommended amount, however.

On average, college students spend as much as 3 hours per night on homework . By giving too much homework, it can increase stress levels and lead to burn out. This in turn provides an opposite effect when it comes to academic success.

The pros and cons of homework are both valid, and it seems as though the question of ‘‘should students have homework?’ is not a simple, straightforward one. Parents and teachers often are found to be clashing heads, while the student is left in the middle without much say.

It’s important to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of homework, taking both perspectives into conversation to find a common ground. At the end of the day, everyone’s goal is the success of the student.

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Stars who did their homework

Christy Turlington

Studied: Liberal Arts

At: New York

Graduated: 1999

Degree subjects included philosophy, art history and literature. Was well regarded by fellow students. "She sat in the front row of every class and would be the first to raise her hand," said one. The registrar's office at NYU revealed that it was besieged by anxious male students, all queueing to sign up for a course - any course - she elected for study.

Jodie Foster

Studied: Literature

Graduated: 1985, magna cum laude

She was put under guard after it emerged that John Hinckley Jr, the man who shot president Reagan in 1981, was fixated by her. In a 1998 speech at Yale she admitted that she didn't remember a thing that she learned there but she did recall: "Singing at the top of my lungs with my arms around a bunch of friends... vowing the loyalty of the truly inspired and intoxicated."

Brooke Shields

Studied: Romance languages.

At: Princeton

Graduated: 1987

Had bodyguards at Princeton, where two paparazzi were ejected from the campus while she was there. She wrote her degree thesis on innocence, experience and the Louis Malle film Pretty Baby, in which she shot to fame at the age of 11. "I didn't set out to prove anything to anyone except myself," she said. Fellow students stuck Brooke Shields dolls on campus walls.

Claire Danes

Studying: Art history

She shares an ordinary dorm with other students, after a recommendation from her mentor Jodie Foster. Postponed her higher education for a year after starring in Romeo and Juliet, but she says that she is happy with her new life. "I'm fine when I'm completely immersed in either one of two worlds: Hollywood or academia. When they start to conflict or merge, I start feeling fractured and confused."

Chelsea Clinton

Studying: Medicine

At: Stanford

Is trailed around campus by a posse of secret service agents. The peculiarity of her experience at Stanford was compounded by being in the company of Carolyn Starr, daughter of her father's tormentor, Kenneth. Chelsea once told Starr to stay away from her. Last year she also broke up with her boyfriend and went to the campus medical centre complaining of stress.

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Students’ Opinions on Homework

High school students spend hours a week on homework and have a variety of opinions.

“Homework affects me both positively and negatively,” said Jordann Smith-Burgess, junior, in a text. Students know that homework is beneficial to their education, but there are ways in which it could be changed. 

Homework is time consuming which negatively affects teens. Cerys Merriman, junior, texted; “[I]spend at least four hours on homework.” 

 Each student takes a different amount of time on work. Spending less time is Trevor Darnell, junior, who via text said he spends “probably 2-3 hours a day,” Brett usually spends “around 4-5 hours on homework,” and Jordann usually takes “up to 5 hours on homework.”

Regular school takes 6 hours and homework sometimes takes more than 5 hours to complete- this is negatively affecting students’ lives because this leaves them barely any free time. 

Students do understand that homework is necessary for their learning. Merriman said that it helps her with her assessments because it helps her find where she is confused and needs to “spend the most time working on.” 

Burgess said homework helps her.  “[Homework let’s me] fully understand what’s going on in class.” They appreciate truly learning material.

There are also ways in which students would like to see teachers change their work. Darnell would want the content of work to be “relative to the information we are learning” because sometimes teachers don’t effectively match the homework to what was taught in class. 

Brett Rothman, senior, said there should be more options for homework– that way students can practice based on their learning style. Burgess would change the amount of work given to students outside asynchronous time, so that students could spend time on out-of-school priorities. 

The general student opinion on homework is that it’s helpful, but there are aspects of it that they would like changed; a smaller amount of work, work that’s related to what they learn in class, and different options for assignments so that students can practice based on their learning style.

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Opinion | California Democrats declare war on homework

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Which is why, of course, it’s so fitting that the California legislature wants to deny this ability to Golden State students in the name of…you guessed it…equity!

Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo is pushing Assembly Bill 2999, otherwise known as the Healthy Homework Act, which would develop updated homework guidelines across California school districts and mandate that school boards establish homework policies that support and consider impacts to students’ mental and physical health.

Assemblywoman Schiavo said, “As a single parent, I know how stressful homework time can be for our kids and the entire family. The Healthy Homework Act is about ensuring that our homework policies are healthy for our kids, address the needs of the whole child, and also support family time, time to explore other extra-curricular interests, and give students and families time to connect and recover from the day.”

Schiavo told KQED the inspiration came in the car while campaigning two years ago. The Assemblymember’s then 9-year-old daughter Sofie, asked what her mother could do if she won.

Schiavo answered that she’d be able to make laws.

Then, Sofia asked if she could make a law banning homework.

And presto, here we are!

If the Healthy Homework Act passes, Sciavo’s kid may have some other ideas, perhaps the Ice Cream For Breakfast Act, the Math Is Too Hard Act, and the I Don’t Feel Like Going To School Today Act, also known as Sofie’s Law.

A better name for this anti-homework law would have been the Your Kid’s Gonna Live With You Forever Act.

The bill cites a survey of California high schoolers from Challenge Success, a nonprofit affiliated with the Stanford Graduate School of Education. It found that 45 percent said homework was a major source of stress and that 52 percent considered most assignments to be busywork.

Casey Cuny is California’s 2024 Teacher of the Year,  which considering the state of public education in California is more of an indictment than an accolade, and a supporter of the bill. Cuny says homework needs to be dialed back to make things more equitable.

“I never want a kid’s grade to be low because they have divorced parents, and their book was at their dad’s house when they were spending the weekend at mom’s house,” she told KQED.

Yeah, try running that one by your boss when your school days are behind you and you aren’t getting the work done at your job.

“But, you can’t fire me!  My parents got divorced and I have anxiety!”

While we’re at it, let’s pass a law requiring that every school kid in California be encased in bubble wrap.

I guess “equity” means making everyone remedial.

This isn’t the first time the California legislature has done this. In 1901 they voted to abolish all homework for students 14 and younger.

Their argument was that hours of homework robbed children of outdoor play and was regarded as a form of child labor.

By the time we got to the 1940s, virtually no school in the country was assigning homework.

What changed?

According to David Roos’ of the History Channel, the Cold War hit and the Russians successfully launched Sputnik 1 in 1957.

A year later, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), a $1-billion spending package to bolster high-quality teaching and learning in science, mathematics and foreign languages.

By 1962, 23 percent of high-school juniors reported doing two or more hours of homework a night, nearly twice as many as in 1957, the year of Sputnik.

If we were going to win the Cold War, we needed an educated population who could out think the Russians.

So, now it’s okay to be dumb again.

Let’s face it, these kids are being set up for failure.

The term “homework” is just another word for “practice.”  Regardless of what profession you end up in, you’re not going to be any good at it unless you’ve practiced it – a lot.

Would you want to be treated by a doctor who never ‘practiced’ at medicine?  Or represented by a lawyer who never “practiced” litigating in a courtroom?  Or pay huge sums of money for a NBA ticket to watch players who never “practiced” playing basketball?

The answer is obviously no.

And now here we are again, with mediocrity being the goal.

Public schools in America today have become little more than dime-store self-esteem mills, churning out mindless drones who can’t read or write but feel really good about themselves (in addition to – yes – those who’ve been taught to despise themselves). But genuine self-esteem doesn’t come from being told you’re awesome every five seconds. It comes from achievement. Mastery. Accomplishment.  Like learning how to do math or write a coherent essay. A healthy, daily dose of homework is the key to that.

John Phillips can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on “The John Phillips Show” on KABC/AM 790.

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The desert is gentrifying. This snake wrangler has a front-row view

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A snake wrangler’s view of gentrification in the California desert

When I first reached out to Danielle Wall, I was hoping to learn about rattlesnakes. The snake wrangler has become a celebrity in California’s high desert , and I wanted to tag along on some calls and check out her work.

But it turns out that her job is enlightening not just about rattlers but also their shrinking habitat and the humans who have been shaking it up.

The communities surrounding Joshua Tree National Park have been rocked by transformative changes since the COVID-19 pandemic sent hordes of city dwellers into more isolated areas. (Full disclosure: I was one of them, exchanging my Inglewood one-bedroom for a 7.5-acre spread for roughly the same monthly price.)

Some, like me, became full-time residents; others flipped properties or converted them to vacation rentals. Home prices skyrocketed.

As someone who humanely relocates rattlesnakes that people find on their properties, Wall has seen these shifts from a unique vantage point. I realized this as I followed her on her eighth call of the day, to yet another home that was being renovated.

Just look at Landers, where Wall lives. Between 2020 and 2022, the unincorporated community north of Yucca Valley — historically known as a meeting spot for UFO enthusiasts — saw the biggest jump in typical home values of anywhere in California, according to the San Francisco Chronicle . It was followed by the nearby towns of Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms.

There were, of course, beneficiaries. For instance, Wall sold her home for a profit, using the proceeds to purchase her great-grandparents’ larger property. That investment has essentially underwritten her snake-wrangling services. The donations she collects are not sufficient to cover her expenses.

But many locals were pushed out entirely, especially those who rented. The people who have replaced them sometimes appear to be better off financially and yet less willing to contribute to the community, said Wall, who for a time contemplated charging short-term rentals for her services before realizing it wasn’t legal to do so.

She’s unable to charge anyone since she’s prohibited by state law from operating as a business and lacks nonprofit status. That means she relies on donations (which aren’t tax deductible) to continue her work.

“Those ended up being the people who didn’t want to even donate $5 for gas; who were rude, didn’t care,” said Wall from the front porch of her home, which sits on a dirt road that dead-ends into a semicircle of rocky mountains.

Wall’s view is not limited to how demographic shifts have affected the human residents of this slice of the Mojave Desert. She’s watched in real time as the same changes have wreaked havoc on the local wildlife — including an increase in rodent poison that’s killing birds of prey, and an uptick in trash that’s attracted more ravens, which feed on the young of desert tortoises. And, of course, humans’ burning of fossil fuels has ratcheted up temperatures worldwide, making this infamously hot and dry place even hotter and drier.

All this raises hard questions. Is the presence of humans, and the changes they’ve recently wrought, hurting the very things that people seek to enjoy about the desert — its wildlife and beauty? And how can we be better neighbors?

The answer isn’t that hard, Wall says: Simply focus on improving your little corner.

“I save what I can,” she said, “and I tell people to save what they can.”

You can read more about Wall in my Times subscriber exclusive story .

Today’s top stories

Pro-Palestinian protests on campus

• Police removed tents and cleared USC’s pro-Palestinian encampment Sunday, but no arrests were made.
• UCLA has created a high-level post to oversee campus safety after security lapses that occurred when protesters were attacked .
• UCLA faculty protested at the Hammer Museum gala , decrying the treatment of pro-Palestinian students

More on campus protests

• It’s been 55 years since California’s then-Gov. Ronald Reagan took on Berkeley over Vietnam War demonstrations. Now-Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking more of a linger-in-the-background approach .
• Metal detectors, fear and frustration. Here’s how college commencements are being altered amid Gaza war protests .
• For two young journalists, the showdown at UCLA’s camp was baptism by fire

George Gascón’s reelection efforts

• Felony charges against L.A. County Dist. Atty. Gascón’s top advisor have sparked confusion and criticism .
• The high-ranking L.A. prosecutor was booked in April, and released on $50,000 bond.
• George Gascón survived the primary. Can Nathan Hochman unseat him as D.A. ?

Crime and public safety

• Seven people were injured, four critically, in a shooting near a nightclub in Long Beach on Saturday night.
• Amid a spike in school crime, a task force says L.A. campuses should be allowed to decide whether they need police stationed on campus .
• A driver was killed after his SUV slammed into a South L.A. church .

More big stories

• The California supreme court will hear arguments battle over the legality of an initiative that would restrict the governor and legislature from increasing taxes .
• A superintendent was fired after allegedly investigating students for not applauding her daughter enough.
• After years of partisan feuding, California’s new generation of Congress members tries to get along . Will it work?

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here .

Commentary and opinions

• Doyle McManus : Donald Trump puts America on notice again: If he loses, he won’t go quietly.
• Gustavo Arellano: Pringles, plywood and chalk. Here’s the supply chain sustaining the Cal State L.A. encampment .
• Robin Abcarian: Don’t denigrate pro-Palestinian campus protests by claiming the Vietnam War protests backfired .
• Editorial: L.A. Metro is doomed if it can’t keep bus and train riders safe .
• Jackie Calmes: Donald Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad second term .
• Editorial : Break out the hook. This time the Trump-Biden debates need tight rules of civility .

Today’s great reads

We’ve been making quite a racket in our oceans. A new study shows how that’s harming whales and other marine animals. While few land dwellers have given much thought to this shift in ambient marine noise, new research has modeled, for the first time, how the Industrial Revolution and the advent of commercial shipping have turned up the volume in the waters off Los Angeles. Hear the difference for yourself.

More great reads

• L.A. influencers and businesses l ive or die on TikTok’s algorithm . Now they fear for the future
• We strapped in with director George Miller , the ‘Mad Max’ mastermind, back with ‘Furiosa.’ Here’s what he had to say .

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected] .

For your downtime

• 🍔 Looking for your new favorite cheeseburger? Times food columnist Jenn Harris says you’ll find it in Redlands .
• 👟 If you want more of a challenge to your daily walk, check out this 28-mile route from Griffith Park to San Pedro (or just walk vicariously, through this story).
• 🤣 Netflix Is a Joke Fest continues through May 11. Here’s a list of must-see shows .
• 📖 Contributor Sarah Fay reviews Ernesto Londoño’s memoir “Trippy,” which explores psychiatry’s renewed flirtation with drugs such as LSD.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a 40-minute recipe for pita bread .
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games .

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

Today’s great photo is from Lee Friedersdorf of Costa Mesa: the record-holding Goat Canyon Trestle in Anza Borrego State Park. Lee writes:

“It’s the world’s largest all-wood trestle . It was built in 1933 as part of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, after one of the many tunnels through the Carrizo Gorge collapsed.”

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter Amy Hubbard, deputy editor, Fast Break

Check our top stories , topics and the latest articles on latimes.com .

Start your day right

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

Alex Wigglesworth is an environment reporter who covers wildfire and forestry for the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

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World & Nation

Three surfers on a dream trip to Mexico were brutally killed. Here’s what we know

Jackie Lacey lost the L.A. D.A. job to George Gascón. Now she’s endorsing his 2024 rival

A high-speed chase in ontario leads to death of a bystander as well as the suspect.

[Opinion] Met Gala 2024: Best-dressed Black Men's Red Carpet Looks Over the Years

I t’s Met Gala time, which means t’s time for some of the most stylish celebrities to come out in their most unique outfits. This year’s gala theme is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which could be interpreted in many ways.

With that in mind, let’s look back at some of the best-dressed Black men at Met Galas in the past including athletes, actors, and entertainers.

Chadwick Boseman

Chadwick Boseman stole the show at the 2018 Met Gala. Coming off of his inspiring and legendary performance in “Black Panther,” Mr. Boseman was feeling like royalty.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

One of the most stylish players in the NBA showed everyone is envious of his closet at the 2023 Met Gala, going for this luxurious Black and white fit.

Opting for an all-Black outfit at fancy events like the Met Gala is never a bad idea. But going with these white shoes gives a pot to Usher’s look.

Michael B. Jordan

I don’t know if Michael B. Jordan gets the credit for being one of the most well-dressed celebrities, but he showed why during his appearance at the 2019 Met Gala.

Love him or hate him, Kanye West has always been one of the most influential entertainers when it comes to fashion trends. This look at the 2016 Met Gala influenced men everywhere to get their hands on a pair of Chelsea boots ASAP.

Does this look like a prom fit? Yeah, I guess. But it’s always nice to see when some of the guys add color to their outfits.

A$AP Rocky is always going to throw you for a loop and wear something you wouldn’t expect. You could’ve known that he would come out wearing a blanket that resembled something your grandma would make at the 2021 Met Gala.

The theme for the 2016 Met Gala was “Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology,” so this futuristic that will.i.am is wearing fits.

Billy Porter

Ignoring his outfit, just look at this entrance! If you enter any event (let alone the Met Gala) like this, heads will turn.

At his first Met Gala appearance in 2022, Lil Nas X showed up and showed out in this all-gold cape. But the real show is what he had going on underneath it.

Jaden Smith

It wasn’t enough to just wear an all-Black outfit at the 2017 Met Gala. Jaden Smith also had to show off his recently cut locs, to show that he was a new man.

Pharrell Williams and his wife, Helen Lasichanh, were one of the best-dressed couples at the 2018 Met Gala. The bold Stella McCartney jewelry on Pharrell stands out especially well on this outfit.

Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz is a fashion icon. It’s only right that he wore leather pants during his appearance at the 2022 Met Gala.

Virgil Abloh

Virgil Abloh came dressed for the occasion at the 2018 Met Gala, it’s also cool to see how he added some streetwear to the outfit by wearing his Off-White Jordan 1s.

Do you wanna stand out in a room full of fashionistas? Follow Kid Cudi’s lead and opt for an all-blue outfit that has you looking like a futuristic vampire.

Dwyane Wade

All white is always going to make you stand out at public venues. But when you’re in shape like D-Wade, you also have the luxury of showing off your abs.

Frank Ocean

People may find the little alien baby weird, but it goes perfectly with Ocean’s green hair, making for a memorable Met Gala moment.

Lewis Hamilton

For the most part, Lewis Hamilton’s suit looks pretty normal, until you get to the bottom and you notice that his left leg has a dress skirt on it. It makes for a creative look.

This Louis Vuitton suit is everything. The pop of color with the handbag makes this outfit shine.

The Harlem Legend came dressed to impress at the 2019 Met Gala in all Gucci outfit.

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In Latest Stunt, Airbnb Lists the ‘Up’ House. It Floats.

The company announced a new category of outlandish stays in partnership with brands and celebrities, building on the success of gimmicks like the Barbie Malibu DreamHouse.

By Orlando Mayorquín

The sleek mansion in the hills overlooking Las Vegas could have been featured on MTV’s “Cribs.” But the highlight of Aubrey Garza’s weekend stay there wasn’t the palatial rooms or the marble fireplace. It was meeting her Airbnb host: Christina Aguilera.

“It just felt like a dream,” Ms. Garza, 26, said. When she was growing up, her bedroom was decorated with posters of the pop star. Ms. Garza had nabbed one of the “once-in-a-lifetime” promotional stays that Airbnb has occasionally listed in recent years.

The popular, if rare, listings have included not only private hangouts with celebrities but also stays in a Barbie mansion modeled on the one from the hit movie and a replica of Shrek’s swamp dwelling in the Scottish Highlands .

On Wednesday, Airbnb announced that it was expanding stunt promotions like these under a new permanent category called “Icons,” featuring unusual and ambitious partnerships with brands and celebrities

At a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, introduced the inaugural slate of Icons listings.

It was headlined by a replica of the floating house from “Up,” the 2009 animated Pixar film, balloons and all. With the help of a giant crane, the house will be suspended high in the air over the New Mexico desert.

Asked whether the house, which does not appear to be connected to the ground by pipes or wiring, had plumbing and electricity, the company said it was “fully functional.” Asked for details, the company said the house “is connected to a generator and other utilities that will be disconnected and reconnected before and after flying.”

Other listings include a recreation of the mansion from the “X-Men ’97” cartoon , built to appear two-dimensional, and the Minneapolis house where Prince’s character lived in the 1984 film “Purple Rain.”

Only a few people have been able to stay in Airbnb’s previous fantastical listings, but the company said it expected roughly 4,000 customers to book stays in Icons listings in 2024.

Another 10 listings are slated to go up by the end of the year. Booking periods will vary. Dates for the “Up” house are open through mid-September.

With Icons, Airbnb is hoping to capitalize on the success that earlier listings have achieved as promotional tools, ready-made for Instagram selfies and eye-catching headlines, Mr. Chesky said. (Yes, we fell for it.)

He pointed to the success of Airbnb’s collaboration with Mattel last summer, which brought the Malibu DreamHouse to life ahead of the release of the blockbuster “Barbie” film. The buzz interested other brands.

“I think what they’ve seen is that these prior Icons have become cultural sensations, quite literally,” Mr. Chesky said in a phone interview.

The Barbie listing got two to three times as much press coverage as when Airbnb went public in 2020 , Mr. Chesky said. The Shrek Swamp listing was viewed on the platform more than 200 million times.

For a sign of what customers can expect, the stay two-night stay that Ms. Garza won by submitting a booking request for the Las Vegas mansion (“Hosted by Christina,” according to the listing ) earlier this year offers a clue.

Ms. Garza, her older sister and two friends chatted with Ms. Aguilera over drinks and dinner inside an ornate mansion with glass walls and high ceilings, an infinity pool with chic deck chairs, a lofty balcony with sweeping views of the city, pink accented furnishings fit for a girls weekend getaway. (The lodging was free; all Ms. Garza had to pay for was the flight there.)

For Airbnb, the payoff of such listings is in maintaining relevance and simultaneously generating a reliable stream of positive attention that can help counter the negative press reports it has faced over hidden costs, hidden cameras and the disruptive effects that short-term rentals can have on communities .

Sean Hennessy, an associate professor at the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality at New York University, said the Icons initiative appeared to be an effort by Airbnb to “change the narrative” and rekindle the allure it enjoyed in its early days, when it became extremely popular in a short period by offering travelers an alternative to staying at a hotel.

In a phone interview, Mr. Chesky said: “Most people only ever open our app once or twice a year, and we’ve got to battle to make sure they think of us every single year. So this keeps us top of mind and culturally relevant.”

Airbnb hopes the project will help with international markets as well. One of the listings announced Wednesday is a weeklong stay aboard a tour bus with Feid, a Colombian reggaeton artist popular in Latin America. Another includes an overnight stay in India hosted by the Bollywood star Janhvi Kapoor.

Though Mr. Chesky expects Icons listings to draw thousands of guests, that figure represents a minuscule share of Airbnb’s 150 million users. Still, he said, the category represents the future of Airbnb.

“So this in of itself is not a stand-alone business, but it’s more than just any marketing promotion,” he said. “It’s a gateway to Airbnb becoming more than a place to stay.”

Orlando Mayorquín is a breaking news reporter, based in New York, and a member of the 2023-24 Times Fellowship class , a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Orlando Mayorquín

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