School officials from Jackson State University recently announced the launch of its first online degree program. The institution will offer a bachelor's degree in child care and family education that designed for students who have completed a minimum of 45 credit hours of general education courses.

This online program will teach students to use developmentally appropriate practice based on how children develop and learn.

School officials added that important changes occur in children from birth to the age of five, and this curriculum aims to educate enrollees on how best to support children's learning and development during these years.

According to the 2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, nearly 20 percent of all college and university enrollees now take at least one course online.

The study looked at 52 boys and 65 girls in classes with 17 different teachers all of which were female. And they found that teachers that were more anxious about their math ability by the end of the year had female students that felt the same but the boys didn’t follow that trend. And girls that agreed with the stereotype that “boys are good at math and girls are good at reading” scored lower on their math tests.

This is a problem especially since 90 percent of U.S. elementary school teachers are women. And elementary education majors show the highest levels of math anxiety of any college major. So this stress affects their own performance and also their students.  Because of this experts believe that math requirements for earning an elementary education teaching degree need to be rethought.  If these teachers are expected to teach effectively then they need to develop strong math skills and attitudes.

While teachers aren’t the only reason that girls don’t excel in math; it is a factor. Some girls are unaffected by the stereotype and pursue careers with a lot of math and science. But many avoid those careers particularly in physics and engineering. In these fields men dominate because many girls avoid harder math classes which many of these majors require.

For example, parents in Gaza don't want their children to learn about the Holocaust.  The fact is that it was a major event in modern world history and it's the reason that millions of people from all corners of the world are dead.

Granted, parents are responsible for their children and have the right to question what their children are learning in schools.  After all, parents are the most influential people in their children's life and it's important that they are involved with their children's education.  However, sometimes I think parents are worried about what their children might learn in school because it is different from the beliefs that they hold.

So where is the balance?  Should parents be able to determine what the lesson plan is in schools?  Even though there were 6 million Jews killed in the holocaust and thousands of civilians died, parents in Gaza don't want the information about the Nazi genocide being introduced into curriculum in U.N. schools.

This displays a major barrier between Jews and Arabs.  Jews see this inaction by Arabs as a denial of Israel's right to exist, while Arabs see the Holocaust as an excuse for Israel's creation.  This is controversial and I can see both sides of the argument, but children need to learn what is and has been going on in the world.

Finding the right balance is also a hot topic in the United States as well.  Parents were upset about President Obama's speech to students.  I guess a major factor is how old the student is, older students are less likely to buy into ideas as younger children.  Parents were especially worried about what the pamphlets would say and what kind of an influence they would have on their young children.

School districts in this event did the proper thing by notifying parents about the speech and what would be going on.  They also allowed parents to check their children out of school or to keep them home for the day.  I think what much of this boils down to is that parents need to allow their children to learn about different topics in school but then discuss them at home.

Education is supposed to be where individuals learn about general knowledge, and develop reasoning and judgment, in order to prepare for life.  Students need to be learning about important events and different theories so that they can make educated decisions.  They don't need to believe everything that they hear, but at least they will understand different theories, perspectives, and aspects of our history.

Some of the lessons students learn from a well rounded education, can help students understand one another and therefore find a peaceful solution that can improve everyone's life.  History cannot be repeated if it is remembered.