Category: Top Stories

By PFW News

A Hong Kong-based robotics company plans to mass produce humanoid robots to replace workers across industries such as healthcare and education.

Hanson Robotics is set to launch a mass rollout of human-like robots that can compete with human workers, something the company’s founder says is needed to keep people safe in the age of the coronavirus.

“The world of Covid-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe,” founder and chief executive David Hanson claims.

Makers of Sophia the robot plan a mass rollout https://t.co/sn7T4N3wGR pic.twitter.com/ousQsWxEWs

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 25, 2021

Hanson says the manufacturing process of putting together such robots has scaled to the point where his company can produce the AI machines in large quantities. The plan is to ramp up production of four models, including their best known model ‘Sophia’, and the new ‘Grace’ robot that are specifically built to labor in healthcare.

“Social Robots like me can help take care of the sick or elderly in many corners of healthcare and medical uses,” the Sophia robot said in a video by Reuters (it must be 2021 if robots are being quoted in the news).

“I can help communicate, give therapy, and provide social stimulation even in difficult situations,” the robot further spoke.

The ‘Sophia’ machine is best known for receiving citizenship in Saudi Arabia and being appointed the UN’s first non-human “innovation Champion.” Yes, really …

Hanson’s sale pitch is that the robots can provide for people who are “lonely and socially isolated” during these times when Covid and lockdowns still affect many populations.

“People need to be isolated from each other because to be around people is dangerous these days,” Hanson chillingly told Reuters.

The development and utility of the human-like machines such as the ones being developed by Hanson Robotics is a nod to the long-dreaded fear that the AI/robotics industries are coming for jobs considered to be well paying and respected.

During the Covid-19 pandemic robots were deployed in many parts of the world to enforce mask mandates and other social distancing edicts.

#Singapore authorities hired a robot dog from #BostonDynamics to monitor people’s social distance. The robot walks through the park and asks passers-by to stay at least a meter apart pic.twitter.com/8RB46wGWVv

— Sergey Golubev (@serge_golubev) May 11, 2020

Source: Planet Free Will

Top image: ITU Pictures/Flickr

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Company Plans Mass Rollout of Humanoid Robots to Replace Workers in Healthcare, Education

This content was originally published here.

WASHINGTON – A crowd of people stood in the dark, surrounded by three flat-screen TVs. Black-and-white footage played of police officers pinning down students and dragging them out of classrooms. Statistics flashed across the screens.

“1.6 million students attend a school with school police, but not a school counselor,” one read.

The immersive digital presentation kicked off an event by two civil rights groups – the Advancement Project and the Alliance for Educational Justice – called “We Came to Learn: Defining Safety for Black + Brown Students.”

At Eaton DC, a Washington, D.C. hotel, the nonprofits hosted a panel discussion on school safety and unveiled a new website that tracks police violence against students of color: .

The website comes a year after the participating organizations released a national report – “We Came to Learn: A Call to Action for Police-Free Schools.” The report said that 24 percent of U.S. elementary schools and 42 percent of high schools have some sort of police presence, with Black and Latinx students disproportionately arrested by school officers.

In a time of school shootings, some say on-site police are necessary to keep schools safe. But these officers play a role in the school-to-prison pipeline, said Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project, and they make students of color unsafe by violently penalizing them for normal childlike behavior.

“We are spending money to allow cops to assault our children, and we are giving them a pass,” she said.

The site features an abridged timeline of the history of police in K-12 education and resistance to school police. During the event, a full timeline starting in 1937 stretched across the back wall in a series of posters for attendees to read.

The website also highlights student testimonies. Staff displayed the webpage on a projector, playing an audio interview with a 17-year-old student named Justin about security checks in his Miami high school.

“I don’t come to school to get checked,” he said. “I come to school to learn.”

The website also has an interactive map called the #AssaultAt map, which shows where alleged police attacks on students occurred from 2009 to present. So far, the website documents 110 incidents. Visitors can click pins on the map to learn more about each story, including photos and videos when available.

Dianis emphasized that the map includes only a “small portion” of cases – those covered by media outlets or caught on camera.

“We shouldn’t have one young person being beat down in school,” she said.

After the website launch, Dianis moderated a panel discussion about school safety for Black and Latinx students. Panelists included Jonathan Stith, national director of the Alliance for Educational Justice; Monica Acosta, director of organizing at Padres Y Jovens Unidos; Saudia Durrant, youth organizer at the Philadelphia Student Union; lead organizer Andrea Ortiz and high school freshman youth organizer Destiny Miranda of the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.

Organizers talked about their challenges with school police in their respective areas. Acosta said her organization heard from students going to court for “crazy things” such as chewing gum in class, talking back or not wearing a school uniform.

A member of Durrant’s student union – a high school junior – was punched in the face and put in a choke hold after throwing an orange at a wall, according to the report. Teachers told students to delete video evidence that later resurfaced, Durrant said.

Afterward, her group fought for a schoolwide complaint system to collect data about school police assaults in Philadelphia. The officer involved in the incident wasn’t fired, however, and the bureaucracy of the school district and the local police department “made it very difficult to hold accountability.”

Black and Latinx students are more often arrested at protests and walkouts, Stith highlighted, but school districts continue to employ police officers even after they cause harm. He hopes students and their advocates will use tools from the national report and website to call attention to school police violence and “define what safety is for them.”

“Our young people are policed differently,” Stith said. “We’re really up to trying to transform society by transforming our schools.”

Ortiz spoke about her work with undocumented students in Chicago, who fear school police will put them in databases of suspected gang members. Students can end up on these lists based on where they live or what they wear, she said, and the databases can be accessed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

She wants to “expand” the definition of “sanctuary,” she said. “When we have schools that have police officers, that’s not sanctuary.”

Miranda suggested funneling the resources that go toward school policing to counselors, extracurricular activities, after-school programs and more.

“We deserve to go to school and not fear that the security guard is going to hurt us or is going to harass us,” she said. “We deserve to go to school and have the energy to learn, and know I’m going to come out of this school with a diploma. We deserve the resources, and we deserve to not fear for our own lives as we go to school.”

Sara Weissman can be reached at sweissman@diverseeducation.com.

This content was originally published here.

Dr. Tayo Clyburn had a deep interest in combating inequality and injustice at a young age. It would evolve into a pursuit of diversity, equity and inclusion as a career.

However, he was not introduced to higher education diversity work until graduate school at The Ohio State University (OSU). There, Clyburn had the opportunity to engage with his department’s diversity committee.  

“I think over time, I just came to learn how multifaceted and embedded injustice is in every system and institution,” says Clyburn, who was recently named dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. “So, doing this work in higher education certainly spoke to me and let me sort of stay in my lane where I felt like I had the most passion. I had no idea that it was going to be higher ed.” 

While working towards his doctorate at OSU, Clyburn became director in the university’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. After three years, he became executive director for mission and strategic partnerships at OSU. In that role, Clyburn built relationships with university stakeholders and partners. 

As part of a multi-year project, he worked on the Buckeye Portal for Inclusive Excellence, which laid out a strategic plan for the university to work towards its equity and inclusion goals. The project addressed  overall challenges of diversity and inclusion as well as how they were unique to OSU. 

“I was really, really proud of that work,” says Clyburn. “I think that it will serve as an example for a lot of very large, heavily matrixed institutions, not just in higher education, but I think beyond that.” 

In 2019, Clyburn became vice president for inclusive diversity and equity and chief diversity officer at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. While there, he collaborated with the Office of Student Affairs to create a more curricular approach to diversity, equity and inclusion education. Additionally, Clyburn says he helped recruit and retain faculty, employees and students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. For Clyburn and St. Mary’s, these efforts spoke “to the needs of our population.”  

It was also an opportunity to “pivot our diversity education work to incorporate that,” he says. “But of course, I tried to leave that in such a way that the folks here can continue to run with this project.” 

After a year at St. Mary’s, Clyburn was named dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at Colby College and began his new role on Aug.26. Beginning in this new role during a public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and at a time of racial reckoning across the nation has been “challenging,” Clyburn admits.   

“We have folks who are facing unprecedented hardship and I think the pandemic itself, even prior to the uprisings that we’ve seen across the country, was revealing structural inequalities that have had a disparate impact for generations on marginalized communities,” he says.  

Colby’s desire to “lead from the front rather than the middle” in their diversity efforts, says Clyburn, is what drew him to the campus. Also appealing, he adds, was “the leadership of the institution. I think part of that is also sort of pushing the narrative out there about all the wonderful work that’s already happened.”

Looking forward, Clyburn says he wants to ensure that those outside of the campus also know about Colby’s  efforts to lead in areas of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, Clyburn is looking to bring the many separate diversity initiatives that already exist together to work as a cohesive unit. At the same time, Clyburn adds, Colby is working to make college affordable and accessible to all students. 

“It’s one thing that you make sure that [students] have access to the actual educational experience but also to how we are thinking about directing our research energies and our curricular energies, to focusing on some of the disparities that we’re seeing in the 21st century,” says Clyburn. “I see Colby doing both of those things.” 

This article originally appeared in the September 17, 2020 edition of Diverse. You can find it here.

This content was originally published here.

As a proud Spelman College student and KIPP Public Schools alum, I urge Sen. Kamala Harris to support public charter schools.

Nearly 90% of Black Democratic primary voters support expanding access to more public school options, including charter schools. In Atlanta, where I live, 83% supported providing “more choice in the public school system,” including charters.

So, when Sen. Harris’s running mate, former Vice President Joe Biden, proposes to give districts control of how many new charter schools get approved, he is pushing to disrupt a thriving educational community that empowers African American students to achieve higher rates of college completion and success.  For students like me who went from public charter schools to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), having the education options to excel has made all the difference. As an HBCU alum herself, Sen. Harris should know that public charter schools send thousands of students to HBCUs every year. And that’s a good thing.

More than 2,100 KIPP alumni are currently enrolled at HBCUs around the country. KIPP has also provided many scholarships for students like me to further their education. And KIPP board members like Martha Karsh and Reed Hastings have thrown their weight behind HBCUs, making historic gifts to support not just KIPP alumni, but all African American students at these institutions.

KIPP surveys show that KIPP alumni experience a stronger sense of belonging, better health, are more likely to have a mentor and to seek out academic supports than students at non-HBCUs, which has been absolutely true for me. I have also learned that KIPP alumni enrolled in HBCUs, experience higher 1^st– to 2nd-year persistence rates than peers with similar academic backgrounds enrolled in other colleges.

As a KIPP Metro Atlanta alum, I was exposed to a culture of a quality education and given access to resources on my path to college. KIPP has provided me with hands-on training on effective note-taking, time management when studying, and understanding the value of social networking to be successful in college and beyond.  Charter schools like KIPP provide necessary guidance and counseling, throughout K-12 into college and beyond, for many students from low-income families and Black and Latinx to students to attend and complete college. Even though I’ve graduated from KIPP and am now at Spelman, I still regularly speak to my KIPP Through College counselor, the same one I was assigned when I was in middle school.

And as a current student at the top HBCU in the nation, I believe that it is valuable for students to attend HBCUs and become centered in an environment created for African American children to succeed around other strong-minded students and resources. HBCUs provide a connection to Black history, construct a supportive environment, and offer beneficial programs in fields of STEM. While attending an HBCU, I’ve also noticed that the alumni associations provide a close network of long histories and legacies that create long-term relationships and opportunities. I am proud to follow in the footsteps of such monumental trailblazers and HBCU alumni  such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Alice Walker, and Langston Hughes.

So, Senator Harris, don’t ignore the will of Black voters around the nation and experiences like mine at a public charter school. As a fellow HBCU alum, hear me out. Make my voice count.

Garilyn Vause is a junior at Spelman College. 

This content was originally published here.

A new survey reveals that 30% of high school students are delaying their college start date while 13% plan to change their original chosen institution due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Around 1,000 teenagers between the ages of 13-18 participated in the “The Financial Impact of COVID-19” survey, which was carried out by the non-profit organization Junior Achievement USA and Citizens Financial Group.

For 57% of high school students, there is concern about how COVID-19 will impact their future plans such as attending college, the survey found. As much as 44% of high school juniors and seniors said the pandemic has impacted their college affordability plans. And now, 58% of teenagers are more likely to take out student loans for school.

“With a lot of seniors getting ready to graduate and juniors starting to think about what they’re going to do after high school, we wanted to get a better idea if those plans were changing because of what’s happening,” said Ed Grocholski, senior vice president of brand at Junior Achievement USA. “They are not taking this for granted, they are really focused right now and not just kind of waiting to see what’s going to happen in a few months.”

For those students already admitted at a university or college, Grocholski suggested that institutions remain proactive in being transparent with information and decisions in the coming weeks and months.

“Even if they haven’t made a decision yet to go online, say for the fall semester, they should at least communicate with incoming freshman to explain what are some of the options they are looking at just so these kids have that information as they’re planning to go to school in the fall,” he added.

Almost three-quarters of teenagers said they have had discussions with their parents or guardians about the financial impact of the virus. Additionally, 24% said their parents or caregivers had shared their concerns about whether or not they would be able to pay the bills and 13% had a parent or guardian lose their job, according to the survey.

In addition to stress about their parents’ jobs, teenagers are also worried about their own jobs. The survey found that 22% of teenagers hold a job and 46% said their families depend on their income to help manage household expenses. For working teenagers, 62% said they have to violate their states’ social distancing protocols and recommendations in order to continue at their place of employment.

“These survey results show that our kids are not immune to the concerns related to the financial impact of COVID-19,” said Jack E. Kosakowski, president and CEO of Junior Achievement USA, in a statement. “We at Junior Achievement are reaching out to parents and caregivers to provide resources to talk to their teens about what’s happening in a way that not only informs but provides reassurance that things will eventually get better.”

Since there continues to be a lot of confusion about the impact of the pandemic and an increase in unemployment rates across the country, Grocholski encouraged more students and parents to have open conversations about their concerns.

“It’s important that parents do keep their kids in the loop, especially if they are getting ready to go out on their own, about what this could mean for them in terms of school or anything else they are doing after high school,” he added.

Christine Roberts, the head of student lending at Citizens Financial Group, said parents should talk about the earning potential and average starting salary of the degree their children want to apply for in order to avoid taking on too much student loan debt.

“It is now more important than ever for families to have frank and transparent conversations about the cost of college,” she added. “Having open conversations will help parents set expectations while including their children in the discussion.”

In addition to financial concerns, high school students are also stressed about the overall health of family members. According to the survey, 59% of teenagers said they worry about a parent or guardian getting sick while 60% are worried about other family members eventually contracting the virus.

As states and schools begin to reopen in the upcoming months, Grocholski said they will continue to monitor the situation and further conduct research on the pandemic’s impact on young students.

Sarah Wood can be reached at swood@diverseeducation.com.

This content was originally published here.