Education for Humanity

Education for Humanity

Our Organization exists to open the world of knowledge and further the passions of students in developing and developed countries. We believe that education is most important to advance technology and overall human standard of living. The world needs more teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs among many other professions and our goal is to expose students all over the world to the interesting lives of professionals so that they can pursue their passions early on. We will have a two-fold program, one in the developing world and one in developed.

Developing countries

Our aim here is to find human capital that will want to volunteer to teach English to a local population in Africa. When these students get the hold of English, we will have a basic means of communication. Our curriculum will then incorporate basic survival skills such as growing/finding food, purifying water, and self-defense. The next step is to teach topics such as math, science, and writing. If the country has access to electricity, we will introduce low-cost laptops pre-installed with videos of instruction on a variety of topics to supplement their learning in class. Students who graduate from our programs will be given an opportunity to either stay and teach basic education to their native population or further their education through our second program in developed countries.

Developed countries

As technology is becoming a bigger part of our lives, we have to teach kids and the new generation of students how to use them as tools for success instead of time sinks. We also want to provide an alternative to the current education system so that our students are not confined to the 5 days a week 8am – 3pm schedule. We want to use technology to show students a variety of professions, starting with those currently in highest demand. Students who finds an interest in one field will be grouped together to be taught the skills needed for that profession. Our aim is to identify student’s interests early on and provide support to help them pursue their passion. To keep our curriculum engaging, students will be using virtual reality (VR) technology to play simulation games that teaches them academic concepts. They will also be able to use the VR space to work on projects and test their knowledge. We want to associate learning to a fun, interactive experience that is spurred by the child’s personal interest. We want our students to graduate with the skills tantamount to any degree in America without having to go through all the tedious classes that they are not interested in. Students often time do not remember what they learned because they are not actively engaged or interested in it. Our VR systems will teach students

Get Involved

Our organization is different because we seek to teach the skills for basic survival in developing countries, along with basic education so that locals can be self-sufficient and to help students discover their passions early on so that we can produce highly motivated, productive professionals. To make this vision a reality, we need vast amount of funding for both programs. This is where Anima Mundi Development Partners steps in. Through your funding, we can create a self-sustainable teaching model in developing countries, which will then funnel graduates into our technologically advanced programs. Through this, we will increase the literacy rates across the board and provide more manpower to solve many of today’s world issues. 

A World We Dare to Imagine Pt 1.

All men are created equal, however not all men will have equal opportunities and the resources to realize their dreams. Some children may be born to wealthy families where they have family guidance and financial support to become whatever they want to be. Other children may come from impoverished families where getting by day to day is a struggle and they can’t even begin to think about their dreams when they don’t even know where the next meal is going to come from. Like Jacqueline Novogratz, I believe that in order to change the world, we must start at the very bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. We must understand how we can provide the food, clean water and shelter for these impoverished families and then create self-sustaining systems to teach them how lift themselves out of their poor living conditions. Only after we meet these basic needs can we focus on higher needs to level the playing field and offer equal opportunities.  

In order to have equal opportunities, education and mentorship is needed. Freshman students from low-income or immigrant families often times are not aware of all the resources available to succeed. They do not know that frequently visiting office hours will help them build a strong relationship with the professor where the student can draw further expertise. They may not have the guidance needed to help them cope with college life and professional development. As a result, a mentorship program must be created to provide these low-income students with resources and guidance that will help them excel in their studies and prepare them well for internships and full-time jobs. 

Going beyond college, education can be reformed as a whole from K-12. In New York, students have to take exams in 4th grade to determine which middle school they go to. Then in 8th grade, they take the Specialized High School Admission Test (SHSAT) to score a spot in one of the eight best public high schools in New York. Then from grades 9 - 11, they must take the SATs to place into colleges. All along the way, an elementary student who is passionate about learning but is horrible at taking tests will be placed into  a poorly equipped middle school. Teachers and learning environment may not be as great as those in better schools. Then they may not do well on the SHSAT and go to a similarly bad high school. These students will be slowly fall behind and be less competitive when it comes to college. What if we are able to level the playing field with different forms of education? Perhaps introduce Virtual Reality and simulation games that will inspire and excite students when it comes to learning. What if we can teach them to chase after their interests in learning rather than feed them test prep throughout their K-12 student careers? When education is reformed to create the new generation of scientists, leaders and creative individuals, these students can better serve the world by doing what they love to do.  

Current Oil Prices

Recently, I have been getting into investing and closely following the market trends for the price of oil. It is interesting to see how a hot commodity used for energy and transportation purposes reacts to
global markets and possibly make money off these trends.

Earlier this year in February, the price of oil hit its all time low at $27 per barrel and drove many small oil companies to bankruptcy. Since then, oil prices have rallied and returned to $40 a barrel. Previously, it was thought that oil will stay at all time lows because of the high supply of oil production coming from Iran, OPEC and shale oil. However, recent reports show that OPEC is getting ready to freeze production along with Russia and Kuwait on April 17th in Doha, Dubai. In addition, the U.S. inventory for oil decreased by 4.9 million barrels when it was expected to increase by 2.9 million barrels. The slowed demand and possible freezing of production is driving oil prices back up.

My recommendation is to closely watch the Doha meeting on the 17th. If there is an agreement to freeze production levels, we will definitely see a higher oil price. The best way to invest in rising oil prices is through Oil Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) such as USO, UWTI, OIL, and UCO.