Obama or Mccain

Obama, McCain Offer Stark Contrasts on Latin America Policy
Regional specialists size up candidates’ differences on Western Hemisphere
By Eric GreenStaff Writer
Washington — The two major U.S. presidential candidates offer stark contrasts in their positions on Latin America and the Caribbean, several specialists on the region tell America.gov.
Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at the Washington-based nonpartisan Inter-American Dialogue, said Republican John McCain’s “rhetoric” on Cuba and Venezuela is “certainly tougher” than that of Democrat Barack Obama.
But Shifter said it is “unclear how that will translate in policy terms.” He said that under a McCain administration, the current U.S. “stance” toward Cuba probably will continue, “and it might even get more hardline.”
Obama already has proposed “some modest steps” toward an opening with Cuba, including lifting U.S. restrictions on sending remittances to Cuba and on travel restrictions for Cuban Americans to the Caribbean nation, Shifter said.
Obama’s “willingness” to talk with Cuban President Raúl Castro, “with a carefully prepared agenda, marks a contrast with McCain’s posture,” Shifter said.
He said McCain’s rhetoric aimed at Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been “harsher and more confrontational than Obama’s.” Shifter said Obama seems to favor a more diplomatic approach in dealing with Chávez, and that Obama’s “moderate tone would not, however, conceal basic policy differences with the Chávez government, especially on such issues as Iran and Afghanistan.”
Shifter said “tensions between the United States and Venezuela under a McCain or Obama administration would likely persist.”
COLOMBIA
Regarding Colombia, Shifter said that McCain’s concern with national security questions suggest the Republican is likely to be a strong advocate of continuing U.S. support for the next phase of Plan Colombia called the “Strategy to Strengthen Democracy and Promote Social Development.” Obama is “also a proponent of continued security aid” to the Andean nation, Shifter said. (See “United States To Shift Focus of Funds for Colombia.”)
But Shifter said McCain and Obama “differ sharply” on a pending U.S. free-trade agreement with Colombia, with McCain backing the pact and Obama opposed to it because of incidents of violence against Colombian union officials.
“Ironically, it may be easier to get” the trade agreement through the U.S. Congress under Obama rather than with a McCain administration, Shifter said. He said McCain could have a more adversarial relationship with the next Congress — very likely to be controlled by the Democrats — than would Obama. “Obama could more easily put together a larger package featuring social protections and benefits for U.S. workers and that could help pave the way for eventual congressional approval” of the trade pact.
Regarding how high a priority the Americas will be for the next U.S. administration, Shifter said “Latin Americans should have learned by now to keep their expectations in check.” Situations in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia and China are likely to command much attention from a new administration, “so Latin America is unlikely to get the attention it deserves.”
McCain has made several trips to the region, Shifter said. Obama never has visited, but either “will need to develop a more sophisticated understanding of an area” that has “undergone profound changes and no longer responds to Washington’s tutorial impulses.” (See “Next U.S. President Unlikely to Alter U.S. Latin America Policy.”)
McCAIN MUM, OBAMA VAGUE ON U.S. IMAGE IN THE AMERICAS
Reflecting Shifter’s comments, Greg Weeks, an associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina, said the two candidates are divided on the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Obama, he said, has taken a “surprisingly skeptical view of the embargo and although he has not called for it to be dismantled, he has said that our policy toward Cuba has been a ‘failure.’”
Obama also has called for “engagement with the Cuban government, for which he has been criticized by McCain for being naïve,” said Weeks, who also writes a blog called Two Weeks Notice.
On whether either candidate could get immigration legislation passed by Congress, Weeks said that “my hunch is no, though the makeup of Congress after the elections will be important.”
He said that although Democrats won a majority in the last congressional election in 2006, many members of the House of Representative “were conservative and so opposed immigration reform. Given McCain's clear interest in [immigration] reform, though, he will be more likely to expend political capital to get it passed. Obama has said he would pursue reform, but my sense is that the topic is a lower priority for him.”
When asked how the candidates could improve the U.S. image in the Americas, Weeks responded that he has not heard McCain address this question, perhaps because doing so could be interpreted as a criticism of President Bush. McCain’s campaign has said it will ensure “top administration officials would have strong Latin American portfolios,” according to Weeks.
Obama has emphasized diplomacy and a policy of “helping the poor, shoring up civil society and strengthening democratic institutions, though the specifics are vague,” Weeks said.
He said that “ultimately, from a rhetorical standpoint, Obama offers more promise of policy change toward Latin America than McCain, whose policies [including immigration] remain very close to President Bush.” But because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, renewed tension with Russia and myriad other global issues, “Latin America will not likely be a top priority once the new president is elected,” Weeks said.
Details of McCain’s and Obama’s positions on the Americas are available on the Web sites of the respective candidates.

5 Easy Steps to Retaining Women to Trades, Science and Technology Classrooms

Step One: Bridge the Technology DivideThe reality is that overall women tend to have less experience with technology than their male counterparts, whether we are talking about computer technology or auto technology. Instructors who are successful in retaining female students recognize that they need to start with the basics during the beginning of the semester so that the less experienced students get the basic building blocks needed to be successful (this is helpful to male students missing those basics too). So that might mean an introduction to tool identification and use or the basics of navigating the Internet. Instructors should also provide open lab time for students in need of additional hands-on experience. If possible, staff the lab with a senior female student, women are often more comfortable asking questions of other women in a male-dominated field. For some best practice case study examples that illustrate these concepts look at the Cisco Gender Initiative's Best Practice Case Studies developed by the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS) (1).

Step Two: Collaborative Learning in the Technology ClassroomMany female students lack confidence in the classroom and this negatively impacts their learning ability. There are several reasons for this: first, overall, male students have more experience with technology, especially hands-on labs; second, male students tend to boast of their accomplishments while females tend to think that they are doing poorly even when they are doing well; third, male students tend to dominate in classroom discussions and lab activities.
Technology instructors can overcome these factors by using collaborative group methods in the classroom designed to increase student learning, interaction and support of each other. Some examples of these group methods are: 1) grade students in teams as well as individually; 2) put female students in positions of leadership in the classroom; 3) assign students to teams or pairs rather than leaving it up to them to pick their partners; 4) have female students work together in labs during the beginning of the semester; 5) enlist the help of whiz kids with the teaching of their fellow students, providing them with a constructive outlet for their talents.

Step Three: Contextual LearningThe recent adage that women are from Mars and men are from Venus is alive and well in the technology classroom -- women and men have different learning styles when it comes to technology. Most men are excited by the technology itself -- how fast it is, the number of gigabytes, the size of the engine. Most women are engaged by how the technology will be used -- how quickly the network will run, how much information can be stored, how far the vehicle can go without refueling. These Mars and Venus differences have implications for the class curriculum: female students will better understand technical concepts in the classroom when they understand the context for them. Don't front load your computer programming classes with writing computer code with no context for this if you want to retain most of your female students. For more information on this subject including off-the-shelf curriculums for teaching contextual technology read IWITTS's Making Math and Technology Courses User Friendly to Women and Minorities: An Annotated Bibliography (2).

Step Four: The Math FactorMost technology courses require an understanding of applied math. Many women and girls are fearful of math and have had negative experiences in the math classroom. This phenomenon is so common that courses and curriculum on math anxiety for women are in place around the country. The key to success in teaching most females math is -- like technology -- contextual and group learning. Fortunately many off-the-shelf curriculums exist for teaching math contextually, see IWITTS's bibliography linked above. Many technology courses at the two-year college level have math prerequisites that are unrelated to the technology coursework and omit the applied math that will be needed. Technology courses should only require math that is relevant to their courses and/or develop contextual math modules to add to their curriculum.

Step Five: Connect the Women in Your Classes with Other WomenA female mentor or peer support network can help your students stay the course when they are feeling discouraged and can provide helpful tips for succeeding in a predominantly male environment. There are many on-line and real-time associations for women in technology, connect your female students to them. See the Career Links on WomenTechWorld.org for a list of some of these networks. Also, WomenTechTalk on WomenTechWorld.org -- a free listserv for women in technology and students -- provides a combination of support and expert career panels to it's over 200 members from across the U.S.

Donna Milgram is founder and Executive Director of the National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS). She is currently the Principal Investigator of the CalWomenTech Project, a $2 million National Science Foundation grant awarded in April 2006. She was also the Principal Investigator of the WomenTech Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, which had a goal of increasing the number of women enrolled and retained in technology education in three national community college demonstration sites. She led IWITTS's partnership with the Cisco Learning Institute (CLI)/Cisco Gender Initiative. Ms. Milgram produced the interactive teacher training video "School-to-Work: Preparing Young Women for High Skill, High Wage Careers." Ms. Milgram's recent conference presentations include: the NSF ATE Conference "Recruiting Women to Science, Technology, Engineering & Math" (2004) and California Educating for Careers Conference in 2003.

Bibliography:(1) http://gender.ciscolearning.org/Strategies/Strategies_by_Region/North_America/United_States/Index.html
(2) http://www.iwitts.com/assets/1.5_BiblioMathTechFriendly.PDF

Additional Resources:
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