Currency Trading Education - The Best Free Sources to Help You Win

If you want to win at currency trading, you can buy advice but most currency trading education you need you can get for free and here we will look at how to find the best and enjoy currency trading success...
Let's first look at currency education that needs to be avoided.
Forex Expert Advisors
Most who claim they are not - anyone who claims they can make you money with no effort should be avoided.
If you want to see if an expert is a not qualified, look for the words "simulated" or "in hindsight", on the track record presented - this is not real trading and the track record is made up, to sell currency trading courses and systems.
Forex Forums
Want to find losers? Then currency trading forums are great. What trader who makes money uses them?
I don't know any. It's mostly losers who are trying to make themselves feel better, by dispensing their wisdom, or vendors trying to peddle their products - most of which are junk. Avoid Currency forums!
News Sources
We have better news than ever but traders need to learn 30 years ago before we had lots of currency news sources 95% of traders lost and 95% lose today, so improved news hasn't helped.
Prices don't move to the news, they move to trader's perception of. Try and trade breaking currency news and you will lose.
Brokers
Most broker education won't help you - if brokers were good at trading, they wouldn't be brokers! Also, as brokers mostly trade against you when you take a position, it's a conflict of interest.
Good Sources
So what about the good sources? Well the good news is:
There is plenty of it and you can get a good solid currency education for free.
The best way to trade is to use currency charts and base your market timing on technical analysis. There is plenty of free information on the basics, all the different indicators and charts for free, so you can look at the indicators, try them and come up with a simple, robust currency trading strategy.
Any currency trader, who wants to win, should also learn breakout trading and you will find a lot of information on this as well.
The fast is anyone can learn currency trading, there are no secrets and the reason most traders lose is - lack of discipline and poor money management and there is plenty of information on this too.
Traders simply lack discipline and CANNOT keep their losses small or trade through losing periods.
Worth the Money.
You can get some great information on discipline for free but I Would recommend spending $100 or so, on some books, from the really great traders, to get more insight into the mindset to succeed.
These are traders who have walked the walk and don't simply talk the talk. We reviewed our top ten in other articles so look them up - this is money well spent.
So in conclusion, you can get all the currency trading basics for success for free and can build a currency trading strategy - your major challenge though is money management and discipline.
Its here I would recommend spending a few dollars, if you don't think you have discipline ( and most traders don't) and then, the combination of a simple, robust, currency trading system and the right mindset to apply it, can help you win at currency trading.
Getting the right currency education is easy; getting the right mindset is what separates the small number of winners from the losing majority.

Education Reform May Provide Better Incentives For Those With Education Degrees

Students in education degree programs might enter professions that, in the long run, are the most important to a successful economy. That's at least how President Barack Obama, interviewed by Matt Lauer for the Today Show in September, described teachers. Students who are working toward education degrees might also enter a field that's very different by the time they graduate.
The difference has to do with education reform. Last year, the federal government announced a $4 billion "Race to the Top" program designed to award $4 billion in grants to states that encourage education reform. Much of the news with regard to education these days has to do with enhanced college and university readiness and improved science and math education. Students in education degree programs might learn that America's K-12 students lag behind other countries in these subject areas particularly.
The American Federation of Teachers is on board with education reform. Math and science, many say, can enhance innovation, help the economy and help the country retain its role as a world leader. But where Obama in the Today Show interview announced plans to recruit thousands of science and math teachers over the coming two years, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in an opinion piece on AOL News suggested that training and retaining teachers, as they do in Finland, might benefit the education system.
BBC World News America earlier this year reported on how representatives from throughout the world visited Finland to determine what makes the country's schools so successful. Finland's schools rank- highly on a worldwide scale, even though students there spend some of the least amount of time in class, according to the BBC article. The article explained about when students start school there and when they move to different schools and teachers. Among other things, the BBC World News article mentioned immigration and additional teachers who fill highly respected roles.
If you're pursuing an education degree, you might be keeping up with American teacher salaries. The National Education Association has proposed offering starting salaries of $40,000 per year across the board for teachers and $28,000 for school support personnel. The American Federation of Teachers has proposed what's known as "differentiated" pay, where teachers would start with adequate, locally negotiated base salaries and be paid more in instances where they take on added responsibilities. Obama mentioned to Lauer the possibility of creating a career ladder for teachers as a means of professionalizing the industry.
According to the National Education Association website, about 20 percent of new teachers change professions by the time they complete their first year in public schools and nearly half of public school teachers change professions within five years. American school systems as a result lose about $7 billion each year, Weingarten wrote. According to him, school districts should work with teachers to reform them and, through a relatively new model for evaluating their work, to help them develop professionally.
Whether or not you're working toward an education degree, it's likely that you've heard the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." Weingarten and Obama agree that educating children is partly the responsibility of others as well. In Finland, the BBC World News America article noted, parents read at home with their children and communicate regularly with teachers.

7 Effective Ways to Read and Understand African Political News

Whether you are an African expatriate hoping to stay in touch with what is going on in your home country, a potential tourist hoping to do research on the best place to visit, a political student striving to understand the development in Africa, or simply well-wisher dedicated to unload of few bucks to chip in the aid for Africa, translating the information you read into valuable knowledge is an important task
Like any other continent, Africa offers a set of complex realities that can offer conflicting outcome for the party interested; moreover, accessing the information you need is not always evident between the information you look for, and the information you find.
Below is a short description of criteria to consider when reading or researching news on Africa. While the list is not exclusive, and can certainly be extended, I believe this initial guidepost may help. Feel free to add or consider additional helpful points.
1. Consider the source of the information
Africa is a very complex place, that combines many world and realities, the gap between the rich and the poor creates in many places two different societies whose world rarely collide. For that reason, news sources are often tailored to one group or the other.
Understanding the source of the information will help you assess the legitimacy of the information you have. For example, is it a local or foreign news source? Foreign sources often have greater access to political circles because the government is more concerned about the way it is portrayed to the outside world; however, foreign sources rarely give you the real pulse of the nation. If the source is local, consider the accreditation that is reflected by interviews or first hand accounts. In Africa, Official news is often given unofficially, while official news is a front. That means that those sources that have close access to the government are more likely to give credible news, compare to unaccredited sources to whom is given generic news. (More on it further down)
2. Try to capture the perspective of the information
In Africa, the freedom of the press is not a sacred duty, and as mentioned above, free and transparent news are not evident. As a result, news often reflects the perspective of the source. The information you will get is based on the perception of the source. In the West, Africa is widely primarily viewed as a continent ravaged by war and diseases, where impoverished people and government are struggling very hard to survive, and thus their lives and activities are geared toward Help and how the global community can help them. As a result, most African news coming from the West will treat topics such as aid, sanction, peace and war, and oil discovery. Human rights, rigged election and corruption are other subjects often treated; in other words, Western media tend to chronicle Africa's efforts to "join" or emulate them.
When it comes to local media and news sources, the dilemma is different. Elite and well positioned news sources depicts the political life of the country, meaning that their news are mostly geared toward accounts of big political activities, such as Presidential travels and visits, opposition complaints, foreign investment, dignitaries visits, Diaspora news and international events in which the government participate. In short, those news sources attempts to present information from the perception of Africa to the rest of the world.
Finally, local media perception is often directed at the local population, therefore offers information on issue that matters to locals; energy and gas issues, employment, government promises kept or not, education, political freedom, cultural and social safeguard, etc...
3. Acknowledge the Biases
In the U.S, it is often assumed that CNN is Pro-democrats, and Fox News is a Republican arm, regardless if true or not, that perception is very present in Africa as well; not in form of Republican or democrats of course, but they still play a short role.
From the day of colonization, Western Nations had strategic interests in Africa, and Political propaganda has insured that many Westerners view some African countries internal policies as beneficial or threatening to their way of life.
If your African news information is from a Western source, always consider the position of your country with the African country you are researching. Popular opinion is critical and very few Western media will say nice things about the Zimbabwe government for example. Western media will offer news based on the national interest of their home country. You will rarely read negative report about the Egyptian Government that has good relations with Washington, although it is not a beacon of Democracy, yet Zimbabwe, which has been a torn in their side, is demonized. This is not an attempt to justify the evil of some people, but it is worth considering that Western media will report information according to the way they wish a certain country to be viewed.
If you wish to avoid the biases of Western news outlet, you are better off searching for African news by African news outlets. There again, there is an often bias between Pro and anti government. Some news sources are government sponsored, while other are dedicated to discredit the government regardless of good deeds or not. In Africa the contrast is usually very strong, as you can read full articles of "official" news feed that praises the government unashamedly, while others are almost littered with insults. Very rarely will you find news source that are impartial, and it is usually very evident to distinguish the sources political leanings.
Given the polarity of African societies, and the actuality of International Relations, one must not look at news Biases with pure disgust, but as a component and vital actor of global politics; filling between diverse biases can actually help uncover valuable information. But in case it doesn't help, always consider independent news and...
4. Identify the agendas
If for some reasons you are unable to filter official and supposedly professional news sources, do make use of independent news sources such as NGO's and Think Tank. Because they are usually unaffiliated with any government, and their work is mainly based on empirical data and research, NGO and Think Tank do paint an educated and comprehensive picture of what is going on in Africa. Most of their works are expanded toward a wide range of subjects that reflects a non-partial view of government activities, social realities and international implications.
If you obtain your news via NGOs or Think Tanks, you are most likely to have access to strong data, depending on the Think Tank, and hard core evidence of what is going on in the country you research.
The only problem presented by NGOs and Think Tanks is that they do have an agenda. The nature of their strong work is usually motivated by the mission to influence or advice a government to act toward an issue they view as important. Because of that agenda, those organizations often accentuate an issue to the point where it overshadows others, making it look like an exaggeration.
For example if an NGO has for agenda to reduce arm trafficking in Africa, their information may offer solid leads on the pulse of a country, with credible evidence; however, their extensive research on the impact of arm trafficking may minimize other positive information, to the point of giving the impression that you can buy Ak47 at a candy store. This of course is not with the intent to deceive or dramatize, but with the objective of using the data to convince world powers to act on arms trafficking.
If you know how to extract your information from those sources, they are an excellent balance to local and international news.
5. Check the blogs
Africa sends millions of its bright Sons and Daughters abroad to study in higher education, and loses other millions professionals in search of a better living. While the damages of this brain drain are considerable, the attachment all those Africans retain for their homeland represents a glimpse of hope.
Since they cannot directly be involve in official affairs in their home countries because of the distance or political threats, many member of the African Diaspora voice their opinions in blogs or personal websites.
The advantage of reading those opinionated blogs is that it offers a personal touch and reaction to all the other news you may have read.
Many are very knowledgeable in what they are writing, and approach it in a very professional way. They are not constrained by editorial control, so are free to give their honest, educated opinion on what they read, heard or experienced in and out of Africa.
If they are not that knowledgeable on African affairs anymore, many still have families abroad who can give them first account to report on what is happening.
Because they are so many blogs related to Africa, you can not only compare information and news, but also engage the writers and have a better feel on how and where they get to say what they are saying.
For most people, this is a valuable source, because on top of general political views, they can offer a personal one, as well as giving an insight on how and where people live their everyday, not to mention, where the hotspots are.
The disadvantage of Blogs is that it is after all just personal opinions, and personal opinions can be motivated or inspired by perception, Bias, and /or agenda. It is not uncommon for exile politicians to mount an opposition from abroad, something blogs tend to make easier, so caution is advised for that reason.
6. Search for supportive news
Every news agency is in search of a scoop, and none wants to be left out of considerable information.
Whenever you stumble on interesting information for your research, after identifying the source, always make sure to search if that information is reprised by other news outlets.
When it comes to Africa, it is very common for news to be generalizing, but if you feel you came across useful information, always double check if you can locate it in other Western sources (if those where your primary sources), and then in local African sources. Check in Blogs and social sites if it is being discussed, or better create a new discussion.
The fact of the matter is that if you are looking for information on Africa, the complexity of its state does not favor taking any information at face value, but insuring that it is shared, discussed and not hostage to any perception and bias will help you have good grip on what is going on.
7. Use common sense
In Politics like in everything, things happen for a reason, from a coup d'Etat, to a social uprising, and political instability to international sanction.
Africa is not another planet we know nothing about, and it did not appear without a past or history.
In everything you read or learn about Africa, consider the context and remember history. Famine and poverty did not come suddenly; wars all have a spark plug, poor countries should not be able to buy weapons they do not manufacture.
The context and the historical reality that today links nearly all countries on Earth presents the fertile ground on how you will receive the news you receive, they way you receive it.
Knowledge is a light to which is drawn a bug called interest, and common sense should help you navigate the waves of misinformation toward the land of comprehension of the subject you research.
As mentioned, this is a list that can be extended and perfected, but for all who have at one point or another, read African news or wanted to understand what is going in Africa, I hope that little list will be helpful the next time it happens.
Over-reliance on popular media is like over relying in anything, it cripples one's ability, and dilutes the quality of the need sought.
Stay thirsty for knowledge; you might very well quench your thirst yourself.

Media Versus Educational Institutions

Many things have been said about media, its relation with education and the institutions of education, as well as co-action between them. But the point which has been rarely and scarcely stressed upon, and requires to be emphasized with the force and vigour it deserves, is that the media by itself is the most powerful medium of education at large. When I talk about media, I mean it to be inclusive of both the print-media and electronic media. There is an umbilical relation between the media and educational institutions, as both are deeply correlated, collateral as well as complementary to each other.
Education on Air
So far as the print-media (news papers/magazines/periodicals/journals) is concerned, it has, somehow, been playing its role in educating the people positively to some extent, but unfortunately, the electronic media (radio, television etc.,) is not delivering the goods in this respect. Being a medium of infotainment, it is, in fact, supposed to be a means of not merely educating the masses on a much wider scale, but also a tool of promoting and developing the national ethos, culture, moral values, ethics and social manners on the nation-wide scale.
Media is the most powerful instrument of not only spreading, inculcating and ingraining the values and traditions among our new generation, but also strengthening them in the mindset of the old one. It is the government' responsibility to use electronic media for the above-mentioned purposes and it has the powers, necessary resources and machinery to do so, but, alas, it has, until now, failed to take any concrete step in the direction. Government is therefore well-advised to press its machinery to use the centrally-administered media as a tool to provide education on air.
Media's role compared with formal Institutions of Educations
It is an irrefutable fact that the media can prove an effective and useful tool in providing education to the masses. In this respect, media's role starts exactly from where the role being played by the formal institutions such as schools, colleges and universities comes to an end. The media has not merely an obligation to inform the people what has happened, and what is happening in the surroundings, in the society, across the country and around the world, but it has also a bounden duty to enlighten the masses what actually must have been there and, in deed, what now must be there under the sky.
Art, Culture and Literature
The media has another function to perform and that is to take care of social manners and ethical values among the people, to preserve and promote them besides developing indigenous art, culture and literature.
A few words about literature: whatever is written is simply defined as literature. However, whatever is written with an accuracy of the language and punctuation of the grammar is, by definition, termed to be the "classic literature," whereas whatever is printed, published, broadcast and telecast by the print-electronic media is nothing but the "literature in haste." And this exactly is the domain of media.
Reverse Gear
Now the question arises what is the media doing now-a-days? Hasn't it put the vehicle on the reverse gear and isn't driving it in quite opposite direction? Is the media playing its role, doing its functions in any respect honestly and sincerely? Is it delivering the goods in letters and in spirit? The answer is, alas, a horrible "No."
It is extremely deplorable, disappointing and sorry state affairs to see that in the name of art and culture, the Western art and culture are being promoted and boosted, and on the contrary, the indigenous arts and cultures, are, unfortunately, being weakened and relegated day by day, throwing the young generation straightaway into the "lap of the Western Culture" on a wholesale scale.
Failure of the Educational System
The role being played by our formal educational establishments is even worse. Our system of education is still based on some elements of the British policy- getting rid of which the sooner, is the better because they are, on the one hand, laying negative and harmful impact on the emerging talents of our promising students and on the other, extirpating the very roots of Indian culture. Despite having gained geo-political freedom, we are yet to be able to get ourselves released from the yoke of mental- intellectual bondage of our Anglo-American masters in certain spheres of life, especially in economy, science and technology. In the name of imparting education, our students are virtually made "the book-addicts", rather turned into the "book-worms." Instead of pushing ahead and encouraging them to pursue and develop their instinctively creative talents and skills, the students are, unfortunately, being encouraged to strictly go by the books from the beginning to the end, throughout their lives. Main emphasis is on theory and not on practice.
Consequently, now the nation India can boast of producing the best "imitators" in almost every sphere of life but is not in a position to proudly claim to have produced any original thinkers and scientists except Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, S.Chandrashekher, Hargobind Khurana, Amartya Sen, Venkatramana Ramakrshnan and a few other exceptions in recent history. Even a handful of those born with inner creative talents and high skills, are compelled to go abroad due to the lack of necessary facilities, proper incentives, lucrative compensations and encouragement in the country. In the field of science and technology, we are still dependent on the highly developed Western nations to a large extent, and India's glory has been lost somewhere in the dustbin of history.
Total Overhauling needed
Unless the whole structure of the polity, which has been reduced to an abominably, abhorrently stinking rot, is overhauled and restructured, policies putting the educational system on a sound footing, and guiding the media towards its real functions, are framed afresh and implemented vigorously and vehemently, as well as suitable amendments are incorporated in the relevant portions of the Constitution in order to enact and enforce necessary laws for the purposes, the situation will not improve and India will not emerge as a totally free and independent nation in every field of life, in the truest sense of the term. In respect of media, it is more essential and imperative, especially in view of the growing greed to earn as much money as possible, even if it is at the expense of the barest minimum requisites of the common people. That the greed has overshadowed the super values and lofty human sentiments of love, affection, compassion, sympathy, honesty, sincerity and above all -- the spirit of sacrifice -- has been brought to the fore by the greedy, selfish and self-serving T.V. journalists/photographers, who, while reporting, always tend to prefer capturing images of even the bleeding and dying persons attacked by miscreants or injured in road accidents, to going to their rescue. An instance pointing out to the bitter truth was reported from Chennai, where a police officer attacked while on his motorbike by unidentified assailants, bled to death because of delayed medical attention on January 8, 2010. A convoy of ministers passed by, stopped, looked at the sub-inspector of Tamil Nadu police, R. Vetrivel lay profusely bleeding on the road, and simply passed off. None of them felt it necessary to take any action. On the other hand, a T.V. cameraman was so keen to capture the images that he, too, did not consider it necessary to take trouble of going to his aid.
The images were flashed by several TV news channels including 9 O'CLOCK NEWS. Although, the channels' aim was to wag a finger at the ministers, who impotently stood around doing nothing, the same charge could be leveled on the cameraman, who was busy filming the scene, instead of rushing the man to the hospital. However, we can put the same question to ourselves; how many times do we stop when we witness a road accident? Is it fair on our part to be quick to shake our heads at the ministers, when many of us might not have stopped for any Vetrivel either? What does such an occasion demand from a journalist, who happens to be a human being? Should he shoot the event and pass off or physically intervene in it?
Arguments or Lame Excuses?
Argument goes like this that journalists' job is just to report what happens, as clearly as possible. The journalist is like a doctor in the emergency room, strictly in accordance with one analogy- one that is iconic given the images of dying Vetrivel. One sees a lot of suffering, but it is more important to put one's feeling aside and just work on the story. Many journalists, the world over-feel, think and act in the same fashion - especially those covering wars and unprecedented disasters. A journalist should never forget that he is a human being first and a professional last. Apart from reason and intellect, super human sentiments of love, mercy, sympathy, mutual consideration and cooperation, going to the rescue of helpless and extending a helping hand to the needy in distress, are the attributes that distinguish human beings from animals, and human nature demands that these qualities should never, in any case, be dominated by greed to earn money at the cost of lives, and the selfish urge to go ahead in the race of sweeping into the net all sorts of comfort and luxury of mundane life for the sake of the self and kith and kin, pushing behind, and sometimes, treading over others in the race.
Ruthless Machines
The tremendous greed for money has virtually turned the professionals into the "ruthless machines," and journalists are no exception. By preferring to capture footages, the T.V. photographer, in fact, proved his mercilessness. It is, of course, the economic conditions that determine how images are produced and broadcast for the viewers.
We are so accustomed to having our television journalists dramatize the news, and act like drama-mongers that they have lost our trust. Almost every televised event seems like infotainment, a soap opera, or trick for ratings. In this context, it is very difficult not to see almost every thing the news media does with an intensely suspicious eye. The panel discussions over regulation on television have been time and again raised as a way to control the runaway speed of television news, but this doesn't seem to address the more intricate problem.

Your Stress-Management Education Course in an Article

Education is different things to different individuals. While the whole world is focused on traditional education, I believe that the best education is self-study, and independent study, if one really wants to get a true grip on life. Yes, I promote and agree that everyone needs a high school and a college education, but it is my true belief also that these traditional educations must be supplemented with life education, with experience, and with on-the-job training wherever possible. If you are interested in advancing in any particular field and interested in having the best life you can have for yourself, then you will live and grow with the idea that your education is never finished. Yes, you hear correctly. For you, the successful individual, your education is never finished.
And it is always growing according to your outside environment and your inside attitude, personality, dreams, wishes, hopes and goals. And that all put together is your wholesome education. You will, without a doubt learn your most valuable lessons, not in a classroom, but in life, outdoors with people, while you are surrounded with the real world. That is and should be some of your most prized possessions when it comes to having a real education.
So, what is your extra education? What is necessary beyond those four walls and many buildings of high schools and colleges? The rest of your education consists of going to Broadway plays, of meeting new people in your own cities and in the rest of the USA or the world as you travel throughout your life. Some of your extra education will be in observing people and seeing how they live and knowing that the way you live is only one way and that there are millions of other ways to live a life and most of them are successful. The rest of your education consists of listening to great music, seeing great art, talking with great individuals. The rest of your education consists of reading not books but entire libraries of books, one book at a time, one day at a time.
And I think one of the most vital parts of your education is knowing that the news of the day will only serve to depress you. So to force your education to go in a most positive direction and to add joy and clarity to your life, to be your most successful person listen to the news (if you need to do that) only in the midday part of your day, not in the morning and not in the evening. Why ? The reason to refrain from news-bites early in the morning is because you do not want to bring all the bad news with you as you begin your day, and the reason to refrain from the news in the evening is because you do not want ot bring the bad news to sleep with you at the end of the day. Cover your world with good, positive blessings and thoughts as you begin your day and fill your pre-sleep hours with great positive, soothing thoughts and you will be your best you.
You should check out NYI for photography if you are interested in that particular field.
Now that is truly a grand education. Article updated on July 20,2008

Linda Perry is a writer who speaks from her heart. So many times, the topics that she writes about might be controversial but the one thing that she guarantees is that when she states a fact, it is a fact. Have confidence in knowing that as you browse her articles, you will be delighted, informed, and sometimes even shocked and stunned,but at the least you will pause for reflection and then possibly take some action.