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Three Tips for Choosing a Culinary Arts College

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Attending a culinary arts college has become an especially popular endeavor in recent years, with the rising popularity of television shows like Iron Chef and Hell’s Kitchen. Aside from the television screen, however, there are many opportunities for students interested in the culinary arts. For students interested in this discipline, there are several important factors to consider before deciding on the right school for you. This article will help to explain these factors and the options available to students of culinary arts.

1. School Accreditation
Culinary arts schools, before gaining prestige, must first undergo a series of examinations that look at curriculum, teacher certification, quality of school facilities, and student-teacher ratios. These examinations are often conducted by the American Culinary Federation. The American Culinary Federation is responsible for maintaining a high-quality level of service to students and making sure that all regulations are being adhered to. Schools with an ACF Accreditation are often older, since the process is very long. These schools are often most likely to have the highest quality education for students interested in culinary arts.

2. Cost of Education
Since culinary schools are usually specialized, they are often more expensive than a typical university degree program. However, this is not necessarily true for all culinary arts schools. Students should shop around before deciding on the right school for them. Often, schools also offer scholarships to qualified students, so this is another important factor to consider when looking at a culinary arts college. If you want to specialize in a particular area of culinary arts, be prepared to pay more for your education.

3. Quality of Facilities and Equipment
As a general rule, older colleges are better for students because they have a longer reputation and history. However, these colleges also tend to have more out-of-date equipment. Students should also visit the culinary arts college they wish to attend before applying, so they can examine the equipment available to students. Since culinary arts equipment is always changing, it is important for students to have the best equipment available so they can learn how to use the most recent culinary tools. Knowledge of more recently developed equipment will give students an advantage in the field when applying for jobs.

LA Schools Claim Victory In Efforts To Acquire New Arts Ed Funding

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Los Angeles Schools are seeing a steady increase in arts education as the dual result of a long-term program and recent state funding. The Arts for All program was initiated in 2002 as a 10-year plan to restore arts education to the 80 districts of Los Angeles Schools. The project focuses on bringing music, dance, drama and the visual arts to K-12 schools in the area. Nine schools have just signed up for the 2007-2008 school year, bringing the total number of Los Angeles Schools involved up to 27.

Two of the newest participants are the Lancaster and Palmdale districts of Los Angeles Schools. Both schools completely eliminated their elementary music programs in the last decade due to budget cuts and increased pressure to perform on state tests. Major cuts first began for Los Angeles Schools with Proposition 13 in 1978. This California mandate reduced property taxes and district funds, which required all Los Angeles Schools to reduce or eliminate arts and physical education classes.

Los Angeles Schools were pleased when the state announced funding of $500 million for art, music and physical education classes in the beginning of June. Los Angeles Schools will use much of these funds for the Arts for All Program. Arts for All is built on a five-step process which, while proven effective, costs money. The five steps involved are:

1.Allocating 5% of a district’s budget to arts education 2.Having a board adopted policy 3.Creating an implementation plan with a timeline 4.Assigning a district level arts coordinator 5.Maintaining a student to arts teacher ratio of 400:1

Los Angeles Schools will pay for a program expert to guide parents, staff and community members in the creation of their implementation plan. The Lancaster district has an additional grant of $260,000 for its art and music programs.

Los Angeles Schools welcome the increased funding as a long overdue measure. Many educators in the Los Angeles Schools have lamented the loss of the arts as harmful to student development. While many of the cuts to arts education result from diverting funds to cover academic subjects needed to pass state tests, teachers argue that art actually enhances learning, allows children to make connections between subjects, and provides a much needed balance to education.

Like the rest of the country’s urban districts Los Angeles Schools are trying to meet the 2014 No Child Left Behind requirement that mandates proficiency on state tests by all students regardless of developmental delays or language barriers. Diverting funding away from the arts has put Los Angeles Schools in a situation where children as young as third grade are losing recess, physical activity and a basic arts background in a frenzied scramble to meet rising national standards.

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The Most Lethal Martial Arts Styles Anywhere

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Different people have a lot of different reasons for looking into martial arts styles. Some are looking for transcendence and self-control, others for the ability to kill other human beings. That lethality captivates the imagination; every man would like to be able to kill others with impunity, even if he never would. So what are the most deadly styles of martial art in the world? Simple: the ones that come from war-ravaged nations.

Have you ever noticed that there is no martial art indigenous to the United States, or Canada, or Norway (Stv notwithstanding)? That’s because those are countries that haven’t had to deal with long histories of invasion. Compare them to countries where being invaded is a way of life — Malaysia, Thailand, Israel, Russia, and their ilk — and the difference is clear. Guess which countries have produced the world’s most lethal martial arts styles?

Thailand: Muay Thai

Muay Thai is also called the “Art of 8 Limbs”. It has this name because it adds four more striking surfaces to the typical 2 hands and 2 feet: the elbows and the shins. Muay Thai practitioners use body-hardening techniques on their shins, knees, and elbows until they are tough enough to survive a strike that would shatter an enemy’s bones without bruising. Muay Thai is famed for it’s clinching martial arts moves, wherein the practitioner grabs an opponent’s head and shoulders and holds them down while repeatedly driving knees into his heart and elbows into the back or top of his head.

Israel: Krav Maga

Krav Maga (literally “Hand to hand combat”) has it’s roots in brutal Israeli-vs-Pakistani streetfighting, but has been refined by the Israeli government and police into a systematic method of disassembling an opponent. The Israeli government’s official Krav Maga manual details hundreds of technques and has an entire chapter devoted to dozens of lethal martial arts moves that are easy to perform, from hip-shattering throws to neck attacks that can stop blood from leaving your brain and result in death.

Malaysia: Silat Melayu

Silat’s origins are mysterious, but it’s a fair bet that this diverse array of martial arts styles developed over Malaysia’s centuries-long history of being invaded by everyone from Colonial Europe to Imperial Japan. Silat relies heavily on strong stances that allow it’s practitioners to remain firmly grounded and fluid at the same time. Because Silat is entirely practical, there are almost no flashy flying kicks or extravagant overkill attacks, but a Silat practitioner trains in a wide variety of ways to end fights with extraordinary efficiency.

Russia: Sambo

Sambo, from a Russian acronym for “Defense without Weapons”) is a fairly new martial art, developed only 90 years ago by the Red Army to improve their chances of survival when disarmed. Borrowing techniques from a variety of martial arts styles ranging from judo to savate, Sambo practitioners take things to the ground, and fast, applying a huge variety of joint breaks, disarm techniques, and knockout blows — often as the opponent falls down. There are no wasted moments in Sambo.

Could it be a coincidence that four of the world’s nastiest martial arts styles come from four of the world’s most often-invaded countries? Probably not. One thing is for certain, however — those of us that live in more peaceful climes are thankful for the opportunity to witness and maybe practice the martial arts styles that come from such turbulent places.

The Louvre, From Supply Depot To Art Museum

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The Louvre is generally regarded as the premiere art museum in France. With a collection of about 35,000 items contained in 652,300 square feet, it’s not hard to understand why. Why would you go anywhere else when every piece of art and antiquity you could ever want to see are contained in one place? But the Louvre is obviously not the only art museum in France. Several decidedly smaller art museums in France house collections comprehensive enough to rival the Louvre.

These lesser known but equally compelling museums include the Muse de l’Orangerie, the Muse d’Art Moderne de la Vile de Paris, even a geographically confused Palais de Tokyo – the list goes on. One particularly successful museum is the Muse d’Orsay. The Muse’s collection’s scope is admirable and covers several centuries of European visual and decorative art.

The history of this particular museum is long and illustrious. The Muse d’Orsay used to be a railway station, Gare d’Orsay. This railway station was built specifically for the glorious 1900 Exposition Universelle. This exposition was a World’s Fair held in Paris, and featured the rededication of the Eiffel Tower, which had been created for the previous World’s Fair. The Gare (“gare” means railway station in French) was elaborately constructed in the fashionable Art Nouveau style.

The design was the pride of the three architects who created it; Lucien Magne, Victor Laloux, and mile Bnard were top designers at the time. The vaulted ceilings of the Gare were made of tiny interlocking panes of glass, and intricate stone carvings paneled the walls. The sizable Gare, carefully crafted out of innumerable tan stones, overlooked the glistening Seine River.

For the time of the World’s Fair and up until WWII, the Gare . The Nazis appropriated the now-dingy railway station for transporting munitions, soldiers, and even looted possessions from European citizens. After the fall of the Third Reich, the Gare fell into further disrepair. The unstable economy of France prevented the Gare from getting the restoration it needed until the early 1970s. By that time, the station wasn’t large enough to adequately support a large amount of train commuter traffic. For a few years it was used as a hotel until in 1977. Because of faltering profits and public pressure, it was decided to convert the Gare into a museum. The conversion was complete in 1986 and was dedicated by then-president Franois Mitterrand.

Today, the Muse is home to an impressive collection of mainly French art. It is now well known for its broad selection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, of which it has the largest collection in the world, and is no longer a railway station. These include renowned artists such as Paul Czanne, Gustave Caillebotte, Mary Cassatt, Gustave Courbet, Paul Gaugin, and Vincent van Gogh, The list is endless.

There are even eighty-six Monet paintings in the Muse’s catalog. It also holds decent architecture and photography exhibits. While there are several larger Muses in France, the Muse D’Orsay should definitely be a priority for anyone going on vacation in France.

How to develop your own martial arts style

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Most martial arts can be studied world wide from a different variety of countries and cultures. It’s a well known fact that martial

arts can even increase your fitness and muscular endurance levels too. Depending on what art you choose, you may even learn some valuable self defense tips.

Currently, there has been big debates on whether martial arts are effective as most self defense courses and classes. In my experience, I recommend you study as manystyles as you can and only use what works.

What I have found works well, is to take the different techniques from each martial art and design your own combat system based on your own personal skills and results based on real life fights you’ve been in.

To make things easier, grab the best techniques from every style you try and use them when you are practicing. Unfortunately, on the street you won’t be able to do a full technique and crazy Hollywood style moves. That’s why it’s best to try different techniques and martial arts.

Martial arts should be about self defense and using what works in real life hand to hand combat. Another thing you should practice while training martial arts and self defense is of course weight training and doing excerise on a daily basis, to better prepare yourself for any forms of attack.

Article By Steve Gibbs. Discover 37 Bone Busting Martial Arts And Street Fighting Techniques In His Shocking, And Highly Controversial Newsletter Thats 100% Free By Visiting: http://www.howtofightandwin.com/ezine.htm

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