Archive for the 'Education' Category

Poll: Obama Up By Nearly 20 In North Carolina

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Economy, Education, Health Care, Hillary, Immigration, Iraq, North Carolina, Polls, War

Public Policy Polling has the numbers (pdf file)…
After a week in which both candidates spent a lot of time in North Carolina Barack Obama has retained a large lead in the state, according to the newest survey from Public Policy Polling.
Obama leads Clinton 54-36. His lead is particularly strong among likely voters who do not [...]

March 31st, 2008 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Stanford’s Bold Tuition Move

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Money

Wow, color me impressed…
(02-19) 23:49 PST Palo Alto — In a radical change to its financial aid program, Stanford University will announce today that it will no longer charge tuition to students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year.
In addition, the university will waive room and board fees for students whose families earn less [...]

February 20th, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Later School Start Time Improves Grades?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Good Decisions, Science

I think I speak for all the teenagers in the world when I say, “Let’s do it!”
From NY Times:
Research shows that teenagers’ body clocks are set to a schedule that is different from that of younger children or adults. This prevents adolescents from dropping off until around 11 p.m., when they produce the sleep-inducing hormone [...]

January 14th, 2008 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

America’s Love Affair With Science

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Science

Gotta love the ole USA:
American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea [...]

July 5th, 2007 | Permalink| 12 Comments »

Head-scratcher roundup

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Discuss, Education, Health Care, Law, News

Three stories that explore the boundary between what’s reasonable and what’s not, what’s criminal and what’s not, and what’s ethical and what’s not.
What’s reasonable?
A California school district has taken to billing parents who take their kids out of school for nonmedical reasons — like a family ski trip. The price? $36.13 for each day missed. [...]

March 13th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Kit Bond Retiring?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, General Politics

I’m a Missourian, so any news about a Missouri senator has some amount of special signifiance. Apparently, Bond wants to be the President of the University of Missouri school system, a very cush job with a fat salary.
From Wonkette:
According to a Wonkette operative who heard this from two different sources, Republican Senator Kit Bond is [...]

December 30th, 2006 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Go To Work At 16

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education

Our education system works, but for a lot of kids it simply offers a way to pass the time and little else. I look back on my education and wonder why I didn’t have more options to follow the interests I felt were more in line with what I wanted to pursue.
The NY Sun has [...]

December 29th, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

The educated class

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Education, Ideas, News, Race, Social Programs

When our children were little, their grandparents really liked talking “baby talk” to them. I’d watch as supposedly intelligent adults spent hours talking nonsense to unresponsive infants. Both baby and adult seemed to enjoy it.
I hated it.
Why? Because my wife and I were convinced that it stunted brain development. Because of that, and because we [...]

December 5th, 2006 | Permalink| No Comments »

No Bad Teachers Left Behind In California

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Legislation

I have to hand to Arnold. He seems to be making some very sound decisions recently, and this latest piece of legislation is no exception. Basically, it keeps poorly performing teachers from being able to slip through the cracks in the system.
From SF Gate:
(09-29) 04:00 PDT Sacramento — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Thursday [...]

October 1st, 2006 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Reading; who needs it?

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Dumb Things Said By Smart People, Education, Ideas, News, Technology

In case any of you despair about the workers who will be supporting you in retirement:
Educational doomsayers are again up in arms at a new adult literacy study showing that less than 5 percent of college graduates can read a complex book and extrapolate from it.
The obsessive measurement of long-form literacy is once more [...]

September 14th, 2006 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Wikipedia…Friend Or Foe?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Technology

Is it reliable? Can we trust it?
Well, head-to-head tests may show that the online encyclopedia (even though some dispute it) is just as accurate as its real world, hard-bound counterparts. But why? Because the collective experts in the world can make things right? Can’t vandals make changes? Yes, of course…but still…some change and some change [...]

September 13th, 2006 | Permalink| 20 Comments »

Beware India…And Raise Our Standards

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Education, The World

Beware may be a strong word, but they aren’t just answering our customer service calls anymore. They’re making our tractors and televisions.
Simpy put, other countries are besting our manufacturing capabilities because they have more affordable labor. This has been the case for years, but this trend is more obvious than ever before. And do note [...]

September 1st, 2006 | Permalink| 23 Comments »

Evolution Wins In Kansas

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Religion, Science

A followup to my post yesterday, the creationists/intelligent designers/what-have-yous were largely voted out in favor of moderate candidates who’ll keep religion out of science classes.
From USA Today:
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) � Conservative Republicans who brought international attention to Kansas by approving academic standards calling evolution into question lost control of the state school board in primaries.
As [...]

August 2nd, 2006 | Permalink| 16 Comments »

Science Fights Back In Kansas Evolution Debate

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Religion, Science

Today’s the day in Kansas when voters go to the polls and vote on the State Board of Education members. Will they vote the creationists out?
Well, the NY Times wrote today about how a bi-partisan group of evolutionists are mounting an offensive to the inclusion of creationism:
Less than a year after a conservative Republican majority [...]

August 1st, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

They Carry the Balls For Us All

By amba | Related entries in Discuss, Education, Gender, Sports

Althouse has a post on Title IX and the new phenomenon of men being in the minority on college campuses. When colleges add or emphasize sports teams to attract more male students, they can be accused of violating Title IX, not providing equal athletic opportunities for women. There are many interesting comments. [...]

July 12th, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Yale Taliban Out…Sort Of…

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, The War On Terrorism

Yale isn’t going to let a former Taliban member get a degree…
A student at Yale University who was once a roving ambassador for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been denied admission to a degree-granting program at Yale, one of the student’s financial supporters said yesterday.
However…they’re still letting him roam the campus?
The student, Sayed Rahmatullah [...]

July 6th, 2006 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Finally, A Specific Game Plan for the Democrats.

By amba | Related entries in Discuss, Education, Elections, Environment, General Politics, Health Care, Immigration

From Seth Chalmer, also quoting Jared Lefevre of The Split Rail. Jared:
1. A strategy for Iraq, set in clear terms…
2. Securing ports and borders…
3. Initiatives to support the development of green technology. Governmental power (grants, tax breaks, etc.) should be used to support a growing industry that will not only protect us from the [...]

May 29th, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Discuss

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Discuss, Education, The War On Terrorism
May 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 51 Comments »

The Man In Favor Of Segregation

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Race

Well, this is kind of weird…
Ernie Chambers is Nebraska’s only African-American state senator, a man who has fought for causes including the abolition of capital punishment and the end of apartheid in South Africa. A magazine writer once described him as the “angriest black man in Nebraska.”
Ernie Chambers, the only African-American in the Nebraska Legislature, [...]

April 20th, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Other People’s Children

By Callimachus | Related entries in Education, Race

They were told to sell their house and move.

Imagine this situation. Two black children, a brother and a sister, enrol at a school which is predominatly white. they are subject to racial slurs and other harrassment. They are threatened and assaulted. In one instance, after the girl is threatened, her white nemesis is forced to [...]

April 20th, 2006 | Permalink| 4 Comments »