SF Gate: Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin, evolution.
“If I’m planning to write a curriculum, and I want to write it in a way that will appeal to home-schoolers, I’m going to at least find out what my demographic is.” Once again, capitalism doesn’t give a damn about what is right ... only about what is profitable. Simple social responsibility would dictate that you’d want to encourage kids to have the tools they need to create the next engineering or scientific marvels, raising us all up ... instead, they’re being primped as Wal-Mart cart corral managers.
Inside Higher Ed: Grades on the Rise.
“Since the 1960s, the national mean G.P.A. at the institutions from which he’s collected grades has risen by about 0.1 each decade – other than in the 1970s, when G.P.A.s stagnated or fell slightly. In the 1950s, according to Rojstaczer’s data, the mean G.P.A. at U.S. colleges and universities was 2.52. By 2006-07, it was 3.11.”
Design You Trust: Easter bunnies will steal your soul.
I would run away shrieking like a girl.
CBC News: Mozart the big stick for U.K. school.
“News that a school in Derby, Britain, was piping classical music into a special detention area set up to punish troublesome students has ignited a debate about the use of the pieces. The idea of using Mozart and Ravel as deterrent for the badly behaved has roused the ire of both music lovers and critics of the public education systems.” This is a terrible precedent to set.
New Scientist: What is causing deformities in Fallujah’s children?
“In 2004 Fallujah was the scene of heavy fighting in which the US military eventually regained control of the city. Local people told the BBC they suspect US forces used white phosphorus and depleted uranium (DU), although this has not been proved.” Depleted uranium is already implicated in many health maladies. If America won’t do the research, let’s hope Britain does.
CJR: Do Articles About Toxins Causing Autism Cause Hysteria? They Don’t Have To.
“… Kristof finds a way to discuss the research without getting hysterical. These two paragraphs of journalistic disclosure are all it takes ...”
Atlantic, Business: Secret to Happiness, Solved: Go to College, Move West.
“The Atlantic’s demographic expert Richard Florida poured through some data on his blog yesterday and concluded that the factor that correlated most highly with cities’ self-reported happiness was ... percentage of college degrees. Does that mean, as Catherine Rampell offers, that education makes you happy?”
Gizmodo: Handy for your next video conference call.
“The new Iron Man helmet is too cool: It opens and closes slowly, just like in the movie, lights up, and JARVIS talks to you.”
Sequence Magazine: Exclusive: Exploring the World of Percy Jackson and The Olympians.
Might be spoilers here. Pretty predictable, but still looks like fun.
Discover: Where Fat Makes Its Final Stand in the Anorexic Body: In the Bone Marrow.
“They may not have a thick layer of fleshy insulation like people with regular amounts of fat, but anorexics do store fat in their bone marrow – with detrimental results.”
Flickr: Vintage dinosaur books.
I had a few of these. Via Metafilter.
Atlantic/Sullivan: The Old Shall Inherit The Blogs. The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
Not especially surprising. Isn’t it generally true across cultures, youth are involved in activities, while elders tell the stories ... ?
CNet: Blogging declines among teens, young adults.
Blogging declines among teens, young adults. Facebook effect.
Discovery Magazine: Evolution for kids.
Evolution for kids. Teach the realities.
justinhackworth: How To Be A Portrait Photographer.
Oh, yeah. Via Sandra.
NY Times: Teenagers Speak Up on Salinger.
“We just read this book a few months ago and each and everyone of us loved it and felt a deep connection between ourselves and Holden. Times have not changed as much as you think. “>We are not as shallow as you think.” Who said modern kids wouldn’t grok Caulfield? Whoever did, was a fool. “Catcher” will remain timeless.
Time: Haiti Orphans Targeted by Child Traffickers.
“Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive on Tuesday expressed the fear that amid the clamor to airlift Haitian orphans out of the devastated country to waiting adoptive parents in the U.S. and Europe, others are being trafficked. The U.N. says it’s on alert to prevent the exploitation of the thousands of Haitian kids who have lost or been separated from their parents and who wander aimlessly in search of food, water and shelter.”
BBC News: Catcher in the Rye novelist JD Salinger dies at 91.
“People never notice anything.” We noticed. Rest in peace, good sir.
Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert’s Journal: Review of two films.
A Superwoman for Kenya, but America is still waiting for Superman. “The most powerful opponents to better teaching are the teachers’ unions. I am a lifelong supporter of unions. But ‘Waiting for Superman’ makes this an inescapable conclusion. A union that protects incompetent and even dangerous teachers is an obscenity.” I recall a certain mathematics course where we were graded on a curve, and the teacher was so inept that we were getting “A’s” for scoring 10 right questions out of 100. I should have complained. Put me behind in calculus the next year.
The New Yorker: Focus on Neil Gaiman.
Chronicle of Higher Ed: A good ‘general’ education.
Narrow Skills Training Won’t Prepare Students for Jobs in Global Economy, Liberal-Arts Group Says. “An organization that advocates for ‘practical liberal education’ for undergraduates says the push to increase America’s college-going rate, now being championed by President Obama and others, is too limited and could leave too many students with narrow training that fails to equip them for jobs — and for lives — in the global economy.” After college, I asked everyone I met, in each place I worked in, what their major was in school. I estimate less than 10% were actually *using* their major. Of note, when I worked for Moseley Hallgarten Estabrook & Weeden in the Wall Street financial district, I mostly ran across Philosophy and English majors. Philosophy! Not business-track financial majors. So I agree with the AACU.
Kaiser Family Foundation: Latest stats on kids and media use.
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds - Kaiser Family Foundation. “Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.”
NYTimes: Half-day school? I would haved loved this as a kid …
In Germany, a Tradition Falls, and Women Rise. “Manuela Maier was branded a bad mother. [snip] Her crime? Signing up her 9-year-old son when the local primary school first offered lunch and afternoon classes last autumn — and returning to work.”
Zen Moments: Good lies.
My Favorite Liar. “Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day.”
MetaFilter: Gumby, gone.
If you’ve got a heart, then Gumby’s a part of you. The cheery Gumby voice is unforgettable, if you grew up with him. Rest in peace, Mr. Clokey.
