Education
The Excellence Boys Charter School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn was defending itself Tuesday against parent complaints that its new, “Scoreboard Behavioral System” was discriminatory and treating disciplined students like prisoners.
“We have a college prep school and everything we do here is about getting students ready for college,” said Head of School, Samantha Tweedy, on Tuesday. “The discipline is helping students get back on track and focus on learning.” Read more
Children even in poverty-stricken areas go to bed at night dreaming about what they want to be. They dream of being firefighters, police officers, doctors, presidents and even super heroes. The hunger and poverty they have known all their short lives cannot stop them from having those dreams. It is when they grow a bit older and see the reality of their situation through the eyes of the adults in their lives, that they begin to accept the limitations that are put upon them, because of their poverty.
In America, part of our infrastructure is our schools. As a nation, we have always held that education is important to us. We know that a good education is what will give our young people a chance to compete and a chance at success they would not have otherwise. We as parents want our children to have opportunities that we did not have ourselves; this has been a tradition for a long time in America. Wisdom tells us that our children are the future. Read more
Unlike many kids, I had the privilege to attend both public and private school. Here is an account of the stark difference, from what I remember, between the two.
I attended private school in 1st and 5th grade. It was fun and challenging. In private school the teacher to student ratio was about 12 to 1, which allowed one on one time, compared to public which was 25+ to 1.
My algebra teacher in 9th grade was great. For a coach, she was better than any coach (besides my IPC teacher in 10th grade) I’ve learned from. Her classroom was stimulating and she allowed us to chew gum and interact with other students. My 11th grade math teacher wrote referrals for chewing gum. Read more
A little while back we took our current foster sons to visit the university where Eric teaches physics. The boys had never visited a university before, and were curious about who goes there and what they do when they are there. This led to a discussion of the value of a college education, what kinds of jobs require college, and what kind don’t.
From here, we segued to “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and it was here that the enormous gap between my biological children, trained from birth to see an adult profession/vocation, mixed perhaps with informal economic activities, as their future; and K. and C.’s very different experience. Read more
“Over 50% of Florida students fail state writing test. Most educators are unconcerned, as good grammar is not needed when writing ransom notes.”
“Lockerbie bomber dies in Libya. World reacts with exaggerated shrug.”
“$3.6 million worth of marijuana was found floating in the ocean on Sunday. Someone is totally getting fired."
“Flesh eating bacteria attacks a 23-year-old woman and a mother of newborn twins. Looking to get your grandma and the disabled boy down the block next.”
Peter Gleick has been cleared of faking a key memo. Who is Peter Gleick, and what is this memo of which we speak? Here is a refresher of events over the last 3 1/2 months:
You will recall that last February 14th, we were all given an interesting Valentine's Day present: A cache of documents had been acquired from the Heartland Institute, and these documents revealed important details about Heartland's effort to interfere with science education and otherwise agitate and lobby to promote climate science denialism. The documents were released to the public by an as then unknown activist, and then redistributed by numerous bloggers including this one. Read more
Today is #OAMonday.
It marks the launch of a petition on the Whitehouse web site to "Require free access over the Internet to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research."
Here is the text of the petition:
We petition the obama administration to:
Require free access over the Internet to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research. Read more
As students celebrate graduation around the country,
they learn you can become a Presidential candidate
if you showed leadership bullying a peer in high school.
Graduates learn that the business world is forgiving:
you can push the economy to the brink of collapse,
and still be given another chance to lose $2 billion.
The Class of 2012 learns that corporations are people
except they have ways to escape their losses
unlike people who carry student loans forever...
& this year's class has the most debt in history. Read more
Story on Mitt Romney's teen years prompts his apology for "stupid things" he did in high school. Emily Schmidt reports.
Starting now, I will be writing blog post now and then at Minnesota Progressive Project. I'll be focusing on the intersection of science and politics, the politics of science, and now and then I'l rant wildly about something random.
My inaugural post is HERE. It is about the possibility of a Science Debate in Minnesota and consists mainly of an interview with Shawn Otto. Read more
“No more free rides for uteruses in MY state!” cried Governor Brewer, as she signed off on a bill that would end most public funding to abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood. Citing her supporters, who do not wish to have their tax dollars support cancer screenings, vaccinations, and health education (editor's note: this should read “cancer screenings, vaccinations, health education, AND abortions. We apologize for the error), Governor Brewer called it a “common sense” law that “closes loopholes”. Read more
We’re being told that fiscal responsibility requires big cuts in education, nutrition, and health care for millions of children. This shortsighted and uncaring thinking is not only a nightmare for those directly affected; it is an imminent threat to America’s economic future.
We have to let our policy makers know that fiscal responsibility requires caring economic policies. Here’s why. Read more
Why do you think there’s an educational gap between Black and Hispanic children and their white peers?
I am supporting Jefferson Fietek for the Minnesota House of Representatives in district 36A. The details are complicated, and I would like to explain.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Here's the latest from Michael Ruse, over at the blog for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He is discussing the anti-evolution“academic freedom” bill that just passed in Tennessee: Read more
