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Blog 3 Columns

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Blog 3 Columns

Why the US needs more Career and Technical Education 0
- Economics
- August 10, 2016
The National Conference of State Legislatures recently released a report entitled “No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State.” Recognizing the United States ranks 17th in reading, 21st in science, and 26th in math in international comparisons like PISA, the report set out to discover what high-performing countries were
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What is the Goal of Modern Science?0
- Science
- August 10, 2016
“Whether, in the end, science will prove to have been a blessing or a curse to mankind, is to my mind, still a doubtful question.”—Bertrand Russell, The Future of Science (1924) By any casual reckoning, the modern scientific project has thus far proven a mixed success. To list the pros and cons would be a
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Unruly students could be ruining your child’s future 0
- Education
- August 10, 2016
Teachers, parents, and researchers have long recognized that unruly students in classrooms can impact the quality of education for other pupils, but it has been difficult to estimate their impact. In The Long-Run Effects of Disruptive Peers(NBER Working Paper No. 22042), Scott E. Carrell, Mark Hoekstra, and Elira Kuka report that classroom disruptions lead to more than just short-term lower grades
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Students Seek ‘Non-White’ Roommate 0
- Culture
- August 10, 2016
Racial harmony, ever-elusive in American history, is proving difficult in modern America, too. Consider this story from the Claremont Independent: A group of students at the Claremont Colleges are in search of a roommate for next year, but insist that the roommate not be white. Karé Ureña (PZ ’18) posted on Facebook that non-white students
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How statistics are twisted to obscure public understanding 0
- Education
- August 10, 2016
Mark Twain attributed to Benjamin Disraeli the famous remark: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.’ In every industry, from education to healthcare to travel, the generation of quantitative data is considered important to maintain quality through competition. Yet statistics rarely show what they seem. If you look at recent airline
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Can You Compete with an 1899 American Civics Student?0
- Culture
- August 10, 2016
Jay Leno’s Jaywalking segments are notorious for providing multiple facepalm moments. Leno’s classic 4th of July segment is no disappointment in that respect, for it shows multiple interviewees stymied by simple American civics questions. Jay Walking: citizens show no knowledge of… by TalkerOne The fact that the grandfather of the last family in Leno’s interview
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Why media should give the guy with the silly haircut a fair shake 0
- Culture
- August 9, 2016
The latest superhero extravaganza, Suicide Squad, comes from the DC Comics universe. It’s an updated Dirty Dozen: gather half a dozen psycho crims with superhuman powers and promise them a reprieve from death row in exchange for carrying out black ops. There are lots of explosions, violence, a saucy female lead in hot pants, and deadpan humour.
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Today’s graduates are missing this one ‘common’ thing 1
- Culture
- August 9, 2016
In the years since the 2008 Recession, gallons of ink have been spilled giving advice to young people on how to land a decent paying job. It seems that a young person must do nothing less than have a hefty volunteer record, a perfect GPA from an ivy league school, and three to four internships
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Teacher: Embrace Books, Ditch Technology 0
- Culture
- August 9, 2016
Late last week, The Washington Post ran a piece written by high school English teacher Giles Scott. According to Scott, the coming school year will find his classroom laptop free. Scott’s resolve to remove technology from the reach of his students does not stem from secret Luddite tendencies. Instead, he argues that students need time
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