Education links
A cartoon that made me laugh.
An amusing exchange about “diversity”.
The Hazaras of Afghanistan are investing in education to improve the prospects of their children.
Paper on how the poor quality of Latin American schooling may be (pdf) depressing their economic growth.
A 1997 study on the level of teaching of critical thinking at US universities.
A study of why US academics are disproportionately (pdf) (US) liberal. About the study and issue.
Examining why (Muslim) engineers are disproportionately likely to be terrorists.
UK minister refuses to close loophole that leaves only Muslim schools allowed to use corporal punishment: doing his bit to maximise the BNP vote …
A personal story about black versus Asian expectations and schooling
My son told us about a Korean girl in his class whose opinions command influence among the other Asian girls in the school, or at least she thinks they do. According to my son, the students refer to her as the “queen of the Asians.” She is a straight-A student.
My son’s little brother asked if there was a “Queen of the Blacks” at the school.
“Well,” my son replied, “there is a king of the blacks.”
“Who is that?” his little brother asked.
My son responded, “He is this boy that got held back last year.”
Philosopher Thomas Nagel on public education and intelligent design (pdf).
In Boston, union leaders are blocking teacher bonuses.
Report on racism in Oz schools finds that:
… students who attend a catholic school are 1.7 times LESS likely to report experiences of racism than students attending government schools.
About the shift in the direction of the graduates of US business schools to finance and consulting.
Frank Furedi on how the fetishising of change cuts students off from the past and therefore content and knowledge.
A university which offers a minor in “social and economic justice” without requiring one study any actual economics.
American universities continue to be “islands of oppression in a sea of freedom”:
When students come to believe that censoring rival points of view is not only permissible but laudable, the potential damage goes far beyond campus. Our colleges and universities produce our scientists, our business leaders, our lawyers, and our legislators. The habits formed in college inevitably seep into the other major social institutions.
In 1957 the U.S. Supreme Court said of the nation’s colleges, “Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die.” The Court was right. The next generation needs to learn the practices of a free people. If it doesn’t, we shouldn’t be surprised if, when it takes its turn to run our republic, values such as free speech and tolerance are treated like rusty, battered antiques: quaint, mysterious, and best kept in the basement.
The University of Technology Sydney is really, really, concerned that someone might say something that might be less than entirely respectful. So it will tell you how to avoid that here, here, here, explaining how important it all is here. But I will take a wild guess and suppose it is still fine to class all businesspersons as parasitical exploiters of the workers: regulation of “hate speech” is always uneven in both conception and implementation. A nice discussion of the issues is on this lawyer's blog.
An amusing exchange about “diversity”.
The Hazaras of Afghanistan are investing in education to improve the prospects of their children.
Paper on how the poor quality of Latin American schooling may be (pdf) depressing their economic growth.
A 1997 study on the level of teaching of critical thinking at US universities.
A study of why US academics are disproportionately (pdf) (US) liberal. About the study and issue.
Examining why (Muslim) engineers are disproportionately likely to be terrorists.
UK minister refuses to close loophole that leaves only Muslim schools allowed to use corporal punishment: doing his bit to maximise the BNP vote …
A personal story about black versus Asian expectations and schooling
My son told us about a Korean girl in his class whose opinions command influence among the other Asian girls in the school, or at least she thinks they do. According to my son, the students refer to her as the “queen of the Asians.” She is a straight-A student.
My son’s little brother asked if there was a “Queen of the Blacks” at the school.
“Well,” my son replied, “there is a king of the blacks.”
“Who is that?” his little brother asked.
My son responded, “He is this boy that got held back last year.”
Philosopher Thomas Nagel on public education and intelligent design (pdf).
In Boston, union leaders are blocking teacher bonuses.
Report on racism in Oz schools finds that:
… students who attend a catholic school are 1.7 times LESS likely to report experiences of racism than students attending government schools.
About the shift in the direction of the graduates of US business schools to finance and consulting.
Frank Furedi on how the fetishising of change cuts students off from the past and therefore content and knowledge.
A university which offers a minor in “social and economic justice” without requiring one study any actual economics.
American universities continue to be “islands of oppression in a sea of freedom”:
When students come to believe that censoring rival points of view is not only permissible but laudable, the potential damage goes far beyond campus. Our colleges and universities produce our scientists, our business leaders, our lawyers, and our legislators. The habits formed in college inevitably seep into the other major social institutions.
In 1957 the U.S. Supreme Court said of the nation’s colleges, “Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die.” The Court was right. The next generation needs to learn the practices of a free people. If it doesn’t, we shouldn’t be surprised if, when it takes its turn to run our republic, values such as free speech and tolerance are treated like rusty, battered antiques: quaint, mysterious, and best kept in the basement.
The University of Technology Sydney is really, really, concerned that someone might say something that might be less than entirely respectful. So it will tell you how to avoid that here, here, here, explaining how important it all is here. But I will take a wild guess and suppose it is still fine to class all businesspersons as parasitical exploiters of the workers: regulation of “hate speech” is always uneven in both conception and implementation. A nice discussion of the issues is on this lawyer's blog.