Monday last, went off to the see the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Melbourne Museum (go after lunch on any weekday and the session is not likely to be booked out). I greatly enjoyed it. I did not bother with the audio tape, as I like to form my own impressions. One can certainly see that Egypt influenced Greek sculpture, for example ( Read more... )

Black and white twins who raise all sorts of identity issues. About a mixed race couple who produced two sets of black and white twin daughters. More links.

Moral bankruptcy in the academic jungle: the case of historian Orlando Figes.

About (not) respecting the law:
1. What is the worst law you think people are still morally obliged to obey ( Read more... )

Study finds that access to Catholic schools increases the performance of minority students in the US, mainly because of how bad the local public schools were.

Mapping differences in performance between private and government schools in Sweden, with depressing evidence on the effect of home environments on education outcomes ( Read more... )

Australian soldier awarded the Victoria Cross.

Nice discussion of New START.

Considering the balance of civilian and military power and interest in China.

Southern Sudan is voting to secede.

Looking at the implications of the Moscow airport attack. Putting terror attacks intelligently in context. About how the better training and marksmanship ( Read more... )

About time perspectives and the digital re-wiring of young (men’s) brains by computer games and porn.

About academic conformity.

Why school productivity in the US is declining.

A documentary on how public education is failing African-American children.

Female violence is increasing in NSW schools.

Instituting a dress code for teachers.

About ( Read more... )

Yale is offering free videos of many of its introductory courses.

Grattan Institute Report on evaluating student competence (pdf) in Australian schooling. Age op-ed on the issue (pdf). Their report on on teaching in Oz (pdf):
Teacher evaluation and development does not identify effective teaching. Ninety-one per cent of Australian teachers report ( Read more... )

Malcolm McLaren has died.

Lot of interesting post-tv C20th history now available on C-Span.

Islamist group threatens Somali radio stations to stop playing music. Somali hip-hop artists are hitting back with rap.

Following the media trail of a story about a Palestinian teenager not killed by Israeli forces after all (or by anyone else).

About ( Read more... )

Woman denied tenure in Biology Department at Alabama shoots and kills three professors and wounds three other faculty members. 24 years previously, she had shot and killed her brother, but had not been charged.

A school system in Virginia has withdrawn the full version of Ann Frank’s Diary because of one complaint about sexual content. A school ( Read more... )

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 ( Read more... )

CERC closing at the end of the year
It is with regret that I inform the recipients of the CERC Bulletin that CERC, the only Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in Australia, will be closed at the end of 2009. There are many good experiences to reflect on and these will feature in CERC’s last Annual Newsletter, which will be sent out with the CERC ( Read more... )