education

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Send Books, Not Guns to Afghanistan
Send Books, Not Guns
to Afghanistan
Nicholas Kristof
Oct 14, 2010 10:11 AM CDT

Send Books, Not Guns to Afghanistan

Oman proves the value of education

(Newser) - Forty years ago, Oman was a hidebound society, similar to neighboring Yemen. There was no modern technology, no paved roads, and most of the people were illiterate. It had just three schools, all boys-only affairs. But today, Yemen is a haven for terrorists, but Oman isn’t. Why? Because in...

1 in 5 Kids Thinks Buzz Lightyear Was First Man on Moon
Buzz Lightyear Was 1st Man on Moon: 20% of Brit Kids
more staggering studies
Oct 8, 2010 4:28 AM CDT

Buzz Lightyear Was 1st Man on Moon: 20% of Brit Kids

Survey finds kids in UK know more about celebrities than history

(Newser) - Another day, another staggering study on British knowledge, this one focused on the wee ones. A fifth of children ages 6 to 12 believe the first person to walk on the moon was actually Toy Story spaceman Buzz Lightyear, not Neil Armstrong, according to a survey of thousands of schoolchildren....

Obama: School Year Should Be Longer

President also defends economic record, says Rahm better hurry up

(Newser) - Barack Obama just lost some votes in the K-12 demographic. The president advocated expanding the school year by a month this morning, in a major interview with the Today Show . “That month makes a difference,” he told Matt Lauer. “Now, that’s going to cost some money...

Teacher Bonuses Don't Help Test Scores

Vanderbilt study says pay raises have little effect

(Newser) - The way to increase test scores is not to give bonuses to teachers, say researchers at Vanderbilt University. A three-year study found that offers of bonuses as high as $15,000 did little to change results. The report leaves open the question of what will increase test scores, but it...

Oprah Donates $1M to Schools
 Oprah Donates $1M to Schools 
Sep 21, 2010 9:41 AM CDT

Oprah Donates $1M to Schools

Talk show queen is going out with a bang on show's last year

(Newser) - Will Oprah Winfrey ’s good deeds never cease? The talk show queen donated $1 million to a California nonprofit that runs 30 charter schools in the state, the AP reports. Winfrey’s Angel Foundation donated the money to Aspire Public Schools during her show yesterday, which was devoted to...

Middle School Mosque Field Trip Sparks Outrage

Video shows kids participating in prayers

(Newser) - A Massachusetts school district apologized today, after a video surfaced showing students praying during a class field trip to the Islamic Society of Community Center. The video was shot in May by a parent chaperoning the trip, and then handed over to a group that has long been critical of...

For First Time, Women Earn More PhDs Than Men

Men now get fewer degrees of any kind

(Newser) - Women earned more doctoral degrees than men in the 2008-2009 academic year for the first time in US history, the Washington Post reports. The PhD is the final degree to be affected by the groundswell of women in higher education—they already outnumbered men on undergraduate and master's degrees. As...

Teacher Cuts 'Gay' From 'Kookaburra' Song

Uproar ensues after line changed to 'fun your life must be'

(Newser) - The Aussies are in an uproar over a teacher's decision to remove the word "gay" from the classic campfire song, "Kookaburra." The first verse ends with the line "gay your life must be!" Headmaster Garry Martin changed the line to "how fun your life...

Let's Scrap Final Exams

 Let's Scrap 
 Final Exams 
opinion
Aug 28, 2010 4:52 PM CDT

Let's Scrap Final Exams

Harvard is right: They don't help students learn

(Newser) - Harvard made exactly the right move when it declared it would no longer require final exams, writes Jonathan Zimmerman. Critics immediately pounced, calling it yet another example of coddled students and weakened standards. (One example here .) Nope, writes NYU history professor Zimmerman in the Christian Science Monitor . That's an...

NJ Fails Math, Loses Millions in School Funding

Christie office commits costly error on 'Race to the Top' application

(Newser) - New Jersey lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funding because of a simple mistake in its application, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. A staffer in Gov. Chris Christie's office filled out a field for budget data that called for a comparison of the 2008 and 2009...

Cash-Strapped LA Builds $578M School

And it's the district's third 'Taj Mahal'

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing a $640 million budget shortfall, but you’d never know it by looking at its newest school. The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex will be the nation’s most expensive public school when it opens next month, clocking in at $578...

Schools Not Using Stimulus to Hire Teachers

They're saving it for an imminent rainy day

(Newser) - The federal government gave schools around the country $10 billion to bolster their budgets this spring, in the hope that it would allow them to avoid layoffs or hire new teachers. But many of the nation’s biggest districts aren’t doing that, the New York Times reports. Instead, they’...

What Happened to 'E' Grade?
 What Happened to 'E' Grade? 
Aug 14, 2010 2:29 PM CDT

What Happened to 'E' Grade?

We used it once—and not for 'excellent'

(Newser) - You can get an A, B, C, D, or F in a class—whatever happened to E? It was used at one point, writes Brian Palmer in Slate’s Explainer column . At Mount Holyoke College, which boasts the earliest record of letter grades, it was given for scores of 74...

New Site Lets Students Bet on Their Grades

And yes, they can bet they will flunk—with 'grade insurance'

(Newser) - A new website is taking wagers from American college students who want to bet on their own grades. Just as Las Vegas sports books set odds on sporting events, Ultrinsic will pay top dollar for A's, a little less for the more likely outcome of a B average or better,...

7 Reasons Your Kids Should Skip College

It's a four year—or more—waste of time, author says

(Newser) - College is a must if you want to have a real career, right? Nope, it’s “a scam, a self-perpetuating Ponzi scheme that needs to stop right now,” writes James Altucher for DailyFinance.com . Here are his seven reasons you shouldn’t send your kids:
  • It’ll cost
...

We're Turning Into a Nation of Dunces
We're Turning Into a Nation
of Dunces
Bob Herbert
Aug 7, 2010 11:41 AM CDT

We're Turning Into a Nation of Dunces

We'd rather watch reality TV than think or get an education

(Newser) - Stats showing that the US has fallen to 12th among developing nations in the percentage of young people with college degrees has Bob Herbert very worried. It's yet another sign of how a nation that once led the way in education is now heading in exactly the opposite direction. Nobody...

There Aren't More Cheaters, Just More Getting Caught

Before the Internet, plagiarism was easy to hide

(Newser) - Everyone can calm down now: The New York Times’ recent proclamation that we’re raising a generation of cheaters may have been a bit of an exaggeration. The Times article suggested not only that the Internet is making plagiarism easier and more widespread—but that today’s youth don’t...

DC Schools to Fire Hundreds of Teachers

Poor performance, No Child Left Behind lead to 241 dismissals

(Newser) - The Washington, DC, schools are giving hundreds of teachers the ax because of their low scores in the district’s tough new evaluation system. Chancellor Michelle Rhee says 241 teachers are being fired for poor performance, the Washington Post reports. Another 737 were rated “minimally effective,” meaning they...

US Sinks Like a Stone in College Grad Rankings
 US Sinks Like a Stone 
 in College Grad Rankings 
From No. 1 to No. 12
Jul 22, 2010 8:48 AM CDT

US Sinks Like a Stone in College Grad Rankings

Now in first place: Canada

(Newser) - So along with chronic social networking and oversharing, America's newest generation of young adults has another distinction: Possibly the first to be less-educated than their parents. The US has plummeted from first to 12th place among nations with the highest percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds with a postsecondary degree. Blame...

Many English Speakers Don't Understand English
Many English Speakers
Don't Understand English
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 11, 2010 8:43 AM CDT

Many English Speakers Don't Understand English

Study discovers shocking grammar deficiencies

(Newser) - Loads of native English speakers lack even a basic understanding of the language, according to a surprising new study from Northumbria University. The researchers gathered a group of adults, some of whom were postgraduates students, and some who had dropped out of school at age 16, and tested them on...

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