education

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Parents Push Toddlers Into Japan's 'Exam Hell'

Parents move back starting line for race to secure best schools

(Newser) - While most 3-year-olds romp and fingerpaint, a growing group of Japanese toddlers are working through stacks of worksheets taller than they are. Enrolled in courses called ojuken, they're studying for entrance exams to enter top-tier elementary schools. Despite Japan's declining birth rate and schools clamoring to fill seats, well-heeled parents...

Duncan to Schools: Uncle Sam Is Watching
Duncan to Schools: Uncle Sam Is Watching
OPINION
Apr 22, 2009 12:11 PM CDT

Duncan to Schools: Uncle Sam Is Watching

Education sec says they'd better spend bailout money wisely

(Newser) - States should be careful when spending their stimulus education windfall, because Uncle Sam will be watching, the US education secretary writes in the Wall Street Journal. “We will require an honest assessment of key issues like teacher quality, student performance, college readiness, and the number of charter schools,”...

Time to Stop Fighting the Civil War in History Class

Obama means 'honest' discourse on race

(Newser) - Ask a Northerner what caused the Civil War and he'll say slavery, while Southerners are likely to say states’ rights, or economic differences. That self-justifying shorthand is reflected in what's taught in schools, too. But with the election of Barack Obama, historians say new ground has been broken in the...

Men Hit With 80% of US Layoffs
 Men Hit With 80% of US Layoffs 
Apr 20, 2009 10:33 AM CDT

Men Hit With 80% of US Layoffs

The gap between male and female unemployment is the widest on record

(Newser) - Of the 5.1 million US jobs that have evaporated since the recession began, men have lost nearly 80% of them, the Financial Times reports, resulting in the widest gap between unemployment rates for men and women since recordkeeping began a half-century ago. Layoffs have nudged the male unemployment rate...

Disney Schools Bring Mickey Into Chinese Classrooms

Disney English centers teach Chinese kids new words—and new Disney characters

(Newser) - Mickey Mouse and his cohorts are moving into China’s huge English-teaching market, reports the Wall Street Journal. Disney English centers teach kids as young as 2 the basics of the language with the help of Disney character-themed lessons and “magic tokens” that can be swapped for Disney merchandise...

10 Years On, Schools Rusty on Columbine's Lessons

School security funding dries up a decade after shootings

(Newser) - A decade after the Columbine shootings, much of the extra funding for school security awarded in the wake of the massacre has dried up, the Wall Street Journal finds. Cutbacks such as scrapping the “cops in schools” program have educators worried, although some say improving bonds between adults and...

Credit Card Debt Spikes on Campus

(Newser) - College students in 2008 carried an average of $3,173 in credit card debt, a huge jump from 4 years earlier, USA Today reports. A Sallie Mae study, when conducted in 2004, revealed an average balance of just $2,169. When students “can’t get private loans, they turn...

Fight Looms Over Plan to Give Loan Funds to Students

The administration wants to cut out private lenders, setting up a showdown

(Newser) - President Obama's plans to end a subsidized student-loan program—diverting billions of dollars in profits for private lenders like Sallie Mae to scholarships for needy students—is prompting howls of protest from lenders and setting up a Congressional showdown, the New York Times reports. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that...

Oprah: Most Girls Thrive at My School

Amid second scandal, she admits mistakes but defends mission

(Newser) - As the second scandal rocks Oprah Winfrey's South African girls' school, the media mogul admits she made mistakes in setting it up but remains committed to its mission. "The majority of girls are thriving, really fulfilling the dream and vision I had," Winfrey told the African Weekly Argus,...

Playtime Teaches Kids 'Executive Function'

Emphasis on developing 'executive function' helps control behavior

(Newser) - Preschool teachers are adopting new techniques to control students’ behavior that focus on impulse control, the Wall Street Journal reports. Seeking to counter a growing trend in rowdiness among young students, progressive curricula involve structured daily playtime during which kids take an imaginary trip to a pretend destination. Each plays...

SC Gov Will Take Some, Not All, Stimulus Funds

(Newser) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is officially accepting federal stimulus funds, beating tonight’s deadline, the Washington Post reports. The state is expected to receive around $8 billion, though Sanford has continued to reject $700 million earmarked for law enforcement and education. Sanford had wanted to use that money to...

Stimulus Deadline Looms for Skeptical SC Gov. Sanford

As fiscal situation worsens, SC governor's stimulus refusal draws ire

(Newser) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has until Friday to choose between the philosophical and the fiscal as the deadline to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money approaches, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sanford wants authority over the funds, earmarked for education and public safety, and has pledged to refuse...

Sorry, Recession Won't Get You Into Harvard

Top schools see no application shortage despite economy

(Newser) - Sure, a lot of people are cash-strapped, but don’t get your hopes up that the recession will boost your shot at an Ivy League school. Harvard got a record number of applications this year—29,112, a 6% jump from last year. And pricey universities like Yale, Dartmouth, Brown,...

Economy Sees Law Firms Defer New Hires

(Newser) - The sluggish economy has more law firms deferring offers of positions to graduating law students, Time reports. The idle young lawyers join more than 3,000 attorneys who have lost jobs since January 2008; the industry is expected to earn up to 10% less this year than last. One upside:...

Braille Read by Less Than 10% of Blind Americans

(Newser) - Less than 10% of blind Americans know how to read Braille, and just 10% of blind children are being taught the printed language, the AP reports. A study by the National Federation of the Blind also pegs Braille illiteracy to unemployment. While the blind population faces 70% unemployment overall, that...

In Classroom, Twitter Trumps the Queen

Proposed UK curriculum focuses on learning skills, flexibility

(Newser) - Why learn about World War II or Queen Victoria in elementary school when you can always look them up on Wikipedia? That seems to be the rationale behind a new proposed overhaul of the British school system. Because secondary schools teach plenty of history, the reasoning goes, early schooling should...

Magna Cum Fraud: Top Schools for Scoundrels

People behind financial crisis went to same universities

(Newser) - Many of the bigwigs involved in the financial crisis went to the same few elite schools, notes Joe Weisenthal in Business Insider. Maybe, he writes, when the crisis begins to fade, we’ll think twice about having another Harvardian or MIT grad running things. Among the offending institutions:
  • New York
...

Teach to the Test&mdash;But Make Better Tests
Teach to the Test—But Make Better Tests 
OPINION
Mar 23, 2009 10:38 AM CDT

Teach to the Test—But Make Better Tests

Tie reading passages in with curriculum to even playing field

(Newser) - Critics worry that the current system of “fill-in-the-bubble” school testing promotes teaching to the test—but maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing if we had tests “worth teaching to,” writes Ed Hirsch Jr in the New York Times. The tests themselves are highly reliable...

Evolution Education Under Fire in Texas

New textbooks could challenge theory, shape US curriculum

(Newser) - Texas’ Board of Education votes this week on whether to teach a science curriculum that challenges evolution—and the result could affect schools across the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. Because Texas is such a huge market, textbook writers often design national material based on state standards. “This...

Aussie Critics Rip Micky D's McMath Tutoring

Program is sneaky marketing push, charge educators

(Newser) - Nutritionists and educators are having trouble swallowing McDonald's sponsorship of an online math program, the Guardian reports. The tutoring program, available free to schools and students across Australia, features the golden arches logo on its front page. Australia's government commended McDonald's for providing the resource, but critics see it as...

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