As mentioned previously, I was invited to discuss physics and politics at one of the local fraternities earlier this week. Oddly, given the primacy of Greek organizations on campus, this is only the fourth time I’ve set foot inside a fraternity or sorority house in seven years. The previous occasions were times when I was… Continue reading Dinner With ΔKE
Category: Education
Notes Toward a Discussion of “Story of Your Life”
Yesterday’s cheery hypothetical came about because I’ve agreed to do a guest lecture in a Science Fiction class in the English department. I’m going to be talking about Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” whose connection to the hypothetical should be obvious to people who have read it, but is a spoiler for those who… Continue reading Notes Toward a Discussion of “Story of Your Life”
Earlier Alcohol Prevention?
EurekAlert tossed up a press release from the University of Minnesota yesterday with the provocative title: “U of Minn researchers find primary alcohol prevention programs are needed for ‘tweens’” and the even more eye-popping subtitle “Study recommends that prevention programs occur as early as third grade.” What, you may ask, is the problem this is… Continue reading Earlier Alcohol Prevention?
Class Is Not a Footnote
On the subject of silly things said about academia, Matt Yglesias does a quick pass over “assessment,”, and in the process recommends Alan Kruger’s research that claims the benefits of elite colleges are all from selection effects. He links a Newsweek article on the topic, which contains this paragraph: Dale and Krueger then compared graduates… Continue reading Class Is Not a Footnote
67% of Children Left Behind
Via a EurekAlert release with the catchy headline “As graduation rates go down, school ratings go up”, a new study of the Texas school system, which provided the inspiration for “No Child Left Behind”. It’s not pretty: A new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin finds that Texas’ public school… Continue reading 67% of Children Left Behind
Dispatches from the Class War
Via Inside Higher Ed, the Boston Globe reports that the Pentagon opposes increasing GI Bill funding. Why? Because if they gave them full tuition, eligible soldiers might not re-enlist: Now, five years into the Iraq conflict, a movement is gathering steam in Washington to boost the payout of the GI Bill, to provide a true… Continue reading Dispatches from the Class War
Non-Dorky Poll: One Movie to Share
I’m currently serving as one of the faculty members involved with a new-ish residential life initiative aimed at raising the intellectual tone around campus. A big part of this is trying to get faculty members to do things in the campus housing spaces. This has all the logistical hassles you would expect, as so we’re… Continue reading Non-Dorky Poll: One Movie to Share
What Employers Want
I haven’t linked to Inside Higher Ed in a few days, but lest you think I’ve forgotten them, they have a short piece today about the results of a survey of employers “with at least 25 employees and significant hiring of recent college graduates,” regarding the preparation of their recent hires. It turns out that… Continue reading What Employers Want
Unions and Sour Grapes
One final note on the teachers-unions argument: The comments to the original post on the low regard for teachers relative to lawyers immediately jumped on the union thing. Commenter Doug Hering provided what’s probably the best statement of the causal link: I do agree that teachers must be treated as professionals. However, part of that… Continue reading Unions and Sour Grapes
Teaching Catch-22
Commenter “Matt” wrote a comment that pissed me off, and while it’s probably futile to take on union-bashing again, it does highlight a couple of the things that make this so frustrating. In response to several people observing that teaching is not the cushy 8-to-3, summers-off job that lots of people claim, he writes: Here… Continue reading Teaching Catch-22