Paul Graham. Almost ten years old, but still very good.
I also pointed the Deuce to this one on high school. He actually took a quote from that essay and put it on his Facebook page. I might be getting somewhere.
Archive for the 'Lower Education' Category
Computer graded essays and short answers.
I’ve not seen the program. I’m sure it has a number of shortcomings. But, since it is EdX, it will only get better. This will help those who have a different idea on how to run a school, or what type of curriculum to offer. It will help separate teaching from evaluation. I also have no doubt that the use of the software will create new Shakespeares, but it will help students learn to write clearly for commercial purposes. Maybe not now, but some day soon. For ninety nine percent of us, commercial clarity is sufficient.
This is the sort of technological advance that will allow for a lot of creative people to start smaller schools serving niche groupings of students. Leading, I’m certain anyway, to much better educational outcomes. Better is defined as the students learning what they want to learn, not what the governor and others think they should learn.
Again, accreditation will likely remain a significant roadblock for some time. Accrediting bodies will likely require human grading as opposed to allowing software like this in schools they accredit. This will, for a while anyway, keep educational changes at bay.
HT: Arnold Kling
I’m amused that Arnold and I both like The Diamond Age so much. I probably did start reading the book because of his references to Thetes and Vickies on EconLog
Paul Graham on writing essays.
He takes a dim view of how writing is taught in high school:
The most obvious difference between real essays and the things one has to write in school is that real essays are not exclusively about English literature. Certainly schools should teach students how to write. But due to a series of historical accidents the teaching of writing has gotten mixed together with the study of literature. And so all over the country students are writing not about how a baseball team with a small budget might compete with the Yankees, or the role of color in fashion, or what constitutes a good dessert, but about symbolism in Dickens.
With the result that writing is made to seem boring and pointless. Who cares about symbolism in Dickens? Dickens himself would be more interested in an essay about color or baseball.
It just gets better from there.
One can spend hours going through Paul Graham’s web site.
The Boys at the Back – NYTimes.com.
From the article:
Boys score as well as or better than girls on most standardized tests, yet they are far less likely to get good grades, take advanced classes or attend college.
As the father of both a girl and a boy, all I have to say is: No Shit.
Do go read the whole thing.
Fucking idiots
Patrick from Popehat has the story. As only Patrick can. From the post:
And for extra credit: Assume for the purpose of this question that the murder rate in Chicago is approximately equal to that of smaller cities such as Aleppo, Fallujah, and Mogadishu. Explain, in symbolic logic, the utility to the city of using police officers to conduct murder drills in one of the few areas of the city where actual murders are not occurring, rather than deploying said officers to areas where genuine murders are taking place.
Go read the whole post.
Four Resolutions from Pedagogy of the Oppressed « Cooperative Catalyst.
I can’t believe people that believe this sort of thing are allowed anywhere near children.
From the article, written by a student teacher (?):
I resolve to make my classroom one that challenges the status quo, that takes sides on issues of social justice, that encourages students to create their own visions of reality. I resolve to take student opinions seriously, to continue passing out surveys, to more deeply discuss their input in classroom and school culture. And finally, I resolve to take a more active role in the struggle for education justice – to end poverty, inequality, and oppression – and to support allied struggles in the U.S. and around the world.
I’m glad my children won’t run into her.
Father hires online snipers to virtually kill son.
Not too surprisingly, the tactic didn’t work. I’ve posted this here because SWMBO doesn’t read The Instapundit.
This is something I might have tried if I had thought of it before reading the article. Now having thought through it, I think the Deuce would have doubled down on his efforts to win. Yes, he would have spent even more time online playing games, trying to overcome these new adversaries.
I notice I don’t really have a category for a post like this. Maybe I need to add gaming as a category? I think it will come up more often in the future. I used the lower education category because the Deuce is in high school.
It’s the latest obsession for pushy parents.
Given that this is the photo accompanying the article:
I would probably have a little trouble concentrating.
“We’re from the government, and we’re here to help”.
Fancy school district in Marin County. PTA runs the school lunch program. “Profits” from the school lunch program support other programs the PTA volunteers run at the school.
Some parents are disappointed in the quality of the food being served.
They complain to the government.
The result is not likely to be what they desire.
Via: Bookworm Room. HT: Bird Dog at Maggie’s.
This video is funny, but there is just enough truth in there to make it a little uncomfortable:
I really am struggling right now with recommending college to the Deuce. He just doesn’t enjoy school. Not that I blame him. He’s smart enough to know that school has very little to do with learning anything worth knowing.
HT: Gerard