education

Shouldn't schools, at least, be commercial-free zones?

http://www.good.is/post/should-high-schools-sell-ad-space-on-their-lockers/

"Sadhvi Konchada took her fifth and final high school board exam this week. She was nervous, if not inexperienced, having already taken 11 board exams, pre-board exams or pre-pre-board exams since January, with more tests to come. By the time she enters college, Sadhvi will have taken 22 board or college entrance exams."

I never understood why they make children and teens wake up at 6:30 to get ready and catch a bus for a school day that starts at 8 or 9 - it's too early to learn and be productive!  Just because the old people like to get up early and have afternoons free doesn't mean it's good for education.  Way to go!

In light of new experiments on evolution, it's interesting to think of the implications for our society... by conventional evolutionary models, the children of two animals will have predictable traits, regardless of the environment the parents live in - e.g. whether mice live in an exciting environment or a boring environment, their children will be as smart (or stupid) in either case.  In experiments, however, children born to parents who lived in stimulating environments are smarter then children of parent mice who were in boring environments.

I think the Texas "education" decisions highlight the need for knowledgeable people being involved in education decisions, and the danger of local control to our country...

"Many conservatives are simply unwilling to accept how much the writing and teaching of American history have changed over the last 40 years. They want an American history that ignores or marginalizes African-Americans, women, Latinos, immigrants and popular culture. They prefer a pseudo-patriotic history that denies the fundamental conflicts that have shaped our past.

I think it's interesting how the GOP complains about liberal brainwashing in universities as they're going after elementry and high-school kids:

Now if only they could get backwards states to agree on teaching of evolution and climate change...

Help pay for employee education, even if in a field not directly related to their current job - I think that's a fantastic way to breed employee loyalty, as well as increase creativity and productivity (they mention employees at IBM have taken everything from accounting to mandarin chinese and yoga classes).

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/business/retirementspecial/04LEARN.htm...

I think digital open source text books are a brilliant idea, but the open source part is crucial...