Links to interesting postings - 28 Jan 06

CNN has a pleasant article on Unschooling. Nothing earth shaking. They do mention the socialization issue, but over all it is a decent article. (Hat tip: HomeSchoolBuzz.)

Utah may be ending social promotion, the practice of moving children on to the next grade, even if they haven't mastered the material. DeseretNews.com has an article about a state lawmaker's efforts to get a bill passed. I think this would be an improvement, at least then the schools wouldn't be lying to the children, tell them that they were at grade level. We mentioned earlier this week a study which found that in general children who are held back a year have lower drop out rates. (Hat tip: EducationNews.com.)

The issue of schools failing boys may become more than a three day buzz. Newsweek came out with an article called The Trouble With Boys. We blogged about it earlier this week. Dr. Helen will be doing a podcast with Michael Gurian, who wrote The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life. Dr. Helen asked for questions for Michael Gurian and got over a hundred comments. Yesterday we briefly addressed the issue of boys and canceling recess. And Joanne Jacobs mentions a lawsuit where a boy is suing his high school for discrimination. I think the lawsuit will be tossed out, but it does appear that the issue of how boys have been falling behind will not go away.

The Education Wonks reports on a study which claims to find public schools do better than private schools. I've left some comments at The Education Wonks, but basically: 1) Millions of parents are willing to spend their money to send their children to private schools. 2) Private schools are doing a fairly comparable job for typically half the money. 3) An above average number of teachers send their own children to private schools. I think there is great reason to question the study.