I enjoyed this video:
It is pretty scary just how many people knew so little about the costs of public education.
It might be fun to conduct a similar survey in my town. Maybe this would be a good homeschool project.
(Hat tip: Friends of Dave)
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Technorati tags: government schools, children, public school, public education, education
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
A pulitzer prize-winning political cartoonsts is uninvited, because he offended teachers union
Giving children concrete examples of what they can do with their lives helps them understand the process of education. Too often students sit in public classrooms like felons in jail cells. They have to be there. Detailed explanations of various careers can give the students a vision of what they could be doing with their lives, and why the time in class might be worth while.
A friend sent me a link to Award-Winning Cartoonist Disinvited from School for Offending Union. A public elementary school invited Steve Breen, a Pulitzer prize-winning political cartoonist, to come speak to the students. Seems like a great idea. But the teachers union was offended by this cartoon, so Mr. Breen was uninvited.
Politics and public schools is a continuing problem, which only gets worse.
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Technorati tags: government schools, children, public school, public education, education
A friend sent me a link to Award-Winning Cartoonist Disinvited from School for Offending Union. A public elementary school invited Steve Breen, a Pulitzer prize-winning political cartoonist, to come speak to the students. Seems like a great idea. But the teachers union was offended by this cartoon, so Mr. Breen was uninvited.
Politics and public schools is a continuing problem, which only gets worse.
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Technorati tags: government schools, children, public school, public education, education
Popular Mechanics - online and free
This is an amazing collection, 106 years of Popular Mechanics has been put online and is available for free. I wish I had an extra year just to wander though all the back issues.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: Popular Mechanics
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: Popular Mechanics
Breaking news: Homeschooling keeps growing
The NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) recently did a survey of students. Based on the suvey they estimate that in 2007 there were about 1.5 million children being homeschooled. This translates to about 2.9% of all students in K to 12 being homeschooled. This is a dramatic increase from the 1.1 million estimate in 2003, and a 0.85 million estimate in 1999. A growth of 36% over the last four years means homeschooling is an option that more and more parents are turning to.
The brief on the survey is a four page PDF file. I had trouble downloading it yesterday, but it seems to work just fine now.
I am cautious to put a lot of faith in exact number. As I wrote about the 2003 survey, the sample of homeschoolers was very, very small. For the 2007 survey they had only 290 homeschooled students. The confidence level is low when the sample size, 290, is small compared to the total population, which might be 1.5 million. If some homeschooling parents were distrustful of the intent of the survey, and didn't respond, it could greatly throw off the results.
But I do believe that the fundamental conclusion of the survey is correct, that homeschooling is growing, I'm just not sure how many children are being homeschooled in the US.
(Hat tip: Homeschooling Research Notes)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
The brief on the survey is a four page PDF file. I had trouble downloading it yesterday, but it seems to work just fine now.
I am cautious to put a lot of faith in exact number. As I wrote about the 2003 survey, the sample of homeschoolers was very, very small. For the 2007 survey they had only 290 homeschooled students. The confidence level is low when the sample size, 290, is small compared to the total population, which might be 1.5 million. If some homeschooling parents were distrustful of the intent of the survey, and didn't respond, it could greatly throw off the results.
But I do believe that the fundamental conclusion of the survey is correct, that homeschooling is growing, I'm just not sure how many children are being homeschooled in the US.
(Hat tip: Homeschooling Research Notes)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Study finds unhappy people watch TV, happy people read/socialize
This came out last month - Unhappy people watch TV, happy people read/socialize, says study:
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A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research.
Analyzing 30-years worth of national data from time-use studies and a continuing series of social attitude surveys, the Maryland researchers report that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers' happiness in the moment, with less positive effects in the long run.
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The last line makes television sounds like a drug. You get a short term high, but long term low.
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Technorati tags: television, happiness
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A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research.
Analyzing 30-years worth of national data from time-use studies and a continuing series of social attitude surveys, the Maryland researchers report that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers' happiness in the moment, with less positive effects in the long run.
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The last line makes television sounds like a drug. You get a short term high, but long term low.
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Technorati tags: television, happiness
Start off the new year right - by sending in an entry for the third anniversary of the carnival
Three years ago my wife and I kicked off the first Carnival of Homeschooling. Next week it will be our privilege to host the third anniversary edition.
We are putting out a call for entries. Please consider sending in a post about homeschooling.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
We are putting out a call for entries. Please consider sending in a post about homeschooling.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
How do you teach this lesson?
I like this thought from the Quotation of the day:
"Knowing how to transform failure into success is more important than knowing how to succeed."
- Ernest Hall
This is a great lesson for children to learn. I'm wonder, how can you teach it? Or how do you know when it has been learned?
I think part of knowing how to transform failure into success is a basic character issue. Individuals will only succeed if they keep going even when things are not going their way. We teach our children perseverance when they lose a game in soccer, or have to rewrite a paper, or when they see us keep on trying.
Another part of being able to transform failure into success is being creative and looking for options. I often try to get my children to think in terms of many options. It is easy to fall into a binary frame of mind. It is easy to think either my first attempt will work, or I will fail. I'm trying to get my daughters to always look for many options, because often the second, or third, or tenth approach they think of will be a great solution.
What else helps children learn to rise above failure, to keep striving until they succeed?
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Technorati tags: success, failure
"Knowing how to transform failure into success is more important than knowing how to succeed."
- Ernest Hall
This is a great lesson for children to learn. I'm wonder, how can you teach it? Or how do you know when it has been learned?
I think part of knowing how to transform failure into success is a basic character issue. Individuals will only succeed if they keep going even when things are not going their way. We teach our children perseverance when they lose a game in soccer, or have to rewrite a paper, or when they see us keep on trying.
Another part of being able to transform failure into success is being creative and looking for options. I often try to get my children to think in terms of many options. It is easy to fall into a binary frame of mind. It is easy to think either my first attempt will work, or I will fail. I'm trying to get my daughters to always look for many options, because often the second, or third, or tenth approach they think of will be a great solution.
What else helps children learn to rise above failure, to keep striving until they succeed?
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Technorati tags: success, failure
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
This is late - A Carnival of Family Life is up
I participated in a Carnival of Family Life a couple weeks ago, and forgot to mention it. We were in The Carnival of Family Life at Destroy Debt.
If you would like to submit a blog post to the next Carnival of Family Life, go here.
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Technorati tags: children, family, parenting
If you would like to submit a blog post to the next Carnival of Family Life, go here.
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Technorati tags: children, family, parenting
Spammers are getting more and more creative
Anyone with an email account should know to be careful about attachments. This came in from the Risks Digest mailing list, Drew Dean writes:
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Recently, I've been receiving a number of obvious spams with a ZIP file attached, the zip file name being.zip. Today, for amusement, I saved the download to take a look at it: there was one file in the ZIP archive, named with my email address: ddean@csl.sri.com . The Unix
file(1) program told me everything I needed to know: it's a Windows executable. Now, the .COM extension denotes an ancient MS-DOS executable file format, which, IIRC, is restricted to 64KB of code and data, etc. (The file in question is 28KB or so, UPX compressed [whatever that is].)
But that's a beautiful attempt at social engineering: most people probably don't remember .com being an executable file format, and what harm could a file named with your email address do? Not having Windows handy, I couldn't easily find out, nor would I want to in any case....
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Bottom line an attachement from someone you don't know, even if the attachment has a name of your email address, should NOT be opened.
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Technorati tags: spam
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Recently, I've been receiving a number of obvious spams with a ZIP file attached, the zip file name being
file(1) program told me everything I needed to know: it's a Windows executable. Now, the .COM extension denotes an ancient MS-DOS executable file format, which, IIRC, is restricted to 64KB of code and data, etc. (The file in question is 28KB or so, UPX compressed [whatever that is].)
But that's a beautiful attempt at social engineering: most people probably don't remember .com being an executable file format, and what harm could a file named with your email address do? Not having Windows handy, I couldn't easily find out, nor would I want to in any case....
Bottom line an attachement from someone you don't know, even if the attachment has a name of your email address, should NOT be opened.
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Technorati tags: spam
Another beautiful picture from APOD - Portrait of NGC 281
Ken Crawford of Rancho Del Sol Observatory gave me permission to post this beautiful picture from APOD:
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day, Ken Crawford, NGC 281
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day, Ken Crawford, NGC 281
Are newspapers going the way of the dinosaur?
James Surowiecki has an interesting column about the decline of newspapers. He opens with:
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When the Tribune Company announced that it was filing for bankruptcy, last Monday, Sam Zell, the man who bought the company a year ago, for $8.2 billion, said that its problems were the result of a “perfect storm.” You take readers and advertisers who were already migrating away from print, and add a steep recession, and you’ve got serious trouble. What Zell failed to mention was that his acquisition of the company had buried it beneath such a heavy pile of debt that any storm at all would likely have sunk it. But although Zell was making excuses for his own mismanagement, the perfect storm is real enough, and it is threatening to destroy newspapers as we know them. Layoffs and buyouts have become routine. The Miami Herald and the San Diego Union-Tribune are reportedly on the selling block, while lawmakers in Connecticut are trying to keep two newspapers there afloat. Even the New York Times Company has slashed its dividend and announced that it would borrow against its headquarters to avoid cash-flow problems.
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I've noticed that the number of pages in our local paper has declined by about half. Or the number of pages with news has decline. (It seems the number of pages with ads is about the same.) I was surprised today to see the financial section folded in with the comics and local news.
The print media is hurting. It will be interesting to see the future of how news is processed and distributed. At least for now more and more people are turning to blogs.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: newspaper
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When the Tribune Company announced that it was filing for bankruptcy, last Monday, Sam Zell, the man who bought the company a year ago, for $8.2 billion, said that its problems were the result of a “perfect storm.” You take readers and advertisers who were already migrating away from print, and add a steep recession, and you’ve got serious trouble. What Zell failed to mention was that his acquisition of the company had buried it beneath such a heavy pile of debt that any storm at all would likely have sunk it. But although Zell was making excuses for his own mismanagement, the perfect storm is real enough, and it is threatening to destroy newspapers as we know them. Layoffs and buyouts have become routine. The Miami Herald and the San Diego Union-Tribune are reportedly on the selling block, while lawmakers in Connecticut are trying to keep two newspapers there afloat. Even the New York Times Company has slashed its dividend and announced that it would borrow against its headquarters to avoid cash-flow problems.
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I've noticed that the number of pages in our local paper has declined by about half. Or the number of pages with news has decline. (It seems the number of pages with ads is about the same.) I was surprised today to see the financial section folded in with the comics and local news.
The print media is hurting. It will be interesting to see the future of how news is processed and distributed. At least for now more and more people are turning to blogs.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: newspaper
Has anyone watched Mortimer J. Adler videos?
As I've mentioned before I greatly value Mortimer J. Adler's book How to Read a Book. A recent comment reported three hours of Mortimer Alder is available on DVD.
That sample video online looks interesting. I was wondering if anyone had watched the full set of videos? The list of topics at the end of the web page looks very similar to the book.
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Technorati tags: read, reading, book, Mortimer J. Adler, Adler
That sample video online looks interesting. I was wondering if anyone had watched the full set of videos? The list of topics at the end of the web page looks very similar to the book.
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Technorati tags: read, reading, book, Mortimer J. Adler, Adler
More books available online
Early in the Fall I came across A list of sites with online books. A reader sent me a link to the Internet Archive which has close to a million books online.
I poked around a bit. The claim of a million books may be a bit inflated. I found several copies of books by Lucy Maud Montgomery. There were two copies of Anne of Avonlea, and three copies of Anne of Green Gables.
Still there are enough books there to keep one busy.
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Technorati tags: online, books
I poked around a bit. The claim of a million books may be a bit inflated. I found several copies of books by Lucy Maud Montgomery. There were two copies of Anne of Avonlea, and three copies of Anne of Green Gables.
Still there are enough books there to keep one busy.
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Technorati tags: online, books
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - A carnival of reflections
Laura is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Practical Homeschooling. Laura encourages us to stop back and reflect on what we have learned this year.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Monday, December 29, 2008
Remember all the good stuff as you end the year
Humanity tends to focus on people's faults. We often talk about what a leader didn't do, instead of acknowledging the good things a leader was able to accomplish. The media almost always will pick, sometimes nitpick, on what an individual, group, or nation did wrong.
Looking for faults has a benefit as we then know what areas we can improve on; however, it can also be discouraging if all we ever talk about or think about is what is wrong. Once we are aware of problems, we can take steps to improve, but we shouldn't spend all or time worrying about what we did wrong.
I've been attending a local Toastmasters group for four years now. They always give evaluations on each speech. The goal is to help the speaker improve. They review the points of the speech that went well, and then each evaluator looks for ways the speaker could do a better job next time.
The year 2008 is coming to a close. It is a good time to step back and think about both what areas we could improve in, and what areas we are doing well in. There is always something we can improve. Maybe we could spend more time with a child on their math, or maybe we could let the child have more time to play. As an engineer I like rules and formulas that don't change. But the reality is our children change over time. What worked well when they were six may not work at all now that they are twelve.
I was pleasantly surprised this last week. My oldest daughter was upset about something. She made a historical allusion to events that took place around the Revolutionary War. She said it wasn't fair, like how after the war the British got to use all of our ports, but we weren't welcome in all of their ports. I count this as a major success. My daughter in integrating a historical view into the rest of her life!
As you build goals for 2009, it is OK to look for areas you can improve in, but also remember to focus on and pay attention to all the good things that have happened in 2008.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Looking for faults has a benefit as we then know what areas we can improve on; however, it can also be discouraging if all we ever talk about or think about is what is wrong. Once we are aware of problems, we can take steps to improve, but we shouldn't spend all or time worrying about what we did wrong.
I've been attending a local Toastmasters group for four years now. They always give evaluations on each speech. The goal is to help the speaker improve. They review the points of the speech that went well, and then each evaluator looks for ways the speaker could do a better job next time.
The year 2008 is coming to a close. It is a good time to step back and think about both what areas we could improve in, and what areas we are doing well in. There is always something we can improve. Maybe we could spend more time with a child on their math, or maybe we could let the child have more time to play. As an engineer I like rules and formulas that don't change. But the reality is our children change over time. What worked well when they were six may not work at all now that they are twelve.
I was pleasantly surprised this last week. My oldest daughter was upset about something. She made a historical allusion to events that took place around the Revolutionary War. She said it wasn't fair, like how after the war the British got to use all of our ports, but we weren't welcome in all of their ports. I count this as a major success. My daughter in integrating a historical view into the rest of her life!
As you build goals for 2009, it is OK to look for areas you can improve in, but also remember to focus on and pay attention to all the good things that have happened in 2008.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
A classic submission for ZeroIntelligence
ZeroIntelligence did a great job of tracking cases where public education, in an effort to have Zero Tolerance for certain behaviors, would often exhibit Zero Intelligence. The blog ran for a couple years, but then the original blogger took a break. (I heard he decided to homeschool his children!) Then another blogger picked up the blog and ran with it for awhile, but it has been inactive again.
This is a classic example of Zero Intelligence - 10 Yr. Old with Toy Gun Arrested, Fingerprinted:
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The latest case of zero-tolerance at the public schools has a 10-year-old student sadder and wiser, and facing expulsion and long-term juvenile detention. And it has his mother worried that his punishment has already been harsher than the offense demands.
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His offense? He brought a toy gun to school. One student claimed the "offender" threaten him with the guy. It appears to be a he said-he said situation. Naturally the school came down like a ton of bricks on the future felon. Ugh! Even if the ten-year-old boy threatened someone with a toy gun he shouldn't be facing expulsion.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education, Zero Intelligence, Zero Tolerance
This is a classic example of Zero Intelligence - 10 Yr. Old with Toy Gun Arrested, Fingerprinted:
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The latest case of zero-tolerance at the public schools has a 10-year-old student sadder and wiser, and facing expulsion and long-term juvenile detention. And it has his mother worried that his punishment has already been harsher than the offense demands.
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His offense? He brought a toy gun to school. One student claimed the "offender" threaten him with the guy. It appears to be a he said-he said situation. Naturally the school came down like a ton of bricks on the future felon. Ugh! Even if the ten-year-old boy threatened someone with a toy gun he shouldn't be facing expulsion.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education, Zero Intelligence, Zero Tolerance
Good thought about greatness
From A.Word.A.Day:
Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that.
-Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, preacher, journalist and activist (1802-1861)
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Technorati tags: greatness, kindness
Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that.
-Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, preacher, journalist and activist (1802-1861)
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Technorati tags: greatness, kindness
The Homeschool Showcase is up
The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers has been revamped to the Homeschool Showcase. This week's Homeschool Showcase is up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
This is the last chance this year you have of participating in a Carnival of Homeschooling.
The last carnival of the year will be held at Practical Homeschooling.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
The last carnival of the year will be held at Practical Homeschooling.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up! Straight from Paris, sort of
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Janice Campbell - Taking Time for Things That Matter.
Interweaved with the entries are pictures from a recent trip Janice took to Paris, one of her favorite cities.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Interweaved with the entries are pictures from a recent trip Janice took to Paris, one of her favorite cities.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
One of the challenges of being the organizer for the Carnival of Homeschooling is making sure we have a host for each week. Shez, the originally scheduled host for next week, has a problem with her eye which is forcing her to cut back on blogging. I sent out some emails to other Carnival of Homeschooling hosts and got a volunteer! This is one of the great things about the homeschooling community, there are so many who are willing to contribute.
Janice Campbell has generously stepped forward and will be hosting the carnival next week. Please send in your entries. (And you might go wish Shez good luck.)
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Janice Campbell has generously stepped forward and will be hosting the carnival next week. Please send in your entries. (And you might go wish Shez good luck.)
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Another fun video with lots of dots
Ian Stevenson put together a cool video showing Immigration to the United US, 1820 to 2007.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: immigration
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: immigration
Yet another reason to homeschool
It is bad enough that public schools often try to brainwash the students. In the UK there is an effort to have the children try to go home and brainwash the parents. Frank Furedi starts his column Schools Unleash ‘Eco-Kids’ to Badger Their Parents with:
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Educators sometimes give the impression that they are in the business of protecting their pupils from the negative influence of their parents. Schools are sometimes devoted to the project of correcting the “outdated values” that parents have taught their children. That’s bad enough! However, in recent times policymakers and educators have also embraced the idea that through influencing children they can reeducate parents. Instead of parents socializing their children they advocate a reversal in roles.
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While reading the column I often thought of 1984. Professor Furedi had similar thoughts as he concludes with:
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In previous times the practice of mobilizing children to police their parents’ behavior was confined to totalitarian societies. Authorities who attempted to harness youngsters’ simplistic views of good and evil are reminiscent of Orwell’s Big Brother. But who needs Big Brother when the then-prime minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, can assert that “on climate change, it is parents who should listen to their children”?
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(Hat tip: Joanne Jacobs)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
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Educators sometimes give the impression that they are in the business of protecting their pupils from the negative influence of their parents. Schools are sometimes devoted to the project of correcting the “outdated values” that parents have taught their children. That’s bad enough! However, in recent times policymakers and educators have also embraced the idea that through influencing children they can reeducate parents. Instead of parents socializing their children they advocate a reversal in roles.
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While reading the column I often thought of 1984. Professor Furedi had similar thoughts as he concludes with:
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In previous times the practice of mobilizing children to police their parents’ behavior was confined to totalitarian societies. Authorities who attempted to harness youngsters’ simplistic views of good and evil are reminiscent of Orwell’s Big Brother. But who needs Big Brother when the then-prime minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, can assert that “on climate change, it is parents who should listen to their children”?
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(Hat tip: Joanne Jacobs)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up!
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at SmallWorld. This is the Smokey Mountain edition. There are some beautiful pictures of the mountains, along with some great quotes.
Hop on over to the carnival and read what others are saying about homeschooling this week.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Hop on over to the carnival and read what others are saying about homeschooling this week.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The Smoking Gun which puts to rest the claim that teachers need to be certified
In crime a Smoking Gun is piece of evidence which puts to rest all doubt about who committed the crime. For example if someone is caught standing over a body with a smoking gun it may be enough to convict them.
Homeschoolers have often been attacked on the grounds that parents are not trained or certified and thus not able to teach children like the "professionals." This avenue of harassment may be finally and completely put to rest.
Matthew Ladner's column Does a certificate make the teacher-or results? starts with a graph from a study which found that uncertified teachers are were just as effective as traditionally certified or alternatively certified teachers.
Stop and ponder that for a minute. All the training seems to have little effect on how effective a teacher is in really teaching.
Dr. Ladner writes:
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This chart from the Brookings Institute may be the most important piece of education data I've seen in some years. The chart shows how teacher certification pedigree affects student performance in Los Angeles. Meaning, it shows whether traditionally state-certified teachers really are more effective in the classroom.
First, notice the incredible variation in performance by teachers. The most effective teachers, clustered on the right hand of the bell curve, move their average students up about 14 percentile points. Moving a classroom of kids from average (50th percentile) to well above average (64th percentile) is quite a feat.
Now look at the left side of the bell curve. These teachers are dragging their students in the opposite direction by approximately the same amount. These teachers took their children at the 50th percentile and dragged them down to the 35th.
Tragically for the students, we have a system of compensating teachers that insists on treating all types of teachers the same, and makes it difficult to remove the sub-par teachers from the classroom.
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Identifying Effective Teachers using Performance on the Job, the study, is from the Brookings Institution.
Hopefully studies like this will put to rest the false claim that parents can not be effective teachers.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Homeschoolers have often been attacked on the grounds that parents are not trained or certified and thus not able to teach children like the "professionals." This avenue of harassment may be finally and completely put to rest.
Matthew Ladner's column Does a certificate make the teacher-or results? starts with a graph from a study which found that uncertified teachers are were just as effective as traditionally certified or alternatively certified teachers.
Stop and ponder that for a minute. All the training seems to have little effect on how effective a teacher is in really teaching.
Dr. Ladner writes:
----------
This chart from the Brookings Institute may be the most important piece of education data I've seen in some years. The chart shows how teacher certification pedigree affects student performance in Los Angeles. Meaning, it shows whether traditionally state-certified teachers really are more effective in the classroom.
First, notice the incredible variation in performance by teachers. The most effective teachers, clustered on the right hand of the bell curve, move their average students up about 14 percentile points. Moving a classroom of kids from average (50th percentile) to well above average (64th percentile) is quite a feat.
Now look at the left side of the bell curve. These teachers are dragging their students in the opposite direction by approximately the same amount. These teachers took their children at the 50th percentile and dragged them down to the 35th.
Tragically for the students, we have a system of compensating teachers that insists on treating all types of teachers the same, and makes it difficult to remove the sub-par teachers from the classroom.
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Identifying Effective Teachers using Performance on the Job, the study, is from the Brookings Institution.
Hopefully studies like this will put to rest the false claim that parents can not be effective teachers.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is being hosted at The Daily Planet.
Amanda is a Homeschool Graduate. To commemorate her parent's 20th wedding anniversary Amanda ran with a theme of Anniversary Gifts. She has some beautiful graphics of the gifts given.
Drop in and enjoy the posts, and the pictures.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Amanda is a Homeschool Graduate. To commemorate her parent's 20th wedding anniversary Amanda ran with a theme of Anniversary Gifts. She has some beautiful graphics of the gifts given.
Drop in and enjoy the posts, and the pictures.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Update on "Baby Bop"
For over a year, "Baby Bop" has been part of our family. We've mentioned him in a few posts, like here and here and here.
Baby Bop is our two year old foster boy. He came to us as an ESH (Emergency Satellite Home) placement. This means that he wasn't matched to our family for long term placement, but was put in our home while the state figured out what to do. He had been in another foster home with his two older siblings but that had not worked out for one reason or another. Because it looked like Baby Bop would be sent to live with his father in a few weeks, we continued on after the ESH (30 days) period ended. I figured that he didn't need the trauma of yet another foster home.
After a soap opera of twists and turns, yesterday his bio-parents relinquished their parental rights. Baby Bop is now available for adoption. Since our adoption home study is already completed, the adoption process will probably take less than 9 months. A year ago, I would have never guessed how this would end.
One of the moms at preschool (we go to a parent participation program that meets once a week), asked if we were going to tell him he was adopted. I just had to laugh. He is a teeny tiny Hispanic boy who might reach 5' 5" if he's lucky in a household a fair-skinned Amazon women. I'm 5' 11" and my 14 year old daughter is already 5 ' 10". My husband is nearly 6' 3" and has blond hair and blue eyes. I told her that I thought the "cat was already out of the bag."
I admit there is the tiny part of me that wonders if we are depriving him of growing up in a short Hispanic family where he would have blended right in. In the end, I decided that as far as he is concerned I am his mother, this is his family and the rest doesn't matter.
However, we do keep contact with his two older siblings who are still in foster care. As luck would have it, they are being adopted by a family who attends the same church we do, though in a different city. I think it will make it easier that they will grow up with the same values and expectations.
Baby Bop's social worker said that we could include pictures of Baby Bop in our Christmas cards, etc. so here he is.
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Technorati tags: foster care, parenting, family, children
Baby Bop is our two year old foster boy. He came to us as an ESH (Emergency Satellite Home) placement. This means that he wasn't matched to our family for long term placement, but was put in our home while the state figured out what to do. He had been in another foster home with his two older siblings but that had not worked out for one reason or another. Because it looked like Baby Bop would be sent to live with his father in a few weeks, we continued on after the ESH (30 days) period ended. I figured that he didn't need the trauma of yet another foster home.
After a soap opera of twists and turns, yesterday his bio-parents relinquished their parental rights. Baby Bop is now available for adoption. Since our adoption home study is already completed, the adoption process will probably take less than 9 months. A year ago, I would have never guessed how this would end.
One of the moms at preschool (we go to a parent participation program that meets once a week), asked if we were going to tell him he was adopted. I just had to laugh. He is a teeny tiny Hispanic boy who might reach 5' 5" if he's lucky in a household a fair-skinned Amazon women. I'm 5' 11" and my 14 year old daughter is already 5 ' 10". My husband is nearly 6' 3" and has blond hair and blue eyes. I told her that I thought the "cat was already out of the bag."
I admit there is the tiny part of me that wonders if we are depriving him of growing up in a short Hispanic family where he would have blended right in. In the end, I decided that as far as he is concerned I am his mother, this is his family and the rest doesn't matter.
However, we do keep contact with his two older siblings who are still in foster care. As luck would have it, they are being adopted by a family who attends the same church we do, though in a different city. I think it will make it easier that they will grow up with the same values and expectations.
Baby Bop's social worker said that we could include pictures of Baby Bop in our Christmas cards, etc. so here he is.
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Technorati tags: foster care, parenting, family, children
Friday, December 05, 2008
Homeschooling works!
Milton Gaither wrote a nice article on homeschooling. In Home Schooling Goes Mainstream provides some of the history of homeschooling. One of the points that becomes clear is that people are recognizing that homeschooling works!
Judy Aron provides some thoughtful commentary on Milton's article.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Judy Aron provides some thoughtful commentary on Milton's article.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Good question - how much new material do you give your students at one time?
From Bending the Twigs the Crimson Wife wants to know Does the "80% Commandment" Hold True in a Homeschool Setting? She starts with a quote from The 80% Commandment:
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The relationship between students’ accuracy with schoolwork and their subsequent behavior is described by the 80% Commandment: 'Thou shall not expect a student to do a learning task when he or she does not have the skills to complete the task with 80% success. Otherwise, that student will either act out or tune out.' Today’s frustrated students who lack basic skills most often respond by acting out.
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The Crimson Wife responds with:
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The author of the KTM post, Catherine Johnson, agrees wholeheartedly with McEwan-Adkins & Damer about the 80% Commandment and believes it's the reason why her students are struggling.
I tend to agree with this statement as it applies to a traditional classroom setting with 20-30+ students. But I wonder how applicable it is in a homeschool, where the child spends much of his/her time working one-on-one with the teacher.
I have definitely noticed that my DD will become frustrated if the task she's being asked to do is way over her head. At the same time, however, I want her to be challenged by her schoolwork and to stretch herself beyond her comfort level. That's the only way she'll grow in what she's capable of doing.
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My thought is that the 80% reflects how well the student understands a new topic. As children work to master new topics I think it is easier, and maybe quicker, if they can take "Baby steps." (My wife and I love that line from What About Bob?) An important facet of our role as teachers is our ability to continually throwing new small pieces of information or skills at our children to be mastered.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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The relationship between students’ accuracy with schoolwork and their subsequent behavior is described by the 80% Commandment: 'Thou shall not expect a student to do a learning task when he or she does not have the skills to complete the task with 80% success. Otherwise, that student will either act out or tune out.' Today’s frustrated students who lack basic skills most often respond by acting out.
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The Crimson Wife responds with:
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The author of the KTM post, Catherine Johnson, agrees wholeheartedly with McEwan-Adkins & Damer about the 80% Commandment and believes it's the reason why her students are struggling.
I tend to agree with this statement as it applies to a traditional classroom setting with 20-30+ students. But I wonder how applicable it is in a homeschool, where the child spends much of his/her time working one-on-one with the teacher.
I have definitely noticed that my DD will become frustrated if the task she's being asked to do is way over her head. At the same time, however, I want her to be challenged by her schoolwork and to stretch herself beyond her comfort level. That's the only way she'll grow in what she's capable of doing.
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My thought is that the 80% reflects how well the student understands a new topic. As children work to master new topics I think it is easier, and maybe quicker, if they can take "Baby steps." (My wife and I love that line from What About Bob?) An important facet of our role as teachers is our ability to continually throwing new small pieces of information or skills at our children to be mastered.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Another reason to homeschool - to teach your children to be honest
Today I came across a couple articles about the youth today being dishonest.
Joanne Jacobs in Professors vs. cheaters writes:
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Universities Wimp Out on Fighting Cheaters writes Greg Forster on Pajamas Media. Software makes it easy to catch plagiarists, he says. But the instructor is all alone in deciding what to do about it.
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Dr. Helen has a long post which asks Are teens more ethically-challenged now than in the past? One of her key points is
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Unethical behavior is often overlooked in our society today--there are few consequences for acts of lying, cheating or even stealing.
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The average child in public school spends six to seven hours a day in class. Additionally there is the travel time to and from school, the lunch break, and all the homework afterwards. Public schools have a huge influence on children. Currently in the United States many public schools do very little to teach or enforce honestly. Children routinely cheat, and there are few consequences.
At one end of the spectrum are children will be honest almost no matter what. At the other end are children who will try to game the system, to get away with something. In the middle are a large group of children who are still forming their moral compass. If they see little down side to lying or cheating, they'll give it a try. (This kind of socialization is one reason some parents will homeschool their children.)
In the battle to teach children ethics and morals parents with children in public schools are fighting with one hand behind their back. They can win the battle, but they are handicapped. They are often doing damage control. Parents have to repair damage.
Our daughters do get exposure to the evils in the world, but it is low enough doses that they are still shocked by it. They are getting something like 90% positive input from us on the importance of being honest, hard working, moral, and so on. So the 10% negative has little impact.
Homeschooling allows parents to be very effective in the battle for their child's character.
(Update I - 5 Dec 08)
The Headmistress has some good thoughts on this issue. In Ethics Crisis in Nation's Youth she explores one of the reasons for the lack of honesty and integrity:
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In A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson writes that our culture has imbibed the harmful "assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. We assume that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently. Our attention spans have been conditioned by thirty-second commercials.
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As they say, read the whole post.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Joanne Jacobs in Professors vs. cheaters writes:
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Universities Wimp Out on Fighting Cheaters writes Greg Forster on Pajamas Media. Software makes it easy to catch plagiarists, he says. But the instructor is all alone in deciding what to do about it.
----------
Dr. Helen has a long post which asks Are teens more ethically-challenged now than in the past? One of her key points is
----------
Unethical behavior is often overlooked in our society today--there are few consequences for acts of lying, cheating or even stealing.
----------
The average child in public school spends six to seven hours a day in class. Additionally there is the travel time to and from school, the lunch break, and all the homework afterwards. Public schools have a huge influence on children. Currently in the United States many public schools do very little to teach or enforce honestly. Children routinely cheat, and there are few consequences.
At one end of the spectrum are children will be honest almost no matter what. At the other end are children who will try to game the system, to get away with something. In the middle are a large group of children who are still forming their moral compass. If they see little down side to lying or cheating, they'll give it a try. (This kind of socialization is one reason some parents will homeschool their children.)
In the battle to teach children ethics and morals parents with children in public schools are fighting with one hand behind their back. They can win the battle, but they are handicapped. They are often doing damage control. Parents have to repair damage.
Our daughters do get exposure to the evils in the world, but it is low enough doses that they are still shocked by it. They are getting something like 90% positive input from us on the importance of being honest, hard working, moral, and so on. So the 10% negative has little impact.
Homeschooling allows parents to be very effective in the battle for their child's character.
(Update I - 5 Dec 08)
The Headmistress has some good thoughts on this issue. In Ethics Crisis in Nation's Youth she explores one of the reasons for the lack of honesty and integrity:
----------
In A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson writes that our culture has imbibed the harmful "assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. We assume that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently. Our attention spans have been conditioned by thirty-second commercials.
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As they say, read the whole post.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Another interesting study - going to church is good for you
Study suggests attending religious services sharply cuts risk of death:
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A study published by researchers at Yeshiva University and its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, strongly suggests that regular attendance at religious services reduces the risk of death by approximately 20 percent. The findings, published in Psychology and Health, were based on data drawn from participants who spanned numerous religious denominations.
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Later the article had:
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The study adjusted for participation of individuals within communal organizations and group activities that promote a strong social life and enjoyable routines, behaviors known to lead to overall wellness. However, even after controlling for such behavior and other health-related factors, the improvements in morbidity and mortality rates exceeded expectations. "Interestingly, the protection against mortality provided by religion cannot be entirely explained by expected factors that include enhanced social support of friends or family, lifestyle choices and reduced smoking and alcohol consumption," said Dr. Schnall, who was lead author of the study. "There is something here that we don't quite understand. It is always possible that some unknown or unmeasured factors confounded these results," he added.
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It is possible that the kind of people who live longer tend to go to church.
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Technorati tags: mortality, church
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A study published by researchers at Yeshiva University and its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, strongly suggests that regular attendance at religious services reduces the risk of death by approximately 20 percent. The findings, published in Psychology and Health, were based on data drawn from participants who spanned numerous religious denominations.
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Later the article had:
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The study adjusted for participation of individuals within communal organizations and group activities that promote a strong social life and enjoyable routines, behaviors known to lead to overall wellness. However, even after controlling for such behavior and other health-related factors, the improvements in morbidity and mortality rates exceeded expectations. "Interestingly, the protection against mortality provided by religion cannot be entirely explained by expected factors that include enhanced social support of friends or family, lifestyle choices and reduced smoking and alcohol consumption," said Dr. Schnall, who was lead author of the study. "There is something here that we don't quite understand. It is always possible that some unknown or unmeasured factors confounded these results," he added.
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It is possible that the kind of people who live longer tend to go to church.
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Technorati tags: mortality, church
It is OK to be thankful all year long
From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
We should be thankful for the good things we have and, also, for the bad things we don't have.
- anonymous
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Technorati tags: thought, Dan Galvin
We should be thankful for the good things we have and, also, for the bad things we don't have.
- anonymous
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Technorati tags: thought, Dan Galvin
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
The truth about homeschooling
I enjoyed Steve Walden's story about the truth of homeschooling.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Down with the Four-Year College degree! Another nail in the coffin?
I've spent much of the last ten years looking into homeschooling because of the many defects in public school. My wife and I feel strongly that homeschooling is a better solution for most children.
Recently, as my oldest gets closer to college, I've started thinking about the value of a college degree.
A friend sent me a link a column also questioning the value of getting a BA. Charles Murray starts Down with the Four-Year College Degree! with:
"The proposition that I hereby lay before the house is that the BA degree is the work of the devil. It wreaks harm on a majority of young people, is grotesquely inefficient as a source of information for employers, and is implicated in the emergence of a class-riven America."
Pretty strong words, but he backs them up with many examples and arguments in his column. Dr. Murray sees great value in education, but argues that our current system of four years of advance education, whether the students learn or not, does a huge disservice to our children.
I value education, but given the choice between a piece of paper saying our daughters served their time of four years at some university, and a real education, I'd pick a real education. I expect that our daughters will go off to college, but I wonder if my grandchildren will experience a college equivalent of homeschooling.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Recently, as my oldest gets closer to college, I've started thinking about the value of a college degree.
A friend sent me a link a column also questioning the value of getting a BA. Charles Murray starts Down with the Four-Year College Degree! with:
"The proposition that I hereby lay before the house is that the BA degree is the work of the devil. It wreaks harm on a majority of young people, is grotesquely inefficient as a source of information for employers, and is implicated in the emergence of a class-riven America."
Pretty strong words, but he backs them up with many examples and arguments in his column. Dr. Murray sees great value in education, but argues that our current system of four years of advance education, whether the students learn or not, does a huge disservice to our children.
I value education, but given the choice between a piece of paper saying our daughters served their time of four years at some university, and a real education, I'd pick a real education. I expect that our daughters will go off to college, but I wonder if my grandchildren will experience a college equivalent of homeschooling.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
This is an early warning! You have five days to send in an entry to the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be held at: The Daily Planet.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
The Homeschool Blog Award Winners
I forget to check back. The 2008 Homeschool Blog Award winners have been announced.
I'm a bit amazed that there are so many homeschool blogs I don't recognize. Even with the Carnival of Homeschooling and all the Blogs that float through it, there are still many homeschool blogs I have never seen before.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
I'm a bit amazed that there are so many homeschool blogs I don't recognize. Even with the Carnival of Homeschooling and all the Blogs that float through it, there are still many homeschool blogs I have never seen before.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Are you rich? Or wealthy?
Exercise maybe be good for the brain
This is interesting, a study found that Exercise builds small blood vessels in brain:
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Exercise is known to help prevent cognitive decline and maintain the brain as people age, and now researchers think they know one reason why.
People who engaged in long-term, regular exercise had substantially more small blood vessels in their brains and more blood flow than people who performed little exercise over the years, according to a study presented Monday.
"Exercise increases the number of blood vessels in other parts of the body," said lead researcher Feraz Rahman of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. "What we didn't know is that it also affects the brain."
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Later in the article Rahman, one of the researchers is quoted as saying:
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"Other studies have shown that exercise prevents cognitive decline in the elderly," he said. "The blood vessel and flow differences may be one of the reasons. Aerobic exercise is a vital part of healthy aging."
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I haven't been running for a couple weeks. I guess I have to get out to burn off the turkey, and build some more small blood vessels.
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Technorati tags: health, exercise
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Exercise is known to help prevent cognitive decline and maintain the brain as people age, and now researchers think they know one reason why.
People who engaged in long-term, regular exercise had substantially more small blood vessels in their brains and more blood flow than people who performed little exercise over the years, according to a study presented Monday.
"Exercise increases the number of blood vessels in other parts of the body," said lead researcher Feraz Rahman of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. "What we didn't know is that it also affects the brain."
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Later in the article Rahman, one of the researchers is quoted as saying:
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"Other studies have shown that exercise prevents cognitive decline in the elderly," he said. "The blood vessel and flow differences may be one of the reasons. Aerobic exercise is a vital part of healthy aging."
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I haven't been running for a couple weeks. I guess I have to get out to burn off the turkey, and build some more small blood vessels.
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Technorati tags: health, exercise
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
A penny saved ...
From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
A penny saved is obviously the result of a government oversight.
-Gentle Lessons of Life
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Technorati tags: thought, Dan Galvin
A penny saved is obviously the result of a government oversight.
-Gentle Lessons of Life
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Technorati tags: thought, Dan Galvin
Check out the Blog Buzz Widget
Gary Davis does a great job with HomeschoolBuzz.com. He summarizes interesting news about homeschooling. He also provides a service called Homeschool Blog Buzz which gives brief summaries of the latest posts from various homeschool blogs. (This is a good place to go if you are looking for ideas for your next entry to the Carnival of Homeschooling. Hint! Hint!)
Gary has created a cool widget, the Blog Buzz Widget:
I was surprised by how easy it was to add to the template of my blogger. It took maybe five seconds. You can get the HTML code from here.
Go check it out.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Gary has created a cool widget, the Blog Buzz Widget:
I was surprised by how easy it was to add to the template of my blogger. It took maybe five seconds. You can get the HTML code from here.
Go check it out.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Late breaking news - Too much media exposure is bad for children
Google News had several dozen links to articles about a recent study which found that too much media exposure is bad for children. This was a study of 173 studies done over the last thirty years.
At one level it is nice to read this, but at another level I'm thinking didn't we hear this in the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s? At some point will most parents ever get it?
Reuters reports:
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The studies offered strong evidence that children who get more media exposure are more likely to become obese, start smoking and begin earlier sexual activity than those who spend less time in front of a screen, the researchers said.
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EfluxMedia has a scary statistic on how much exposure:
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Just to make an idea about how serious the situation is, the study found that the average modern child spends nearly 45 hours a week with television, movies, magazines, music, the Internet, cellphones and video games. By comparison, children spend 17 hours a week with their parents on average and 30 hours a week in school.
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Wow. Wow!
We have a few friends who gave up their television. At times I wonder if that is the smart move. We've limited our television watching to an hour or so a day. We don't have cable, because if we did we'd probably watch more, much more.
Update I - 2 Dec 08
I've tracked down an online summary of the study - Media + Child and Adolescent Health: A Systematic Review.
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Technorati tags: Yale, NIH, Television, Children, Families, Parenting
At one level it is nice to read this, but at another level I'm thinking didn't we hear this in the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s? At some point will most parents ever get it?
Reuters reports:
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The studies offered strong evidence that children who get more media exposure are more likely to become obese, start smoking and begin earlier sexual activity than those who spend less time in front of a screen, the researchers said.
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EfluxMedia has a scary statistic on how much exposure:
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Just to make an idea about how serious the situation is, the study found that the average modern child spends nearly 45 hours a week with television, movies, magazines, music, the Internet, cellphones and video games. By comparison, children spend 17 hours a week with their parents on average and 30 hours a week in school.
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Wow. Wow!
We have a few friends who gave up their television. At times I wonder if that is the smart move. We've limited our television watching to an hour or so a day. We don't have cable, because if we did we'd probably watch more, much more.
Update I - 2 Dec 08
I've tracked down an online summary of the study - Media + Child and Adolescent Health: A Systematic Review.
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Technorati tags: Yale, NIH, Television, Children, Families, Parenting
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up!
Silvia is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at her blog Po Moyemu--In My Opinion. She's broken the carnival up into general posts, education posts and family posts. There's a nice selection.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Monday, December 01, 2008
Another beautiful picture from APOD - the Tarantula Nebula
Joseph Brimacombe gave me permission to post his picture:
What a beautiful picture!
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day, Joseph Brimacombe, Tarantula Nebula
What a beautiful picture!
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day, Joseph Brimacombe, Tarantula Nebula
Paying more for an education than it is worth
A couple days ago millions of people in the United States when shopping on Black Friday. It is a time when many retailers offer great deals. People like good deals. Especially in this uncertain economic time, when it seems like we might be on the edge of greater financial stress.
The flip side of this is people don't like to be taken for a sucker. They don't want to over pay. People can get very angry when they realize they may have paid too much for a car or a computer. A few extra bucks is an annoyance. A few thousand more can rankle for years.
Marty Nemko claims to have found America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree. It is worth reading the whole column. I'll quote the start, just to get you hooked:
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Among my saddest moments as a career counselor is when I hear a story like this: "I wasn't a good student in high school, but I wanted to prove that I can get a college diploma. I'd be the first one in my family to do it. But it's been five years and $80,000, and I still have 45 credits to go."
I have a hard time telling such people the killer statistic: Among high-school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas eight and a half years later. That figure is from a study cited by Clifford Adelman, a former research analyst at the U.S. Department of Education and now a senior research associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Yet four-year colleges admit and take money from hundreds of thousands of such students each year!
Even worse, most of those college dropouts leave the campus having learned little of value, and with a mountain of debt and devastated self-esteem from their unsuccessful struggles. Perhaps worst of all, even those who do manage to graduate too rarely end up in careers that require a college education. So it's not surprising that when you hop into a cab or walk into a restaurant, you're likely to meet workers who spent years and their family's life savings on college, only to end up with a job they could have done as a high-school dropout
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Marty's point is that when the price of education climbs too high, we are being taking for suckers. His column is well worth reading.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
We have blogged in the past about the problem of rising cost. The key point is that the cost of higher education has been climbing twice as fast as inflation, for decades. I expect that we'll hit a tipping point when tens of thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands will stop going to expensive schools. I just wish I could figure out what the students will then do for their education. Long live the revolution.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
The flip side of this is people don't like to be taken for a sucker. They don't want to over pay. People can get very angry when they realize they may have paid too much for a car or a computer. A few extra bucks is an annoyance. A few thousand more can rankle for years.
Marty Nemko claims to have found America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree. It is worth reading the whole column. I'll quote the start, just to get you hooked:
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Among my saddest moments as a career counselor is when I hear a story like this: "I wasn't a good student in high school, but I wanted to prove that I can get a college diploma. I'd be the first one in my family to do it. But it's been five years and $80,000, and I still have 45 credits to go."
I have a hard time telling such people the killer statistic: Among high-school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas eight and a half years later. That figure is from a study cited by Clifford Adelman, a former research analyst at the U.S. Department of Education and now a senior research associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Yet four-year colleges admit and take money from hundreds of thousands of such students each year!
Even worse, most of those college dropouts leave the campus having learned little of value, and with a mountain of debt and devastated self-esteem from their unsuccessful struggles. Perhaps worst of all, even those who do manage to graduate too rarely end up in careers that require a college education. So it's not surprising that when you hop into a cab or walk into a restaurant, you're likely to meet workers who spent years and their family's life savings on college, only to end up with a job they could have done as a high-school dropout
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Marty's point is that when the price of education climbs too high, we are being taking for suckers. His column is well worth reading.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
We have blogged in the past about the problem of rising cost. The key point is that the cost of higher education has been climbing twice as fast as inflation, for decades. I expect that we'll hit a tipping point when tens of thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands will stop going to expensive schools. I just wish I could figure out what the students will then do for their education. Long live the revolution.
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