The Beloit College Mindset List has become an annual tradition, listing the things that each new collegiate class has known (or will never know). You can see the list for the class of 2013 here. The class of 2020 (for those educated in Texas) is going to have some unique firsts, and may require their own separate list based on the revisions approved in accordance to far-right revisions of history by the Texas Board of Education, perhaps sourced from Conservapedia.
Education
4
Jan 10
Education Policy Disagreements in My Household
My wife – a special education school teacher – and I have a bit of a policy disagreement regarding teacher merit pay.
Most can agree that our Education System is broken (see anything by John Taylor Gatto) and some sort of reform is necessary (even if it rankles some of the President’s core constituents). Sometimes that change can only be motivated through monetary incentives. On the macro-level, I can see the potential benefits. On the micro-level, it’s likely that her students may not ever achieve sufficiently for her to earn said bonuses.
19
Dec 09
A Tale of Two Ivies
One of the more frustrating things about Obama’s economic team and policy has been the use of the same advisors who contributed to the conditions that made the Great Recession possible (Geithner, Summers, etc.).
Some schools, such as the University of Pennsylvania, saw the changing and challenging economic environment and shifted their investments accordingly. An earlier email by Penn President Amy Gutman (via Business Insider) detailed the investment strategy and operating cost-containment measures:
11
Dec 09
What Climategate and Copenhagen are really about…
In a nutshell (Jeff McMahon at True/Slant):
[US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke] said unparalleled economic growth occurred in the 20th Century because of two factors: access to cheap, abundant fossil fuels and ignorance or disregard for the fact that those fuels produced greenhouse gas pollution that caused global warming. Both of those factors, he said, belong to history.
“Those days are over,” Locke said moments ago in Copenhagen. “What’s required is nothing less than completely redesigning the way we produce and consume energy…. We’re talking about creating an entirely new model of economic growth.”The world has spent a century investing in petroleum infrastructure, Locke said: refineries, pipelines, stations.
9
Jul 09
Student Loan Relief for Some
A federal law went into effect this month that allows people to adjust student-loan payments based on their income. The program limits monthly payments to 15 percent of the difference between the debtor’s income and 150 percent of the federal poverty guideline.
After 25 years of qualifying payments, any remaining debt could be forgiven.
12
Dec 08
I never considered having to teach my kids that ‘Annie’ was a documentary…
Presented in honor of the GOP torching the economy.
7
Mar 08
WTF? University Punishes Collaboration Over Facebook?
Student at Ryerson College in Toronto runs a Facebook study group – professor finds it, changes his grade from B to F, school recommends expulsion! Someone is ignoring the changing of rules of the online world! In this case, the University is PUNISHING collaborative problem solving!
First-year student Chris Avenir is fighting charges of academic misconduct for helping run an online chemistry study group via Facebook last term, where 146 classmates swapped tips on homework questions that counted for 10 per cent of their mark.
6
Dec 07
Organizational Politics and Power in Film
I have to present a film clip demonstrating Organizational Politics and Power in film. I'm intentionally excluding the low hanging fruit, like A Few Good Men. Most of the references in the academic literature also refer to 12 Angry Men, so that one is out. I was hoping to find something with an easily accessible clip online. The film I'd most like to use is The Caine Mutinty, but I can neither find a relevant online clip or an accessible hard copy.
28
Nov 07
Kindling?
Some of the people I read have love for the (Amazon) Kindle , whilst others bring the hate or at least skepticism . After skimming this rather comprehensive review via arstechnica , I'm having a hard time justifying as more than a solution in search of a problem.
I don't read enough to justify the purchase of one and prefer to get my RSS and web content on LoFi less-is-more devices such as my phone (a quite battered Nokia 3650 ), PDA (Dell Axim x50v ), or via Google Reader (either in the full application, via iGoogle, or the mobile version). At the very least, $399 gets you a cheap (in both senses of the word) laptop, or an OLPC for you and someone else (or an ASUS EEEPC) . The core advantage here is the free (but limited) EVDO wireless service for book and content delivery which is included in the purchase price. An EVDO wireless plan is typically worth ~$20-100 per month if bundled with your cell phone service, for comparison sake.
I don't know if it's part of Amazon's plan (and if it isn't, it should be), but I wonder if they have contemplated using Kindle for academic textbook delivery? It seems like a good complement.
