Fewer Students Are Going To College
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Category Archives: Education
US Schools Do Fine in International Rankings Except in Math
From US Schools Are Not Flunking Out:
“So the U.S. education system is actually doing fine in many areas and is not being outpaced by competitors. The one exception is math, where the U.S. really does underperform. Poor math education isn’t a problem for U.S. technological dominance; the country can always take in more skilled immigrants to fill engineering and research jobs that native-born workers can’t do. But it’s not fair for native-born Americans to be shut out of high-paying STEM jobs because of the low quality of the nation’s math education. The U.S. needs to do better.”
Why do US students do badly in math?
“It might simply be because the US directs more resources toward reading and verbal education to the detriment of quantitative skills. It stands to reason that if American kids can learn to read better than kids from Taiwan or Germany, then they’re smart enough to make up some of the gap in math. Another problem might be a culture that believes too much in the importance of inborn ability rather than hard work and persistence. Students often tend to view math as an intelligence test rather than a skill to be learned, causing anxiety that worsens their performance. Additionally, evidence suggests that more active student participation and the cultivation of a mathematical mindset are effective approaches. It’s also possible that U.S. math education has never fully recovered from a failed experiment in teaching methods in the 1960s and 1970s.”
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year
‘Time’ 2019 Person Of The Year
This Guy’s Our Commander-in-Chief?
These facial expressions are a little different than those we see among the people positioned behind Trump at his campaign rallies.
They look like they just learned their tour of duties have been extended by an extra Thanksgiving or two.
Tuesday Assorted Links
1. When your child’s an introvert.
2. Economic incentives don’t always do what we want them to. Heresy compliments of two Nobel Prize winners.
3. The happy, healthy capitalists of Switzerland. More cow bell.
4. The virtuous circle of product placement in Apple TV+ shows. Sigh.
5. Avoid burnout before you’re already burned out.
Okay Boomer
Tyler Cowen, ‘Ok Boomer’ Phrase Says More About The Kids Than Us’.
“My biggest worry about “OK Boomer” is the generational stereotyping it embodies. It wouldn’t be acceptable to baldly criticize older people simply for being old. So why is it OK to use a circumlocution that does the same thing? “You old fogeys don’t have a clue” is perhaps a more direct translation of the phrase, and I am not sure that the ostensibly greater politeness of “OK Boomer” is a virtue.”
From one 1962-er to another, cry me a river. I like Cowen, but can’t help but wonder if he even saw the original vid. The dude deserved everything he’s got. And if there’s some collateral damage, c’est la vie.
Sentence to Ponder
“One in four high schoolers and one in ten middle schoolers have tried vaping in the last 30 days, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey released today.”
From Vaping is still on the rise in high schools by Justine Calma of Slate.
“I Could Probably Go On”
The first year writing seminar is just past mid-semester. And somehow, despite the professor they were assigned, my first year writers have GOT IT. In place of the typical first year writer’s repeated use of the word “things” and other vague words and phrases, their third papers were peppered with specific details. That switch is almost universally positive. The exception? When they’re detailing their inner lives, like this student of mine, who gave me permission to share this with you.
“I can give a list of the things that are currently making me anxious in this moment: the anatomy test that I should be studying for (I got a 60% on it), if I’m going to pass my classes this semester, what classes I’m going to take next semester, if my friends really like me or just put up with me, the weight that I’m going to gain from the binge that I just had, if this essay is going to be any good, if I even want to go into nursing, what am I going to do with my life once I get out of college. I could probably go on but that was a long sentence as it is.”
My students seem fine on the surface, but as they get honest with themselves and me, I’m learning many are suffering in silence. Their willingness to share their stories with me is humbling.
All that I know to do is to assure them their feelings matter, a lot of their peers feel similarly, and I’m glad they’re in my seminar. Also, I encourage them to take advantage of the counseling available to them.
I don’t know if that’s enough.
