Immersion vs. Bilingual Education
In the City Journal, Heather Mac Donald has an interesting article showing how California’s 1998 ban on bilingual education (a referendum initiative that passed despite the opposition of most of the...
View ArticlePaul Samuelson, Ave Atque Vale
Paul Samuelson has died, at the age of 94. From the New York Times obituary: In receiving the Nobel Prize in 1970, Mr. Samuelson was credited with transforming his discipline from one that ruminates...
View ArticleDoes Hayek Belong in High School Economics Classes?
At the Freakonomics blog, economist Justin Wolfers criticizes a recent Texas Board of Education effort to include the work of F.A. Hayek in high school economics classes. He sees it as a “conservative”...
View ArticleHow President Obama is bringing real education reform to Colorado
Today is the final day of the 2010 Colorado legislature, and cautious optimists are looking forward to final passage of Senate Bill 191, a dramatic reform of Colorado’s tenure system for public school...
View ArticleTaking the Washington Post to School
[NOTE: READ UPDATES BELOW] Today’s Washington Post features a story by Michael Birnbaum on the controversial new Texas social studies standards. As characterized by the Post, the standards sound quite...
View ArticleThe Bernardine Dohrn of the early 20th century: The terrorist professor at U...
My DU colleague Thomas Russell, who used to teach at the University of Texas Law school, has a written a paper, available on SSRN, which urges the University of Texas Law School to rename Simkins Hall,...
View ArticleProposals for Increasing Student Achievement
Stuart Buck has two interesting proposals for increasing educational achievement among minority students, based on his book Acting White: The Ironic Legacy of Desegregation: I do suggest one idea that...
View ArticleDebating the Signaling Model of Education
At Econlog, GMU economist Bryan Caplan and Princeton economist Bill Dickens have been debating the signaling model of education. See this post for Bryan’s most recent contribution and links to earlier...
View ArticleA “Generation of Nincompoops”?
AP writer Beth Harpaz worries that we are raising “a generation of nincompoops” because modern technology has obviated the need for kids to learn basic mechanical skills: Are we raising a generation of...
View ArticleShould We Teach Kids to Play to Win?
Political scientist Barry Rubin has an interesting column criticizing the modern tendency to teach kids that playing to win is bad: My son is playing on a local soccer team which has lost every one of...
View ArticleROI for Law School
Probably many readers have seen this New York Times article, offering a lengthy and well-reported analysis in the Business Pages by David Segal of whether law school is a worthwhile investment. The...
View ArticleJohn McWhorter on Efforts to Remove the “N Word” from Huckleberry Finn
Last week, co-blogger Jonathan Adler noted the publication of a new edition of Huckleberry Finn that replaces all of the book’s many uses of the word “nigger” with “slave” in order to make it more...
View ArticleAre Our Students Educated?
Are students learning anything in college? The research of NYU sociologist suggests that, at least for a sizable portion of undergraduates, the answer is “no.” Here are reports on Arum’s work from...
View ArticleCampus Carry passes Texas Senate
As an amendment to a broader bill on education. Details here, from the Austin American-Statesman. Campus carry already passed the House as a stand-alone bill, so it seems likely that the House will...
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The Education Bubble
The Atlantic‘s Daniel Indiviglio highlights the enormous growth in student loan debt over the past twelve years. Indiviglio comments: This chart looks like a mistake, but it’s correct. Student loan...
View ArticleCan the Education Department Place Conditions on NCLB Waivers?
This past week, the Department of Education announced it would allow states to obtain waivers under the No Child Left Behind Act, but “would set a “high bar on flexibility.”. (HT: Neal McCluskey)...
View ArticleIt’s Deja Vu all Over Again
Remember how George W. Bush crafted an education “compromise” with Sen. Edward Kennedy and other leading Democrats? The federal government would significantly increase its spending on education, and in...
View ArticleKeeping Wolverines Out of Oklahoma City Schools
USA Today reports that a boy in an Oklahoma City kindergarten was required to turn his t-shirt inside-out because it violated state policy concerning appropriate school attire. Cooper Barton, 5, comes...
View ArticleThat’s Some Poetic License
From 25 Spanish Plays for Emergent Readers (K-1, Scholastic), an item from a play about planets: Neptuno: Yo soy Neptuno. Nunca estoy solo. ¡Mi pequeño amigo Pluton esta a mi lado todo el tiempo! I’m...
View ArticleEducation and Voting Rights for Knowledgeable Children
In response to my post arguing that we should grant voting rights to politically knowledgeable children, Paul Horwitz of Prawfsblawg makes the following suggestion: What spurred this post is Ilya...
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