How Are Students Doing? Why Not Just Ask Them?

Want to know what students think about their lives and futures. Why not just ask them? A Gallup survey just did, and hopes to follow said students for a longitudinal study.

Three Gems

From Calvin...

Give Up On College Prep

It's an old debate. The "progressives" say that everyone should receive a college-prep education. The conservatives say that not everyone is cut out for that, and some would be better served with vocational training. Over the course of US history, as Diane Ravitch has pointed out (critical review here), the pendulum has swung back and forth. Looks like Louisiana has made some tough decisions on this issue. (What relevance does this have for Jewish day schools, where almost all students are college bound?)

An Urgent (but Funny) Wake Up Call

I know so many teachers suffering from this ailment, and I'm glad to see that nationwide steps are being taken to remedy the severe problem. The Onion "reports."

How the Brain Works

The Wall Street Journal reviews a book in which a neuro-psychologists tries to explain how understanding the brain's function can improve education. Sounds like he is a bit of an educational neo-conservative: back to basics, less "multiple intelligences," more review. So I wonder whether this is neuroscience or neuroscience mixed with educational ideology.

Eating Disorders Go Mainstream

I had hear of pro-anorexia (pro-Ana) websites, but Newsweek reports that sufferers are increasingly coming out of the closet and gonig mainstream, posting their real names and links to their real facebook pages, as they celebrate their eating disorders.

The End of Overparenting

In the past, self-proclaimed parenting experts made us neurotic by telling us all the things we were not donig properly or not doing enough up. Now, ironies of ironies, the new batch of experts will make us neurotic by telling us we are not chilling out enough. As long as parents are neurotic, I supposed all is well with the world. (For more on overparenting, see here)

What's Orthodox Life Really Like on Campus?

The answer depends on who you ask. Check out the mahloket between a Maryland student and her counterpart at York in the most recent Jewish Action.

Thinking the Right Thing to Do

As Torah teachers, we have a lot invested in the idea that we can teach texts and ideas that will help make people better. Does it really work that way? Can we "think" our way to goodness? At least one author is not so sure. Food for thought.

Measuring School Climate

Everyone knows that there is such a thing as school climate, but sometimes people in the same school at the same time asses it very differently. Here is some information on a tool to measure climate carefully. I particularly liked the way the authors break down school climate into its component parts.

Book Week

Once again, Israel is celebrating "Book Week," an ongoing, nationwide, open-air book fest. In honor of this unique cultural event, we bring you links to ATID's catalog of books and resources for Jewish education, either on Amazon or from our office.

A Bargain at $200,000

Why spend $200,000 for a essentially useless BA at a top notch university, when you can get a reasonable education at a local community college for a fraction of the cost? One day supply and demand will kick in and alter how we think about undergraduate education.

How (Not) To Fix American Education

You thought that education is about thought, meaning, vision, passion for ideas. Think again. Actually its about spending as much money as the (for profit) Univeristy of Phoenix on advertising, about using hard-sell techniques to manipulate uninspired kids to show up, or about forcing indifferent kids to spend yet another year in high school (can you imagine the resources wasted on two senior years?).

Don't Bother Being a Good Parent

Have self-proclaimed parenting experts put too much pressure on parents to be perfect? Perhaps it doesn't matter all that much.

More Bad News for Homework

Yet another report that says that homework doesn't help much (beside being boring and annoying, for both kids and parents alike). Also see our posts here and here.

Unaffordable College Education

While the Orthodox community is sweating over the cost of day school tuition, much of the rest of the country is trying to figure out how to pay for college. Public Agenda surveys a series of stakeholders about their take on the current higher-education financial crunch.