Exercise is for the boys
This is also precisely why I've been avoiding the gym. Seriously, though, this part of the article is interesting:
Focus on the fundamentals
Over at City Journal, Stephen Malanga turns in a piece critical of Richard Florida's newest book, Who's Your City?
More narrowing of the curriculum!
Michael J. PetrilliWell, only if you consider Italian, French lit, Latin lit, and computer science part of the core curriculum.
No laughing matter for NCLB
Michael J. PetrilliHillary Clinton made news last night by appearing on Jay Leno and joking about coming under sniper fire in Burbank. But she also talked issues (this is Hillary Clinton after all) and mentioned that "I want to end the No Child Left Behind program because I don't think it's working the way it was promised." So how did Leno's audience react? Watch here (the action starts at about 6:11):
Should NAEP test lung capacity?
Coby LoupIn an article from the March 31 issue of the New Yorker (the piece doesn't seem to be available online at the moment), Peter Hessler reports on one family's rise to (relative) affluence in the small Chinese village of Sancha:
To have meaning or not to have meaning
Deciding such matters isn't easy. At the end of the day, though, California's court settlement is the right one.
"Local Control" Obama?
Michael J. PetrilliWhen I first started reading this Slate piece by Alexander Russo ("Chicago School Days: Obama's lackluster record on education"), I felt my head spinning.
Early morning, April 4
Michael J. PetrilliThis moving Washington Post op-ed is by the father of Amy Wilkins (Education Trust's V.P.) and helps to explain Amy's (and Ed Trust's) bona fides in the civi
Wherein Mike unwittingly admits that we don't need the government to impose accountability
Coby LoupIn the latest episode of Fordham Factor, Mike hypothesizes that the addition of a writing component to the SAT exam may be partly responsible for the recent rise in
John McCain ??? Teachers
Michael J. PetrilliAt his high school alma matter yesterday, John McCain made his first major education speech (not just the first in this campaign???the first in his life, as far as I can tell).
Report: British kids in 2008 are even more whiny than in 2007
Some 300,000 students in the U.K. have asked that their national examination scores be given "special consideration," i.e. additional points, because, for example, they had a fever on test day. The number of successful appeals has risen by 9 percent since last year.
More on paying kids in NYC
Regarding Coby's earlier post: A much-overlooked aspect of the "cash for grades" idea is that it might???and,
Yet another post on something from the New York Times
Coby LoupIn a recent Bloggingheads.tv video, Glenn Loury of Brown University and Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute discuss Mayor Bloomberg's "cash for grades" program.
This but not That
Spellings definitely thinks we should have a national way of calculating the number of dropouts.
Home Improvement, NCLB Edition
Michael J. PetrilliAt Slate, the University of Virginia's Jim Ryan offers a brilliant plan to fix No Child Left Behind. Why so brilliant? Well, he agrees with us; his to-do list looks a lot like ours:
Let's not talk about sex
The New York Times seems especially fascinated with smart kids who don't sleep with each other.
Vicious cycle
Eric OsbergThe New York Times reports today on the admissions crunch at Ivy League schools. Due to record numbers of applicants, Harvard's acceptance rate this year is down to a new low of 7.1 percent, and other schools are setting their own records as well. Why?
The New York Times thinks you're racist
Michael J. PetrilliAt least that was my takeaway from from??today's "Editorial Observer" column about Barack Obama's race speech.* Don't worry, the Times thinks I'm racist too, for I opposed the country's old-style welfare system.
Big News: Public employee unions don't like outsourcing
Michael J. PetrilliAnd in other shockers, environmentalists don't like NASCAR and feminists don't like Vegas.
The law behind the myths
Coby LoupIn Sunday's Washington Post, Fordham Institute president Chester E. Finn debunks five of the most common (and harmful) myths pervading debates over No Child Left Behind. Good stuff, and I'm not just saying that because he's my boss.
The New Apartheid
Increasing numbers of U.S. Muslims are opting for home schooling. It's a bad idea for one simple reason: They are segregating themselves from mainstream American society.
Sunshine State dark age
The evolution debate in Florida grows tiresome, and not only because Ben Stein--he of somnolent monotone--is now involved, but because it keeps reiterating the same, tired points albeit in different ways.