Is Every Single Subject Taught in High School a Mistake?
Is Every Single Subject Taught in High School a Mistake?
[image: bored.student] Artificial intelligence theorist and education reformer Roger Schank is no fan of the high school curriculum and he bets America's teens aren't either. Indeed, many kids hate school because what they're learning doesn't seem relevant to real life. Schank, author of *Teaching Minds: How Cognitive Science Can Save Our Schools*, has penned an op-ed for the *Washington Post* breaking down the uselessness of every single subject taught in high school. Schank calls chemistry "a complete waste of time" and says no one really needs "to know the elements of the perio... more »
'Girls Who Code' Graduates Its First Class
[image: girls.who.code] In his crowd-rocking speech at the Democratic National Convention, President Bill Clinton noted that "the old economy is not coming back. We've got to build a new one and educate people for those new jobs." Girls Who Code, the New York City-based nonprofit that launched last spring with the goal of ensuring teen girls from low-income backgrounds are ready for the tech economy is certainly part of that educational process and they're closing the computer science gender gap to boot. They just graduated their inaugural coding and tech bootcamp class of 20 girl... more »
Jimmy Kimmel's Back-to-School Prank Relies on Gender Stereotypes and Homophobia
[image: jimmy kimmel] Having a fresh outfit for the first day of school is a must, but what would you do if your parents suggested you wear something incredibly embarrassing instead? Catching the horrified reactions of kids being presented with terrible outfits on camera was the premise behind a recent prank from the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, "Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I Got My Kid a Horrible Back-to-School Outfit." Like most Kimmel pranks asking parents to send in video of their kids' reactions to "terrible, out of style, or embarrassing back to school outfits,"it straddled the line betwee... more »
Students Compete to Name Earth-Bound Asteroid
[image: asteroid] If orbiting projections prove correct, a couple hundred years from now the asteroid currently known as (101955) 1999 RQ36 has a pretty good chance of hitting Earth. Don't worry, death-by-asteroid isn't all doom and gloom. Thanks to a new contest inviting modern students to submit possible names for the asteroid, future generations will be referring to the impending destroyer of the planet with a much snazzier moniker. True, one of the astronomers who discovered (101955) 1999 RQ36 in September 1999 could probably do a decent job naming it. However, the contest spo... more »
Intermission: Campaign Ads Dating Back to 1952, All In One Place
*The Washington Post* has one of the most comprehensive breakdowns of who's spending what for what kind of message on your television airwaves this election cycle. But in the memory lane department, the folks over at The Museum of the Moving Image have assembled a wonderful archive of Presidential campaign ads dating back to 1952 in a collection they've called The Living Room Candidate. Here you'll see Johnson's ad implying that a Goldwater presidency would lead to nuclear destruction (look in the category "Fear"), one of the infamous Willie Horton ads (also in "Fear") that derai... more »
Introducing GOOD's "Back to School" Study Music Playlist #30DaysofGOOD
A few weeks back, we asked you to help us put together a "learning music" soundtrack as part of our 30 Days of GOOD: Back to School challenge. Your song recommendations were outstanding. We compiled our favorites as GOOD's "Back to School" Study Music Playlist. It includes songs about school, tracks that teach, and mellow music to study by. Check out the tracklist, then listen to it via the Spotify playlist we've created and embedded below. (If you don't use Spotify, please help us out by creating a version of this playlist on Rdio, YouTube, Grooveshark, etc., and sharing the link... more »
Don't Hate Will.i.am: He's STEM's Biggest Champ
[image: will.i.am] Still cursing Will.i.am for penning "My Humps"? You're probably not alone. Tuesday night critics on Twitter threw major shade at CNN for picking Will.i.am as one of their Democratic National Convention pundits. ESPN writer David Hale tweeted, "MSNBC: great speeches! FOX: bad speeches! CNN: 'We're here with pop star Will I Am for his thoughts...' *sigh*." Well, folks can hate all they want but in his post-DNC commentary on Tuesday night, the Black Eyed Peas frontman used his time in the spotlight to talk about why science, technology, engineering, and math is so c... more »
Is Going to College in China the Wave of the Future?
[image: chinese.prof] A semester studying in China to sharpen your Mandarin skills has become a smart move for college students with an eye on the international job market. Now growing numbers of students are heading to China for the long haul and enrolling in both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Peking University in particular has seen a veritable boom in international student enrollment. This year about 900 new international students enrolled in degree programs, with roughly 400 enrolling in undergraduate programs, 400 in master's degree programs and 75 pursuing docto... more »
Interactive Infographic: Student Debt in America
*This infographic is a collaboration between GOOD and Other Means**, with support from MTV* As the election season kicks off, GOOD and MTV want to cut past all the blustering, pontificating, and finger pointing to get to the heart of some of the most important issues that America is facing today. Join us every other Wednesday for the next two months, when we'll be graphically exploring through interactive infographics what goes behind the nation's key issues. Last time, we looked at energy independence and job creation. This week's issue explores a pressing problem for students ... more »
Laid Off Finance Manager Finds Her Calling Teaching Middle School
Getting laid off is never an easy pill to swallow, but for former New York City financial services manager Danielle Coulanges, it proved to be the push she needed to finally pursue a meaningful career: teaching. Coulanges used part of her severance package to go back to school and earn a teaching credential. Now Coulanges has found her calling teaching French to middle schoolers in Houston. Coulanges is part of a hot trend of new teachers who are career changers. Like former *USA Today* sportswriter Steve Wieberg who recently left the paper to become a high school English teach... more »
Can Reality TV Convince Students to Become Scientists?
If Snooki had been down with science, technology, engineering, or math instead of GTL, would reality television-watching students be flocking to STEM majors? "ChemLab Boot Camp", a new reality show from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology won't exactly have the drunken shenanigans of the Jersey Shore star, but the online series which will follow "14 MIT freshmen as they face the challenges of learning chemistry the MIT way," hopes to soften STEM by following the students' pursuit of highly coveted jobs in campus research labs. If high school students see becoming involve... more »
Thinkering: Mobile Maker Lab Hits the Road To Find High Demand
While budget cuts leave schools struggling to fill classrooms with bare essentials—including paper and ink—it’s a challenge for many teachers to bring creative activities into the classroom. To fill this void, in zooms SparkTruck, a DIY modern crafters' fantasy on wheels. This educational build-mobile arrives filled with an arsenal of paints, cardboard, adhesive googly eyes, craft feathers, glue guns, sewing machines, 3D printers, and even a laser cutter. The SparkTruck is touring schools across the country, on a mission to put the spotlight on hands-on learning. The creators of ... more »
Psst, Student Innovators: The World's Biggest Tech Competition Wants You
[image: imagine.cup] Student innovators, start your engines. Registration's now open for Microsoft's annual Imagine Cup, the world's biggest technology competition for students. Entering its 11th year, the competition invites high school and college students to use their tech skills to solve the world's biggest problems. Student teams from around the globe have created everything from a smartphone app that diagnoses malaria to an app that reduces food wasteby connecting leftover meals from restaurants with homeless shelters. Although the talent demonstrated by the 1.65 million stud... more »
Artful Thinking: Maryland Middle School Proves Arts Ed Improves Grades and Behavior
Arts exposure makes students more altruistic, civically engaged, and socially tolerant. Need more proof of the transformation that happens when arts education is taken seriously in schools? Look no further than this inspiring profile of Bates Middle School, a public school in Annapolis, Maryland from our friends over at Edutopia. Bates has a full visual and performing arts program integrated across the curriculum and they've seen significant improvements in student behavior and academic performance. Since 2009 the school has seen a 23 percent drop in suspensions and student rea... more »