Sunday, March 7, 2010

This Week In Education

This Week In Education

Weekend Reading: The Problem With Peer Review

Fixing schools by firing teachers Salon:  You can't bulldoze a system and call it fixed.07teachers-art7-popup
Japanese princess bullied at elementary school Salon:  Japan's Princess Aiko, granddaughter of the emperor, has missed several days of classes because of bullying by boys at her elementary school, a spokesman for the royal family said Friday.
Police search for Oklahoma City principal’s attacker NewsOK.com:  The man attacked principal Brian Staples about 3:30 p.m. in the school’s parking lot, Oklahoma City School District spokeswoman Tierney Cook said.

Warning: Your reality is out of date  Boston Globe:  The arc of our educational system is to be treated as little generalists when children, absorbing bits of knowledge about everything from biology to social studies to geology. This might have been useful in decades past, but in our increasingly fast-paced and interdisciplinary world, lacking an even approximate knowledge of our surroundings is unwise.

Turning peer review into modern-day holy scripture Spiked:  Often, the colleagues they are reviewing and refereeing are their competitors and sometimes even their bitter rivals. The contradiction between working as a member of an expert community and one’s own personal interests cannot always be satisfactorily resolved.
A rare pact: Teens' double suicide rocks Pa. town Salon:  As the high-speed Acela train came thundering down the rails, a teenage girl screamed at her friends to get off the tracks.