Rethinking Education
Whatever one thinks of the state of public education, it isn’t uncommon for them to think that some things should change
In the past few months, I have read of the poor academic results of undergrads and graduates in the education faculties being a root cause of high dropout rates and low test results.
Charles Murray, author of “The Bell Curve,” offered a series of essays recently discussing the prioritization of education resources based on the IQ of students and how post secondary institutions ought to be reformed.
Ezra Klein at Media Conspiracy, trashes the approach, with glee and many links to Murray’s so called sordid conservative past and bias, without, of course, declaring his own.
The comments at Ezra’s post are telling as readers offer examples of breakthroughs with one on one tutoring in inner city schools. Interestingly, he and his commentors inexplicably argue for the status quo.
That is, their status quo, their vision of progressive education. The same under performing system that can’t stem drop out rates and favors affirmative action that gets minorities into college, but can’t graduate them.
Puzzles and Mysteries
Happy New Year!
Well I have been most inattentive to blogging for some time now. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy observing and researching the blogosphere, books, periodicals and newspapers [quite possibly my favorite “dead tree media.”] And I have been having a life throughout the Christmas break!
Recently, Malcom Gladwell wrote a book titled “Blink” which has convinced me to be more decisive and go with my first decisions. And so the moment I read it, I resolved to link to his article in The New Yorker.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that it is easier to use information to obscure something you desire to be hidden than it might be to actually withhold some damning fact.
In any case, please read the longish piece mainly about Enron, but it is more than that. Here follows an excerpt:
In “Conspiracy of Fools,” Eichenwald convincingly argues that Andrew Fastow, Enron’s chief financial officer, didn’t understand the full economic implications of the deals, either, and he was the one who put them together.
“These were very, very sophisticated, complex transactions,” says Anthony Catanach, who teaches accounting at the Villanova University School of Business and has written extensively on the Enron case. Referring to Enron’s accounting firm, he said, “I’m not even sure any of Arthur Andersen’s field staff at Enron would have been able to understand them, even if it was all in front of them. This is senior-management-type stuff. I spent two months looking at the Powers report, just diagramming it. These deals were really convoluted.”
Blink @amazon