Shame is not the solution
The following article is by Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for the New York Times.
LAST week, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that teachers’ individual performance assessments could be made public. I have no opinion on the ruling as a matter of law, but as a harbinger of education policy in the United States, it is a big mistake.
I am a strong proponent of measuring teachers’ effectiveness, and my foundation works with many schools to help make sure that such evaluations improve the overall quality of teaching. But publicly ranking teachers by name will not help them get better at their jobs or improve student learning. On the contrary, it will make it a lot harder to implement teacher evaluation systems that work.
In most public schools today, teachers are simply rated “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory,” and evaluations consist of having the principal observe a class for a few minutes a couple of times each year. Because we are just beginning to understand what makes a teacher effective, the vast majority of teachers are rated “satisfactory.” Few get specific feedback or training to help them improve.
Read the full article on the New York Times here: Shame is not the solution.
The 5 weirdest reasons we have sex (according to science)
The following article is from cracked.com.
Long before you tasted the wonders of sex or the body parts that have to do with sex, you (hopefully) tasted the inside of another person's mouth (if not, you should probably get off Cracked and finish your pre-algebra homework, sonny). But have you ever stopped in the middle of a deep kiss and said, "Wait a second, why the hell are we doing this?"
Would you disown your gay son?
We are pretty open about our oldest son's sexuality. He is almost 18 and has been "out" for about 3 1/2 years. We are not part of any support groups, though we (with his consent) have never hidden this from anyone. We have told our parents, friends, etc. Corey doesn't yell it from the rooftops, but I think that is more about how he is than the fact that he is ashamed or embarrassed. He just isn't a hugely vocal young man... well, about certain things he is!
Should universities teach alternative medicine?
WE LIVE in the most scientific of ages but you wouldn't know it. Medicine was once the preserve of the barber-surgeon. Treatment was anything but evidence-based, bloodletting was fashionable, and if you escaped without major infection you did well.
That was centuries ago. Modern medicine has mostly weeded superstition and folklore from its treatments, and relies on practices forged through the rigour of the scientific method.
What teachers really want to tell parents
Today, new teachers remain in our profession an average of just 4.5 years, and many of them list "issues with parents" as one of their reasons for throwing in the towel. Word is spreading, and the more negativity teachers receive from parents, the harder it becomes to recruit the best and the brightest out of colleges.
So, what can we do to stem the tide? What do teachers really need parents to understand?
Academic freedom is alive in Singapore
Walker Vincoli’s argument (“No student freedom at NUS,” Jan. 26) that Singapore is a totalitarian state unreceptive to the values necessary for a liberal arts education is founded in a flawed ideology of American exceptionalism. It is founded in the idea that Americans have a right to demand changes of others when it suits us and that we should be the models for such change. Vincoli’s portrayal of Singapore and NUS relies on merely a surface reading of Singaporean state and society.
Singapore fights a tide of warming
A 15-kilometre stretch of crisp white beach is one of the key battlegrounds in Singapore's campaign to defend its hard-won territory against rising sea levels linked to climate change.
Stone breakwaters are being enlarged on the low-lying island state's man-made east coast and their heights raised. Barges carrying imported sand top up the beach, which is regularly breached by high tides.
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