“Our kids, who already face enormous pressure in life, should never be subjected to state-sponsored violence while in school. For this young girl, Spring Valley High School should’ve been a refuge.”
Source: KING: S.C. teen assaulted by deputy is a recent orphan – NY Daily News
“In our constantly developing world, we have to learn to adapt to change. The fact that we are so dependent on the internet is scary. But the fact that you, as an adult, are struggling to keep up with us and the internet, does not give you the right to say that the way we are learning and growing up and socialising is wrong and we need to go back to how you used to write letters to your friends or call them using the home telephone. Neither way of living and socialising is better, just very different, which I think is the main cause of the older generation not tolerating the use of our phones.”
Source: Dear old people: why should I turn off my phone?
Anecdotally, I’ve always found that it’s the people / teachers / ministers etc who complain the most about “young kids always being on their phones” that leave their phones’ ringers on (at full volume) and have no problem answering a call (after a few rings, of course) and having a very loud conversation despite the context or their situation.
Teachers who aim to control students’ behavior—rather than helping them control it themselves—undermine the very elements that are essential for motivation: autonomy, a sense of competence, and a capacity to relate to others.
Source: What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong? | Mother Jones
Must read for parents, teachers, students, and most everyone else.
I was always in the 900’s as a kid and teenager…
000 – General works, Computer science and Information
100 – Philosophy and psychology
200 – Religion
300 – Social sciences
400 – Language
500 – Pure Science
600 – Technology
700 – Arts & recreation
800 – Literature
900 – History & geography
Then I got to Yale and they used the Library of Congress system and I was all sorts of messed up for a few months.
And now we have Google. Better?
In some ways yes, in some ways no. Cataloging knowledge has been a human pursuit since the beginnings of writing in Sumeria. I wonder if we will keep turning that over to the algorithms or if whatever some kid in a basement is working on now that will eventually replace Google will return us to human curated cataloging of knowledge?
As I wait, I sympathize: So many things distract them — the gym, text messages, rush week — and often campus culture treats them as customers, not pupils. Student evaluations and ratemyprofessor.com paint us as service providers.
Source: What’s the Point of a Professor? – NYTimes.com
vs
There’s plenty wrong with higher ed, no one’s doubting that, but don’t miss the target. Don’t distract from the real work that needs to be done by pedantically lecturing at the people actually doing it. Don’t begin with an idealized example and then scorn any deviations from it. Life is messier outside the campus fence; teach the students you have instead of pining for the ones you want. Use your privileged position and voice for what we really need in order for professors to matter: condemn the adjunctification of higher education. Hell, treat your own adjunct faculty with fairness and dignity
Source: I Will Not Be Lectured To. I’m Too Busy Teaching – The Tattoed Professor
One of my favorite memories during my oh so short time at the “Kingdom of the Just” (copyright Prof. Ben Dunlap) otherwise known as Wofford College was the interactions I frequently had with amazing professors such as Prof. Mount, Prof. Cobb, Prof. Bullard, Prof. Bayard, Prof. Barrett, Prof. Revels both inside and especially outside of class.
Wofford made me the person I am. Those interactions shaped who I am. Professors matter. Much more than professors will ever know.
Comedian Stephen Colbert announced Thursday that he would fund every existing grant request South Carolina public school teachers have made on the education crowdfunding website DonorsChoose.org.
Source: Stephen Colbert funds $800,000 in grants for South Carolina public school teachers
Compare that to this.
I was sad to see no requests from my home county, which is frequently ignored by our state government.
Regardless, good marketing for DonorsChoose!
I’m doing more podcasting over at Thinking.FM in 2015.
There, I wrote it so I have to do it.
ThinkingDaily will be going back strong as of January 1st. I hope you’ll listen.
As a part of that, I was asked by Elisabeth Kauffman and Merianna Neely Harrelson to join them on their awesome Thinking Out Loud podcast. They talk about reading, writing, books, and the business of publishing every week and it’s one of my favorite podcasts (and I listen to a lot of podcasts). This one was really fun and a fast paced listen. We talk about Kindles, the philosophy of reading, leisure time, and pros/cons of this very ancient practice. You should go listen.
I’m excited to be doing more of this next week 🙂
Soylent Green is people (but seriously, this looks terrible)!
Students have posted their photos of mystery slop and scant portions after Mrs Obama spearheaded the United State Department of Agriculture’s "Let’s Move!" initiative to crackdown on obesity by reducing fat, simple sugars and salt in school food.
Fun Sesame Street video from the 80’s, but I wonder how kids today would answer that last question… “can a computer think?”
Hadn’t seen this before but lots of good information for those educational institutions pondering Chromebooks and accessories…
CDW Chromebook Solutions Guide.
