Category Archives: Education

April 13, 2012

Did you get rejected by Stanford? Are you a liberal arts major, or what the techies would call a “fuzzy”? Then you might have what it takes to master CS221: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. Then again, you might not, but it … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Technology

January 11, 2012

Forestry, First Aid, Archery…and Basic HTML? Web-based educational institutions are experimenting with a “badge” system for student accomplishment “inspired by Boy Scout achievement patches and video-game power-ups.” Will this upstart movement end the tyranny of the degree?

Posted in Education

December 22, 2011

The litany of flaws with No Child Left Behind usually omits an important one: how it harms academically gifted students.

Posted in Education

December 9, 2011

The Khan Academy’s 1.4 million registered users are logging in to learn math and science; Khan and his cohorts, meanwhile, are learning how these users learn.

Posted in Education

November 14, 2011

Former Derrida acolytes look back on their dalliance with with oddly seductive Frenchman, rereading with embarrassment (and nostalgia) the absurd academic confections that seemed so powerful back then. Fortunately, most eventually learn the virtue of a simple sentence, and the … Continue reading

Posted in Arts & Literature, Education

The grown daughter of home-schooling anarchists gives a poor grade to her parents’ radical experiment. In an unapologetic retort, her mother urges today’s parents to reject (or at least undermine) formal education.

Posted in Education

November 9, 2011

How to sum up the state of the higher ed bubble in the U.S.? “Never was so much owed by so many with so little to show for it.”

Posted in Education

October 27, 2011

For school administrators, clashing parenting philosophies can make even non-religious holidays like Halloween fraught with controversy. A sense of humor probably helps.

Posted in Culture, Education

October 26, 2011

Student loan defaults are at a record high, and the nation currently holds more student loan debt than credit card debt. Calls for student loan forgiveness ignore the fact that the creation of federally subsidized student loans was a disastrous … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Policy, Education

October 18, 2011

Explaining the student-loan racket, in infographic form.

Posted in Education

September 28, 2011

A surgeon can readily hire a coach to improve his tennis swing, but not his skills in the operating room. Fortunately, coaches aren’t just for athletes and musicians anymore.

Posted in Culture, Education

September 21, 2011

Efforts to close the achievement gap in secondary education have become a moral crusade that blinds policymakers to the social and fiscal costs of their reforms. It’s uncomfortable to admit, but overwhelming focus on the poorest and lowest-achieving children has … Continue reading

Posted in Education