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Prison and College: California’s Ridiculous Priorities
The University of California is an awesome institution. Its ten campuses give 150,000 college students a high-quality public education every year and UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Boalt Hall can compete with any super-expensive private school on quality and reputation. UC Davis is largely responsible for California’s fantastic wine, and for some reason UCLA is crazy famous in Asia. It’s a model for public higher education. But the University of California has been getting less awesome because… -
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New School: How the Web Liberalized Liberal Arts Education
A look at what the internet is doing for learning, curiosity, and creativity outside the traditional classroom. The average cost of a Bachelor’s degree at a public, four-year liberal arts university is $26,340. At a private one, it’s $100,520, and the Ivy League commands more than $160,000. And while the value of education is universally indisputable, the emergence of new online tools and platforms has challenged its price tag, empowering us to take charge of our own… -
Elite University Starts Schooling Prison Inmates
Well this is something: Wesleyan, one of the country’s more elite schools, has started a program where inmates in a nearby high-security prison can take some of its classes. Not dumbed-down versions either, thank god: these are real, academically rigorous, competitive-to-get-into college classes. Whether the credits can add up to a degree depends on how long the program lasts. I seriously hope they get it together to keep this program in place and funded, because education… -
Are Too Many People Going to College?
Great discussion over at Chronicle of Higher Education about who should and should not go to college, and whether the model at most universities is serving students and, well, worth the money. They asked the same couple of questions to nine higher education experts and the responses fell into two predictable camps. Camp one: Postsecondary education is a practical necessity that everyone should pursue and have access to. Sample quote from Daniel Yankelovich, a public-policy expert: “In today’s… -
Pile of Empty Beer Cartons Evolves into Open Air Library
I would love to see a community library like this in Los Angeles! “What began as an assemblage of 1,000 empty beer cartons pulled together by residents in East Germany has now evolved into an incredible open air public library. Designed by Karo Architekten in collaboration with local residents, the grassroots project revitalizes a post-industrial district in Magdeburg, Germany by creating a cultural center and pop-up library where books are free to take and leave 24… -
The Kids Are All Right
Ten9Eight, a new documentary by Mary Mazzio, looks at how turning kids into budding businesspeople may be the antidote to the dropout crisis. When President Obama delivered his stay-in-school speech, reminding students for the umpteenth time that they can’t all grow up to be rappers and basketball players, he caused a stir. It sparked overblown controversy, but it also brought into the national conversation the fact that every year, 1.2 million kids drop out of school—or, one… -
New Rules for Obama’s School Funding
After some criticism about their plans for the Rise to the Top program of grants to state education programs, the Obama administration has changed the rules, though relaxed is perhaps a better word. One main change is that states can now demonstrate that they have used innovations other than charter schools to alter the public education system; the emphasis on charter schools had bothered some people, including a few governors who will be applying for the… -
A School That Deserves Extra Credit
What the educational outpost on the site of the old Ambassador Hotel can teach Los Angeles about learning, public space, and community. Schools in Los Angeles are getting lots of attention lately. You might have heard of Steve Barr, a sort of educational desperado, whose Green Dot Schools wrested away several poorly-performing schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District and transformed them into educational powerhouses. But what Barr did for these communities is far more than that.… -
Happy 40th Sesame Street
Sesame Street turned 40 yesterday. Here’s a clip from the show of Grover and a kid exploring the essence of marriage. I think they hit all the most important points. Keep up the good work, guys. Via Boing Boing. … -
Which State Has the Worst School System?
There’s a lot of focus right now on innovation in education: how to support it nationally, how to find smart local solutions that can work at scale, how to get our schools out of the gutter, quite simply. And since sometimes it’s helpful to know what’s wrong in order to figure out how to make it right, a handy new report—which is utterly depressing—might provide some clues. Some states fared okay; others totally bombed. How…
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Education
How can we make sure that everyone can learn the things that will allow them to improve their lives, and the lives of those around them?
