Sep 9, 2008
Posted | 0 comments
There’s a lot going around re: the 21st century global economy - part myth, part truth, part sense, part insanity. I’ve written several times on the film Two Million Minutes and responded to a few articles about education and the global economy.
The Teaching Company just sent the following bulletin which offers a free video lecture about China, India and the 21st century economy. My experience with TTC has been excellent, and their free lectures are top quality. I’d recommend them to anyone.
There is substantial interest in the future of the global economy because of the rising influence of rapidly growing countries like China and India. As a thank you for being our customer, here is a specially commissioned video lecture on the future of the global economy: Will China and India Dominate the 21st-Century Global Economy? delivered by award-winning Professor Lee Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon University.
Economists predict that China and India are set to dominate the 21st-century global economy and become the new engines that drive economic growth. But how will this transition affect the standing of the United States within the global economy? What are some of the challenges that the United States will face in adjusting to the rise of these Asian economies? What are the opportunities for American growth and prosperity in this situation?
View this free video lecture between now and September 29, 2008, to discover what startling effects the rapid growth of these two countries may have on the economic future of the United States.
Will China and India Dominate the 21st-Century Global Economy? is delivered by Professor Lee Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon University. An Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Professor Branstetter received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. His teaching skills have earned him the Thomas Mayer Distinguished Teaching Award and a Harvard University Certification for Teaching Excellence. Professor Branstetter’s award-winning research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
Feel free to send the link to this free video lecture to family or friends who might enjoy it—it is free for them as well.
Sincerely,
Brandon C. Hidalgo, CEO
The Teaching Company
Sep 9, 2008
Posted | 1 comment
I don’t read fark.com anymore - I read plenty of zany stuff just following education - but when I did, I loved the little category images to the left of each post. The tags are words like “Interesting,” “Strange,” and “Unlikely.” One of their categories is “Florida.” If you read Fark with any regularity, you’ll understand why.
And it’s not much different with public education. That’s why keeping tabs on the Hillsborough County School District is a worthwhile task.
Steve Otto of the Tampa Bay Tribute writes that the Hillsborough administration has debuted Springboard:
“It is a $30 million program designed by the College Board, the same company that does the SAT and Advanced Placement courses. The new program, which is going to be in all middle and high schools, will replace the old math and language arts programs.”
There are far worse curricula than Springboard. The problem is that it came out of nowhere:
“What was a little surprising to me was that something as monumental as SpringBoard would be sprung on the system out of the blue in important subjects such as math and language arts.
There was training and there were test programs at selected schools. But with only two to four days of training in the new system, there are plenty of unhappy teachers.”
If there’s one word school officials need to learn and learn well, it’s implementation. Shoddy, haphazard, ill-conceived implementation has ruined more school initiatives - curricular, building and more - than anything else. Plus, poor implementation of any program is guaranteed to raise ire among staff.
Some teachers have reacted negatively. As I’ve pointed out before - along with many others who work for HCPS - staff are afraid of retribution:
“Another says, “Please do not use my name. I do not trust the higher-ups. In any case I am teaching a new English curriculum, SpringBoard, and my students do not have books. … Other schools are apparently in the same (sinking) boat.”"
Well, someone at HCPS is not happy that Steve Otto is only hearing the negative comments:
“Since Steve Otto is only hearing from the anti-Springboard folks, it would be nice if he also heard some of the positive aspects of the program. If you have any teachers who have positive comments to share and are so inclined, please ask them to send him their positive thoughts. We would like him to be inundated with the other side. Maybe things kids are saying about their English classes this year.”
Alice Wuckovich, NBCT
Springboard Coordinator
Language Arts 6-12
ROSSAC #7
813-272-4834
Emphasis mine.
There ya go, Hillsborough. HCPS might have a new motto: Don’t be honest, be positive. This initiative would make the Party History Research Centre proud. [Really, "inundated by the other side?"]
It’s necessary to beg for positive feedback when implementation has alienated staff/parents and shows little early evidence of effectiveness. Ms. Wuckovich shouldn’t shoulder blame - there’s likely enough pressure on her shoulders coming from above.
Check a couple other posts on HCPS’s Springboard initiative:
EsKay: Gone Nowhere Fast
Lee Drury de Cesare: Teachers’ Political Forum Looms and Return of the Native
PRO on HCPS: Atta Boy and an Anagram for Otto
If you’d like to follow HCPS, consider this tiny blogroll. I read every post in full [have I left any out?]:
http://soundoffandbeheard.blogspot.com
http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com/
http://call-in-6.blogspot.com/
http://es-kay.net/
http://specialedmotel.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/
Sep 9, 2008
Posted | 5 comments
I wrote yesterday about my dissatisfaction with the Boston University Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore’s push for voter registration. It’s a poor use of resources, it’s outside the scope of the Dean’s office, and it’s reason #52,907 why higher education is prohibitively expensive. I responded to a spirited commenter on that post and explained my reasons a bit more fully.
Today, the Dean’s Blog posted a guest editorial which makes the following claims/suggestions:
- The US is divided, unhappy, starving, and hated worldwide;
- Global warming caused Hurricane Gustav;
- Newspapers are full of suicide bombings;
- All students should vote, just not in Massachusetts;
- The last 8 years were a total disgrace.
Elmore introduces the guest post in “How Does Your Vote Really Count?”
“I often wonder if my vote is like pressing the botton [sic] on the walk signal at a street crossing — does it matter?”
Since Elmore started with a near-non sequitur, I suppose I’ll start there, too.
No, Dean Elmore, pushing those buttons probably doesn’t matter. Take New York City’s example:
“The city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on, according to city Department of Transportation officials. More than 2,500 of the 3,250 walk buttons that still exist function essentially as mechanical placebos, city figures show. Any benefit from them is only imagined…
… Most of the buttons scattered through the city, mainly outside of Manhattan, are relics of the 1970′s, before computers began tightly choreographing traffic signal patterns on major arteries.”
I’d bet the situation in Boston is similar. Now that we’ve answered one of Life’s Big Questions, let’s move along to the bulk of the post, written by Dr. Margaret Ross, Boston University’s Director of Behavioral Medicine:
“I am not a particularly politically knowledgeable person …”
Eep. Admitting a lack of knowledge about a topic as an introduction to 300 words on it? I’ll let that slide. And though Dr. Ross isn’t a “particularly politically knowledgeable person,” I am - so on with the show:
“…but this election scares me more than others have. The country is in a very vulnerable state: people are terribly divided and angry, scared about their survival, we have been in a prolonged recession with no sign of relief, prices for basic necessities are high, healthcare is more of a mess than ever, the weather patterns show inexorable climate change (yet another storm is ravaging the Caribbean, Cuba and will travel to the southeastern United States).”
I agree partly with Dr. Ross - I’m not scared, but I’m concerned. That said, I’m not a hyperbolic fearmonger like Dr. Ross.
We’re not all “terribly divided and angry.” I hold a very unpopular view of the political climate for my demographic, and I don’t sympathize with most of the friends I have. I’m not angry at them, and that philosophical/conceptual rift is normal when one is truly in a diverse crowd. Relax, Dr. Ross - this isn’t a civil war between Code Pink and the Westboro Baptist Church. It’s just people being people.
Also, I’m not worried that I won’t survive. Gas prices are high - it’s a serious hardship for those who don’t live in a city. Those fuel prices make food more expensive, too, but we aren’t starving. Because I’ve cut back on shrimp and clams isn’t evidence that I’m “scared about [my] survival.” It just means I eat more soup and pasta.
And this is where the Good Doctor’s hyperbole and fearmongering really comes in - recession. Things aren’t wonderful - we all know that - but Hell in a Handbasket isn’t around the corner, either. For a crash course on what a recession is, check the Wikipedia entry.
Then consider that the GDP in the second quarter grew by 3.3%, according to the Department of Commerce, that inflation is nowhere near the 12% it was in 1980, and that our civilian unemployment rate of about 6% isn’t all that bad.
It’s also news to me that “inexorable climate change” is linked directly to Hurricane Gustav. Then again, I’ve only got a BA, so she’s the expert.
“We are fighting a war that few can comprehend or believe in.”
Actually, Dr. Ross, the polls aren’t as dire as you make them out to be. About 2 in 3 Americans oppose the war in Iraq - while that’s a majority, considering 1 out of 3 to be “few” is intellectually dishonest or downright ignorant [I'll let you choose]. Feel free to look over these poll results for several questions re: the war in Iraq.
“We are not respected as the force for good that we have been in the post World War II era; quite the contrary.”
I’d dispute that assertion if it wasn’t a book-length discussion. I’ll pass.
“Newspapers are filled with suicide bombings and natural disasters and we almost have to become hardened in order to continue to function.”
I hate to sound crass, but at this point I think that Dr. Ross reads only the New York Times and never leaves Boston/Cambridge.
“So, it seems to me that this election is a turning point. We have two strong candidates, with very different ideas about how things might be done to begin to repair the horrendous damage of the last few years.”
It should be a turning point either way. I don’t think we have two strong candidates - I think we have only one - and I don’t think that you really think there are two strong candidates, either.
“My hope is that students all over America will vote. It usually will mean registering and often will require procuring an absentee ballot. I also hope that students will register to vote in their home states. In general, Massachusetts votes Democrat. There is every reason to expect this will be the case in the 2008 election. Therefore, the votes of the many students in school throughout Massachusetts will be more significant if they are cast in the states from which these many thousands of students have journeyed.”
Any advice for those New Yorkers at Boston University whose vote is useless, using that rational model, regardless of where they cast it?
“PLEASE register to vote, and please register in your home state. Your vote will be crucial. The votes of the many American students could well determine the results of what promises to be a very close election.
We have lived for many years with the results of what was a fatally flawed election in 2000. My hope is that 2008 will bring us a new start.”
I don’t think it was “fatally flawed” at all. Oddly enough, the Supreme Court and our electoral college system both support me.
Dean Elmore takes over:
“Thanks Dr. Ross. I’m going to take another view.
Isn’t voting in local elections more important? Do local and state officials, and our representatives to Washington make more of a difference in the quality of our daily routines?”"
That’s an issue worth discussing.
But first, Dean Elmore might want to consider why he posted a tendentious, intellectually dishonest, ill-informed guest editorial that embarrassed his office and his University. Differing viewpoints are good and discussion is good - as long as everyone is informed, fair and honest.
Sep 9, 2008
Posted | 0 comments
Well, first, I can’t really afford it - let’s get that out of the way. I wish I could, but right now I can’t.
Aside from that limitation, I don’t give to my University’s general fund because of irresponsible, inefficient spending. I don’t want to donate money to a University when those funds are spent on frivolous projects outside the central purposes of higher education - for example, voter registration.
I’d donate my time and professional expertise, though.
