Twigmore » ny times

Federal Effort to Push Junk Food from Public Schools

Peter Baer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:33:23 +0000

NY Times article says the Obama administration will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, french fries and Snickers bars from the nation’s schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says that any vending machines that remain in schools should be “filled with nutritious offerings to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our nation’s children.” We think it’s interesting that Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss is involved, given the fact that Coca Cola is based in his home state.

Experts Say a Rewrite of Nation’s Main Education Law Will Be Hard

Peter Baer — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:37:28 +0000

NY Times article on President Obama holding out the hope of overhauling the main law outlining the federal role in public schools. Since it was put in its current form by the second Bush administration — and renamed No Child Left Behind — it has generated frequent and very divisive debate, partly because it requires schools to administer far more standardized tests and because it labels schools that fail to make progress fast enough each year as “needing improvement.” That category draws penalties and has grown to include more than 30,000 schools. There doesn’t seem to be any way this will get done prior to the November elections. Hopefully next year the Republicans and Democrats will put politics aside and work together to improve the school system.

Finally, After Ten Years, Federal Money for Technology in Education

Peter Baer — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:24:12 +0000

NY Times article points out that more than a decade ago, Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of both NBC News and PBS, and Newton N. Minow, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, were asked by several foundations to explore how nonprofits like schools, libraries and museums could tap into emerging digital technologies. After a tortuous journey — “It’s been one ‘starting all over again’ after another after another after another,” Mr. Minow said — their organization, what is now being called the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies, finally has Congressional appropriation through the Education Department. It will be introduced Monday and could be handing out grants by fall. It’s a shame that things have taken this long, but the initiative seems promising.

States Fear Federal Stimulus Money

Peter Baer — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:26:09 +0000

NY Times article pointing out that as Illinois jockeys for position as a leader in education reform with a $500 million application for Race to the Top money, the state’s inability to pay current bills makes educators skeptical of Illinois’s capacity to take on such new initiatives. One major concern is that should Illinois actually succeed in the competition for the money, it might not have the ability to finance the long-term costs of new programs once the federal money has been spent. These concerns are understandable, but turning down money doesn’t seem to make sense.

Prestigious UK Universities Facing Meltdown

Peter Baer — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:25:30 +0000

NY Times article on Oxford, Cambridge and other British Universities losing nearly a billion dollars in funding over the next three years. Unlike most elite institutions in the United States, Britain’s top schools rely almost exclusively on taxpayers keeping them going. With the government strapped for cash and a cap on student tuition, they don’t really have a lot of options.

NY City Schools Teaching Green

Peter Baer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:23:22 +0000

NY Times article pointing out that while plenty of city schools, from elementary to secondary, teach students about environmental issues like endangered species or global warming, places like the Green School put an overwhelming emphasis on civic involvement. The students are encouraged to delve into local issues that may affect them and their families, like contamination in waterways, water quality or the razing of low-scale housing. Essentially, these programs weave environmental issues into most coursework. This seems a bit ‘faddish,’ but we’ll keep an open mind.

California Spends Almost 50% More Money on Prisons than on Higher Education

Peter Baer — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:18:38 +0000

NY Times article on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal yesterday to greatly reduce the amount of money California spends on its prisons and to funnel that sum to the state’s higher education system instead. “Choosing universities over prisons,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in his final annual address to the Legislature. “This is a historic and transforming realignment of California’s priorities.” We all want more money for education and the concept here is noble, but there are sure to be some problems with this plan.

Issues with Teach for America Program

Peter Baer — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:58:14 +0000

Interesting NY Times article on the corps of recent college graduates who sign up to teach in some of the nation’s most troubled schools and the fact that their dedication to improving society at large does not necessarily extend beyond their Teach for America service. We found this surprising. Doug McAdam, a sociologist at Stanford University says the reasons for the lower rates of civic involvement include “not only exhaustion and burnout, but also disillusionment with Teach for America’s approach to the issue of educational inequity.” This is a shame, but all in all, the program does seem to be having a positive impact on the public school system.

$40 Million in Federal Stimulus for Graduate Work in Electric Car Education

Peter Baer — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:50:18 +0000

This NY Times article explains that with $2.4 billion in stimulus funds aimed specifically at spurring the manufacture and deployment of electric cars and advanced batteries, the need for such specialization has to increase. For example, The University of Michigan now has a master’s of energy systems engineering program. It’s interesting to see the trend moving toward increased specialization like this and the green majors and minors we wrote about earlier in the week.

Colleges Actually Less Selective Than 50 Years Ago

Peter Baer — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Interesting NY Times article explaining why this is true 90% of the time. Caroline M. Hoxby, professor of economics at Stanford and director of the Economics of Education Program for the National Bureau of Economic Research, points out that while high school graduation rates are up, so too is the number of freshman seats on the market. She acknowledges that this doesn’t apply to the most elite schools, but asserts that increased selectivity in these schools has nothing to do with a shortage of seats. Our question is if supply is growing appreciably faster than demand, why are prices skyrocketing?