Education Issues – State v Federal Standards

Former Intel CEO Craig Barrett is behind the Common Core State Standards Initiative and hopes you will be too….
Mr. Barrett sees common education standards as essential to creating the work force of tomorrow and he wants to narrow the gap in education quality among the states. All of which sounds ideal . . . if [...]

Education Issues: Quantity, Quality?

So let’s go for a drive.
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to cross the US by car . . . say from Chapel Hill, NC to Berkeley, CA, or Boston, MA to Berkeley, CA or Atlanta, GA to San Diego, CA, you have seen that there are many choices to make along the way. Do [...]

Adult Education Issues

The Wall Street Journal recently published a special section on Education. What inspired me was the opener.
If an educated work force is the nation’s human capital, business is seeing a lot of subprime these days.
It’s a snarky little comment, but it hit entirely too close to home. Even if your school’s graduation rate is stable [...]

Leadership in Education: No Child Left Behind

Rewriting the No Child Left Behind Law is in process. If you have children in school this may be important to you. If you are childless, it may seem unimportant.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Whether or not you have children, if you plan to be living in 20 years, how our children are educated [...]

Does Teaching Attract Liberals?

In the Education Leadership post a few days ago Rob commented that teaching attracts liberals. So let’s dissect. Is it true that teaching attracts liberals or is there something more going on?
There are a few ways to go through this. Let’s start with the premise that teaching attracts liberals. That premise is either true or [...]

Leadership in Education – Now What?

Leadership in Education is a big concern. The influence teachers have on our kids is immense and immediately powerful. I remember hearing one of my little sisters read her paper on the Iraq war circa 2004 at age 12 . . . it is safe to say she did not get those opinions from my [...]

Basic Economics – Young Minds, Powerful Lessons

It is difficult to find a text to ignite enthusiasm in children for basic economics. Actually, it’s difficult to find a text that teaches economics to adults (I do recommend Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics) . . . which leads to all sorts of other problems…. But that’s for another day.
In the far, far background of [...]

Influence in Little Prodigies

What is the major influence that turns children into little prodigies? Mind-blowing research in Neurology points us in a new direction.
Is it amount of practice? Is it in-born talent? Is it high-income parents – or other privileged access to resources?
No, no, no.
The driving factor that influences a child to be a prodigy is his self-perception. [...]

Education Reform

The strongest case for Education reform in the United States
Upon reading another author’s blog’s comments I was reminded how few people are put at the peril of the market in an obvious way, daily – i.e. they work for someone else, have benefits, and believe these things due to them. We need Basic Economics training [...]