They always make you take history in school. I’m more of a math and science girl and will always choose a good chemistry lab over a history lecture. However, having been expected to complete several history courses (for the well-rounding of me and my education), I did pick up on the patterns we humans cycle through as decades and centuries go past. The technology we create for ourselves, ostensibly to make our lives easier/better/faster, seems always to impact more than just the job it was created for. I’m talking about wheels and looms, satellites and cotton gins, not Silly Putty and Flowbees.

Dean Shareski over at Ideas and Thoughts wrote a piece about technology in education and whether or not its just a tool. We’re in the midst of that changing moment, the one some hardcore science geek college girl will have to learn about a few centuries hence.

Further Reading:

Literacy: We’ve Still Got It
Another New and Exciting Way to Be Driven Over the Edge by Technology
New Essay Writing Apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Implementing Different Tools
Launching the Emerging Media Major
“Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?”
The Future of Education
Digitizing Knowledge
21st Century Learners

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(technology)

The parents who will be driving their offspring to insanity as soon as the kids can spell S-A-T start in on the psychotic haranguing early:

Try to stay off of my sh*t list, lesser humans.

Further Reading:

What Makes A Good Parent?
Media Frenzy Around High Pressure College Admissions
Testing Season Begins
Play-Doh Smeared Credentials
Find Your Happy Place
(Possibly) The End Of Helicopter Parenting

Posted by Alexa Harrington

I’m a badass tomboy, made of stone and all that. Getting misty-eyed and writing in my Feelings Journal is not my thing. Teacher and blogger, Paul Bogush, wrote this post about the learning experiences students deserve to have and why devoted teachers choose to teach.

Excerpt teaser:

Our classes should be filled with unforgettable learning experiences.

I just watched a video from Steven Spangler. In it he says that teachers are not creating unforgettable learning experiences. We teach facts, not wonder, discovery, and exploration. Good teachers teach facts. Great teachers give students an unforgettable learning experiences. The student might not even remember what was learned in the class, but will remember loving the fact that they were sitting there every day. More…

It didn’t make me cry like a dumb wussy girl, but I did think grateful thoughts, yet again, that I’ve been lucky enough to have had some phenomenal teachers in my life.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(unsinkable 101)

I don’t want to agree with Michael Platt that for-profit schools succeed and not-for-profit schools are seemingly always in financial straits, but he makes a certain amount of sense. I’m not saying I’d relish earning a degree from a for-profit college, but there must be some way for traditional colleges and universities to support rich and deep learning while also not sucking fumes financially.

From the press release:

It is the LACK of profit/incentive that has caused many of the primary and postsecondary schools in this country to fail the students.

If primary schools were profit-driven, maybe they wouldn’t hold onto crappy teachers. Maybe they would abandon the ridiculous agrarian calendar. Maybe they would stop allowing unions to place teachers’ rights above student rights. Our government should not be running the business of education.

If universities were profit-driven, maybe they would stop misleading students with noted professors who then rarely step into a classroom. Maybe they would strive for better graduation rates as opposed to throwing out challenged students because they are afraid it might hurt their overall outcomes/reputations. Maybe they wouldn’t have one placement advisor for every 2,000 – 5,000 students. Maybe they would warn students who pay $80,000 for their education that their starting salary is likely to be well below DOE-proposed GE metrics. Our government should not be running the business of education.

Ooof. And then the big fat bucket of True Knowledge Must Never Be Based On Financial Gain worms is dumped unceremoniously in front of me and it’s back to square one. Damn I loathe square one.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(square one)

I agree with the anonymous high school librarian who writes the Not So Distant Future blog; teachers should be Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(teacher)

I think we all know how I feel about college rankings lists: unreliable. (That’s me being restrained and polite. Enjoy it now. It won’t last.) If you need to catch up, you can read this, this, this, and this.

What do we learn in high school these days? How to get into college. What do we learn in college? We learn how to learn and we perfect our inner bull**it detectors. If you’re in the process of choosing colleges, then you’re in high school and have less-than-precise bull**it detecting instrumentation.

Here’s a friendly tip: Even research scientists, the humans I’ve revered since I was six years old, are capable of dishonestly crunching their data to make their work more grant-worthy. Scientists, who spend their lives peeling back the layers to find the molecular structures of truth, will bend facts for money.

One could argue that scientists are at least doing it for more funding so they can continue to search for the truths of our universe, but whatever, it’s still dishonest. If they can lie for money, then no one should be surprised that most college rankings lists come from questionable versions of reality. Just something to keep in mind if you’re planning to peruse U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2011.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

For years you’ve been working toward the ultimate goal: college. It’s within range of reality that some high school students have been working toward college since they were still pooping in their pants and their parents were politely crushing any toddler standing in the way of their kiddo’s spot at Kids-Who-Finger-Paint-Here-Get-Into-Yale Preschool.

Now you’ve attended all the right schools, you played the sports, you joined and led the clubs, you’ve taken prep courses and passed any standardized test the system could think up, your grades are stellar, your letters of recommendation are plentiful and glowing. You’re almost there. One more bit, kid. The penultimate act before the ultimate goal is reached: choosing the perfect college.

I know, right? You’ve done everything, haven’t you?! You’ve been thinking about little else but sex and college for years now. How can you possibly be expected to focus your thoughts, your hopes, your dreams, and choose one single perfect school?

Don’t look at me–it’s your perfection, not mine. Allen Grove can help. He’s got a simple list of 15 Points to Ponder when choosing the perfect college.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(UW Oshkosh)

Practical advice for all prospective college students facing college admissions interviews:

Breastage covered, ladies.

Gentleman (I use the term loosely), keep your mitts off the package.

And for all of you, I would suggest NOT bringing any parental units along to babysit/control you. Having your mom take an interview with you sends the message:

I can’t handle this weensie step alone, so there’s no way on earth I’ll be able to deal with matriculating at your school without lots of intense parental input. I need my mom for crust-cutting, bathing, and paper-typing. I am also thrown by shoelaces, Scotch tape, and the making of any level of decision. I’m the academic version of Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan; my higher education at your school is likely to end badly for both of us.

Here’s what you can do:

Don’t be so nervous that the interviewer(s) feel you must surely have misunderstood the word “interview” in the letter and you clearly believe you’re to be shot against that wall over there. College admission interviews are not life and death, I promise.

Be the polite, grown-up (without going overboard) version of yourself and try to limit your interviews to schools you really want to attend, as this will help you have something real to say.

Bring something to the table; don’t just sit and answer whatever questions the interviewer shoots at you; have something to say that adds to the conversation. Having an actual opinion about the school and what you envision your place to be in it will assist you greatly in answering the questions asked.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(interview)

Five Miles Away, A World Apart: One City, Two Schools, and the Story of Educational Opportunity in America is Ryan’s account of the research he did comparing and contrasting two high schools in Richmond Virginia. There is an unfair, and–one would hopefully argue–un-American disparity in the educational opportunities for each school’s students. Mr. Ryan not only lays the situation out for us all to fully comprehend, he also offers solutions to a problem we are smart enough to have solved by now.

Sadly, our severe lameness as Americans–who continually spout off about freedom and equality and the right to a decent education (we drive the proverbial big truck), in order to compensate for the fact that our public schools are lacking (in order to compensate for our proverbial, unfortunately sized penises)–has mightily contributed to the less-than-illuminated public education system in this great nation of ours. I love America and that damn National Anthem makes me cry every time, but that doesn’t mean I have to love the way politicians allocate funds.

Martha Minow’s In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark, covers what has and what hasn’t been achieved since Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka[italics] brought the idea of racial equality in public schools to the forefront. How equal are American public schools? Is it possible they’re more segregated now than they were before Brown?

Minow, in case you’ve not heard every Obama speech, was the professor Obama spoke of in a 2008 campaign speech, “When I was at Harvard Law School I had a teacher who changed my life—Martha Minow.” She’s Dean of the Harvard Law School, but more impressive (to me) is the fact that she’s considered an expert in human rights and advocacy for persons with disabilities, women, children, and for members of racial and religious minorities. All of which is to say that she uses her powers for good and I am always appreciative of that quality in a fellow human.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Duke University grad student Ken Ilgunas wrote a sublime piece in Salon.com about his own grand social experiment: He currently (until someone busts him after reading his article) lives in his van in a campus parking lot. Ilgunas went the standard student-loan route for his undergrad degree and hated the resulting loss of freedom he dealt with while working to pay it all off. For grad school at Duke, he’s decided to borrow nothing and graduate owing no one.

In order to pull that off at Duke, home of the $37,000/year tuition special, it becomes necessary to live a severely frugal existence. Seriously: he’s got a van, a few items of clothing, a single-burner camp stove, a sleeping bag, car insurance, and a lot of powdered milk, oatmeal, spaghetti and peanut butter.

From the article:

The more money I had borrowed, I came to realize, the more freedom I had surrendered. Yet, I still considered my education — as costly as it was — to be priceless. So now, motivated to go back to school yet determined not to go back into debt, I had to think outside the box. Or, as Henry David Thoreau might suggest, inside one.

…And so: I decided to buy a van. Though I had never lived in one, I knew I had the personality for it. I had a penchant for rugged living, a sixth sense for cheapness, and an unequaled tolerance for squalor. More…

Have you ever walked around Duke? I lived in Durham for a short while, and spent some non-academic time wandering the campus. Everyone looks very well taken care of. Stanford kids look good, too, but Duke’s population brings it to a shinier level. Which is to say I doubt Mr. Ilgunas blends.

It would be considered a noble and an excellent statement to live in a van while attending Evergreen. You would be applauded and everyone would bring you food and other special perks. (Except for me; I would bring you bleach and wet wipes.) But van living at Duke University may not go over too well.

Regardless of the outcome, I’m rooting for him. I’m hoping he pulls off graduate school minus the staggering debt, and I hope his article makes the rounds and wakes the powers that be the hell up as to the vile and nonsensical pile of money a human seeking higher education must fork over so as to get through the ivory gates.

Posted by Alexa Harrington