EducationFilter: California becomes the first state to mandate all 8th graders take Algebra; in part because U.S. students constantly trail their peers from other nations in mathematics. At least one person thinks it's a bad idea ("If only 25 percent of this nation ever earns a college degree, why insist that all children take algebra in eighth grade?"). Here's the algebra curriculum 8th graders will have to learn.
posted on Jul 10, 2008 - View this thread

“…if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making, I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done — I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul-crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education.”
posted on Apr 10, 2008 - View this thread

Speaking of speeches, David Eggers delivers one at TED on grassroots community tutoring for kids who need help with their English homework: "There's something about the kids finishing their homework in a given day, working one on one, getting all this attention. They finish their homework, they go home -- they're finished. They don't stall. They don't do their homework in front of the TV. They're allowed to go home 5:30, enjoy their family, enjoy other hobbies, get outside, play and that makes a happy family. A bunch of happy families in a neighborhood is a happy community. A bunch of happy communities tied together is a happy city and a happy world, right? So, the key to it all is homework." Love him or hate him (mefi consensus) it's a great example of nervous energy microphilanthropy, social entrepreneurship and, if I may make the connection, machines of loving grace. [previously]
posted on Mar 23, 2008 - View this thread

Fun and games with mathematics and mathematical puzzles (e.g. heart basket, Rubik's Cube, Rubik's Magic, hypercubes, and more) in both English and (with yet more content in) German.
posted on Feb 18, 2008 - View this thread

The Primary Review has published three research reports about primary school education in the UK and elsewhere. The Structure of Primary Education: England and Other Countries. Primary Curriculum and Assessment: England and Other Countries. Press release summarising some of the findings.
posted on Feb 8, 2008 - View this thread

Remember when TV raised us right? Time for Timer taught us about cheese, carrots, breakfast, and oral hygiene. The Abominable Snowman taught us about lunch, money, advertising, and the Food Group Disco! Woodsy Owl taught us to Give a Hoot! and keep America lookin' good! and Mr Yuk SCARED THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF US.
posted on Feb 1, 2008 - View this thread

Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review "reports on how well the world is doing in meeting its commitments for the world’s children. This UNICEF special edition analyses progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in four priority areas for children: promoting healthy lives, providing a quality education, combating HIV and AIDS, and protecting against abuse, exploitation and violence."
posted on Dec 22, 2007 - View this thread

The Blurter. The Complainer. The Know-It-All. The Spoiled Darling. You can handle them all.
posted on May 8, 2007 - View this thread

Music makes you smarter if you get an early start. Certainly debatable given the incredibly small sample, but perhaps it's a prelude to an emerging 21st-century collaborative scientific suite or symphony that can explain why we love music so much.
posted on Sep 20, 2006 - View this thread

Peruse The Geographical Reader for Dixie Children and contemplate the manner in which the greater body of man has improved his intellect these past seven-score years and two.
posted on Dec 8, 2005 - View this thread

Are computers counterproductive to a child's development? Wittenberg University education professor and former computer teacher Lowell Monke thinks so, and has written a provocative essay arguing that, among other things, computers render children "less animated and less capable of appreciating what it means to be alive, what it means to belong in the world as a biological, social being," and "teach children a manipulative way of engaging the world.” His polemic is partially supported by evidence (.pdf academic paper; BBC gloss here) indicating that, above a certain threshold, computer use is correlated with lower test scores. The latest salvo in the continuing debate over education and the culture of simulation.
posted on Oct 5, 2005 - View this thread

House Appropriations panel eliminates ALL public funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS Ready To Learn. From this morning's Cynopsis:Kids e-newsletter: "In our nation's capital yesterday, a House Appropriations subcommittee voted to approve a new bill that will see budgets sliced for both public TV and radio. Specifically in the line of fire in the kid TV universe is the elimination of the full $23m in funding for Public TV's Ready to Learn initiative. Ready to Learn provides some funds for PBS series including, Sesame Street, Between the Lions, Arthur, Reading Rainbow, Clifford the Big Red Dog and could have Buster sending smoke signals instead of postcards. [...] Though the President proposed a small budget reduction for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting this past winter, yesterday's subcommittee vote would also eliminate all government monetary funds intended for the CPB over the course of the next two years, beginning with a $100m decrease in funding to $300m for next year." Perhaps this will free up some money for No Child Left Behind?
posted on Jun 10, 2005 - View this thread

Young + Brilliant, Blessed + Cursed
posted on Mar 9, 2005 - View this thread

Write about zombies, go to jail. I'd be really pissed at the grandparents, if I were this kid.
posted on Mar 3, 2005 - View this thread

The World of Waldorf: where children learn to read after the second grade. Critics speak out against it, but there's dancing, and the moon was once part of earth. But, don't believe everything that you read online! One of the minor links is a pdf.
posted on Feb 23, 2005 - View this thread

From MathNet to that silly song about the number nine, Square One was one of my all-time favourite programs as a kid. It hasn't been released on video or DVD, but luckily there are plenty of fansites with video clips, pics, and other media to take you on a trip down mathematical memory lane.
posted on Jan 18, 2005 - View this thread

Çatalhöyük , a site for kids devoted to the archeological excavations of the remains of a Neolithic town in central Turkey. A great introduction for all ages to this important city, with activities, quicktime tours and links to more in depth resources.
posted on Oct 19, 2004 - View this thread

How I lost my childhood: It may seem hopelessly lame to many, but as as child I, and many others of the same time period -- the first children of the microcomputer revolution -- spent many hours in front of our shiny new home computers reverently copying in BASIC programs from source printouts in books and magazines. For some, myself included, this was the launchpad into a sexy, exciting, fascinating career as a professional geek. Now, the book that was one of my sacred texts during this time period, David Ahl's BASIC Computer Games, is available, scanned, online. [via Boing Boing]
posted on May 14, 2004 - View this thread

Every Child Left Behind: "The federal No Child Left Behind law is threatening to wreck public education in Minnesota and elsewhere."

"That's what it was designed to do."

Focuses on my home state Minnesota, but the point is relevant to every state in the USA. What do we do to change it?
posted on Mar 15, 2004 - View this thread

You're not from around here, are you? On Tuesday in Wellesley, MA a kindergartener was put on the wrong bus to go home from afterschool care. The boy is black, and the bus is for the Metco program, which buses minority kids from Boston to suburban schools. Random mixup, or racial bias at work? Much hand-wringing ensues.
posted on Sep 5, 2003 - View this thread

Teachers Traumatizing Students of Deployed Soldiers "WABI TV reported Friday that the Maine National Guard Family Assistance Center has received about 30 complaints from children of deployed soldiers concerning Principals, Teachers and Guidance Counselors reportedly demeaning the role of their deployed parent. Some children involved are 7 to 9 years of age." More inside...
posted on Feb 26, 2003 - View this thread

Girl to sue over detention "The family, who want compensation, will argue that the detentions were unlawful because they took place in Freya's free time. " If you can't give kids detention, how else are they going to be punished for breaking school rules?
posted on Dec 28, 2002 - View this thread

Yesterday I saw a wonderful movie - Spellbound - a documentary about the annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee - which won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at SXSW. It explores the dynamics surrounding kids and parents desire for success in the competition, reconciliation with failure and differing models of education, competition and success. When I was a kid I was on the TV show It's Academic - along with lots of other famous faces. While you may want to make fun of the show - I still remember it fondly. My parents were happy to see me compete but generally unconcerned about the outcome in any way. Now we've got Math Olympics, the Academic Decathlon and a host of other competitive ventures. Any other MeFites remember school days competitions and the drive to succeed?
posted on Oct 21, 2002 - View this thread

Expelled for Blogging? Kid threatened with expulsion after having the nerve to blog from school. I assume his high school had nothing else to crack down on other than the gangs of bloggers up to no good like keeping a tech journal.
posted on Sep 26, 2002 - View this thread

Teens, sex, and power of parents How did you "discover" sex? from mom? school? Or the pals down the block?
posted on Sep 5, 2002 - View this thread

Gifted elementary kids in California could go straight to college. Students of any age, even kindergarten, could demand to take the state's high school proficiency examination under legislation approved recently by the Assembly. Passage of the test -- which measures reading, writing and arithmetic skills -- would qualify young students to enter community colleges as if they had obtained their high school diplomas.

Academically, these kids may be ready for college, but are they mature enough to handle being surrounded by students six to ten years their senior?
posted on Jun 20, 2002 - View this thread

Mother jailed for girls' truancy A question for our British gang, is truancy such a problem in the UK now that this is really necessary? When I went to school in England, lo those mumblemumble years ago, I don't remember it being this bad. For the rest of the world, do you think truancy in your country would justify locking up the primary caregiver or is this punishing the wrong person? Can parents be held responsible for everything a child does? And better said, should they? When should we grant children the priviledges and penalties of their own autonomous actions?
posted on May 13, 2002 - View this thread

The Try Group's site uses a simple Flash "game" to deliver their central idea: that children should be encouraged to look at the world in different ways. There's a little more info at the developer's site.
Neat concept, and also just fun to poke around in for a little while.
posted on May 2, 2002 - View this thread

The Universe on a Paper Plate. Complexity -> Simplicity for kids.
posted on Apr 8, 2002 - View this thread

He needed it to cut an onion. Under normal circumstances I would have shook my head and said, "Oh, those silly americans". This story, however, is about my 12-year old brother who's facing a 1 year expulsion after bringing a (small) kitchen knife to school for a science assignment. Zero tolerance - or zero interest in what's best for the kid?
posted on Apr 6, 2002 - View this thread

F.B.I. Recruitment comes to Kindergarten? What's going through the minds of the Kiddie Propaganda P.R. Team? Be afraid, be very afraid.
posted on Mar 28, 2002 - View this thread

Boy quits school at 7, becomes MIT professor at 20. Is alternative education a good idea? This article seems much more positive than another recent boy-genius post. It appears that most reporters assume that child prodigies are antisocial and that their parents are over-ambitious (they use negatively-connotated synonyms of those terms).
posted on Feb 17, 2002 - View this thread

Curly and Motly are kinda cute, but Luncheon and Lambchop look might tasty. The children from St Canices school in Westport New Zealand welcome you to Lambs Online, where ten of our students are ‘fostering’ 10 lambs which have been ‘adopted’ by a group of Japanese school children from their sister city in Amagese Japan. Each lamb has its own personal website and we invite you to follow their progress through the eyes of our students by clicking on the photos and links below.
posted on Oct 26, 2001 - View this thread

Teacher reprimanded for telling class she wished GWB had been a victim of 911. In other news a man was arrested for burning a U.S. flag in IN. Personally, America isn't a free country where you can't express yourself.
posted on Oct 2, 2001 - View this thread

It's a Sad Day in the Neighborhood. Mister Rogers Hangs Up That Cardigan. Combined with the death of Charles Schulz last year, I feel like my youth is slipping away. How has Mr. Rogers affected your life?
posted on Aug 30, 2001 - View this thread

Two months from illiterate to MP3 trading hax0rz. Very cool social experiment showing how easy today's GUIs are to use, especially for kids.
posted on Aug 27, 2001 - View this thread

Tickle Me Elmo
The Truth About Sesame Street "I have never understood how any White parent with an OUNCE of dignity or pride could expose their children to the trash of Sesame Street, regardless of how "wonderful" everyone in the " mainstream" world says it is. It's bad enough that we, as adults, are continually subjected to the garbage pouring out of the jew toob."
posted on Jun 15, 2001 - View this thread

warning! too much testing is hazardous to your health! is it just me, or is this silly?
posted on Apr 26, 2001 - View this thread

"School bullying called widespread." This one's a real gem. Not only are the results of the study overly predictable, but the article is full of other great realizations, such as how "bullying is [...] unacceptable behavior," and how there is a "possible connection between bullying and violence."
posted on Apr 25, 2001 - View this thread

Baby Think It Over. Teens care for a lifelike doll programmed to do all the things a baby does--including waking them up in the middle of the night. "It's a seven-pound, computerized contraceptive!"
posted on Mar 6, 2001 - View this thread

"Chicken, the deadly white meat." An 8-year-old boy was suspended from school for 3 days after pointing a breaded chicken finger at a teacher and saying, ``Pow, pow, pow.''
... What else do I have to say?
posted on Feb 1, 2001 - View this thread

Private school ejects Sailor Moon fan for inadvertently accessing an "adult" Sailor Moon site. The kid didn't know what the site was ahead of time, the site slipped through the school's content filters, and the boy "immediately logged off after less than a minute on the Web site". I don't know if this qualifies as a zero tolerance issue, but it's definitely an overraction, not to mention an ugly failure of blocking software. [via Ribbit]
posted on Oct 4, 2000 - View this thread

Home schooling. While it can be beneficial to some, I still have to wonder about the quality of education and the social stagnation kids may be subjected to...
posted on Oct 2, 2000 - View this thread

"2000 may well mark the year that the traditional arithmetic of the city’s private schools irrevocably changed. It used to be so simple. Once you got your child in a fancy nursery school—and that was relatively easy, because how many other parents would shell out thousands of dollars for a nursery school?—your child’s future was set. After nursery school came a fancy private school. Then the Ivy League. In other words, the so-called "feeder school" theory, long denied by school officials but treated as gospel by wealthy parents. But that formula has gone the way of the Old Math."

i just can not relate!
posted on Apr 5, 2000 - View this thread