The federal government has made it easier than ever to borrow money for higher education – saddling a generation with crushing debts and inflating a bubble that could bring down the economy
Source: The College-Loan Scandal: Matt Taibbi on the Ripping Off of Young America – Rolling Stone
Could a college or university pledge to not raise tuition for 10 years and achieve that goal? What would it need to do and would any be willing to try?
A week before the test, I told my class that the Game Theory exam would be insanely hard—far harder than any that had established my rep as a hard prof. But as recompense, for this one time only, students could cheat. They could bring and use anything or anyone they liked, including animal behavior experts. (Richard Dawkins in town? Bring him!) They could surf the Web. They could talk to each other or call friends who’d taken the course before. They could offer me bribes. (I wouldn’t take them, but neither would I report it to the Dean.) Only violations of state or federal criminal law such as kidnapping my dog, blackmail, or threats of violence were out of bounds.
In the end, the students learned what social insects like ants and termites have known for hundreds of millions of years. To win at some games, cooperation is better than competition. Unity that arises through a diversity of opinion is stronger than any solitary competitor.
The best tests will not only find out what students know but also stimulate thinking in novel ways. This is much more than regurgitating memorized facts. The test itself becomes a learning experience – where the very act of taking it leads to a deeper understanding of the subject.
Source: Cheating to Learn: How a UCLA professor gamed a game theory midterm – For The Curious
As American science students struggle to compete with the global competition, Oklahoma is moving forward with a law that could ban Biology teachers from failing students who argue that humans co-existed with dinosaurs. The state legislator’s committee in charge of education standards has approved a law that would forbid teachers from penalizing students who argue against widely accepted scientific theories, such as evolution and climate change.
Source: Making It Illegal To Fail Science Students Who Argue Humans Co-Existed With Dinosaurs | TechCrunch
Douglas Rushkoff says digital literacy is not a priority in our schools, impeding kids’ understanding of the digital world and crippling U.S. competitiveness.
Computer Science is not just a STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — subject, but a liberal art as well. Being able to think critically about digital media environments means being able to think critically about our world.
As American students wrestle with algebra, geometry and calculus — often losing that contest — the requirement of higher mathematics comes into question.
Source: Is Algebra Necessary? – The New York Times
The main issue I’d take with targeting mid-level math in general is that each piece provides an important insight into how reality, in all her cold, unforgiving stubbornness, operates. Theorem proofs show that there exist things which can be conclusively proven in totality without room for opinion or shades of grey, and that the bar for such a proof is extremely high. Logic and discrete mathematics show how every argument can be boiled down to math and, used correctly, leads to better discussion by separating assumptions (shared and unilateral) from facts from opinions and moral goals, and can facilitate compromise.