Image via Wikipedia Why the US Education System Fascinates Me
I first heard the American term "achievement gap" after moving to San Francisco from Latvia in 1994 and watching my sister, Sabina Hentz, navigate the city's baffling public school system on behalf of her 9-year-old son. "I have absolutely no clue how to figure out which schools are good and which ones are bad," she ranted to me on the drive home from the airport. This was a novel problem to have, since in Latvia it didn't really matter where you lived—all schools in Soviet-era Latvia received roughly the same funding and performed about the same. They even looked alike—most Latvian schools were built from the same Moscow-approved blueprint during the Soviet era, and I can still walk into almost any high school and tell you exactly where the cafeteria, bathrooms, and gym lockers will be.
Fast-forward to 2005, when I started editing and reporting for an American political youth magazine called Wiretap. Like it or not, public education failure came up again and again in our coverage of all sorts of youth issues, including culture, race, class, and sex. I started to wonder: Here in the most powerful country in the world, in the same creative state that produced Silicon Valley, why do schools still seem worse than the puny Latvian equivalent I attended in 1987? How does what's going on in urban classrooms, cafeterias, and principal's offices align with what experts, philanthropists, and pundits recommend? And what do real teachers, students, and parents think about the seemingly endless parade of shiny new education trends? This year esteemed colleague Titania Kumeh and I decided to find out, and this series was born.
( See Anthony's email excerpt in comments..plus U No Hu )
Britain 28th in reading – below Estonia and Poland
The study found that a fifth of 15-year-old Britons are ‘functionally illiterate’, which ‘significantly reduces their chances of success in later life’.
- Reading
- They save in ‘communist’ China but not in ‘capitalist’ Britain. Why?
- More detail on literacy
- American professor to lead reading group discussing ‘The Welfare State We’re In’
- Under-prescription of drugs in Britain
Kevin Drum
Propaganda Conditioning the Masses in Preparation for One World Government
John Pilger: Global Support for WikiLeaks is "Rebellion" Against U.S. Militarism, Secrecy
Pilger’s latest film, The War You Don’t See, includes interviews with Assange. Pilger says that WikiLeaks is revolutionizing journalism and galvanizing public opinion to stand up to global elites.
Disinformation Overload
Air Force In Super Denial Mode: Blocks Access To News Sites Covering Wikileaks
Apparently none of the other branches of the military have the same thing in place, though we've heard from others in the military that Defense Department computers are blocking websites with "Wikileaks" in the title.
Britain admits security lapses after Sweden blast
Britain admitted lapses in its attempts to tackle Islamist militancy on Wednesday after an attack in Sweden by a U.K.-educated bomber revived old charges the country is overly tolerant of the threat.
The one good to come of the racist edict by Israeli rabbis to deny housing to Arabs has been the outcry against it. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlinslammed the letter as "a sin against Israeli society" and charged the rabbis are "digging the pit we'll all fall into."
Sudan Vote Could Make A New Nation, A War, Or Both
As austerity bites, Western Europe faces a near inevitable rise in protest and unrest in 2011 which is likely to hit markets and dampen weak governments' appetite for reform but not affect policies dramatically.
On The "Level-Eyed Bigotry" of Israel's Rabbis
The one good to come of the racist edict by Israeli rabbis to deny housing to Arabs has been the outcry against it. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlinslammed the letter as "a sin against Israeli society" and charged the rabbis are "digging the pit we'll all fall into."
More than 750 rabbis signed a petition by the New Israel Fund's "Rabbis Against Religious Discrimination," calling the housing ruling "a painful distortion of our tradition" and "a desecration of God's name." Intriguingly, they also noted that Jewish communities outside of Israel "struggle to maintain a strong, loving relationship" with Israel but warn that "for a growing number of Jews in America, this relationship to Israel cannot be assumed."
Over 10,000 Israelis gathered on International Human Rights Day to protest Israel's increasingly racist policies. And Ha'aretz' Bradley Burston wrote that the letter "puts an end to the notion of rabbinic authority."
"They have done the Jewish People an invaluable service. They have freed us. Freed us to be Jews. Not on their terms. On ours. In their level-eyed bigotry, their ironclad insensitivity, their untouchable, corrupting, bureaucracy-based immunity, they have taught us finally to pay no attention to that man behind the curtain of Oral Law."
Organ snatching ring alleged
A Council of Europe draft report gives gruesome details alleging Kosovo Albanian guerrillas loyal to now-Prime Minister Hashim Thaci harvested the organs of some captives, mainly Serbs, they killed a decade ago.
Kenya election violence: ICC names suspect
Sudan Vote Could Make A New Nation, A War, Or Both
Image by Marjorie Lipan via Flickr
Tens of thousands protest in Greece as Europe braces for austerity backlash
As austerity bites, Western Europe faces a near inevitable rise in protest and unrest in 2011 which is likely to hit markets and dampen weak governments' appetite for reform but not affect policies dramatically.
Chinese premier calls for enhanced cooperation, trade with India
Stonehenge Built With Balls?
New experiment suggests monumental stones could have rolled on rails.
Gawker hack triggers password resets at major site
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