If the news in this WSJ article is true, I think it could be very important. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324324404579043311787197976.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Dcomments “If it is really true that “…colleges of education will be required…to track graduates’ performance in K-12 classrooms and ensure they are contributing to student growth, as measured by test scores or other factors.”, then this is great […]
Archives for August 2013
What If Your Family Is Not Elite And You Go To A “Consumer-Oriented” Elite College?
August 26, 2013 by
Let’s say you want to be an engineer. Say you take a faux-physics course and a faux-calculus course, etc… What will be the difference between you and some of your colleagues from elite families? (I will speak of the “average” you and the “average” them.) Neither you, nor they, will learn the engineering skills that […]
Obama Administration Proposes to Make Colleges More Affordable and Accountable
August 22, 2013 by
The Obama Administration will “…announce a set of ambitious proposals…” today, according to an article in today’s New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/education/obamas-plan-aims-to-lower-cost-of-college.html?pagewanted=1&ref=tamarlewin Here is my view, which I put in a comment to the article. “No one could have addressed the need for government regulation than did David Riesman, our deepest thinker ever on higher education. […]
Need for Math to Study Econ – Excellent Description – But…
August 21, 2013 by
The post, http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/the-complete-guide-to-getting-into-an-economics-phd-program/278773/#comments , in The Atlantic gives a careful description of how much math is needed in econimics, except for one flaw. The authors conflate “course” with “content”. I discussed that in my comment, which I copied below. Still, I think it is an excellent and enlightening article. ” I am a math professor who […]
New York’s Mayor Boomberg Is Focusing Responsibility Where It Mostly Belongs
August 14, 2013 by
According to today’s NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/nyregion/new-york-issuing-scorecards-on-teacher-colleges.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail0=y&_r=1&emc=edit_tnt_20130814 Mayor Bloomberg is holding universities responsible for poorly (or well) trained teachers – something I have stressed here. (See the category University Education Dumbs Down High School , particularly the post, A Suggestion for Holding Colleges Accountable for Teacher Performance .) I hope his administration goes on to look at graduate schools. For my […]
Follow the Money
August 6, 2013 by
Good article about student loan defaults. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323420604578650420166447266.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Dcomments About 22% of those not in school are either in default or forbearance. Even in a bad economy, that is a big number. Here is what I think it says (posted as a comment on the article). “As a former professor, my advice is, follow the money. Ask […]
Employers Want Tests for Graduates According to WSJ
They don’t trust grades. Here is the article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323980604579029143959843818.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Dcomments