The idea that knowledge can be effectively broken down into categories is deeply rooted in our attitudes about the world. We taxonomize knowledge and skill very early on, and we see it everywhere. Driven by the increasing economic pressure for specialization and the fundamental role we let career play in defining our identity, [...]
***** is thinking about a PhD in economics. SAIS has made her terrified of applying for a job.
Note that more advanced education has made someone more wary of the job market.
The perceived need for an advanced degree to remain competitive is a growing problem. The fact that a diploma is a commodity means that [...]
Definitions
So, I recently hinted at the ways in which blame, power, responsibility, and guilt inform our ideas about social reform when it comes to a minority1 .
Exploring this requires we constrain our definitions of action and reaction. To do that, let’s [re-]introduce the idea of locus of control.
“Locus of control” simply refers to the [...]
Which is where I’ve been spending a lot of my time, lately. Given my ambition [to start a university], I have a significant interest in open source, low cost, high quality scientific equipment. The interest in NMR of a friend of mine1 and the availability of funds from the Eloranta Foundation and Tau [...]
At the Student Center, amidst throngs of people. Her two friends consoled her.
Her test went poorly, apparently.
The next twenty minutes were spent tearily complaining about the test and the teacher and her other classes. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.
People pay money to feel shitty, because feeling shitty is—via masochism (or [...]
On the craziness feeling guilty about not doing homework:
B: I think I can get paid [by MIT, via scholarship] $2000 per semester to feel guilty.
Last week, Chris Bisignani was kind enough to leave a careful, detailed reply to a post of mine about structural problems with modern reform. I finally sat down and sketched out the beginnings of replies to the myriad questions he raised. So here it is, an ongoing discussion about the nature of reform.1 [...]
Evidence over at FOUND magazine:
Note number 2. While it is disheartening, it is hard for me to imagine most parents saying that schools are the best environment possible for curiosity’s growth and satisfaction. Inevitably, pragmatic and prudential concerns intervene. Unfortunately, even that intervention is misguided.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with [...]
When most teachers walk into a classroom, they’ve already put in hours of work preparing for the next forty minutes. What they say, what they do, what materials are made available, how they organize students—to some extent, all the teacher’s moves have been orchestrated ahead of time. For many teachers, careful orchestration is [...]
a problem
Reform efforts exist on a spectrum spanning two extremes. One extreme feels that reform can only start outside the ailing institution. The other extreme thinks that only by working within the system can we change it. Unsurprisingly, the answer usually lies between the two extremes. Those who think that outside [...]
G: I can’t even calculate the probability of like a roll of the die. I’m just praying I didn’t fail.
Looks like this market is doing just fine; MyHappyPlanet is actually solving the problem (i.e. opportunity) which I noted a few days ago.
Update (03.12.08): Looks like this market is doing just fine; MyHappyPlanet is actually solving the problem.
So, a recent story in the New York Times brought to mind an old idea of mine seeded by a friend’s description of a matchup service in Germany dedicated to setting up meetings between English-speakers seeking to learn German [...]
From Wasau Daily Herald, Barack Obama is planning to push community colleges:
“The economy is changing at a breathtaking pace, and we need different skills these days,” Obama said. “In a moment when people are finding it harder and harder to get ahead, it’s time to call upon our community colleges once again.”
Obama’s initiative would create [...]
Said more carefully, the operational culture of educational institutions has more inertia than that of corporations. While it is clear that research universities innovate more than many companies, the past three decades of corporate culture and strategy have yielded many more innovations than their academic and educational counterpart.
This is not surprising: not only is [...]
© opening up. Powered by WordPress using the DePo Skinny Theme.