Education

Yes, according to Thomas Sowell. I'm inclined to agree. Briefly,

1. Unless you're in a science or engineering field where you have to do experiments and stuff, college doesn't make you smarter. Or, at least, it doesn't fill you with $120,000 worth of knowledge. In America, with so many resources available, a person serious about learning, will. Sure, he won't be able to get drunk every night or attend Spring Sing, but he could go to the library, attend lectures, or engage in other "educational" activities. How many of you non-science majors over the age of thirty can say that they learned most of what they know in college? I learned more about grammar in the year I've been blogging than the four I spent at UCLA.

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Irvine Dorm

College was once a playground for the elite where they could get together, find spouses, build contacts, and learn, of course (I’m not totally cynical). Like gardeners, vacations, and cell phones, what was once the provenance of the wealthy, a university education, became available to large segments of society: so common that many middle-class parents now see their child’s non-college attendance as a life-failure. This article in the Los Angeles Times describing the emphasis on luxury living for college students indicates a furthering of the trend towards upscaling middle-classness. Not just happy to be there, many students demand a style of living unavailable to even successful people out of college.

Equality fetishists (who often, contradictorily, denounce materialism) may see the democratization of excess as a good development in society, a way of promoting a sameness of circumstance. Those favorably disposed towards education in general and who can't imagine spending too much on it probably tolerate this state of affairs if not enthusiastically applaud it.

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I was looking through Hispanic Pundit (man, that's a well-designed blog, isn't it?) and read this post in which he links to an interesting question raised by Charles Murray, the IQ guru and controversialist. HP chose a different quote, but I think this one sums up the article best:

Conant’s cause was as unambiguously liberal in the 1940s as income redistribution is today. Then, America’s elite colleges drew most of their students from a small set of elite secondary schools, concentrated in the northeastern United States, to which America’s wealthy sent their children. The mission of the SAT was to identify intellectual talent regardless of race, color, creed, money, or geography, and give that talent a chance to blossom. Students from small towns and from poor neighborhoods in big cities were supposed to benefit—as I thought I did, and as many readers of the american think they did.

But data trump gratitude. The evidence has become overwhelming that the SAT no longer serves a democratizing purpose. Worse, events have conspired to make the SAT a negative force in American life. And so I find myself arguing that the SAT should be ended. Not just deemphasized, but no longer administered. Nothing important would be lost by so doing. Much would be gained.

It seems odd that what's considered a tool of the privileged had, as its original goal, to level the playing field between rich and poor. I'm not an equality fetishist, but I see the harm to our country if talent isn't recognized and exploited and would therefore like to see the universities choose the most fair testing method at their disposal (my own kids will be assessed in seven years). The article is longish and the issues raised worthy of a series of posts, however, some thoughts:

1. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what criteria is used in universities. Those who wish to play the game will do so. So, if Harvard announces that it will choose its freshmen based on high school seniors' ability to walk on their arms, you'll start seeing pushy parents walking their toddler and holding him by his foot instead of his hand.

2. Grades alone will not suffice. "Ability" won't suffice either. Grades measure, in the best scenario, how hard one works or how much one applies themselves. In the worst case, they measure how well you play the student game.

Ability measurements of the SAT-IQ type quantify raw intelligence, but you know plenty of smart people who waste their brains on WoW and whom you wouldn't hire to wash your cat.

I suppose Murray wants to replace the SAT-aptitude type tests with achievement tests. The difference is that an SAT test measures raw smarts (no, Kaplan or Princeton won't raise your score that much), while an achievement test quantifies how much you've learned.

SAT-Find the length of C in the triangle ABC.
Achievement: What is the Pythagorean theorem?

Either way, again, I don't see any solution to the sad fact that people of privilege will usually do better. That's why people try to become privileged in the first place, no?

An English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher may choose from a variety of resources on the internet. The most useful to me, however, has been ESL Images. The reason it occupies a special place in my teacher bookmarks is because it's offering of ready-made lessons has helped me out of more than a few jams. Some of these situations have included emergency absences that leave little time to plan a full lesson, not having received text books in time and therefore leaving a few days with no materials, and substituting for a teacher with no prepared lesson. Sometimes, however, the ESL-Library lessons just reinforce something we're learning in the official curriculum and provide a fun change of pace.

For a nominal fee, one can download ready-made lessons in Adobe PDF format and print them out to be reproduced later. The lessons are simple to administer and offer a variety of activities ranging from partner practice and interviewing to grammar practice and reading comprehension. Fun stuff like puzzles, games, and everybody's favorites, word searches and crosswords are provided as well.

ESL Library offers three categories of lessons at two different levels. ESL Library offers mini-biographies of high-interest historical figures like Bruce Lee or Marilyn Monroe that are followed by some comprehension questions and vocabulary work.

Another category of lesson are basic grammar lessons where a module, seven or eight pages long, may cover a grammar topic like "present progressive" or "simple present (be)."

The last category of lesson is designed for intermediate and above students and contain enough materials for several hours and are called "Living in English" lessons. Examples include "Housing," "Family," and "Employment." Within these themes, one can find worksheets that offer all of the above (reading, grammar, partner practice, writing), but more in-depth. Although no good teacher would just give their students worksheets, they're very helpful in focusing learning.

All of the lessons come with flash cards and other teacher paraphernalia.

And, it's not just for teachers. Students can use the services to self-teach or to catch up/move ahead.

See, easy to use.

From the "Getting Acquainted" module.

This article had the following:

In deciding not to give Bush an honorary degree, some faculty members cited concerns about Bush’s educational record in respect to the university. Some said his approval of three new medical schools has diluted resources. He also has been criticized for his “One Florida” proposal, an initiative that ended race-based admissions programs at state universities

Doctors are in short supply. How do I know? Well, they're expensive which means they're in demand. I also know because many doctors in Los Angeles are from foreign countries and they obviously wouldn't go to a place where they weren't needed. And, far more people apply to medical school than can be accepted. Now, what happens when the supply of something goes up while demand remains constant? So, Jeb Bush is in a position to remedy the situation by expanding medical schools to increase supply and people complain.

And he wants to end race-based preferences. So, he's rejected because he wants the state to treat people equally and lower the cost of health care.

First day of School
LA Times Propaganda
Villaraigosa takeover
and
Villaraigosa again

If you like them, I'll keep it up. I'm writing a couple of longer essays this weekend.

LAUSD main building.

I took down my Education blog because I felt funny writing about the place I work and the people I work with, of whom I generally think very highly. Some people found it interesting, however, and I'll keep it up until I get to Army training in a month and then I'll focus on the military blog.

Anyways, I don't always agree with my union, but they placed this flyer in my box and I found it interesting. Amazing, actually.

In the teacher's lounge I asked how this was possible. Nobody had an answer. I'll investigate this week and report back, but meanwhile, if anybody has any explanation, let me know. Remember this post next time you're asked to vote on a school bond.

Look at this and don't be outraged. I dare you.