Thursday, December 31, 2009

Essays on Ecologically Sustainable Educational Reforms


One of our authors in our current issue on "The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty: Rethinking Poverty and Education" has announced his new online book that is available for downloading as part of the "cultural commons." You can find the book, Essays on Ecologically Sustainable Educational Reforms by C.A. Bowers, by going to www.cabowers.net/ Also check out Chet Bower's article in our journal entitled, "Rethinking Social Justice Issues Within an Eco-Justice Conceptual and Moral Framework."

Below is the table of contents for the book:

Essays on Ecologically Sustainable Educational Reforms
By C.A. Bowers

Chapter 1 Making the Transition from Individual to Ecological Intelligence: The Challenge Facing Curriculum Theorists

Chapter 2 The Limitations of the Daniel Goleman/Wal-Mart View of Ecological Intelligence

Chapter 3 The Hidden Roots of Cultural Colonization in Teaching English as a Second Language

Chapter 4 Reflections on Teaching the Course “Curriculum Reform in an Era of Global Warming”

Chapter 5 University Reforms that Contribute to the Revitalization of the Cultural Commons

Chapter 6 The Environmental Ethic in Three Theories of Evolution

Chapter 7 Educating for a Sustainable Future: Mediating Between the Commons and Economic Globalization

Chapter 8 The Imperialistic Agenda of Moacir Gadotti’s Eco-Pedagogy


UPDATE: For readers who have had difficulty finding the book, here is a direct link:

http://www.cabowers.net/pdf/Book-Essays-Eco.pdf

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A Debate for the Pigou Club

Brookings economist Ted Gayer opines.

Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman attack.

Ted responds.

Tips to Get The Right Teaching Job

Teaching is one of the most competitive fields to get into nowadays and therefore it is absolutely vital that you show off your skills in your application and write why you would be the best person for the job. Try and market and sell yourself really well so that your application stands out among the rest of the applications that have been received.

Examples of the types and category of questions that you may be asked in an interview or application for a teaching position are highlighted below.

Training and qualifications

You may be asked for elaborations about any practical training that you have completed and specific qualifications as well as any best practices that you could bring to the institution regarding teaching and meeting the teaching targets.

Teaching skills and experience

This will mainly cover things on your CV as well as any general experiences that you have had including things like the different aspects of teaching you have been involved in from creating the material to setting the standards and helping students pass the subject with flying colours. Talk about mentoring and how you’ve helped various students progress fairly quickly to the standards that they are at now and giving examples of subject matters that you have taught including any challenges and how you overcame them.

The core competencies that you feel a teacher should possess

This looks at things like ability to communicate with large groups of students as well the ability to communicate a particular teaching subject to the student to help them grasps the subject matter. Looking at lecture management skills and lesson planning as well as general time management skills to manage time across teaching, research oriented and administration related tasks.

Personality and motivation and passion for teaching

This would involve looking at how you can manage different behaviours and opinions about the subject area as well as talking more about why you chose the subject area to teach, how that subject area motivates you and the kinds of things that you incorporate into the teaching such as the use of interactive tools to make the subject more engaging.

The interview may conclude with queries on the various issues facing the education sector in general and how these can impact the educational institution that you teach in.
Bob Brightside


About the author:
Bob Brightside, Educational recruitment tips is one of the many topics that Bob writes about. If you would like to know more about university teaching jobs & lecturer vacancies or lecturing and assessor jobs and vacancies, please visit the Protocol National website now.

Tips to Get The Right Teaching Job

Teaching is one of the most competitive fields to get into nowadays and therefore it is absolutely vital that you show off your skills in your application and write why you would be the best person for the job. Try and market and sell yourself really well so that your application stands out among the rest of the applications that have been received.

Examples of the types and category of questions that you may be asked in an interview or application for a teaching position are highlighted below.

Training and qualifications

You may be asked for elaborations about any practical training that you have completed and specific qualifications as well as any best practices that you could bring to the institution regarding teaching and meeting the teaching targets.

Teaching skills and experience

This will mainly cover things on your CV as well as any general experiences that you have had including things like the different aspects of teaching you have been involved in from creating the material to setting the standards and helping students pass the subject with flying colours. Talk about mentoring and how you’ve helped various students progress fairly quickly to the standards that they are at now and giving examples of subject matters that you have taught including any challenges and how you overcame them.

The core competencies that you feel a teacher should possess

This looks at things like ability to communicate with large groups of students as well the ability to communicate a particular teaching subject to the student to help them grasps the subject matter. Looking at lecture management skills and lesson planning as well as general time management skills to manage time across teaching, research oriented and administration related tasks.

Personality and motivation and passion for teaching

This would involve looking at how you can manage different behaviours and opinions about the subject area as well as talking more about why you chose the subject area to teach, how that subject area motivates you and the kinds of things that you incorporate into the teaching such as the use of interactive tools to make the subject more engaging.

The interview may conclude with queries on the various issues facing the education sector in general and how these can impact the educational institution that you teach in.
Bob Brightside


About the author:
Bob Brightside, Educational recruitment tips is one of the many topics that Bob writes about. If you would like to know more about university teaching jobs & lecturer vacancies or lecturing and assessor jobs and vacancies, please visit the Protocol National website now.

The Use of iPhones In Further Education

With the boom in technology and new gadgets being released practically every week, it was inevitable that educational institutions would take a slice of the action and entice their students with technology to adopt that mix of traditional and digital interactive teaching and learning methods.

Several educational institutions have put across the digital test to their students allowing a sample of fresher’s to use the new iPhone and its applications as part of their learning at the institution. There are several things that students can engage in whilst using an iPhone as part of their busy life. Since most students will engage in part-time employment to support themselves financially through their student life, the idea seemed quite genius to allow lecturers to keep in contact with students who have such a busy life.

There are a couple of universities that have actually trialled the use of such technology and have found them to be a learning and motivational tool both for students and lectures. For example, the University of Central Lancashire in Preston developed and offered their students a free iPhone application that allowed students to be fully capable of exploring the university campus and local amenities. The application had various services stored on it such as university and campus maps as well as information on local entertainment centres, restaurants and transport links.

Also, when you get students coming from different parts of the world you find that you get stopped quite a lot for directions. This new application meant that students no longer had to stop lecturers or senior students for directions in and around the university campus.


Abilene Christian University based in Texas completed its first year of running a pilot program where they gave 1000 freshman students the opportunity to select an iPhone or iPod Touch phone and use it for free for the duration of the study. This was
seemingly one innovative way of stopping students from being distracted by their mobile phones during lecturers and classroom learning sessions as it allowed the integration of the institutions curriculum into the application so that students could leverage the use of their gadgets as part of their education.

With the immense developments in technology and social media connectivity it was quite enjoyable and invigorating to see how such technology could revolutionise the learning experience using digital interactivity.



About the author:
Phil Adams-Wright, digital learning is just one of many topics that Phil writes about. For more information, please visit the protocol Education website now.

The Use of iPhones In Further Education

With the boom in technology and new gadgets being released practically every week, it was inevitable that educational institutions would take a slice of the action and entice their students with technology to adopt that mix of traditional and digital interactive teaching and learning methods.

Several educational institutions have put across the digital test to their students allowing a sample of fresher’s to use the new iPhone and its applications as part of their learning at the institution. There are several things that students can engage in whilst using an iPhone as part of their busy life. Since most students will engage in part-time employment to support themselves financially through their student life, the idea seemed quite genius to allow lecturers to keep in contact with students who have such a busy life.

There are a couple of universities that have actually trialled the use of such technology and have found them to be a learning and motivational tool both for students and lectures. For example, the University of Central Lancashire in Preston developed and offered their students a free iPhone application that allowed students to be fully capable of exploring the university campus and local amenities. The application had various services stored on it such as university and campus maps as well as information on local entertainment centres, restaurants and transport links.

Also, when you get students coming from different parts of the world you find that you get stopped quite a lot for directions. This new application meant that students no longer had to stop lecturers or senior students for directions in and around the university campus.


Abilene Christian University based in Texas completed its first year of running a pilot program where they gave 1000 freshman students the opportunity to select an iPhone or iPod Touch phone and use it for free for the duration of the study. This was
seemingly one innovative way of stopping students from being distracted by their mobile phones during lecturers and classroom learning sessions as it allowed the integration of the institutions curriculum into the application so that students could leverage the use of their gadgets as part of their education.

With the immense developments in technology and social media connectivity it was quite enjoyable and invigorating to see how such technology could revolutionise the learning experience using digital interactivity.



About the author:
Phil Adams-Wright, digital learning is just one of many topics that Phil writes about. For more information, please visit the protocol Education website now.

Why health consumers aren't cost conscious


Source.

The Temporarily Disappearing Estate Tax

In an odd twist of legislative history, the U.S. estate tax is scheduled to expire on January 1, but for one year only. This article describes people responding those peculiar incentives.
Rich Cling to Life to Beat Tax Man
Nothing's certain except death and taxes -- but a temporary lapse in the estate tax is causing a few wealthy Americans to try to bend those rules.
Starting Jan. 1, the estate tax -- which can erase nearly half of a wealthy person's estate -- goes away for a year. For families facing end-of-life decisions in the immediate future, the change is making one of life's most trying episodes only more complex.
"I have two clients on life support, and the families are struggling with whether to continue heroic measures for a few more days," says Joshua Rubenstein, a lawyer with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York. "Do they want to live for the rest of their lives having made serious medical decisions based on estate-tax law?"
Currently, the tax applies to about 5,500 taxpayers a year. So, on average, at least 15 people die every day whose estates would benefit from the tax's lapse.
The macabre situation stems from 2001, when Congress raised estate-tax exemptions, culminating with the tax's disappearance next year. However, due to budget constraints, lawmakers didn't make the change permanent. So the estate tax is due to come back to life in 2011 -- at a higher rate and lower exemption.
To make it easier on their heirs, some clients are putting provisions into their health-care proxies allowing whoever makes end-of-life medical decisions to consider changes in estate-tax law. "We have done this at least a dozen times, and have gotten more calls recently," says Andrew Katzenstein, a lawyer with Proskauer Rose LLP in Los Angeles.
Of course, plenty of taxpayers themselves are eager to live to see the new year. One wealthy, terminally ill real-estate entrepreneur has told his doctors he is determined to live until the law changes.
"Whenever he wakes up," says his lawyer, "He says: 'What day is it? Is it Jan. 1 yet?'"...
The situation is causing at least one person to add the prospect of euthanasia to his estate-planning mix, according to Mr. Katzenstein of Proskauer Rose. An elderly, infirm client of his recently asked whether undergoing euthanasia next year in Holland, where it's legal, might allow his estate to dodge the tax.
His answer: Yes.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

AEA Humor Session

For those of you attending the meeting of the American Economic Association next week, here is a session you might want to attend:

AEA Economics Humor Session in Honor of Caroline Postelle Clotfelter
  • Sunday Jan 3 at 8 pm at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis [www.marriott.com] room A704. Free and open to the public!
  • Merle Hazard [www.merlehazard.com] ("Busted Dreams and Cheatin' Hearts: The Credit Crisis, Nashville-Style")
  • Hugo Mialon of Emory University ("The Economics of Faking Ecstasy")
  • Jodi N. Beggs [www.economistsdoitwithmodels.com] of Harvard University ("Economists Do It with Models")
  • Stand-up economist Yoram Bauman [www.standupeconomist.com] ("What to Expect When You're Expecting the Nobel Prize").
  • Kenneth West of the University of Wisconsin will be presiding.

Monday, December 28, 2009

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A Test of Leadership

When the history of American higher education in the 21st century is written, I suspect the end of the first decade will be known for two resounding themes: the growing importance of community colleges, and a move from college access to a focus on college success. The vocabulary of this important time centers on words like efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness. These are terms that, thanks in no small part to the work of foundations like Lumina and Gates, finally have traction among both administrators and consumers of higher ed. In a very real sense, this is nothing less than astounding progress for an institution built primarily to enroll students privileged enough to attend college-- and not necessarily to graduate them.

For the latest--and greatest-- example of this sea change we can look to Indiana. Faced with ever-common declines in resources for higher education, leaders in that state are reportedly rethinking business as usual. Typically, budget cuts are distributed across the board, doled out as necessary, and intended to simply save money but not accomplish much else. Indiana's Commission of Higher Education is hoping to shake things up this time around by assigning cuts to colleges and universities based partly on performance. Specifically, the Commission recommends spurring statewide, system, academic, and operating efficiencies by allocating the $150 million in cuts based on per-student state funding, completion rates, and availability of federal stimulus funds.

This is an audacious move, and one that Governor Mitch Daniels should embrace. He should do so not because there's a robust body of evidence suggesting that the plan will work (such evidence doesn't exist, to my knowledge) but rather because we really need to know if it could. The "winners" would seem to be the state's community colleges-- they would take the small proportion of the cuts-- but that success should be measured not in terms of dollars gained or lost, but in terms of change incurred. Governor Daniels should lead the way not only by making this policy shift, but also by ensuring that its effects are evaluated. Do those colleges most affected by a distribution shift-- from enrollment to performance--see the greatest alterations in their outcomes? Are any negative consequences observed at those schools, versus others?

Indiana's providing a fantastic opportunity-- a chance for other states to learn both from its ambitious leadership, and from its policy innovations. I hope in 2010 we see more states making similarly bold moves.

The Monetary Base is exploding. So what?


Click on graphic to enlarge.

An article in Saturday's Wall Street Journal says that some big-league investors are betting that inflation will rise significantly.  The reason?  "The nation's exploding monetary base is a harbinger of inflation."  Is this right?  Probably not.

It is true that the monetary base is exploding.  See the above graph.  Normally, such surge in the monetary base would be inflationary.  The textbook story is that an increase in the monetary base will increase bank lending, which will increase the broad monetary aggregates such as M2, which in the long run leads to inflation.

That is not happening right now, however.  The broader monetary aggregates are not surging.  Much of the base is instead being held as excess reserves.

But, you might ask, won't the inflationary logic eventually take hold as the economy recovers and banks start lending more freely?  Not necessarily.  Recall that the Fed now pays interest on reserves.  As long as the interest rate on reserves is high enough, banks should be happy to hold onto those excess reserves.  That should prevent a surge in the monetary base from being inflationary.

Here is one way to think about it.  The standard way of reducing the monetary base is open market operations.  The Fed sells Treasury bills, say, and drains reserves from the banking system, reducing the monetary base.  But consider what this means in the monetary current regime.  An open market operation merely removes interest-paying reserves from a bank's balance sheet and replaces them with interest-paying T-bills.  What difference does it make?  None at all.

Both reserves and T-bills are interest-paying obligations of the Federal government (including the Federal Reserve).  They are essentially perfect substitutes.  The monetary base, however, includes one of them but not the other, largely for historical reasons.

The bottom line is that when reserves pay interest, the monetary base is a pretty uninteresting economic statistic.

Does this mean that investors should stop worrying about inflation?  No.  Yet the worry should stem not from the monetary base but from the political economy and difficult tradeoffs facing monetary policymakers.  As the economy recovers, interest rates will likely need to rise.  Will the Bernanke Fed, feeling the political heat, get behind the curve and allow inflation to take off?  Will it decide that a little bit of inflation is not so bad compared with the alternative of risking an anemic recovery, a double dip recession, or (gasp!) congressional action to reduce Fed independence?   Maybe.  This is, I think, the right way to argue that higher future inflation is a plausible outcome.

I don't know whether such inflation worries are justified.  But I am pretty sure that the exploding monetary base is not, by itself, a reason to fear a coming surge in inflation.

Evolution


When you read Beauty for Truth's Sake, you won't find much about evolution, except by implication. I mentioned this omission before, in an earlier posting triggered by a letter in the Catholic Herald. My own summary article about evolution is online here. Ignatius Press have a site dedicated to this question, called IntelligentProject.net, and they select the following passage from Pope Benedict, which goes to the heart of the question:

Christianity is faith in the Creator Spiritus, from whom comes everything that is real. Precisely this ought to give Christianity its philosophical power today, since the problem is whether the world comes from an irrational source, so that reason would be nothing but a "by-product" (perhaps even a harmful by-product) of the development of the world, or whether the world comes from reason, so that its criterion and its goal is reason. The Christian faith opts for this second thesis and has good arguments to back it up, even from a purely philosophical point of view, despite the fact that so many people today consider the first thesis the only "rational" and modern view. A reason that has its origin in the irrational and is itself ultimately irrational does not offer a solution to our problem. Only that creative reason which has manifested itself as love in the crucified God can truly show us what life is.
There is no question here of setting faith against reason. But the point about evolution is that it tends to transmogrify into "evolutionism", a Theory of Everything that purports to explain even religious faith as the product of material forces. If the evolution of species is more than just a theory, this ideology of evolutionism is less than a theory; it is an hypothesis, and a poorly grounded one. People believe it mainly for the reason that they cannot see any alternative type of explanation as even possible. More on this phenomenon another time.

Evolution


When you read Beauty for Truth's Sake, you won't find much about evolution, except by implication. I mentioned this omission before, in an earlier posting triggered by a letter in the Catholic Herald. My own summary article about evolution is online here. Ignatius Press have a site dedicated to this question, called IntelligentProject.net, and they select the following passage from Pope Benedict, which goes to the heart of the question:

Christianity is faith in the Creator Spiritus, from whom comes everything that is real. Precisely this ought to give Christianity its philosophical power today, since the problem is whether the world comes from an irrational source, so that reason would be nothing but a "by-product" (perhaps even a harmful by-product) of the development of the world, or whether the world comes from reason, so that its criterion and its goal is reason. The Christian faith opts for this second thesis and has good arguments to back it up, even from a purely philosophical point of view, despite the fact that so many people today consider the first thesis the only "rational" and modern view. A reason that has its origin in the irrational and is itself ultimately irrational does not offer a solution to our problem. Only that creative reason which has manifested itself as love in the crucified God can truly show us what life is.
There is no question here of setting faith against reason. But the point about evolution is that it tends to transmogrify into "evolutionism", a Theory of Everything that purports to explain even religious faith as the product of material forces. If the evolution of species is more than just a theory, this ideology of evolutionism is less than a theory; it is an hypothesis, and a poorly grounded one. People believe it mainly for the reason that they cannot see any alternative type of explanation as even possible. More on this phenomenon another time.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Gruber on the Cadillac Tax

The MIT economist is in favor of it.

ENGINEERING PHYSICS WEEK

Even Diane Ravitch has Now Changed her Mind

Diane Ravitch, who was once the great advocate for test-based accountability and other reforms so favored by our current Secretary of Education, has come to see the realities of these reforms once they are implemented in the schools. Her forthcoming book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education, brings into question many of her earlier commitments. In a recent talk, Ravitch says, "Where once I had been hopeful, even enthusiastic, about the potential benefits of testing, accountability, choice, and markets, I now found myself experiencing profound doubts about the same ideas.” In explaining her change of mind, Ravitch says, “What was the compelling evidence that prompted me to reevalute the policies I had endorsed many times over the previous decade? Why did I now doubt ideas I had once advocated?” she asked. “The short answer is that my views changed because I saw how these ideas were working in reality.”

Here is the link to her recent talk that I found on the Paul Thomas' blog.


http://gothamschools.org/2009/12/18/diane-ravitch-explains-why-she-changed-her-mind-about-reform/

The Journal of Educational Controversy is planning an upcoming issue on the topic, "Schools Our Children Deserve." We hope to begin a more substantive national discussion on the purposes of our public schools. Some of today's most progressive thinkers will be contributing to the conversation.

UPDATE:

For an interesting review of the book, see: the Sunday, February 28, 2010 post,
The Death and Life of the Great American School System, on the Education Policy Blog.

If you are interested in reviewing the book for our upcoming issue, e-mail us at:
CEP.e-Journal@wwu.edu

Those who judge lack the gift of discernment

Recently a new connection of mine commented, "gossiping hurts three people: the one that listens, the one that talks, and the one that is spoken of . . . this is akin to a type of murder of the soul, according to the Torah." People who gossip possess an evil tongue (lashon hara). A conversation ensued about the nature of gossip.

This conversation reminded me of a lengthy discussion I had had about a similar subject when I was a catechumen in Providence, RI (a befitting place to convert to Catholicism and in a parish that truly welcomed all. Case in point: the first baptism I saw at my parish was that of an adopted baby whose parents were lesbians. I knew right there and then that I was in the right parish). This particular discussion was about water cooler gossip, and why it's disrespectful to:

a) God
b) yourself (if you are the gossiper)
c) the listener
d) the person against whom you're speaking

I've also been thinking a lot about maliciousness recently. Unfortunately, we find ourselves subjected to maliciousness all too frequently. It's most hurtful when it's a person you thought you knew or to whom you are still close . . . it's particularly bad when their gossip is turned against you. While I don't mean to simplify the rich complexity of humans and their relationships to one another, I think it's safe to say that there are two types of people in this world:

i) those who judge indiscriminately and are unforgiving
ii) those who judge and then use the gift of discernment to be more understanding

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I know the category into which I fall. There are a lot of reasons why I fall into that category, but I'll save those details for my memoir.

I think we all judge, but when it's combined with the gift of discernment, it can be a valuable tool. Discernment makes you kinder towards others, and can also inform your politics in positive ways.


Mayoral Control and Democratic Schooling

In an interview with the Journal-Sentinel published the day prior to the meeting, Secretary of Education Duncan noted:

“Where the challenges are so large, you need all hands on deck . The best way I can think to get everyone rowing in the same direction is from leadership at the top, and that comes from the mayor.”

Leadership or control? Duncan means control.

It is a funny conundrum. We invented (a century and a half ago) universal public education on the grounds that it was a prerequisite for democracy. But democracy is an idea we have such little faith in that we fear allowing control over schools to lie in the hands of their own constituents, or any combination of such constituents. I refer here mostly to parents and teachers, and the immediate community served by the school, and possibly even its students. But friends of mine often agree with Duncan on the grounds either that, on one hand, it is too dangerous (they might sneak in school prayers, creationism and, of course, racism), and on the other hand they would not dare take the kind of radical steps necessary for the sake of the children or our nation’s economy. In essence the new reformers argue that “politics” (local, close to the site) is bad for schools, while Mayoral and Federal control are good.

Every authoritarian movement or leader has for centuries made more or less the same arguments: that “the people” will misuse their power or that the people are too timid or selfish to take the necessary revolutionary measures that are in their interests. “We,” the enlightened, must do it for them.

Can schools, in which even well-educated professionals are seen as too risky to trust, a likely place to inculcate respect for democracy? Of course, democracy is filled with trade-offs that make it hard to always help us arrive at the best decisions. There are places where I too have favored federal, rather than local control. For instance, I supported the kind of authoritarian directives from the Supreme Court that, in the name of democracy, outlawed school segregation. (Of course, the limits of even such righteous power is well noted in the limited impact that directive had.) And I regret the Supreme Court’s subsequent decisions against implementing such policy through affirmative action or quotas. Where they went wrong perhaps was in trying to micro-manage it? But both were essentially “political” decisions.

Nor, in the name of accountability, am I against the State’s role in the collecting of data that exposes the impact of schools and society on different races, ethnicities and economic substrata. Information is a form of power needed by “locals.”

The idea that we can decide virtually all of the important decisions made within a school through authoritarian means and then insist that the institution’s role is to promote democratic thinking is just plain stupid, absurd and, in fact, an oxymoron. To put this on a somewhat more trivial level, it reminds me of the experience kids have trying to invent board games. They have great ideas. They love doing it. But it’s only in actually playing the game that one discovers whether it works. Ditto for democracy. Churchill’s quote in defense of democracy—that it’s a thoroughly absurd idea “except for when one considers the alternatives,” is one I keep in mind morning, noon and night.

If we are to support democracy as well as invent better forms of it—appropriate revisions of the game—we need a citizenry that understands the game better. Why ever did we invent a rule that allows 40% to veto 60%? Why can nine men (or women) appointed in times past, outlaw legislation that 60% now support? Why do some individual citizens votes on national matters count 5, 10 or 100 times more than other citizens? Why do experts on the economy not get more votes on economic decisions than outright ignoramuses? Bah humbug to democracy if such absurdities define it….or, is it possible that I too at times count on such roadblocks to common sense? There may be good reasons—though debatable ones—for each of these. But students and their teachers need to be exposed to such arguments, not only through the written word but also through experience.

A democratic citizenry needs habits – of mind and heart – that hold them back from the momentary appeal of authoritarian measures. Probably not even democracy can guarantee that we make wise decisions about democracy. But both institutional and personal habits can provide us the time to correct and revise our passions of the moment. It is in crises that our habits are most tested. Skepticism, which I much value, is not the same as “the habit of distrust.” In fact, as a habit, I rather like the default position of trust. It is a habit that helps smooth the way for democracy. But—and this is a big but—we need to counterbalance the habit of trust with the habits of skepticism. We need to balance trust with an acknowledgment that there are good reasons to distrust.

The same goes for “civility” of manner and mutual respect and tolerance. These are all three good habits. But….. They are dangerous without a critical second opinion, the habits of indignation, the willingness to act even in face of uncertainty, the habits associated with solidarity and empathy.

In short—a good education requires us to continually rethink our own habits, as we also honor them, to take note of the consequences and accept responsibility for them. And on and on. Will schools that engage in this, while also engaging in teaching kids specific skills and academic knowledge, survive? Indeed, if they can’t, neither will democracy writ large. At least, for starters, we ought to try it out in the ways we adults interact and implement decisions in our schools. To do so, we need to leave more power inside the schools.

Finally, there’s a interesting auxiliary reason: kids are not comfortable in the presence of powerless “wimpy” adults. And adults who are always having to say, “I didn't decide that, so don't blame me” are actively promoting a mindset which runs in direct conflict with the environment best suited to learning. It also substantially undercuts the desire of the young to grow up (and be powerful), and their respect for their teachers.

This column is an exploration of a subject of increasing interest to me. Comment below or send me an email.

Deborah.

December 2009

Can you name this economist?

P/E Ratio


This chart, from Jim Hamilton, shows the ratio of a stock market price index to the average of the previous ten years of real earnings.  The red line is the historical average.
By this metric, popularized by Bob Shiller, the market is now slightly above its historical average valuation.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Smoot-Hawley Revisited

According to a view common among macroeconomists, the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930s were a poor policy choice, but they were not a main reason for the severity of the Great Depression.  In an interesting blog post, economic historian Scott Sumner calls the second half of this conclusion into question:
In the period around March and April 1930, there were a few “green shoots” in the economy. The stock market recovered a significant chunk of the huge losses in 1929. (I recall the Dow fell well below 200 during the famous crash, and got back up over 260 in April. The 1929 peak had been 381.) Then in May and June everything seemed to fall apart, and stocks crashed again. So what happened in May and June?
The headline news stories during those months were the progress of Smoot-Hawley through Congress. Each time it cleared a major legislative hurdle, the Dow fell sharply. This pattern was obvious to those following the markets, and was frequently commented upon. After it cleared Congress it went to Hoover. The President received a petition from over 1000 economists pleading with him to veto the bill. (A veto would not have been overridden.) Over the weekend Hoover decided to sign the bill, and on Monday the Dow suffered its biggest single day drop of the entire year.
Scott then goes on to propose an explanation of these events that can be viewed as consistent with the textbook Keynesian model. In particular, I interpret Scott as saying that the retreat from free trade reduced business confidence, shifted the investment function I(r) to the left, and thereby reduced aggregate demand.

One general lesson from his discussion is that it is often hard to distinguish shocks to aggregate supply and shocks to aggregate demand.  Policies and events that adversely affect aggregate supply (e.g., trade restrictions) will often reduce the marginal productivity of capital, decrease investment spending for given interest rates, and depress aggregate demand as well.  In the short run, the indirect demand-side effects of "supply shocks" could potentially be larger than the direct supply-side effects.

This is something to keep in mind as our economy enjoys the beginnings of a recovery.

The Ten Principles Down Under

The economics editor for the Sydney Morning Herald summarizes the Ten Principles of Economics from Chapter 1 of my favorite textbook.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

I wish all of my readers a merry Christmas! Things are going to be somewhat slow here on the blog for a few days, but I promise to be back in early January with more news about mathematics education research!

If you want to stay up to date, you might consider checking my shared articles on Google Reader, or you can go directly to the automatically updated articles within the field of mathematics education. Articles related to education research in general can be found here, and articles related to early childhood education can be found here. You might also consider following me on twitter, where I will also provide news and updates about mathematics education and other things of interest.

Merry Christmas

I wish all of my readers a merry Christmas! Things are going to be somewhat slow here on the blog for a few days, but I promise to be back in early January with more news about mathematics education research!

If you want to stay up to date, you might consider checking my shared articles on Google Reader, or you can go directly to the automatically updated articles within the field of mathematics education. Articles related to education research in general can be found here, and articles related to early childhood education can be found here. You might also consider following me on twitter, where I will also provide news and updates about mathematics education and other things of interest.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Find the Pattern, Ignore the Contraditions, Only Learn When Challenged

When experimental results appear that can't be explained, they're often discounted as being useless. The researchers might say that the experiment was designed badly, the equipment faulty, and so on.

It may indeed be the case the faults occurred, but it could also be the case when consistent information emerges, but these possibilities are rarely investigated when the data agrees with pre-existing assumptions, leading to possible biases in how data is interpreted.

. . . .

I was particularly interested to read that breakthroughs were most likely to come from group discussions:

"While the scientific process is typically seen as a lonely pursuit — researchers solve problems by themselves — Dunbar found that most new scientific ideas emerged from lab meetings, those weekly sessions in which people publicly present their data. Interestingly, the most important element of the lab meeting wasn’t the presentation — it was the debate that followed. Dunbar observed that the skeptical (and sometimes heated) questions asked during a group session frequently triggered breakthroughs, as the scientists were forced to reconsider data they’d previously ignored. The new theory was a product of spontaneous conversation, not solitude; a single bracing query was enough to turn scientists into temporary outsiders, able to look anew at their own work."

Although it turns out that discussion with people from a diverse range of people is most important - having a room full of people who share assumptions and expertise tends not to lead to creative scientific insights.

Find the Pattern, Ignore the Contraditions, Only Learn When Challenged

When experimental results appear that can't be explained, they're often discounted as being useless. The researchers might say that the experiment was designed badly, the equipment faulty, and so on.

It may indeed be the case the faults occurred, but it could also be the case when consistent information emerges, but these possibilities are rarely investigated when the data agrees with pre-existing assumptions, leading to possible biases in how data is interpreted.

. . . .

I was particularly interested to read that breakthroughs were most likely to come from group discussions:

"While the scientific process is typically seen as a lonely pursuit — researchers solve problems by themselves — Dunbar found that most new scientific ideas emerged from lab meetings, those weekly sessions in which people publicly present their data. Interestingly, the most important element of the lab meeting wasn’t the presentation — it was the debate that followed. Dunbar observed that the skeptical (and sometimes heated) questions asked during a group session frequently triggered breakthroughs, as the scientists were forced to reconsider data they’d previously ignored. The new theory was a product of spontaneous conversation, not solitude; a single bracing query was enough to turn scientists into temporary outsiders, able to look anew at their own work."

Although it turns out that discussion with people from a diverse range of people is most important - having a room full of people who share assumptions and expertise tends not to lead to creative scientific insights.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

A Reading for the Pigou Club

From the ever sensible David Wessel.

Let's face it, science is boring

This is why I bailed out of biology after completing the degree (okay, mostly). Fascinating to know. Stultifying to do.
It is now time to come clean. This glittering depiction of the quest for knowledge is... well, perhaps not an outright lie, but certainly a highly edited version of the truth. Science is not a whirlwind dance of excitement, illuminated by the brilliant strobe light of insight. It is a long, plodding journey through a dim maze of dead ends. It is painstaking data collection followed by repetitious calculation. It is revision, confusion, frustration, bureaucracy and bad coffee. In a word, science can be boring.

My own brief and undistinguished research career included its share of mind-numbing tasks, notably the months of data processing which revealed that a large and expensive orbiting gamma-ray telescope had fixed its eye on the exploding heart of a distant galaxy and seen... nothing. I tip my hat, though, to New Scientist's San Francisco bureau chief, who spent nearly three years watching mice sniff each other in a room dimly lit by a red bulb. "It achieved little," he confesses, "apart from making my clothes smell of mouse urine." And the office prize for research ennui has to go to the editor of NewScientist.com. "I once spent four weeks essentially turning one screw backwards and forwards," he says. "It was about that time that I decided I didn't want to be a working scientist."
However . . .
Boredom, it seems, is very much in the eye of the beholder. Scientists at the top of their game rarely become jaded, possibly because it is only the most tenacious individuals who ever succeed in research. Those with shorter attention spans - and you may pass your own judgement on the New Scientist staff mentioned earlier - are soon weeded out.

It's not all natural obsessiveness, though; there's an element of nurture too. Sulston points out that the most repetitious stuff happens only after years of working around a problem, trying to find a way in. By the time you are "strictly turning the handle", as he puts it, you may be the most skilled person at your chosen technique. Sulston ranked among the best in the world at keeping a close eye on slimy, grey microscopic worms, so using this skill became a pleasure.

Let's face it, science is boring

This is why I bailed out of biology after completing the degree (okay, mostly). Fascinating to know. Stultifying to do.
It is now time to come clean. This glittering depiction of the quest for knowledge is... well, perhaps not an outright lie, but certainly a highly edited version of the truth. Science is not a whirlwind dance of excitement, illuminated by the brilliant strobe light of insight. It is a long, plodding journey through a dim maze of dead ends. It is painstaking data collection followed by repetitious calculation. It is revision, confusion, frustration, bureaucracy and bad coffee. In a word, science can be boring.

My own brief and undistinguished research career included its share of mind-numbing tasks, notably the months of data processing which revealed that a large and expensive orbiting gamma-ray telescope had fixed its eye on the exploding heart of a distant galaxy and seen... nothing. I tip my hat, though, to New Scientist's San Francisco bureau chief, who spent nearly three years watching mice sniff each other in a room dimly lit by a red bulb. "It achieved little," he confesses, "apart from making my clothes smell of mouse urine." And the office prize for research ennui has to go to the editor of NewScientist.com. "I once spent four weeks essentially turning one screw backwards and forwards," he says. "It was about that time that I decided I didn't want to be a working scientist."
However . . .
Boredom, it seems, is very much in the eye of the beholder. Scientists at the top of their game rarely become jaded, possibly because it is only the most tenacious individuals who ever succeed in research. Those with shorter attention spans - and you may pass your own judgement on the New Scientist staff mentioned earlier - are soon weeded out.

It's not all natural obsessiveness, though; there's an element of nurture too. Sulston points out that the most repetitious stuff happens only after years of working around a problem, trying to find a way in. By the time you are "strictly turning the handle", as he puts it, you may be the most skilled person at your chosen technique. Sulston ranked among the best in the world at keeping a close eye on slimy, grey microscopic worms, so using this skill became a pleasure.

A Holiday Fantasy (Revised 2009)


Twas the day after Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/…,when all around Tweed,
Not a creature was stirring, no one to take heed,
No stockings were hung by the chimney this time,
For the schools had been plundered by Bloomberg and Klein,

The city schoolchildren nestled snug in their beds,
Hoping to go back to school without dread,
Of their schools being closed, replaced by charters,
Finding a good place to learn would be harder,

But then on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
That Bloomberg and Klein knew something’s the matter,
Away to the window they flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash,

A host of pale figures, with ghostly shine,
Looked menacingly up at Bloomberg and Klein,
There were ATRs and teachers from rubber rooms,
And children fed up with crowded classrooms,

And angry parents who knew it not for the best,
For their children’s teachers to teach to the test,
With their students’ scores the only way,
They could gain the coveted merit pay,

Oh, Bloomberg and Klein, the fates for you,
Will be in the hands of this ghostly crew,
If you don't care to tend to the stakeholders’ needs,
You'll find it's the end of your control of Tweed,

Bloomberg and Klein just slithered away,
Too frightened to face this another day,
One only can hope that this lesson in dread,
Will not be lost on the Secretary of Ed.

From a teacher...

Last week at school several recent graduates came by to say hi and told me how much ahead of their peers they were in the field of the Holocaust and genocide studies. I think several just thought it was normal to have the kind of classes you and I provide.

K. (a student) came by also. She had declared her major at NYU - genocide studies!!! She wants to work at an NGO to solve local conflicts in developing nations. Ok, I almost cried when she told me that... Some days I wonder about teaching and if I make an impact at all. Many times I am simply guessing at what the teens will respond to. I do my best, but still I wonder where I could do better - it keeps me up at night. But then, just when I need it, a student will come by and tell me how much something we talked about in class meant to them. In K.'s case, it was the movie "The Courage to Care." She was truly touched by the tragic stories, but filled with hope at what one person can do - if they act.

You and I and providing the experiences that allow students to cultivate the moral responsibility to respond in the moment and not be a bystander. And today, when we both celebrate the season of miracles in our faiths, I thank our God for the blessing he has given me in the Center.

Nick Coddington

- Nick Coddington is a teacher at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma. Prior to his position as a teacher, he was a career intelligence officer for NATO where he specialized on conflict intervention and conflict resolution strategies. His work in the Balkans from 1994-2005 provided him with a first-hand account of the complexities with predicting and responding to genocide. Nick is an Alfred Lerner Fellow with the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, and has won numerous awards for his teaching including the the 2007 Robert I. Goldman Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education, the 2008 Spirit of Anne Frank Award, and the 2009 Facing History and Ourselves Margot Stern Strom Teaching Award. Nick serves on the Holocaust Center’s Education Advisory Committee and is a frequent presenter at the Holocaust Center’s teacher seminars.

Nick will be giving a presenation on rescue during the Holocaust at the upcoming teacher seminar on January 29 in Seattle. One of his former students will also be sharing an interactive website she created and used as her entry for the History Day Contest. She placed 4th in the region. More information on this seminar can be found at www.wsherc.org.

A great holiday present for our kids, and please help us help you!


There’s great news today, and a holiday present for NYC public schoolchildren! Yesterday, the NY State Supreme Court rejected the city’s attempt to lease half of the sports fields on Randall’s Island to twenty private schools for the next twenty years, without first going through the mandated process, including review by the local Community Board and City Council.

Class Size Matters helped organize this lawsuit in 2006, when the city decided to unilaterally grant two thirds of these fields to the private schools, and this is the second time in two years that the court ruled in our favor. Yesterday, we were rewarded with a slam dunk decision, in which Judge Marilyn Shafer said that the city's arguments were “inherently incredible,” and ordered the city to pay court costs and fees to our (pro bono) attorneys, because of their attempt to evade the earlier ruling. (The decision is posted here; see also the Daily News, Times , NY Post and WNYC.)

The court ruling caps an eventful year for Class Size Matters, in which we’ve been busy advocating for all NYC students to be provided with smaller classes and a better opportunity to learn. We led the “Build Schools, not Prisons” campaign to alleviate school overcrowding, and recently the city added 5,000 seats to the capital plan. We co-authored a report on the growing numbers of students discharged from our schools but not counted as dropouts. We published a book on the Bloomberg-Klein educational record that received attention as far away as Australia and Thailand.

We helped form the Parent Commission to advocate for a better school governance law with more real parental input, and together with other public school parents, created NYC Kids Pac, to support candidates who will work for positive change in our schools.

We continue to offer news and information to parents through our two list servs, contribute to and manage the NYC public school parent blog, and also started a column on the Huffington Post. Finally, as mentioned above, we just a won a major case that will hopefully ensure the right of all NYC students to have equal access to the sports fields on Randall’s Island for years to come. Just some of our nearly 100 press clips from the past year are posted on our website.

Please be a part of this effort by contributing what you can. We rely on your financial support. Just click here, or on the link below to give a tax-deductible donation.

Anyone who donates $50 or more will receive a free copy of our acclaimed book, NYC Schools under Bloomberg and Klein, what Parents, Teachers and Policymakers Need to Know, with essays by Diane Ravitch, Debbie Meier, Steve Koss, Patrick Sullivan, and others.

Help us achieve our goal: that the city will finally fulfill its obligation to provide all public school children with smaller classes, a quality education, and a better chance to learn.

Please make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

Happy holidays and a happy New Year,
Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters

Queen of the Sciences


Here is a passage from Fr Robert Barron's wonderful book The Priority of Christ (pp. 155-6):

In the thirteenth century, Bonaventure maintained that all of the non-theological arts and sciences taught in the university find their proper center in theology, that science which speaks directly of Christ the Logos. As the rationality of God the creator, Christ is the physical, mathematical, and metaphysical center of the universe and hence the point of orientation for all of the sciences dealing with those dimensions.

In the nineteenth-century, at the high-water mark of modern foundationalism, John Henry Newman felt compelled to call for the re-insertion of theology within the circle of university disciplines. Following the inner logic of Christian revelation, Newman, like Bonaventure, saw that theology not only should be around the table, but must be the centering element in the conversation, precisely because it alone speaks of the creator God who is metaphysically implicit in all finite existence.
A few lines later he adds: "Newman saw that once theology is displaced, some other discipline necessarily takes its position at the center and thereby disturbs the proper harmony among the sciences, for no other discipline has the range or inclusiveness properly to hold the center."

The same argument is made powerfully in Alasdair MacIntyre's recent book, God, Philosophy, Universities. But what is this "proper" harmony that Barron appeals to? Why is only theology capable of "holding the center"? The point is that, while theology cannot determine the methods or content of the individual sciences, it alone is concerned with that which transcends them all. It is a place-holder for that which connects everything - for what Barron terms "co-inherent relationality." Theology as a formal discipline is a quest for that relationality. Without it, rationality itself fragments and falls apart.

Icon by Solrunn Nes (www.icon-painting.com). "Just as the Virgin was called to offer herself entirely as human being and as woman that God's Word might take flesh and come among us, so too philosophy is called to offer its rational and critical resources that theology, as the understanding of faith, may be fruitful and creative. And just as in giving her assent to Gabriel's word, Mary lost nothing of her true humanity and freedom, so too when philosophy heeds the summons of the Gospel's truth its autonomy is in no way impaired. Indeed, it is then that philosophy sees all its enquiries rise to their highest expression" (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 108).

Queen of the Sciences


Here is a passage from Fr Robert Barron's wonderful book The Priority of Christ (pp. 155-6):

In the thirteenth century, Bonaventure maintained that all of the non-theological arts and sciences taught in the university find their proper center in theology, that science which speaks directly of Christ the Logos. As the rationality of God the creator, Christ is the physical, mathematical, and metaphysical center of the universe and hence the point of orientation for all of the sciences dealing with those dimensions.

In the nineteenth-century, at the high-water mark of modern foundationalism, John Henry Newman felt compelled to call for the re-insertion of theology within the circle of university disciplines. Following the inner logic of Christian revelation, Newman, like Bonaventure, saw that theology not only should be around the table, but must be the centering element in the conversation, precisely because it alone speaks of the creator God who is metaphysically implicit in all finite existence.
A few lines later he adds: "Newman saw that once theology is displaced, some other discipline necessarily takes its position at the center and thereby disturbs the proper harmony among the sciences, for no other discipline has the range or inclusiveness properly to hold the center."

The same argument is made powerfully in Alasdair MacIntyre's recent book, God, Philosophy, Universities. But what is this "proper" harmony that Barron appeals to? Why is only theology capable of "holding the center"? The point is that, while theology cannot determine the methods or content of the individual sciences, it alone is concerned with that which transcends them all. It is a place-holder for that which connects everything - for what Barron terms "co-inherent relationality." Theology as a formal discipline is a quest for that relationality. Without it, rationality itself fragments and falls apart.

Icon by Solrunn Nes (www.icon-painting.com). "Just as the Virgin was called to offer herself entirely as human being and as woman that God's Word might take flesh and come among us, so too philosophy is called to offer its rational and critical resources that theology, as the understanding of faith, may be fruitful and creative. And just as in giving her assent to Gabriel's word, Mary lost nothing of her true humanity and freedom, so too when philosophy heeds the summons of the Gospel's truth its autonomy is in no way impaired. Indeed, it is then that philosophy sees all its enquiries rise to their highest expression" (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 108).