Education

A short personal post, first written here on August 13, 2005, then reposted here on January 16, 2006... When I was in elementary school back in Belgrade (grades 1 through 8) I had the most horrible history teacher. She was an example that stereotype of "dumb blonde" is sometimes correct. She was hired, I assume, because she was the Barbie-doll trophy-wife of the then mayor of Belgrade. For four years I did not learn anything about history. I managed to get all 5s (equivalent of As) until the very end of eighth grade - almost everybody in class did. And nobody learned anything. In middle…
Harvard University has announced that it will end its early admissions policy. Finally, the middle class and lower-middle class catch a break. As the Boston Globe put it: The practice, many educators and admissions specialists say, favors wealthy students, who are more likely to know the option is available and hence gain an edge, generally being admitted at a higher rate than later applicants. The same students often have other advantages, such as more access to test preparation and private college counselors. Low-income students face a deterrent to applying early, because if they are…
I just wanna hurl chunks right now at fellow Sb'er Chad, who writes Uncertain Principles. Chad wrote this foolish entry about the so-called pipeline problem of women in physics. Which just goes to show that even an advanced degree in physics is no guarantee you won't have your head up your ass now and then. The gist of Chad's post seems to be that, since he is a nice guy, it is awfully unfair of unnamed personnages to go about bashing physics profs for their bad behavior vis-a-vis women, especially since most of his colleagues on the faculty are also nice guys. Here's the whiny end of…
Neurotopia Categories: Brain & Behavior, Philosophy of Science At Neurotopia, brains are always on the menu! Your host,"Evil Monkey," serves up a heaping portion of the latest neuroscience news, plus a side of social commentary expertly seasoned with action potentials and cognitive functions. The fare here is garnished with general thoughts on science, ethics, and evolution, and chased by a sickeningly-sweet understanding of human behavior. The pseudonymous author of Neurotopia holds a PhD in neuroscience, often gives vent to his politically progressive tendencies, and believes that a…
What do you do when your pet African Grey parrot, which have a lifespan of 65-80 years, will likely out live you? Well, you have to make sure that it is provided for in your will, according to Dottie Kennedy, head of Rainbow Feathers bird club in southern Michigan. "You have to be sure the bird's taken care of," said the Livonia [Michigan] resident. It's part of the message Kennedy and members of the Rainbow Feathers Bird Club deliver in educational programs they present at libraries, preschools, churches and in exchange for donations to fund the club's bird rescue program. The club was…
It was Faramir in The Lord of the Rings who described Frodo's task as "a hard doom and a hopeless errand". I must confess to feeling that way myself about my own self-imposed task of reporting to you about the pond scum of academia, those who discriminate and harass, the bilious lechers and sexual abusers of the young. And yet it must be done. Because if I don't do it, who will? And these miscreants must not be allowed to slither away into the dark recesses of our classrooms and buildings, attempting to rehabilitate their reputations or escape scandal altogether. No, they must be publicly…
So, here's the latest set of reports telling you exactly what the situation is for women in science, nicely collected for us in the AWIS Sept. 1, 2006 Washington Wire (thanks, AWIS!) FYI: STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. What follows are the titles of three reports, AWIS's summary, and then my summary. Rapid Increase in STEM Occupations in the Last Half-Century A new study published by the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) shows that the growth in American STEM occupations between 1950 and 2000 outpaced the growth of the total labor…
Evolgen Categories: Biology, Academia RPM has been blogging since November, 2004; he started because he thought the blogosphere needed an entry in evolutionary genetics, the subject in which he's pursuing a PhD. Then he discovered Gene Expression, and realized the blogosphere already had one. Then he found out Gene Expression also had a lot of stuff on psychology and human culture, and once again he felt unique. RPM writes about evolution and genetics. Some of his posts take on a formal tone. Others are laced with sarcasm. Every once in a while he'll write something funny. He tries to stay…
Minnesota has a new group: Minnesota Citizens for Science Education (MnCSE). They already have an excellent website put together, and have an event upcoming on November 11th: Science Education Saturday November 11, 2006 Bell Museum of Natural History 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Some of the most popular and dynamic professors involved with evolutionary biology at the University of Minnesota - Mark Borrello, Randy Moore, PZ Myers and others - will join a panel of public school K-12 educators to present practical suggestions for the classroom, useful resources for teachers and ideas for working with…
Study Finds How Organs Monitor Themselves During Early Development: Scientists at NYU School of Medicine have unraveled the signals in a feedback loop governing ovarian development. This work has been several years in the making and is being published on August 27 in the advance online issue of the journal Nature. This is a big, complicated and exciting study in Drosophila. Scientists Discover Memory Molecule : Scientists have succeeded in erasing memory in animal models. These findings may be useful for the treatment of disorders characterized by the pathological over-strengthening of…
Jay at STACLU has a post that is little more than a rote recitation of all the favorite conservative catchphrases about judicial nominations. It makes a good starting point for discussing the fact that the typical rhetoric we hear from conservatives on constitutional law references things that simply do not exist in any coherent manner. Here's a textbook example from his post of this imaginary rhetoric: Getting judges that have a originalist interpretation of the Constitution should be of major importance to Conservatives in today's world of judicial activism. And then, for some odd reason, a…
The Cheerful Oncologist Categories: Medicine After earning a BA in English from Iowa State University, Craig Hildreth went on to acquire an MD from the University of Iowa, complete a medical oncology fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and become a partner in a five-doctor private cancer-care practice in St. Louis. In 2004, the experience of caring for a friend's parents as they both died of cancer nudged the bibliophilic doctor back to his literary roots. The Cheerful Oncologist began as a way to write about the world of cancer, both to spread encouragement and provide…
For such a small planet (or non-planet now), Pluto sure has been making waves the last couple of weeks. I haven't really weighed in and instead deferred to the experts. I'm not going to really say much now either, but, hell, I'll admit it. I'm going to miss Pluto. A lot. Losing Pluto shakes the foundation of the worldview I grew up with, and this seems to be a widespread phenomenon. Along those lines, Monday's Washington Post featured an article by Shankar Vedantam that placed the loss of Pluto into a broader context, using it as an example to shed light on more general social phenomena…
While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts.) These will appear at least twice a day while I'm gone (and that will probably leave some leftover for Christmas vacation, even). Enjoy, and please feel free to comment. I will be checking in from time to time when I have Internet access to see if the reaction…
The maintenance of intellectually sound K-12 science standards involves the work of people at many levels - scientists, educators, school board members, and the general public. I have been privileged to work with numerous great people over the years here in Arizona on just this issue, one such individual being Steve Rissing who is now at Ohio State University. Steve continues to fight the good fight, and if you are in Ohio, you too can help him and the people at Ohio Citizens for Science. If you're in Ohio, please read this post by Ed Brayton and act on it. As Ed notes, school board elections…
"Friday cat blogging," or the practice of posting something light-hearted and whimsical, is an end-of-week tradition in the blog world. While no one at Sb regularly puts up pictures of their furry pets, many of the ScienceBloggers do post weekly features on Friday. What follows is my attempt to orchestrate a complete guided tour of Fridays at ScienceBlogs. Phylogeny Friday at Evolgen "Phylogeny Friday is back, bitches! In the glorious return of PhyFridays, I give you the root of the tree of life. In the upcoming editions we'll zoom in on a few parts of the tree to illustrate the diversity…
A repost from a year ago today. Intelligent Design decision boon to other states | LJWorld.com: Dear Members of the Kansas State School Board, I am the Welsh Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have a number of colleagues at Kansas State and the University of Kansas and had the chance to present a seminar there a few years ago and see the vibrant scientific community that had grown up there. Your current discussion of what to include in your curriculum is an interesting one to all who teach at State Universities. One of the great things…
Thoughts From Kansas is a blog by Josh Rosenau, who is not a native Kansan but a graduate student finishing up his dissertation in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas. He has blogged a great deal about politics, especially the politics of science education, in his state of residence. As Josh writes in his introductory post: My research is on the spatial distributions of species, and the ways that competition can restrict species from utilizing all the areas they could potentially occupy. Along the way I've spent a lot of time learning about ways that people predict…
A friend of mine just attempted suicide. When I was in my teens, I attempted suicide several times. It wasn't a cry for help, because nobody ever knew I tried. It was a reaction to the bad situation I found myself in, at a time when my hormones were raging, and when I was mostly alone. The reason I stopped trying is because I saw the look on the face of the train driver in my last attempt, and I realised what it would mean to him and his family, and later it occurred to me, also to mine. So I jumped off the track. A new film in Australia, 2:37, has been released in which suicide by teens is…
It has been known officially since 2002 that the sciences are hard, and, as much as we scientists love it when our friends and family tell us how smart and wonderful we must be since they could never understand what we do... is this elevated position going to cost us in the end? Big time? Addressing this issue, an article by Emma Brockes in yesterday's Guardian explores the plight of the physical sciences in the UK, taking a humorous look at the question of whether a lack of interest from students will spell their eventual demise: It is presumably never easy being a physics teacher, what…