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Science Manual For US Judges
An anonymous reader writes "American court judges need to learn science. That's the message from the National Academies and the National Research Council, which today released the first new edition in 11 years of the Reference Manual of Scientific Evidence. It has new chapters about forensic science, mental health, and neuroscience, but unfortunately nothing about computer science. The manual is available as a free download and it's also online."
Look at Texas as a great example. Last 20 years of Republican rule, their schools have fallen in rank and in ability every year. Rick Perry packed the educational boards with a bunch of religious fundies, doing his level best to make it even worse.
And of course, at the same time as they are complaining about how much it costs to go to college, they're flipping the middle finger to higher education and slashing funding across the board. 10 years ago, 50% of state college funding came from the state, today it's less than 20% (and they wonder why tuition went up!).
Meanwhile, the "solution" generally proposed is to require constant continuing education and certification requirements on teachers... which means for a job that doesn't pay well to start with, they're spending a buttload more time and money just staying certified.
And we wonder why people don't stay in teaching...