James Gunn and Chris McKitterick run the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. They have a summer seminar for educators which revolves around using SF in the classroom. They also have other materials available. The Center's webpage is: http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/index.html They'll be glad to help you out.
Wow. I hope you got paid for that. There's a reason people call Excel and Word bloatware.
Also, Apple realizes that at this point, while trying to reach out to the Enterprise community, they can't give Micro$oft a reason to stop development of Office for Mac. Pages is a cross between Publisher and Wordpad, it isn't designed to compete with Word. Keynote however, is an awesome program. And, it shouldn't be dismissed so easily.
School isn't meant to hold students' hands.
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Improving Education?
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· Score: 1
The problem IMO, is quite complex.
Parents, in order to keep up their own self-esteem, sue schools that try to hold their children back because they didn't pass. That needs to stop.
State Boards of Education use increasingly vague and neutral terminology concerning Student Objectives. Requirements changed to Goals. Goals became Expectations. Some States call them Guidelines.
The quality of K-12 Education is heavily influenced by: a Student Culture where failing is cool, inconsistencies in teacher evaluations and methodologies of obtaining and retaining certification, and the deification of the student athlete.
There are States in the USA where the average education of a McDonald's employee is a Bachelor's Degree. We graduate high school students that can't read past the 5th grade level or balance a check book.
The cure is not to simply throw money at the problem. That's been done for years. School systems can always find places for the money to go. They will always want more money. They need protection from parents who are angry that their child is failing. They need protection from overly sensitive politicians who push "political correctness" agendas. There are gifted kids, kids with learning disabilities, and those who are in-between. Yes, the lines between those three groups can and will vary. But, to pretend they don't exist is sticking your head in the sand.
Educational Requirements should be concrete. If you pass, you pass. If you fail, you fail. Especially for athletes.
I further believe that if any professional sports team drafts/recruits a player from a University (before he has graduated) who attended on an Athletic Scholarship, that team should be required to reimburse that University for his scholarship. Call it a fee for using an educational institution as a farm team.
Didn't realize I was standing on a Soapbox. Sorry.
Slashdot Mirror
James Gunn and Chris McKitterick run the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. They have a summer seminar for educators which revolves around using SF in the classroom. They also have other materials available. The Center's webpage is: http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/index.html They'll be glad to help you out.
Wow. I hope you got paid for that. There's a reason people call Excel and Word bloatware. Also, Apple realizes that at this point, while trying to reach out to the Enterprise community, they can't give Micro$oft a reason to stop development of Office for Mac. Pages is a cross between Publisher and Wordpad, it isn't designed to compete with Word. Keynote however, is an awesome program. And, it shouldn't be dismissed so easily.
The problem IMO, is quite complex.
Parents, in order to keep up their own self-esteem, sue schools that try to hold their children back because they didn't pass. That needs to stop.
State Boards of Education use increasingly vague and neutral terminology concerning Student Objectives. Requirements changed to Goals. Goals became Expectations. Some States call them Guidelines.
The quality of K-12 Education is heavily influenced by: a Student Culture where failing is cool, inconsistencies in teacher evaluations and methodologies of obtaining and retaining certification, and the deification of the student athlete.
There are States in the USA where the average education of a McDonald's employee is a Bachelor's Degree. We graduate high school students that can't read past the 5th grade level or balance a check book.
The cure is not to simply throw money at the problem. That's been done for years. School systems can always find places for the money to go. They will always want more money. They need protection from parents who are angry that their child is failing. They need protection from overly sensitive politicians who push "political correctness" agendas. There are gifted kids, kids with learning disabilities, and those who are in-between. Yes, the lines between those three groups can and will vary. But, to pretend they don't exist is sticking your head in the sand.
Educational Requirements should be concrete. If you pass, you pass. If you fail, you fail. Especially for athletes.
I further believe that if any professional sports team drafts/recruits a player from a University (before he has graduated) who attended on an Athletic Scholarship, that team should be required to reimburse that University for his scholarship. Call it a fee for using an educational institution as a farm team.
Didn't realize I was standing on a Soapbox. Sorry.