She was the “first known LGBT astronaut“, too. Happy birthday, Sally Ride.
From the Verge article where I saw the video:
… “Studies show that the reason kids turn away from STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) is not that they don’t like it or aren’t good at it,” writes Ride’s partner Tam O’Shaughnessy in a blog post for Google. “Instead, young people get turned off because society sends false messages about who scientists are, what they do, and how they work. So Sally decided to use her high profile to motivate young people to stick with their interest in science and to consider pursuing STEM careers.” Hopefully, today’s Doodle will spread that message just a little wider.
***********
Apart from admiring real heroes, what’s on the agenda for the sorta-start of a holiday-shortened week?
Zinsky
Back to the salt mines (figuratively)… I have to deal with our company’s auditors again this week, who become younger, more inexperienced and less reasonable every year. Ugh.
Baud
I don’t feel rested after the three day weekend. I could use a real vacation.
opiejeanne
I got to hear her speak not long before she went up in the shuttle. She was engaging and I have always felt lucky to have been there that evening.
Mustang Bobby
@Zinsky: My experience with auditors is to deal with them as you would a TSA agent or a cop writing a ticket: comply with every request but never give them more than they ask for, and never ever make a joke.
OzarkHillbilly
I don’t know… Maybe I’ll go back to bed and see if I can find some of the sleep that eluded me last night.
ArchTeryx
It also heavily depends on what side of ‘STEM’ you’re on. The ‘S’ part of it can be pretty spotty. Some areas of science have fairly good employment prospects, but some (medical research and the biosciences) the prospects are utterly disastrous. I know. I’m living that particular nightmare with a Ph.D. in molecular virology – in my 40s and not worked a single job that I wasn’t laid off from in a year or two. Work at my level? Don’t make me laugh.
Some of the kids hear the truth from the trenches, and decide that sort of a chancy life is not for them. I don’t hesitate to tell kids who consider following in my footsteps what *my* experiences have been.
It’s rather sobering when you realize that the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others.
Baud
@ArchTeryx:
Sorry about your struggles. I admit I’m surprised to hear that those fields are some of the less promising ones.
Schlemazel
@Zinsky:
We just earned out PCI record of compliance – do not speak to me of auditors!
I discovered on Friday that there is a great plot afoot at work aimed at hurting a couple of people. One richly deserves what he has coming & the plot consists of simply not doing his job for him or covering for his constant blunders, I have no problem with that given his behavior. The other is not deserved and I resent that it is being tried. I have (unbeknownst to me) been given a role in both dramas and need to figure out how to play my very limited hand. I hate office politics more than auditors.
Schlemazel
We had an unexpected adventure this weekend. A last minute cancelation opened our Sunday afternoon and Monday so we drove to Pipestone Minnesota and saw the Pipestone the quarry used by Native American’s for a couple of thousand years to mine catlinite to turn into pipes. They are not a national monument & only native people are allowed to mine there. The have craftsmen who turn out gorgeous pipes for sale to support themselves. Also stopped to see the Jeffers petroglyphs. They are exposed to the elements so not as vivid as those I have seen out West but for glyphs per square foot I don’t think you could find a better place to see them.
OzarkHillbilly
So I’m reading Cleveland reaches deal with justice department over police use of force when I come to this:
In delivering his verdict, Judge John O’Donnell said though Brelo had fired shots that would have been fatal, the prosecution had not been able to prove that it was Brelo and not another officer who fired the shots which killed Williams and Russell.
That’s funny…. If I am the getaway driver in a bank robbery in which someone is killed, I will be charged with murder just as if I had been the one to pull the trigger. But a cop who fires shots that would be fatal gets off because…. well…. They might have been dead already.
There really is a different law applied to police.
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel: that should have read “now a National Monument” instead of “not”
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: We have some really nice petroglyphs just a few miles away from me at Washington State Park. These pictures don’t do them justice, but then it is hard to get good pics of most petroglyphs. Some years ago they finally erected shelters over them so that they are protected from the worst of the elements.
maurinsky
I always tested well for math aptitude, but in practice, I am not a person who has a natural understanding of numbers. It is a lot of work for me, and I had a slew of teachers who were great at math but terrible at explaining how to do math to students who don’t get it.
I did have one amazing Algebra teacher at the local community college. The first time I ever understood what I was doing, and the first time I got an A in math.
Aside from that, I’m grateful for Khan Academy and my son-in-law for helping me pass Statistics, Micro and Macroeconomics.
Mustang Bobby
@ArchTeryx: I hear you: a Ph.D. in playwriting and dramatic criticism is not a ticket to employment. They are in as much demand as shepherds.
Schlemazel
@maurinsky:
That experience with smart teachers who could not teach me math wa my experience also. I did pass college algebra but it took extraordinary effort on my part. Econ I got because the math made sense & didn’t seem as obtuse by then. Good for you for sticking with it
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m not sure why there are not covers over these. I do know that, like at pipestone, there are still people who use the sites as religious locations, maybe they want them open to the sky?
Tommy
Girl power. I don’t have any kids. My brother a wonderful daughter. First women born into my family in 100+ years. Game of Thrones thing, we are good at birthing males!
Cathrine is six and we are kind of anal, all males around her, about nobody telling her she can’t do anything she wants. Brother is a Cisco engineer. Daughter is doing stuff. Math. Tech. Science. Bet she will do things I only wish I had done.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: Makes as much sense as anything else.
Amir Khalid
My only agenda item is teaching Little Boots to like Malay pop.
ThresherK
@Schlemazel: obtuse
Intentional, about a math course? It takes an acute student to overcome situations like that.
Schlemazel
@ThresherK:
It would have worked better as a geometry joke but yeah.
My favorite line, after putting up some (to me) incomprehensible scribbling was “It is intuitively obvious to the casual observer” and then solving without explanation.
Baud
More than we can say about the GOP
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Might as well change your name to Sisyphus.
:)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid: That should be interesting to observe.
Schlemazel
@Baud:
It will become critically important to the GOP that robots are not allowed to vote. If they are capable of a skill the average GOP voter is not able to develop they must not be allowed to participate in the process of the GOP is finished.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@ArchTeryx: I feel ya.
I had visions of being an astronomer or cosmologist when I started college. Not exactly an area begging for new graduates… :-/
I think part of the problem with the mismatch between the STEM hype and actual jobs is that people aren’t taught about the realities of the job market these days before they have to pick a career. (At least I wasn’t.). I ended up getting an EE degree and was told by profs, “you’ll have no problems!” I wasn’t taught anything about how to network and get around HR to get someone to read a resume. I imagine it’s much worse these days, with people having to compete for unpaid internships or perpetual post-docs.
Universities have a responsibility to moderate their “You are the future! The world is your oyster! Do what you love and the money will follow!” messages. But that interferes with their marketing, and their desire/need for cheap researchers and cheap adjuncts, so that’s apparently not allowed.
I found that having a career where I can apply what I learned in school and continue to grow in the field was a luck of the draw. After nearly a year of working temp office jobs, I got a flyer in the mail from a place I had never heard of advertising their post-doc programs. Took a chance, called a guy listed, hit it off with him, applied, was accepted, and have been here over 25 years now. I know I’m lucky and I feel for kids graduating these days…
Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
PurpleGirl
@ArchTeryx: Sorry you (and others) have such a hard time using your interests and training productively.
I remember when I began a master’s degree in recreational therapy that other students were all over how great it would be, how many jobs because of government funding. I told them not to believe it, at some point the funding dries up and jobs dry up. (Political science major here.)
I’m acquainted with an aerospace engineer who worked in the industry for 20-odd years, being laid off from jobs several times. The last time she was offered a buyout, she took it and decided she’d do her bead and jewelry making full time. With space surrounding her house, she had a full size workshop and kiln built where she could safely have a small hot box. I met her at one of the bead shows she regularly sells at.
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby: My father’s PhD was just a step up from play write. History. Early on he found it was better to work for the military, his area of study was warfare, then try to find a path to teach and do research for a living.
I only have an MA and it pains my father I don’t have a PhD. Education was the corner stone of everything in my family. Education, education, education.
Mustang Bobby
@Tommy: I have no regrets. None. (Well, since I’m now doing financial reporting, paying better attention in math class would have helped, but now they have Excel). I am in the education business, which is where I wanted to be, and I get to write plays and get them produced on occasion.
Sherparick
Another reminder that “libertarianism” should be called “neo-feudalism” and that the only freedom that conservatives care about is the right of the 1% to make as much money as possible without any constraint on the collateral they cause.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/wyoming_law_against_data_collection_protecting_ranchers_by_ignoring_the.html
raven
@PurpleGirl: A TR person! My undergrad and masters are in Recreation! Then I went on too Adult Ed. Talk about marginal fields.
MattF
@maurinsky: My theory about this is that people who do mathematical work for a living are mostly self-taught, so teaching others effectively is not a skill they tend to acquire naturally. Certainly true for me.
MomSense
My kid made it to Kansas last night and should be in Colorado today. They left on Sunday so that is a lot of driving in two days. So far they have missed the bad weather.
Baud
@Sherparick: I don’t like libertarianism any more than the rest of you, but unless you have evidence of known libertarians supporting that law, I would categorize that as good, old-fashioned big business conservatism.
Valdivia
@Baud:
appreciated the dig at the gop but shouldn’t we be terrified about our coming capture by said learning machines?
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby: I did not mean to put you down. I want others to be creating stuff. My parents are wealthy. When my niece was born they told her parents they had set up a trust. She can have every education she wants. She might want to be a play write and nobody in my family would care.
Iowa Old Lady
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: This is one of my pet peeves about graduate programs in English literature. Students should be able to study what they like, but departments should have to give stats on what kinds of jobs their grads get. But professors like to teach grad classes and every PhD turned out is someone who can teach first-year comp cheap.
Baud
@Valdivia:
I for one welcome our new robot overlords.
Valdivia
@Baud:
touche!
and they would porbably be so much better than the gop.
OzarkHillbilly
A Virginia man ….. apologized and explained the suspicious device was a pressure cooker …..
As the owner of 2 pressure cookers, I want to apologize in advance for any incidents I may cause by inadvertently transporting said pressure cookers where other innocent and unknowing people may be able to ascertain my possession of them. I also own a boiling water canner, 3 crock pots, a coffee maker, a microwave, 2 propane camping stoves with propane tanks, and a single burner white gas camp stove with gas bottles. I want to apologize for any fear I might unknowingly induce in others by my possession of these items.
But if you get scared by my .30-06 rifle, 12 ga shotgun, .22 caliber rifle, or .357 revolver, you can just go screw yourself with a rusty paddle bit. 2nd Amendment muthfuckas.
Baud
@Valdivia:
Model # SJX902 is worse than Model # TKX965. It sold us out!
#FutureBlogMemes
Germy Shoemangler
I used to read a lot of biographies of my favorite authors. Early 20th-century people. I was fascinated by the arc their lives took, from being young hopefuls to being successful writers. Many of them had little or no education. Back then there was less emphasis on credentials (at least for writers).
Here was the typical biography of many of them. Graduate high school, maybe a semester or two of college before dropping out, travel around doing a variety of odd jobs, get a job writing for a newspaper, get magazine stories published, more newspaper work, writing newspaper columns, a novel published, or a play produced, some magazine work, maybe Hollywood.
Nowadays, if anyone walked into a newspaper and said “I’d like a job as a reporter” the first question would be “where did you get your journalism/English degree?”
Nowadays when I read interviews with writers… the majority of them teach. The literary fiction writers get MFAs and then teach. I remember one interview, I don’t remember the author. He admitted he had no idea when he started out that writers had to teach. He thought they spent the afternoon at the bullfights and then nights at parties, writing in the morning, going to the mailbox for royalty checks. (He must have been an Hemingway fan)
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
You’ve got to hide the pressure cooker under the guns. That way no one sees it and gets scared.
Valdivia
@Baud:
lol. I am bookmarking that.
Botsplainer
I’m one of those oddities – a lawyer who actually did well in math and science who DIDN’T go to patent or construction/engineering law.
I always had a good grasp of math in terms of patterns – I immediately grasp the correct narrow range of potential solutions, but unless circumstances call for the precise answer, won’t make the time investment to work it out perfectly.
Shameful confession time – when the kids were still home and in high school, I used to work the story problems in their geometry, trig and precalculus books instead of doing sudoku or crossword puzzles.
NotMax
@Germy Shoemangler
Just trivia.
At the tail end of his life, Wyatt Earp found work as a story consultant in Hollywood.
Bat Masterson worked as as a newspaper sportswriter and columnist for some 40 years.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: DOH! That’s what he did wrong.
Germy Shoemangler
@NotMax: Interesting. Yeah, the newspaper field was full of rogues and roustabouts. And the average newspaper was full of things you’d never see today: poetry, humorous essays, contests, book reviews.
All that has moved online. But I don’t think they pay. Does Salon (for example) pay its writers?
OzarkHillbilly
He got served: Creepy restaurant customer gets walloped by waitress after groping her
Great video at the link. She really cleaned his clock.
PurpleGirl
@raven: After I had my B.A. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I got a job typing advanced mathematics at the Courant Institute at NYU through several administrators I knew. (I had started as a Chemistry major and then moved to the Political Science department when mathematics jammed up the chemistry plans.)
I decided to look for something where I could use my interest in arts/crafts and found RT. RT was taught in the School of Education, and I had take the undergrad RT courses before taking the master’s level courses. I dropped the RT program when I figured out that I’d be credentialed for a director’s job but without the required work experience and I’d be overqualified for entry level jobs.
I found it interesting that my fellow students in RT thought that federal program money would be ever flowing. I tried explaining that most of that money (and even money from foundations) would be start-up money and after a few years the programs getting it would be expected to find their own funding. (Remember… political science (American government) major.)
I’ve worked as a publishing production editor, paralegal, administrative assistant in a non-profit organization… all based on my ability to type accurately. Funny, my typing teacher in high school said she wanted me to be accurate and not fast because I was college bound and wouldn’t rely on typing for jobs (hahahahahahahahaha).
Mustang Bobby
@Tommy: I didn’t take it as a put-down at all. I believe everyone should follow their bliss no matter where it leads them. I knew it was dicey that I would ever make a living as a playwright (Robert Anderson once said, “You can’t make a living as a writer, but you can make a killing.”) and I would never discourage anyone from following their passion. Even if they end up somewhere else, they still did it.
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: Pressure cookers are not a threat as long as the
safety is ontop and bottom aren’t locked.Do you think pressure cooker safety classes should be offered in public schools? I ask because I have a family member who, long ago, sent a batch of split pea soup to the great beyond.
Keith G
On my agenda is trying to do everything I can to turn students away from STEM academic careers.
Mustang Bobby
@ThresherK: Clearly you never tried my grandmother’s pot roast. Hers was registered as a lethal weapon.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
rikyrah
Pimps gotta have more than one Ho
…………………………………..
Koch Brothers Plan to Fund ‘Several’ GOP 2016 Presidential Hopefuls
May 24, 2015 3:49 PM CDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-24/koch-brothers-plan-to-fund-several-gop-2016-presidential-hopefuls
The world’s fifth and sixth richest people say they will donate money to multiple Republican presidential candidates in the coming campaign.
The good news for Republican presidential candidates seeking to get a slice of Koch brothers cash is that the siblings, two of the world’s richest individuals, seem to be in a sharing mood.
In a Saturday interview on the Larry Kudlow Show, a nationally syndicated radio broadcast, David Koch let it slip that the roughly $900 million that he and his brother, Charles, plan to lavish on the 2016 presidential race could find its way into the hands of more than one GOP contender.
“We are thinking of supporting several Republicans,” David Koch said, adding, “If we’re happy with the policies that these individuals are supporting, we’ll finance their campaigns.”
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Amir Khalid: Now that’s really funny; thanks.
On my agenda for the day is getting some baby plants in the ground while it’s still cool. And then hoping the predicted rain arrives to water them in. Should the rain decline to do so, I will add water. The afternoon should be cloudy at least, which is good weather for planting.
Steeplejack (phone)
@rikyrah:
Good morning!
A guy
Society sends false messages about scientists?!? What the hell does that mean
ThresherK
@rikyrah: They should buy them all and set up a single-entity ownership of the whole lot.
Just like the XFL.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Good morning!
rikyrah
Is Marco Rubio This Eccentric Billionaire’s New Pet Project?
Buy a Hawaiian island? Check. Outspend death? Check. Next up for Oracle founder Larry Ellison: fundraising for Rubio.
—By Pema Levy | Tue May 26, 2015 6:00 AM EDT
An eccentric billionaire with a sculpted goatee and a penchant for daredevil feats, Larry Ellison isn’t quite Tony Stark, but he’s close. The founder of software giant Oracle partly inspired Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man character. And like Stark, he’s made a hobby of championing fanciful ventures. According to Politico, Ellison has found his latest challenge: getting Marco Rubio into the White House.
Ellison will hold a June 9 fundraiser for the Republican senator at his Woodside, California, estate that will feature a $2,700-per-person VIP reception and photo op with the candidate and a dinner for supporters who have raised more than $27,000 for Rubio’s presidential campaign. It’s not an official endorsement, but having the world’s fifth-richest person in his corner would be a coup for Rubio, particularly as his fellow Floridian Jeb Bush gobbles up donations from the Sunshine State’s wealthiest Republicans at a record pace. Ellison, 70, is worth an estimated $54 billion. (His income in 2013, when he was still Oracle’s CEO, broke down to about $38,000 per hour.)
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/marco-rubio-billionaire-larry-ellison-oracle
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I blame Model # DXB437.
Tom
I work from home (e-learning content design and teaching online courses) so I don’t recognize holidays much any more. For example, last night I spent about half an hour with a student helping them work through a lab (via TeamViewer) and answering questions about their grades.
On the plus side, my schedule is very flexible so it makes it possible to care for my wife, who has M.S. and is confined to a wheelchair.
I’m okay with that.
Plus, I’m finally going to try out our new multi-cooker today! We have some spare chicken and I’m going to marinate it in onion, garlic and rosemary all day and cook it up for dinner.
Tom
@maurinsky: My junior high algebra teacher and my high school geometry teacher had the most influence on my attitude towards math.
I like Khan Academy as well. I’m currently refreshing my SQL skills there.
boatboy_srq
@rikyrah:
That movie makes so much more sense now. And Ellison is GOP? My opinion of Oracle just dropped a[nother] notch.
boatboy_srq
@OzarkHillbilly: Who knew GSI > Glock.
rikyrah
yes…
WHERE IS THE MONEY?
WHY ISN’T ANYONE BEING ARRESTED?
IT’S THIEVERY!!!!!
……………………
After Duval charter school closes, many ask: Where’s the money?
Founder shuttered two other schools, has prior record of bankruptcy
Dennis Mope’s dream of running a network of military-themed charter schools for at-risk students ended quickly and with little warning this month in Jacksonville and Orlando.
Two of Mope’s Acclaim Academy charter schools closed abruptly, displacing hundreds of students just three weeks before the end of the school year.
A third school in Kissimmee was supposed to close in March but Osceola County’s school district took it over last month and will keep it open until the school year ends in June.
…Parents of 229 students scrambled over three days to find new schools for their children. Some students still had to take final tests or state-mandated exams at new schools.
Duval County School Board members said they are not sure why the school “ran out of money” and had to close, saying the children were hurt most.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-05-25/story/after-duval-charter-school-closes-many-ask-wheres-money
donnah
My youngest son is in his final year of college to become a music teacher. Last night was Family Game night at my mom’s house and we were playing a tabletop game that’s a lot like Charades. There were three elements that came up: music, money, and careers, and my son laughed and said none of those things were related.
I always knew I would be an artist in some capacity. I have an AA and BFA in drawing and painting, but never found a “job” in a 9-5 environment. I’ve always used my creative skills in freelance ways.
Now I’m older and have found a tiny niche as a workshop teacher, which allows me to share what I know and still make money. I have to budget my productive time to make room for my teaching schedule, but it works. And I’ve written one handbook and am editing a new one for publishing this fall, so there’s that.
I agree with Mustang Bobby that you need to follow that voice inside that tells you to be who you are meant to be. It’s corny, but your life will make sense. I’m never going to be rich, but that’s okay.
Tom
@MattF: As someone who teaches math, I’ve found that the problem (at least at the college level) is that instructors will teach math the way they were taught. This is great if the students are just like you. However, with many different learning styles, it means that you lose a lot of students.
Fortunately there’s a lot of really interesting work going on with math education these days as part of the adoption of Common Core.
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
What? No, it doesn’t. AI trial-and-error learning has been a successful field of study for decades. Walking tend to be the big one, because it’s such a complex process, and you get hilarious but perfectly functional results. Voice and visual recognition, too. Ludicrously complex, subtle things humans take for granted.
@Baud:
Really? I categorize it as the universal conservative ‘Fuck you, liberals! You can’t stop me from (literally) shitting on whoever I want, however I want!’ Big business benefits, but it goes all the way down to animal cruelty, and gets its power from a giant horde of racists who hate the Federal Government telling them who they can and can’t oppress.
ruemara
@rikyrah: inspired (even partially) Tony Stark? Ha. Geek history says no. Being a rich douche is hardly new.
Gin & Tonic
@Tom: I’ve mentioned this here before, I think, but I am the product of mid-1960’s “New Math”, the set-theoretic approach that failed miserably, but made perfect sense to me and prepared me very well for university-level mathematics. I think the failure of it was that it all made sense to mathematicians, but not to elementary-school teachers, who were overwhelmed. I have no recollection of how my teachers handled it, as all I recall was going through the workbooks myself in the back of the room.
Hal
http://gawker.com/the-worlds-most-expensive-spec-house-grows-like-cancer-1706903433
Cervantes
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yes, but making allowances for imprecision in reporting, what’s new here is what they are calling “deep sensorimotor learning.” Your comparison to “voice and visual recognition” is apt: Siri, for example, uses this same form of “deep learning.” The group at Berkeley is claiming that their robot is the first application to motor tasks.
The paper to be published next week is available. Here’s the abstract:
(The BADMM is explained (by someone else) here.)
boatboy_srq
@rikyrah: Feature-not-bug. Charter schools’ first and foremost function is to drain funds away from the public school districts with which they compete. That the funds are handed to people who p!ss them away without proper recordkeeping is a plus.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
I had New Math for one year (7th grade), then was transferred to another school where it was the Old Ways. Totally messed me up. My eyes start spinning at the mention of anything beyond basic addition, division, etc.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Mustang Bobby:
BA in Cinema-Television Critical Studies, MFA in Screenwriting. I finally landed a job as a secretary in entertainment 8 years ago, so at least I’m in my chosen field, though not doing the job I wanted.
I actually was all prepared to go into copyediting, but then all of the local magazines collapsed thanks to Bush I’s recession and there were no jobs left.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Florida, like Ohio, doesn’t have any real statutory scheme to regulate charter schools. They quite literally don’t have the tools- the laws. We had a series of sudden closings in Ohio last year.
They use “authorization” which is deregulatory. It’s literally ceding all regulatory power to an “authorizer”. When they say they don’t know where the money went, that’s probably true. They don’t know. The state auditor in Ohio doesn’t know. No one knows.
The scheme never made sense if one thought about it even a little bit. They don’t have sufficient regulators to visit hundreds of schools all over the state, which is why schools were regulated at the local level in the first place.
They’ve been lucky so far. Missing money is one thing, it’s bad, but basic safety is another. That’s worse. If deregulation leads to a safety issue at one of these schools that could have been prevented with ordinary regulation that applies to public schools, there will be hell to pay.
rikyrah
@boatboy_srq:
ICAM!
Tommy
@Kay: Where I live public schools rock. My parents could have afforded to send me to any school. Public school was fine. Years ago I recall going on a two week road trip with my parents. Looking at colleges. I wanted to to go Harvard or Yale? Dad was like what is wrong with a state school. I went to a state school and it was amazing in good way. Western Illinois and then LSU for grad school.
Amir Khalid
@rikyrah:
The Mother Jones story also says Larry Ellison is funding research to make death obsolete. I think that project is as likely to succeed as his Rubio-for-president project.
Eric U.
@Tom: I think the traditional method of teaching math is essentially a math history class. I really like math, but I had to go through a lot of suffering before it really made sense. I had an interest in a math-intensive field of engineering, which unfortunately doesn’t get much love nowadays. My son, on the other hand, is actually already better at math than I am, and he’s just graduating from high school. The thing I observed was that he and his friends were really interested in math in first grade, and forced the math teacher to teach them things that they normally wouldn’t have been considered ready to learn.
Joel
@Amir Khalid: Sounds ridiculous, but slowing the aging process can (and will) happen. Certainly, the NIH believes so.
Kay
@Tommy:
That’s great. Ours are fairly mediocre, which partly has to do with the income level and education of the parents- we have about 50% low income students and 25% college-educated parents. It’s actually an achievement to stay the same because the low income population has gone up. They’re working harder but you wouldn’t know it from test scores, because the income of the population served changed.
It’s difficult to get better, but that doesn’t mean you just throw up your hands and say “outsource this whole thing!”
There’s a lot you can do with sort of boring, low key changes. A big issue here is attendance. The lower income kids have spottier attendance. They lose so much if they miss 5 or 10 or 15 days in a semester, and a lot of them do. They can’t catch up. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nagging their parents seems to work. That’s all it is- just bitching at them constantly- “get them to school!”. I’m on this school committee which has been completely fascinating because one can try these things out. That works :)
Seanly
To me, this is one of the big issues with getting more kids interested in STEM fields. Big Bang Theory (and also the middle child Alex in Modern Family) just perpetuates the myth that scientists & engineers are different from normal people. We’re not. My own field is full of intelligent, thoughtful people with normal lives.
Another issue is that we require too much education as a starting point. For a lot of kids, you can either do 4 years at 15 credits per semester, get some vague business degree, and get a decent starting pay or you try to cram an extra semester of tough courses in there, get an engineering degree, and get maybe a little less money. Many people are advocating to make a Master’s degree the starting point for fields of engineering. I know that this will just drive more people away from the fields.
A third issue is that STEM fields aren’t interchangeable. I design bridges for a living (structural engineering which is an offshoot of civil engineering). I’ve been doing just that for so long that I’d have trouble going into building structural design. When many aerospace, mechanical & electrical engineers were be laid off in the 90’s, newspapers & pundits pontificated how this large number of folks could go towards fixing our infrastructure. Not really – they might have some of the math skills, but we specialize pretty early in college. Even within a discipline, we’re much more differentiated than medical doctor specialties.
boatboy_srq
@Eric U.: Interesting that you describe your son’s experience that way. I recall being frustrated with the pace of most of my primary schooling (especially math), although as an #-year-old I couldn’t put it in those words. My teachers weren’t as interested in changing the pace as his, though. I did some home schooling for a month when the family did some traveling – and came back about a month ahead of the rest of the class, and had to twiddle my thumbs while my classmates worked through math problems and reading that I’d already finished.
Kay
@Tommy:
This is a great little story about a rich guy who “improved” public schools, without ever changing an actual public school:
Imagine if Bill Gates had put all that money towards this guy’s plan. Turns out you don’t have to seize the public schools after all :)
I wonder if it’s ego more than anything- “I’m not putting my money in unless I can control every aspect!” This guy has a lighter touch- he allows locals more agency and control. He’s ADDING, not subtracting.
11 million is peanuts, by the way. Ed reformers can easily spend that on two big city school board races.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/us/tangelo-park-orlando-florida.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1&utm_content=buffer2b942&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Amir Khalid
@Joel:
There’s wanting to mitigate the effects of aging, and then there’s this:
Citizen_X
@Amir Khalid: The Second Law of Thermodynamics called, and was going to leave a message but just ended up laughing hysterically until it said, “Oh, fuck it; he’ll find out,” and hung up.
Tree With Water
Righteous off season words about lickspittles and the man who wields The Shield (courtesy of Deadspin.com):
“..Roger Goodell has repeatedly fallen on his face trying to enforce the personal-conduct policies he comes up with in his ill-fated effort to engineer the NFL, AN AMORAL ENTERTAINMENT CONCERN, into some kind of beacon of moral correctness. After witnessing this record of embarrassment and failure, these people have somehow concluded that the solution to the latest “problem” is to give Goodell an even bigger stick.
…The only people who.. benefit… are a commissioner who’s only ever demonstrated a complete inability to effectively wield power, and a legion of reporters whose primary concern is to remain as uncritical of the league and their own thinking as possible.