LEARNaTON

Top Real Estate Sales in U.S. in 2010 from Zillow Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:21:00 +0000

We may be a bit late on this, but we just looked at it ourselves today. See Celebrity Real Estate at 2010’s Top Real Estate Sales in U.S.

College Fees Rise, but Aid Does Too, Reports Say - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:25:00 +0000

See As College Fees Rise, Aid Does Too, Reports Say - NYTimes.com

Students in America have been paying much higher tuition fees than the fees imposed in the UK which have led to riots. The UK has to get its financial house in order and this must also include education.

Tuition Protest in London Turns Violent - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:15:00 +0000

Tuition Protest in London Turns Violent - NYTimes.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

David Cameron: No turning back on tuition fees rise | Politics | guardian.co.uk

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:13:00 +0000

David Cameron: No turning back on tuition fees rise | Politics | guardian.co.uk: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2007-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:08:00 +0000

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2007-2010

A Different Way of Ranking Colleges - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:02:00 +0000

At Economix -- New York Times -- David Leonhardt looks at A Different Way of Ranking Colleges.

I just don't know if "graduation rates" are the right parameter for this kind of thing. You know, Bill Gates was a Harvard DROP OUT. That does not mean that Harvard is not doing its job.

Nomadic Learning: Using Mobile Devices While Underway

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:58:00 +0000

Zeugma: HEA conference, day two, nomadic devices

How to Improve Education : The Atlanta Model is Not the Way : Cheating Scandal Haunts Atlanta School Superintendent - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:55:00 +0000

Shaila Dewan in her article at the New York Times on Cheating Scandal Haunts Atlanta School Superintendent writes that

"After the report came out [regarding possible cheating in previous years], the 2010 achievement tests were given under intense scrutiny, and the results were not good. Scores dropped districtwide, particularly at the flagged schools."

Rigging test scores is definitely not a legitimate way to "improve" education.

Social Graces, Manners, Life Design and the Role of Education in America : Where are U.S. Schools Failing?

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 13:27:00 +0000

What is the state of American social graces and manners?

BACKGROUND

For background, see The American Upper Class, Etiquette Training, Put those Hands where I Can See Them, Please Pass the Manners, Character Education, Hope in a Rude World, Raising Well-Mannered Kids, Parents Kids & Character, and Was a Harvard President fired primarily for Bad Manners?

THE NEW JERSEY HIGH SCHOOL CONTROVERSY

Someone close to me was born in New Jersey so that I was quite interested in a controversy which recently erupted over some events which occurred in connection with the New Jersey state high school football championship game between Don Bosco and St. Peter's, which Don Bosco won this season 41-0 after having lost against the same team the previous year.

Mike Farrell of Rivals.com at Yahoo Sports who writes:

"The behavior of Don Bosco quarterback Matt Simms during and following his team's state championship win over St. Peter's has come under some scrutiny. Simms, who has been the target of much verbal abuse by the St. Peter's fans over the years, taunted the sidelines and the fans following his team's blowout win. Simms has the talent to be a very good college quarterback, but some question his maturity. "

Social Graces, Manners, Class and Maturity in the USA

We googled the above story, which led us to the Auburn Football Blog at the AOL Sports NCAA Fanhouse and a posting by Charles Rich titled Not Your Daddy's Simms, a posting which has numerous comments touching upon various class-related issues in American society, including manners and social graces.

In defense of Simms, several commentators to Rich's posting point out the social nature of the squabble between the two high schools and the prior events which precipitated Simms' actions. Other commentators give us some interesting social glimpses into issues of class structure in the USA at the high school level.

As an American living in Europe, it would seem to us - as an educator - that there are several partial solutions to the problems at issue, which derive in part from American history and development as well as from a person's own particular background, education, family income and social training (i.e. such things as manners and social graces).
Environmental Influences Form Our Behavior
but Can Be Changed by Education and Personal Relationships

Whether we like it or not, each of us is a product of our environment, and we are - for better or worse - formed by that environment.

Education and our personal relationships are the main means by which we can improve upon that forming environment - or, in some cases, make it worse, if our education and/or personal relationships are bad.
Educational Systems are Inadequate in Teaching Young People Essential Skills

One problem with elementary, junior high and high school education in America, however, is that there are generally few courses taught on subjects which we find to be important to young people when they get out in "the real world".

Knowing how to behave in certain social situations certainly tops our list, and behavior by players and spectators at football games (or in the period prior to them and after them) certainly falls into that category. When are people taught how to behave in such social situations and who does the teaching? What are the rules of behavior and how are people to learn about those rules? What role do schools play, if any, in transmitting these rules to their young people?
Specific Skills Not Adequately Taught by Our Educational Systems

Other important areas often not covered adequately in early education (so our opinion) are:

1) personal time and money management and financial savvy
2) personal and family health and wellness management
3) successful parenting
4) rights and obligations of citizens generally
5) personal relations between spouses and partners, and
6) essential matters of conflict resolution, i.e. how does one deal in a mature and successful manner with disputes, differences of opinion, etc.
Parents are Assumed to Teach Such Specific Skills but Often Do Not

These are FUNDAMENTAL skills of great importance required for living in any human community and yet these are often precisely the skills which young people are not taught or are inadequately taught in our modern educational systems, systems which presume that the parents can and will provide this training to young people, which is often simply not the case.

Better Education Also Means Teaching Courses More Relevant to Real Life

Those who clamor for more or better education usually do so in the sense of the needs of the educational establishment rather than the needs of the students: bigger schools, more money, more teachers, more supplies and equipment, etc.

But better education also has greatly to do with the issue of WHAT is taught in those schools, by whatever means are presently available. In our view, not nearly enough attention is paid in schools to actually PREPARING young people (pupils, students) for their life in the real world. In fact, do most schools even have a clear idea of WHAT they are preparing their customers for?

When I taught law at the University of Trier here in Germany, I was absolutely flabbergasted at the then unexpectedly limited knowledge among the student body about computers and the internet. I had presumed they had learned that all in high school or at home, which turned out not to be true. Somewhere along the line, the entire establishment of the family and the schools had been asleep to the realities of the world. In my view, that should be changed. What we are teaching our young people in our schools must be updated to keep pace with the development of knowledge and state of the art learning.

More Questions for Modern Education

Here are some other important questions concerning modern education:

Are young people being prepared to be employers, entrepreneurs, inventors or employees, and is there an awareness of this on both sides of the teaching and learning equation?
Example: In their courses, are young people reading biographies of entrepreneurs, leaders and inventors, or are they predominantly reading books about the problems of the working classes or the complaints and views of minorities or similar materials.

At the least, there should be a balance in the materials being used, so that all levels of society, low AND high, including failures AND successes, and problems AND solutions are included.

You are what you eat. You become what you read. Learning materials are mentors in media form, whether as books, websites, videos, or whatever. Every exposure of the brain to certain kinds of materials is a programming of that brain in a given direction. Each stage of education is PREPARATION and the selection of teaching materials determines what exactly is being prepared for. Workers reading about workers will remain workers. People enamored of their plight will remain in their plight. People who read about success will tend themselves to reach for success.

Are young people being prepared for college or some other kind of institution?
and if so, are they learning the skills they need for success in that endeavor?

Example: Some years ago, we taught legal writing at the law school level and discovered that numerous students had substantial deficits in writing - an ESSENTIAL skill far more important for future success than formal grades in selected courses.

What is taught in school about what employers expect from employees?

Most people will work for others during their life, or perhaps be the ones to employ them, yet little is apparently taught about the many and varied important details of this often life-long relationship. The employer-employee relationship should be a required course of study.

What is taught about the responsibilities that attach to independent professions and activities and are these responsibilities known and understood?

Those who enter independent and self-employed professions have different responsibilities than persons who become employees. More should be done in schools to encourage entrepreneurship and to support the needs of people in the professions.

What is taught about the nature of and responsibilities that attach to the benefits of any and all human relationships - especially the most important such relationships - spouses, parents, children, relatives, friends, and professional, business and job associates?

Various courses in human relationships should be required in our schools, in which we would include:

1) Human Relationships: Benefits and Responsibilities
2) Spouses: Life in an Alliance
3) Successful Parenting and Childraising : Problems and Solutions

Are young people taught to design a successful life in early school years ?

Everything in life is planned in one way or another by the powers that be, and yet, we do not require courses in Life Design for our own lives, which generally would profit the most from sensible planning. A course in Life Design should be required.

Are young people made familiar both with their IQ and EQ and the useful applications of each?

We know someone who was told by chance at the end of their college career at one of the largest universities in the United States that they had obtained the highest score on the social skills aptitude part of the entrance examination that had ever been obtained. The key phrase is "at the end of their college career". No one gave that person this information for their career planning at the time that it should have been communicated, which was at the start of their college career.

All young people should be made aware of their individual intellectual and social skills and talents as early as possible so that they are guided in the right direction of life design rather than floating about in the ocean of chance and serendipity opportunity.

Are young people given mentors and are they taught why mentors and mentoring are important?

Nothing has changed as regards mentoring in thousands of years. You best "learn the ropes" from someone who "knows the ropes". 50% of all Nobel Prize winners were somehow affiliated with previous Nobel Prize Winners. Everyone needs a mentor or coach. Indeed, those who can afford one, such as world champions in various sports, have a mentor or coach FULL TIME. Even if someone is the best in the world at what they do, they still need coaching and mentoring. Imagine how great the need is if you are not the best in the world at what you do.

Don't Blame the Young People - Blame the Educational Establishment

In any case, whenever we read about controversies such as above at the high school level, we regard them to be indicative of failings of the educational establishments to do their job properly - in the above case - at both schools.

Republished with permission from LawPundit.

What if College Tenure Dies? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:52:00 +0000

What if College Tenure Dies? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Quo Vadis Education? Stanley Fish has it right at the New York Times : Back to Classical Education

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:07:00 +0000

CHANGE in EDUCATION. How about it?

Do yourself a favor and READ the New York Times Opinionator article by Stanley Fish at the New York Times link below.

Here is where education should be going in the United States....

In A Classical Education: Back to the Future - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com Fish writes:

"Ravitch, like Nussbaum, finds little hope in the policies of President Obama, who promised change but seems to have picked up “the same banner of choice, competition, and markets that had been the hallmark of his predecessors.” The result is that we continue to see “the shrinking of time available to teach anything other than reading and math; other subjects, including history, science, the arts, geography, even recess, were curtailed.”

Ravitch’s recommendations are simple, commonsensical and entirely consonant with the views of Bortins and Nussbaum. Begin with “a well conceived, coherent, sequential curriculum,” and then “adjust other parts of the education system to support the goals of learning.” This will produce a “foundation of knowledge and skills that grows stronger each year.” Forget about the latest fad and quick-fix, and buckle down to the time-honored, traditional “study and practice of the liberal arts and sciences: history, literature, geography, the sciences, civics mathematics, the arts and foreign languages.”"

This is Your Brain on Gadgets - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:57:00 +0000

This is Your Brain on Gadgets - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

6.7% Of World Has College Degree

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:33:00 +0000

6.7% Of World Has College Degree

The College Degree Deficit in America and its Solution: Complete College America

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:55:00 +0000

Complete College America

"In just ten years, more than 60% of all new jobs will require a college education. Will your state be ready? Good family incomes and the health of state economies depend on more of our young people succeeding in college. See where your state stands currently, and then commit to making college completion a priority."

Education in the United States: How to Address the Challenges Facing America's Schools Today | Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:52:00 +0000

America’s Teachers on America’s Schools | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation writes:

"In a landmark national surey by Scholastic and the foundation, 40,000 of America's teachers identified five ways that we can address the challenges facing today's schools...."

Take a look here to see what they are.

European Commission - Education & Training - External Programmes and Policies - Study In Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:50:00 +0000

European Commission - Education & Training - External Programmes and Policies - Study In Europe

"Study in Europe is here to help. We provide up-to-date information on thirty-two European countries, their universities and what it takes to live and study in them."

Learning & Literacy in the Digital Age (A New Blog Series) | Britannica Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Learning & Literacy in the Digital Age (A New Blog Series) | Britannica Blog

"How will digital technologies change our culture in the years to come? In what ways will they shape how we read and learn, what we read and learn, even if we read and learn?"

Boola Boola, Boola Boola - Yale Says Yes, 4 Times - NYTimes.com : Quadruplets Admitted to Class of 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:58:00 +0000

Boola Boola, Boola Boola - Yale Says Yes, 4 Times - NYTimes.com

Quadruplets admitted to Yale Class of 21014

Travel, Not Tourism: Developing ‘Win a Trip’ Contest Entries - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:19:00 +0000

Travel, Not Tourism: Developing ‘Win a Trip’ Contest Entries - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

Search engines are source of learning

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Search engines are source of learning

Learnaton is the blog to Learnaton.com

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:55:00 +0000

We were thinking of ways that we could "earn a ton" of money and one road toward financial success appeared to be to "learn a ton" about how to do just that.

Initially, we would have to have the proper Internet websites to implement our ideas. We looked up the domains earnaton.com and learnaton.com and saw that they were both unexpectedly not yet taken, even in February, 2009, and so we registered both of them.

We will implement the initial web presence there shortly, but for now, both domains currently point toward lexiline.com, our renaissance of learning website, which is definitely interesting for learning, but has nothing to do with earning a ton of money.

Learnaton - Learn a ton at Learnaton - A Blog about Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Andis Kaulins) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:09:00 +0000

Learnaton is a blog about Learning with the motto "Learn a ton at Learnaton".