When it comes to elite school admissions, there’s a game. If the outcome of an elite education is important for your long term development, you need to acknowledge that there is a game and learn what it is so you can choose how you want to play it. For those less inclined toward the elite education path, beware cutting your interest prematurely**.
PART 1: DON’T CONFUSE HOW YOU WANT THE GAME PLAYED FOR HOW IT IS PLAYED.
Falling and Failing by pushing our bottom third into teaching. According to McKinsey and Co., Finland, Singapore and South Korea have 100% of their incoming teachers coming from the top 1/3 of their college classes. The US . . . has a dismal 23%. Over 47% of our teachers graduate in the bottom third of …
IBM recently launched an ad campaign highlighting their work on education, crime prevention and food poisoning reduction . . . okay, really, the interlocking theme is Outcomes for a smarter planet. But they demonstrate those outcomes in the fields of education, food safety and crime prevention among other areas. The graphics are cute, it’s the …
The most obvious expression of talent is that which is shown externally. A fast athlete,the top of the class, MacArthur grants . . . some talent is innate, the rest is cultivated. Can we do better cultivating the good stuff? That might depend – what is our definition of the good stuff? We fixate on …
I get the darnedest things by email. Today I received an email offering MBA-oriented positions within the Education sector. This is a real group with real reach so if you are interested in impacting public education, you may want to chat with Chaka Booker. The focus of the Broad Residency is to place those with …
Have you ever tried to figure out your health insurance benefits? What a confounding experience. I spent a little time today reviewing my coverage. As much as I’d like to claim it’s because I’m that organized, but really it’s just because my part time employer recently made benefits available to us. So, why not take …
Would the real Robin Hood please stand up? “If you don’t stop levying these evil taxes, I will lead the people of England in a revolt against you!” -Robin, Men in Tights, 1993 Mel Brooks made a mildly popular movie to skewer the story of Robin in 1993 – if you love puns, you will …
Blinder’s Blinders lead to National Blunders, or Obama versus King Solomon . . . So here’s a question for you: Is it better to give 50,000 people $1 or give one employee a $50,000 job that allows him to contribute to a growing company? Increasing the tax burden on small employers to increase the unemployment …
Arthur Laffer recently offered his thoughts on the Unemployment Benefits in the Wall Street Journal opinion pages…. What kept coming to mind is, how are we even having this conversation? And by conversation I mean, how can we look at the empirical evidence concerning unemployment benefits and still somehow draw the conclusion that extending them …
I can’t even make this up . . . Students in France are protesting again. A few years ago they protested AGAINST lowering the bar for employers to be able to hire students. Employers wanted to be able to pay less experienced people a lower rate. The minimum benefits an employer has to set aside …
Friday night my little sisters graduated from high school. Come Fall they are off to college. What better time to reflect on the changing values of a college education. Does it make sense to go to the best school you get into? Is it worth $100k, $200k in debt? It seems to depend on what …
So how is the Federal Government going to save me from myself today? Back to the topic of interns . . . which can mean SO many different things depending on the administration…. For the Obama administration it means legislation. In particular, enforcement of legislation against unpaid internships. Never mind that the Obama political campaign …
The Labor Department is out to protect you from yourself. Legislation prohibiting unpaid internships is officially in force. “If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance …
My buddy Scott recently sent a gem of a report along. The report was written by Dr. Aurthur Laffer. You may recognize his name from the world of finance and politics. He’s a bit of a supply-sider. Since this marks the 10th pdf uploaded to the site for the sake of sharing, I’ve created a …
So let’s go for a drive. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to cross the US by car . . . say from Chapel Hill, NC to Berkeley, CA, or Boston, MA to Berkeley, CA or Atlanta, GA to San Diego, CA, you have seen that there are many choices to make along the way. …
Who would’ve thought Chicago would become a tax refuge? Since the voters approved a tax hike in Oregon, politicians around the US are sending delegations to the beleaguered state. Leading the charge with offers of enticement to business owners…. Richard Daley, Chicago Mayor. Wait, seriously? Here’s what’s spurred the increase in flights to Portland: Oregon …
It’s a common refrain both from the mouths of males and females. Yet, what evidence do we have to support this? A former boyfriend even presented a LONG diatribe about the actual genetic reasons women are bad at math . . . but there’s just one problem. Namely, me. Or Jill. Or Heidi. Or …
A new program at Milford High School in upstate NY has opened the doors of entrepreneurship to students in grades 9-12. The students are building their own businesses and interacting with local business owners.
This is a brilliant way to encourage growth!
Reprint in full from education.change.org >>>>>> One of the highest ranking education officials in America has told Hawaii they’re going in the wrong direction by reducing the number of school days, and that the state and union need to put their personal agendas aside to help their students. Peter Cunningham, the assistant secretary for communications …
Now they’re eating their own! Mike Smith at Change.org skewers Bill Gates’ plan to provide $200 Million annually to schools willing to take on his ideas for reform. Apparently the idea of basing teacher pay on student test score performance is untenable. What I keep circling back to is this, if we are not to …