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[Frenchfry]

Charles Ferguson, the director of the Academy Award-winning documentary "Inside Job," surprises Eliot Spitzer by revealing that Larry Summers worked for the hedge fund Taconic Capital Advisors while he was president of Harvard University, underscoring Ferguson's point that academia and the financial industry have been colluding.

Extra: Charles Ferguson on how Harvard and other universities collude with the financial industry

[Frenchfry]

ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! TUITION FEES ARE CLASS WAR!

[Frenchfry]

When it comes to international results, Finland's schools score consistently at the top.
However, pupils study the fewest number of class hours in the developed world.
The BBC travels to Helsinki to find out the secret of the Finns' education success.

Finland's education success

[Professor H]

Interesting to see the way we used to teach - more successful than the current standardized teaching methods.   Time to break the mold and start anew, but that would entail elimination of the Department of Education...  another agency that can't do what it's supposed to. (like the Department of Energy)

[Professor H]

Here's an article that lays out the educational system in Finland

http://www.businessinsider.com/finland-education-school-2011-12?op=1

Didn't see much on discipline, but it appears the "system" is probably more family oriented, and supported.

[ducksoup]

Here's an article that lays out the educational system in Finland

http://www.businessinsider.com/finland-education-school-2011-12?op=1

Didn't see much on discipline, but it appears the "system" is probably more family oriented, and supported.

Thanks that was a nice read.  We need to change how education is thought about.  Get people to invest in their own (and children's) educations as a positive thing instead of a negative. 

[Frenchfry]

Educational equity lessons from the NEA President

[Frenchfry]

In this Web exclusive video, Joseph Stiglitz, economist and author of "The Price of Inequality," emphasizes the need for government to invest in education to help spur economic growth. "The for-profit schools have excelled in exploitation," says Stiglitz. "Most of their money comes from the government — student loans, guarantees — and if you include the special provisions of the bankruptcy law that says those debts cannot be discharged, the government is in fact saying, 'Get the money, satisfaction not guaranteed. Whether we give you anything or not, you're going to have to pay us back.'
Tune in Weeknights at 8:00/7:00c on Current TV

Extra: 'Satisfaction not guaranteed' — Joseph Stiglitz on for-profit schools

[Frenchfry]

"Late last month, the state of Louisiana unveiled a new school voucher program, joining 14 other states that have recently increased the availability of vouchers to fund private school tuition with public dollars. This latest pet project of popular Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, called Louisiana Believes, is now regarded as the most extensive voucher system in the United States -- out-privatizing even the state of Indiana, where nearly 60 percent of the state's students are eligible for vouchers. By eroding caps on family income levels, and thereby providing voucher assistance to both low- and middle-income families, Indiana's plan aimed to remake public education in the state more extensively than any voucher system in US history -- until now. Like Indiana's program, Louisiana's new voucher plan is so wide in scope that it could eventually cut the state's public education funding in half. But in a number of crucial ways, the Louisiana model works even harder to destroy public education than Indiana's program does...".

Public Vs Private Schools: Will Vouchers Destroy Public Education?

[marilyn.monroe]

I support public education and at the same time want school vouchers in Michigan. I think competition will help improve schools.

[Frenchfry]

"A homeless North Carolina teen, whose parents abandoned her while she was attending an academic camp last summer, is going to Harvard. Dawn Loggins, who graduates Thursday from Burns High School in the small town of Lawndale, was used to re-adjusting. She took a part-time job as as the custodian at school, starting work at 6 a.m. and carrying toiletries with her so she could grab a shower whenever possible. She eventually moved in with a friend's mother...".

From Homeless to Harvard

[Professor H]

I support public education and at the same time want school vouchers in Michigan. I think competition will help improve schools.

Deregulation is the only thing that will help our educational system.

It's amazing all the paperwork, rules and regulations and mandated testing that is thrown at the schools (without funding) that make the current system what it is...   TEACH TO THE TEST... 

More money is not the answer - although it may help in some areas.  What you teach and how you do it are the real keys.

[Frenchfry]

More deregulation? No way! The ought to follow the system Finland implemented...the best in the World.
Education Finland has best education system in the world NBC NightlyNews_09292010.flv

[Frenchfry]

The President of the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, tells Bill that Mitt Romney, "doesn't understand what it takes to build an economy for the whole country." Van Roekel emphasizes the importance of "investing in the students of today." He says education is not like an "assembly line" and examines how cuts in education now will impact generations of young Americans.

NEA President: Romney doesn't know how to build the country's economy

[Frenchfry]

Cuss warning!

Sadly Not From The Onion - Texas GOP Against Thinking & Voting Rights
"It seems more like a headline from the satirical newspaper The Onion, but the Republican Party of Texas recently published its party platform, a report that - among other things - calls for a ban on teaching critical thinking skills in Texas schools because of its "focus on behavior modification" that has "the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority." That's just one of the many startling positions adopted by the state's Republican Party at its recent convention in Fort Worth...".* They also want to repeal the Voting Rights Act Of 1965.

Sadly Not From The Onion - Texas GOP Against Thinking & Voting Rights


And yet another Cuss Warning!

Scam Fails: University Of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan Reinstated
"The University of Virginia's Board of Visitors voted unanimously Tuesday to reinstate Teresa Sullivan as president of the flagship campus, capping 16 days of protest by students, faculty and community members...".* How are for-profit online colleges and hedge fund managers involved?

Scam Fails: University Of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan Reinstated