Thursday, February 17, 2005
Education
Bangor University (Wales) is proposing to sack eight of its 12 librarians, including many specialist helpers, because students can find the information they need on the internet.
Specialist schools in the UK are striding ahead of mainstream secondaries in all subjects - except the subjects at which they were designed to excel, according to a study published by the education watchdog. The report by Ofsted has revealed that schools which have been given increased funding to focus on the arts are falling behind other schools in GCSE results for drama and music, with pass rates below the national average. Sports colleges maintain a slender lead over other schools in their PE GCSE pass rates, but the gap has narrowed since 2001. Language colleges, too, while well remaining comfortably ahead of their "bog-standard" counterparts, have recorded a fall in French, German and Spanish GCSE results since 2001. However, the report concluded that although the rate of improvement in specialist subjects has levelled off, the new breed of flagship schools help pupils to achieve better grades overall.
A new study conducted by leading UK scientist Professor Robert Winston suggests that children who spend hours playing computer games and watching television are failing to develop the skills to succeed at school. He says youngsters are not acquiring the long-term powers of study and application they need in class. This is because the games they play and programmes they watch require only short-term bursts of concentration.
Politics
"During this election campaign we can expect lavish servings of such intellectual junk food; quick and cheap substitutes for proper reasoning. Unlike real junk food, this rhetorical muck comes with no warnings about its worthless contents. This column aims to help by identifying five fallacies you will encounter over the coming weeks."
Technology
Microsoft plans to release the first major overhaul of its Internet browser in four years by the end of 2005. Plugging rampant security holes will be at the forefront of the new browser, which will come with software to fight viruses and "spyware".
Political correctness
Playdough, potato stamps and the use of other food for art and play has been banned by some kindergartens because it is considered offensive to Maori and other cultures.
Society and Values
How will developing technologies change our lives. Ian Pearson, a futurist and researcher at British Telecom, believes there will be as many changes in the next 10 years as we have seen in the last 500.
Population and FertilityWe all know that fertility is declining? So what are the likely consequences, and more particularly, the likely scenarios for how society and governments might respond? Stanley Kurtz reviews four new books on the topic.
Welfare
Professor Ian Shirley, a leading social scientist who is also Pro Vice Chancellor of research at AUT, says New Zealand has lost its way on social policy. He points the finger at both Labour and National administrations ... and their "superficial trading of slogans" ... that has contributed to the decline in social policy over the past three decades.
Prime Minister Helen Clark's call for policies to encourage more mothers back into paid work has the potential to lead to an explosion of overwork, according to Dr Paul Callister, an expert on New Zealand working hours. "Add more working women to the mix, and the existing Kiwi pattern of very long household hours of work starts looking positively toxic, leaving no time for good family relationships."
Gareth Morgan says Helen Clark’s view on the value of motherhood simply reinforces an influence that the monetised economy has been exerting for a few decades now – that work done in those areas of the economy not recompensed by monetary reward is of little value to society. What next? An army of bureaucrats to visit the suburbs during working hours to ferret out more laggards?
Bangor University (Wales) is proposing to sack eight of its 12 librarians, including many specialist helpers, because students can find the information they need on the internet.
Specialist schools in the UK are striding ahead of mainstream secondaries in all subjects - except the subjects at which they were designed to excel, according to a study published by the education watchdog. The report by Ofsted has revealed that schools which have been given increased funding to focus on the arts are falling behind other schools in GCSE results for drama and music, with pass rates below the national average. Sports colleges maintain a slender lead over other schools in their PE GCSE pass rates, but the gap has narrowed since 2001. Language colleges, too, while well remaining comfortably ahead of their "bog-standard" counterparts, have recorded a fall in French, German and Spanish GCSE results since 2001. However, the report concluded that although the rate of improvement in specialist subjects has levelled off, the new breed of flagship schools help pupils to achieve better grades overall.
A new study conducted by leading UK scientist Professor Robert Winston suggests that children who spend hours playing computer games and watching television are failing to develop the skills to succeed at school. He says youngsters are not acquiring the long-term powers of study and application they need in class. This is because the games they play and programmes they watch require only short-term bursts of concentration.
Politics
"During this election campaign we can expect lavish servings of such intellectual junk food; quick and cheap substitutes for proper reasoning. Unlike real junk food, this rhetorical muck comes with no warnings about its worthless contents. This column aims to help by identifying five fallacies you will encounter over the coming weeks."
Technology
Microsoft plans to release the first major overhaul of its Internet browser in four years by the end of 2005. Plugging rampant security holes will be at the forefront of the new browser, which will come with software to fight viruses and "spyware".
Political correctness
Playdough, potato stamps and the use of other food for art and play has been banned by some kindergartens because it is considered offensive to Maori and other cultures.
Society and Values
How will developing technologies change our lives. Ian Pearson, a futurist and researcher at British Telecom, believes there will be as many changes in the next 10 years as we have seen in the last 500.
Population and FertilityWe all know that fertility is declining? So what are the likely consequences, and more particularly, the likely scenarios for how society and governments might respond? Stanley Kurtz reviews four new books on the topic.
Welfare
Professor Ian Shirley, a leading social scientist who is also Pro Vice Chancellor of research at AUT, says New Zealand has lost its way on social policy. He points the finger at both Labour and National administrations ... and their "superficial trading of slogans" ... that has contributed to the decline in social policy over the past three decades.
Prime Minister Helen Clark's call for policies to encourage more mothers back into paid work has the potential to lead to an explosion of overwork, according to Dr Paul Callister, an expert on New Zealand working hours. "Add more working women to the mix, and the existing Kiwi pattern of very long household hours of work starts looking positively toxic, leaving no time for good family relationships."
Gareth Morgan says Helen Clark’s view on the value of motherhood simply reinforces an influence that the monetised economy has been exerting for a few decades now – that work done in those areas of the economy not recompensed by monetary reward is of little value to society. What next? An army of bureaucrats to visit the suburbs during working hours to ferret out more laggards?
