The Defeat of the Schools - 39.03

The Defeat of the Schools - 39.03: "Most people--certainly most laymen--would be apt to think that the chief business of the schools is to give pupils at least a modest working knowledge of the subjects of the curriculum. Not a few students of education, it is true, consider that this is a misconception, and that the true purpose of schools is to bring about an adjustment to social demands for which the various subjects are at best only means. Nobody, however, who surveys the conventional working apparatus of courses of study, textbooks, recitations, examinations, and marks can have much doubt that in practice the schools are making the mastery of the curriculum an end in itself. Whether in theory they ought to or not, this in fact is what they are manifestly trying to do."

From 1939, it's been happening for a long time.

Education videos from everywhere

There has just been an explosion of educational video resources.

youTube EDU
Academic Earth
Open Culture
MIT Opencourseware
Stanford Engineering Everywhere
iTunesU
And more

A great time to be alive.

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids: Scientific American

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids: Scientific American: "Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine."

A 30 year study!? Well, we had to be sure, maybe they should have nuked it from orbit.