On Education

Notes for the Next 40 Years

Here's the PowerPoint slideshow of my May 7 talk:
Download the_next_40_years.ppt

And here's a longish essay, "Towards a University Culture," written in 2007, that provides some context for my comments:
Download university_culture.doc

You may also want to scroll down to read some articles I've published in The Tyee over the past year on the Campus 2020 report, the widespread use and abuse of laptops in the classroom, the importance of our international students, and student problems with debt burdens.

The New Online Omnivores

Last weekend I attended Northern Voice, a bloggers' conference in Vancouver. The Tyee has now published my comments on the event: The New Online Omnivores.

On International Education

The Tyee has published my new article on international education and its value to British Columbia. You can read it here.

More discouraging news about the guys

Via The Star in Toronto, statistical confirmation that Canadian guys are still behind the girls academically: Girls study harder than boys, says StatsCan. Excerpt:

Young men are far less likely to attend university than young women, and a new study attributes the gap to differences in academic performance and study habits at the age of 15, as well as parental expectations.

Statistics Canada says about a quarter (26 per cent) of 19-year-old men had attended university in 2003 while almost two in five (39 per cent) 19-year-old women had done so.

The study found that more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of the gap was related to differences in the characteristics of young men and women that were available in the study. Weaker academic performance among men accounted for almost half (45 per cent) of the gap – specifically, young men had lower overall school marks at age 15, and had poorer performance on a standardized reading test.

Another 11 per cent of the gap was related to the fact that boys spend less time on their homework than girls and about 9 per cent was associated with the lower educational expectations placed upon boys by their parents.

Other student characteristics played moderate roles, accounting for a further 12 per cent of the gap collectively. The study found that men and women have different characteristics at age 15. For example, only about a third (32 per cent) of young men reported overall marks of 80 per cent or higher while almost half (46 per cent) of young girls fell in the same category.

Young men also fared more poorly on a standardized reading test: only 20 per cent scored in the top quarter on the test, while 30 per cent of young women did so.

Young men and women are also quite different in terms of the amount of time they spend on homework: only 30 per cent of boys spent at least four hours a week on homework, compared with 41 per cent of girls.

The study also found that young men had lower expectations placed upon them: as many as 60 per cent had parents who expected them to complete a university degree, well behind the 70 per cent of young women in the same situation.

The Student Loan Crush

The Tyee has published my article The Student Loan Crush, on the debt burden carried by almost a million current and former Canadian post-secondary students.

Schools Fight for Teachers Because of High Turnover

Via the New York Times: Schools Fight for Teachers Because of High Turnover. Excerpt:

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The retirement of thousands of baby boomer teachers coupled with the departure of younger teachers frustrated by the stress of working in low-performing schools is fueling a crisis in teacher turnover that is costing school districts substantial amounts of money as they scramble to fill their ranks for the fall term.

Superintendents and recruiters across the nation say the challenge of putting a qualified teacher in every classroom is heightened in subjects like math and science and is a particular struggle in high-poverty schools, where the turnover is highest.

Thousands of classes in such schools have opened with substitute teachers in recent years. Here in Guilford County, N.C., turnover had become so severe in some high-poverty schools that principals were hiring new teachers for nearly every class, every term.

To staff its neediest schools before classes start on Aug. 28, recruiters have been advertising nationwide, organizing teacher fairs and offering one of the nation’s largest recruitment bonuses, $10,000 to instructors who sign up to teach Algebra I.

This demographic crisis has been foreseeable for twenty years. It's already happening in post-secondary (slightly masked by middle-aged part-time faculty moving up into full-time jobs as the regulars retire). Of course it's going to happen in K-12, and of course the poor districts will suffer the most from it.

In Canada we at least have roughly equal funding for school districts, urban and rural. Horsefly, BC can't match the attractions of Kelowna or Edmonton, but it's got a fighting chance to recruit the teachers it needs. In the US, rich districts have an advantage and poor districts don't.

UK: Boys close gender gap in English, test results show

Via The Independent, some modestly good news: Boys close gender gap in English, test results show. Excerpt:

Boys are closing the gender gap in English national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds and forging ahead of girls in maths, results showed yesterday.

Figures showed they had cut the gap in reading by two percentage points and in writing by one - while they are now two percentage points ahead of girls in maths.

The trend, part of an overall improvement in results, was welcomed by ministers who have poured millions into giving one-to-one coaching to pupils.

However, despite an overall improvement in results, there are still concerns over writing standards. The writing test was the only one that showed no overall improvement, with 40 per cent of boys (about a quarter of a million) failing to reach the required standard before going on to secondary school.

Overall, the results showed a one percentage point improvement in all three subjects tested - maths, English and science. That meant 80 per cent reaching the required standard in English, 76 per cent in maths and 88 per cent in science.

The figures mean schools have finally reached the target set for 2002 by new Labour when it first came to power. Estelle Morris resigned from the post of Education Secretary when that target was not reached.

And the Government is still well short of the target of 85 per cent reaching the required standard in maths and English set for 2006 - and that remains in place for 2008.

Campus 2020 and the Future of BC's Post-Secondaries

I've neglected this site for too long, but an issue has arisen in BC education that deserves some attention.

A former BC attorney-general, Geoff Plant, has issued a new report, Campus 2020, with serious implications for our colleges and universities. Here's one response to it, by UBC's president Stephen Toope in today's Vancouver Sun: Onward and upward for B.C.'s universities.

And here's my response to it in The Tyee.

Quite apart from my own admittedly biased response to Campus 2020, I'm discouraged by the empty rhetoric in the Toope article.

A Skeptic on the "Boy Problem"

The issue has been fairly quiet in Canada, but it's drawing attention in the US. I'm happy to see a skeptical look at the issue in Slate: Will Boys Be Boys? - Why the gender lens may not shed light on the latest educational crisis.

Does Tomorrow Belong to Them?

You may have heard of the "Bruin Alumni Association," which offers UCLA students money for documented examples of "radicalism" in their professors' lectures. Well, take a stroll through UCLA Profs.com - Exposing UCLA's Radical Professors (A projectof the Bruin Alumni Association).

So much for the idea of progress.