Archived entries for Education

Moving Education

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

Very moving stuff.

Here is something I am trying. I turn on the Spanish subtitle while listening to the talk. This way I get to learn Spanish while listening. It is not easy since the subtitle changes fast. But I think this could be a good way to learn since you start getting the jist in Spanish, while you understand the talk in English. Try it in the language you want to learn. Creative education I suppose.

Betraying ones own

School vouchers work and work very well. The idea is spreading is also comforting. In some Scandinavian countries like Sweden  school choice has been in practice for over a decade and the results are as expected. That is not the point of this post.

Betraying ones own people. Especially when they are poor, desperate and especially when it involves saving the future of those poor and desperate people.  How does one do that ? Year after year, even in the face overwhelming evidence that what you are supporting is overwhelmingly wrong.  Check out..

The Education debacle of the decade by Bob Ewing from Institute for Justice

There is a mention of Washington DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was one of the principal opponents of OSP and was instrumental in ending the program. (Washington DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP).  Established in 2004 as a five-year pilot program, OSP is among the most heavily researched federal education programs in history.)

This lady is one of those perennial Black politicians that the media dredges out when they have to discuss something about Blacks. One of those pols who survives year after year, even though she is completely out of sync with her own community. Amazing demonstration of some of the cynical aspects of Public Choice Theory. (Fascinating subject you should research about) :-)

What is sad is that Ms Norton has spent an entire lifetime not just talking about civil rights but even putting her life on the line for it. I guess getting elected and suddenly seeing people lining up to pay obeisance to you changes all that. Also some people, I have observed, get fossilised. Their idea of what is civil rights (or any other cause they fought for) seem to get frozen in time. Times change. What people want, Black parents in this case, change. Unfortunately fossils find it difficult to change with time. They go through all kinds of twisting and turning to convince others why their dead, warped ideas are still in sync. They will play the race card, “what will Dr King do or Jesus do” card, ….. but they are not able to tell you the truth. That they are too comfortable with what they have, too afraid to lose it, too used to the comforts of attention and spotlight. No longer able to stand up to the current special interests, like they used to, to the special interests of the past.  So they continue to occupy time and space, unfortunately this time, at the cost of the future of millions of children. Their own. Sad!

But I am hopeful. I am of the opinion that liberals who promote ideas like vouchers have won the war. Yet we may have to continue fighting battles, even lose some, but the future has already been written. Reading history, feeling the historical trends, keeping in mind human nature and historical record of ever expanding circles of individual freedom and autonomy. ….. the Nortons of the old world will be buried in infamy. Along with all quislings and collaborationists of the past who callously or otherwise, betrayed their own.

Revolutions devour its own children. Surely it tries. Makes feeble attempts. But then, when revolutions get fossilsed, the children devour the revolution and excrete it out of the other end. The revolutions children move on to create the next revolution.

Tax credit for education of poor

One more good way to fund the education of poor children. Better way to take money out of the pockets of rich and give it to the poor.

Florida’s Unheralded School Revolution

Very significant is

The bill passed both houses overwhelmingly, including support from 42% of Democrats and 52% of the legislative black caucus. (Nearly every Republican voted yes.) That is a remarkable turnabout for a program that received one Democratic vote when it was created in 2001. Why the shift?

For too long black politicians in the US ignored the needs of their community due to pressure from national teachers’ unions. I suppose Public Choice Theory applies at all levels and in all communities.

  • October 14, 2009
  • In Education
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Masjid for Babar

May be a masjid for this Babar is in order. Check out: The ‘youngest headmaster in the world’

(FYI, I know Babri Masjid is not a masjid for Babur :-) . As mentioned in the Wikipedia page, there are various versions of who built it and time lines).

Check out the comments below on the BBC page. Some are hoping the Govt will notice Babar Ali’s achievements. That is exactly my fear. May be it is best that the kids are left alone in Babar’s care. Also, I don’t think Babar and his pupil are news to the officials, that they now have to recognize them and step in.

By the time the West Bengal education bureaucracy hires teachers, bribes exchange hands to decide who will go to this god forsaken village, by the time the officially appointed teacher appoints some lesser teacher (and pays a cut out of the official salary), who inturn appoints a sweeper (for a even lesser cut out of the unofficial salary) to teach Babar’s pupils, ……….

I don’t think we need another demolision of something what a Babar has built.

Reality of School Education in India

Wanted to assemble some of the interesting articles, data, etc. on schools in India in one place. That way I can forward this link every time I have a discussion/debate with someone on the net.

A typical conversation with an average middle class/rich person about education of poor children will bring up the following questions or stereotypes:

  1. Poor parents don’t care about their children’s education
  2. Poor kids have no where to go but government schools
  3. Private schools for the poor? which private school will take my servant’s child? Private schools discriminate.
  4. Hence they need to be regulated and coersed into taking more poor kids
  5. Low budget poor school? Are you talking about those fly by night operators, who exploit poor illiterate poor parents and run with their money?
  6. Those schools have very poor standards. Also, there are not enough to teach millions of poor kids
  7. Private schools for the poor is a joke. It is better for poor kids to go to government schools since they at least have some infrastructure and facilities
  8. We need to shut down all these private schools, the ones that are enticing the poor to send their kids. We should file a PIL. Why is the government not doing something to shut them down
  9. Poor parents are gullible. They fall for the glitz and glamour of private school. They think uttering some English words is education. They are being fooled.

Start your prilgrimage of discovery, separate reality from myth, at the feet of Shri Tooley baba.  Check out

Note, Tooley did similar research in China, Ghana, Delhi, Hyderabad, etc. The problems and how humans respond to incentives is universal.

Then you have to read my piece (I will find out if you skip this step)

Alternate model: Voucher, Cash Stipend, Tuition Reimbursement Schemes:

Pratham and ASER. Good place for data on education in India

Overall, enrollment in private schools has increased from 18.7% in 2006 to 19.3% in 2007.
The rise in private school enrollment is noticeable in the older age group of 11 to 14 years.
Private schools include government aided, unaided, recognized and unrecognized schools.

May not sound like much. But remember we are talking rural India. Imagine what the numbers are in urban India. And India is only urbanising, not ruralising!

India leads in Teacher absence. How will you solve this, especially if you are not a fan of private schools, competition, vouchers, etc. Check out the paper:

Deal with your myths:
I remember reading that many parents in Bihar chose not to let their kid go to school. Reason: in these schools (read local government schools) there was no one to supervise the kids. Older kids were incharge, whom the parents feared would teach little ones bad habits like smoking. Though the PROBE report is from 1999, it was very influential.

Some interesting articles from The Economist, the most interesting magazine out there as far as I am concerned,

































































































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