Changing Education Paradigms

September 12th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Something to think about. I liked the illustrations too.

Robert Smith

September 10th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

The Guardian
Even today, [Robert] Smith bristles slightly at the term “goth”, not because he dislikes the term, but because “it’s only people that aren’t goths that think the Cure are a goth band … we were like a raincoat, shoegazing band when goth was picking up.” The tag has stuck, probably, because of Smith’s signature look – the backcombed hair, the messily applied lipstick. “It’s an identifying process I’ve kept down the years. I wear black – I’m wearing black now, I always have. I don’t do it because I’m making a statement, I do it because it’s … I don’t know, slimming? You don’t have to wash so often? Probably the main reason is that all my clothes are black. I often ask, ‘Does it come in white?’ and people just stare at me.”

Free Schools – A resounding success already

September 10th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

When you try something, you generally give it a bit of time before heralding it as a success, but nooooo. Free schools, those schools that can be opened by anyone from Old Mother Riley and her cow to Mr Montgomery Burns with public money diverted from other existing schools, have been open a week and Cameron wants them to proliferate

replicated many, many times up and down the country

Let’s not get over excited here. I know a week is a long time in politics, but in school life, fuck all happens in a week. Lets just wait a little longer and see what really happens, eh?

Ooooh, look at this

But Vlachos, an associate professor of economics at Stockholm University, is standing his ground. His argument is based on his finding that students who entered gymnasium [sixth form] from free secondary schools on average went on to get lower grades over the next three years than those who had entered with the same grade from municipal secondary schools.

Vlachos suspects that, because schools rather than external examining boards mark students, free schools are more generous than municipal schools in the grades they give. “There’s been tremendous grade inflation in Swedish schools,” he said.

Sweden’s path-breaking educational reforms of the 1990s have come under question since last December when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development published the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment.

This showed that Swedish students had dropped to 19th place out of 57 countries for literacy, to 24th in maths, and to 28th in science. This compared with 9th, 17th and 16th in studies done in 2000, 2003 and 2006 respectively.

And Swedes, used to coming near the top of just about every human development index, were appalled.

Jan Björklund, the minister of education, moved to tighten central control over schools and is soon to launch a parliamentary inquiry into competition and free schools.

“Loopholes in the legislation have meant that free schools can elect not to have a library, student counselling and school nurses,” he complained. “And as they get just as much money as the municipal schools, the owners have been able to withdraw the surplus.”

Not exactly a good omen, is it?

How far does control of your corporate brand go?

September 9th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

How far should it go? How about this far…?

[Anders Behring Breivik] insists on wearing a red Lacoste sweater with the distinctive crocodile logo on trips out of prison.
Related articles

The 32-year-old gunman who killed 77 people on July 22 even wrote in his online manifesto that “refined people like him should wear brands like Lacoste”.

But his choice of clothes has been described as a “nightmare” for the French company’s exclusive image.

Norwegian daily Dagbladet said bosses had now written to Oslo police demanding 32-year-old Breivik be stopped from wearing their garments.

via Quiet Riot Girl (@Notorious_QRG)

Dear Right To Know Campaign

September 5th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

There’s still no word on where the Right to Know campaign is getting it’s funding.

I thought I would add my little voice to the throng of people wanting to find out so I sent them a letter via their ‘contact us’ page…

hello.

Would you mind publishing where your funding comes from, please?

People are asking questions and they think they, quite rightly, have a ‘right to know’, especially as you guys have made such a fuss of where other people get their funding from.

Abortion Rights have made it known where all their funding (and biscuits) come from after you chaps huffed and puffed about it.

Don’t you think it’s fair that you now spill the beans?

Cheers

Sim-O

Daily Mail coughs up

September 3rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

I recently posted about the Daily Mail infringing copyright whilst crying about someone infringing theirs.

So, I suppose I had better post about the conclusion too. Here’s a post from the blog of the Open Rights Group

We’ve just received a cheque for £1,000 from the Daily Mail’s publishers, after they admitted publishing photos from Alice in Wonderland blog without permission. The photos featured ultra-skinny mannequins. The Daily Mail had asked Alice for permission, but refused her £250 fee (given to a charity of her choice).

“I don’t like the Daily Mail, and didn’t want to give them commercial use of my pictures for free.” she explains.

But they published anyway. Alice wasn’t best pleased at this blatant commercial abuse of her copyright, and demanded they donate a grand to the copyfighters at ORG, alongside MIND. After some excuses, they relented, and today we received their cheque. You can read thefull story on Alice’s blog here.

A massive thank you to Alice for her heroics and the very generous donation!

via DickMandrake

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