Real Unemployment (U6)

The U6 unemployment rate counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts "marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons." Note that some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working...

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Stormy times ahead for "mumbo jumbo" education talkers

Here is a column widely circulated in Indiana. I particularly note these remarks by Indiana’s governor, Mitch Daniels. Stormy weather ahead for foundations scholars and other “mumbo jumbo” talkers.“Arne Duncan could not be superintendent or principal in Indiana,” Daniels said of Obama’s education chief...

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The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life

I haven't read this book (it comes out Aug. 4), but this review makes it look fascinating."Children are unconsciously the most rational beings on earth," says Alison Gopnik, "brilliantly drawing accurate conclusions from data, performing complex statistical analyses, and doing clever experiments."...

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It's not Competitiveness it's Altruism

Seems to me that this has some implications for education:Standard economic theory states that people are interested only in their own material gain. But new insights from behavioral economics show that altruism rather than avarice is our primary motivation.Interesting corollary from Fantasia's work...

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Video Games and Learning (etc.)

From the very cool blog Neuroanthropology:Gaming Round Up – Learning, Research, Addiction and Desi...

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Hungry Children in America

Summertime: The Living Ain’t Easy For Children In Pover...

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"Everyone's mutual interests are absolutely aligned"

On Monday, the Chicago Tribune published a Q & A with Arne Duncan focusing on the relationship between the interests of businesses and the need for educational reform. The first question asked of Arne was:Q Why include business in the policy debate about public education?Arne's answer?A We all...

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