The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 10.30.11

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 10.30.11. Today we have stories about:

• what is really necessary in education for student success
  
• the common core crowd gets caught again in the illegal nationalization of curriculum
  
• a video that should be required viewing for all students about economics
  
• the art of political correctness in choosing a Halloween costume
• a young woman's scary fascination with cats
  

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Here is an article from the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper in Rochester NY about the importance of mentors and one on one tutoring which helps students stay in school and on course. Maybe the answer isn't a "one size fits all" program as outlined in common core standards after all.

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Richard Epstein discusses the income inequality myth on PBS and should be required viewing for students. From HotAir:

“Income inequality” has always existed. It exists in every economic system ever invented. Does anyone doubt that income inequality exists in communist China, or existed in the Soviet Union? If you don’t want to argue from the extremes, take a look at western Europe, which has relied on massively redistributive policies for decades. The difference between these systems and the American experience is that membership in an economic class has never been static, but is changeable depending on one’s innovation and effort. That goes to the heart of American exceptionalism, and American success — or at least it did before we tried turning ourselves into a version of Europe’s sclerotic nanny states.

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The pro-common core crowd doesn't try to run from the "nationalized" standard tag these days. Here's an article from The Hoover Institution entitled "New Law Nationalizes Science Education Standards". Note the irony of the title of this piece and this tag (New law nationalizes science education standards | Advancing a Free Society) from Education News.

How is nationalizing education standards advancing a society that's "free"? What an oxymoron. The more nationalization and centralization that occurs in America, the less free society becomes.

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Choosing a Halloween costume this year can be difficult in case you don't want to offend anyone in any culture. Read this article about a campaign from Ohio State University students so you don't step on anyone's toes or feelings before you decide on your costume.

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Happy Halloween! For a scary video on cats (in honor of Halloween), check out this Autotune video about a young woman and her fascination of cats she talks about on a dating website.

Educational quote for the week:

Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

-Frederic Bastiat