Great 8:00 minute report from NRR's Alix Spiegel on the importance of struggling to learn, and differences in perception between American and Asian cultures. A few excerpts: "I think that from very early ages we [in America] see struggle as an indicator that you're just not very smart," Stigler says. "It's a sign of low ability — people who are smart don't struggle, they just naturally get it, that's our folk theory. Whereas in Asian cultures they tend to see struggle more as an opportunity." In Eastern cultures, Stigler says, it's just assumed that struggle is a predictable part of the … [Read more...] about Nature vs. Nurture in Academic Excellence
Thriving at College
Future of Higher Education
Time magazine this week has a cover story on the future of higher education, discussing topics such as rising costs, troubling graduation rates, and the ascent of various models of online education (including "MOOCs" -- massive open online courses). … [Read more...] about Future of Higher Education
Avg. Student Debt Nears $27,000 for class of 2011
The Institute for College Access & Success states in a press release today: Students who borrowed for college and earned bachelor’s degrees in 2011 graduated with an average $26,600 in student loan debt, up from $25,250 in 2010, according to a new report from the Project on Student Debt at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). This five-percent increase is similar to the average annual increase in recent years. The report also found that about two-thirds of the Class of 2011 had loans, and that private (non-federal) student loans comprised about one-fifth of what they … [Read more...] about Avg. Student Debt Nears $27,000 for class of 2011
Thoughts on Serving and Greatness
I wrote a guest post for Bob Bevington's blog, Red Like Blood (which is also the title of his most recent book). My post is called Back to School: Thoughts on Serving and Greatness. Here's the opening: Jesus washed His disciples’ feet to communicate a principle: Christian leaders are to be servants. They get under others to lift them up, not over others to get ego gratification. (See this sermon.) You call me Teacher and Lord…If I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I … [Read more...] about Thoughts on Serving and Greatness
Student Default Rates Rise (Again)
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports: More than one out of eight student-loan borrowers who entered repayment from October 1, 2008, to September 30, 2009, defaulted within three years, the U.S. Education Department announced on Friday as part of its first release of official data on cohort default rates for federal student loans measured over three years. The new figure on overall default rates, 13.4 percent, was released as the department switches from measuring the rates over three years instead of two. For-profit institutions had the highest average three-year default rates, at … [Read more...] about Student Default Rates Rise (Again)
The Brain is a Muscle
Doug Wilson: “We tend to think of our students’ minds as finite shoeboxes, and we then think we must take special care not to put anything in there if we do not want it to remain there for life. But the brain is more like a muscle. A student who learns one language, such as Latin, is not stuck with his shoebox three-quarters full, with no room for Spanish. Rather the student has a mind that has been stretched and exercised in such a way that subsequent learning is much easier, not much harder. “Now of course this kind of mental discipline could be acquired by requiring of the students … [Read more...] about The Brain is a Muscle