NewsTrust - Education - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Do You Want the Good News First?

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - May. 19 (Opinion) - I’ve spent the last week traveling to two of America’s greatest innovation hubs — Silicon Valley and Seattle — and the trip left me feeling a combination of exhilaration and dread. The excitement comes from not only seeing the stunning amount of innovation emerging from the ground up, but from seeing the new tools coming on stream that are, as Amazon.com’s founder, Jeff Bezos, put it to me, “eliminating all the gatekeepers” — making it easier and cheaper than ever to publish your own book, start your own company and chase your own dream. Never have individuals been more empowered, and we’re still just at the start of this trend.

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How to Use the Internet Wisely, for Your Health and Your Country's

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By Howard Rheingold - May. 13 (Opinion) - Use the following methods and tools to protect yourself from toxic bad info. Use them and then pass them along to others. Promote the notion that more info literacy is a practical answer to the growing info pollution. Be the change you want to see. Although the Web undermines authority (by enabling anybody to publish), authority is still useful as one clue to credibility in a detective hunt that accounts for many other clues. Claims to authority, however, need to be questioned. I might add credibility to my assessment if a source is a verified professor at a known institution of higher learning, an authentic MD or PhD, but I would not subtract it from people without credentials whose expertise seems authentic. If you are going to grant credibility to people whose expertise is based on being a professor of something, make sure that assertion is accurate. Don't stop at simply verifying that the claim to be a professor is valid if you are looking for scientific credibility. The next step is to use the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index that derives a score from the scholar's publications, citations by other scholars, grants, honors, and awards. If you want to get even more serious, download a free copy of Publish or Perish software, which analyzes scientific citations from Google Scholar according to multiple criteria. Or use the h-index to calculate how many times other scientists have cited a particular source. Again, don't trust just one source; triangulate.

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The Art of Getting Net Smart

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Forbes - By Shel Israel, Howard Rheingold - Apr. 29 (Opinion) - Howard Rheingold is a teacher, thinker, futurist and grower of the tallest sunflowers I have ever seen. He’s one the most profound thinkers of what happens online and how it changes the world. Just about every ten years, he checks in with a new book that seems to chart the course for the next decade or so. In 1993, he wrote The Virtual Community , which portended a world where people would share friendship and information with each other online, just as the first browser for the worldwide web was being popularized.

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Stop Panicking About Bullies

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Nick Gillespie, Wall Street Journal - Mar. 31 (Opinion) - Childhood is safer than ever before, but today's parents need to worry about something. Nick Gillespie on why busybodies and bureaucrats have zeroed in on bullying.

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The Tragedy of Mike Daisey's Lies About China

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By Max Fisher - Mar. 18 (Opinion) - American consumers can't do much for Central Africa or Afghanistan, but they have real power to improve Chinese labor abuses. Will they be less inclined to believe the next person who tells them how?

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Howard Rheingold: Knowing How to Collaborate Is Essential

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Roland Legrand - Mar. 17 (Interview) - I just read the Kindle edition of "Net Smart," written by writer and critic Howard Rheingold. The book provides a thoughtful analysis of some major theories and discourses about the "always on" era, while at the same time giving new insights and practical advice about the literacies we need to thrive in this environment. I've followed Rheingold's posts and videos for some time now, attended presentations, and participated in some of his courses. He's not only an expert in virtual communities (a term he coined himself) and social media, but also teaches digital journalism. I had the opportunity to interview him recently about the implications of his thinking on media, journalism and journalism education.

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Why Bilinguals Are Smarter

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Yudhijit Bhattacharjee - Mar. 17 (Opinion) - Being bilingual makes you smarter and can have a profound effect on your brain. Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.

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Pass the Books. Hold the Oil.

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - Mar. 10 (Opinion) - Education is a better economic driver than a country’s natural resources.

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Santorum living in stone-age

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By Stephanie Coontz - Feb. 14 (Opinion) - Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is unhappy with last week's compromise over whether Catholic institutions should be required to cover contraception for their employees, arguing that birth control "shouldn't be covered by insurance at all."

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Money and Morals

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Feb. 10 (Opinion) - Conservatives have started telling us that the growing inequality is about a decline in morals. But it’s mainly about money.

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Dissolvable Tobacco Products Draw FDA Scrutiny

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

All Things Considered - Jan. 20 - Supporters of the product say they help quit smoking. Opponents maintain it's a gateway to cigarettes. Both groups are making their case to the Food and Drug Administration, which is studying the flavored melt-in-your-mouth products.

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Nicholas D. Kristof Blog: Melinda Gates Shares Insights From Her Recent Trip to Bangladesh.

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By By THE EDITORS - Jan. 12 (Opinion) - Melinda Gates, just back from a trip to Bangladesh, along with Nicholas Kristof, answer readers' questions about the developing world.

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Op-Ed Columnist: Newt’s War on Poor Children

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Charles M. Blow - Dec. 02 (Opinion) - Gingrich says poor children do not have working parents as role models. He couldn’t be more wrong.

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Op-Ed Columnist: Girls Just Want to Go to School

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Nicholas D. Kristof - Nov. 09 (Opinion) - One 14-year-old Vietnamese girl, who wakes each day at 3 a.m. before setting off on a 90-minute bicycle ride to school, could teach Americans a lot.

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Is capitalism broken... and what is the world going to do to fix it?

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Yvonne Roberts - Nov. 06 (Opinion) - Louise Cooper, Will Hutton, Mark Littlewood, Tanya Paton and William Taylor join a round table discussion on the issues raised by the global Occupy movement T here is no doubt that it has been an extraordinary three weeks. It began with Occupy LSX taking up residence around St Paul's, a protest that exposed the dithering of the Church of England. Occupy LSX has since sparked a remarkable national debate about the kind of society in which we want to live, its priorities and values. In that spirit, the Observer brought together several opposing voices to continue the great debate. Yvonne Roberts So, can capitalism be fixed, Louise? Louise Cooper It's all a question of balance and I think it's moving the pivotal point back a little. Capitalism is clearly the only way that economies work. Capitalism works in the biggest communist state, China. So, as with everything, there needs to be a balance between the returns to those that supply capital and those that supply human capital. Maybe ...

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His Libraries, 12,000 So Far, Change Lives

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Nicholas D. Kristof - Nov. 05 (Opinion) - I came here to Vietnam to see John Wood hand out his 10 millionth book at a library that his team founded in this village in the Mekong delta ..

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Why Science Majors Change Their Mind (It's Just So Darn Hard) - New York Times

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:04:35 -0700

New York Times - Nov. 04 - New York TimesWhy Science Majors Change Their Mind (It's Just So Darn Hard)New York TimesLAST FALL, President Obama threw what was billed as the first White House Science Fair, a photo op in the gilt-mirrored State Dining Room. He tested a steering wheel designed by middle schoolers to detect distracted driving and ...Scholarships Award STEM MajorsU.S. News & World Report (blog)all 5 news articles »

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Squirmy toddler? There’s an app for that

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:21:56 -0700

The Daily Record - By Associated Press - Oct. 26 - MIAMI — There’s a new routine these days whenever Amber Mullaney goes out to eat at a restaurant. While waiting to be seated, she asks her husband to get the phone ready to hand over to their 2-year-old daughter, Tatum. The phone — with its ability to stream episodes of Dora the Explorer — is a [...]

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Fed-up customers taking action against big banks

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salt Lake Tribune - Oct. 20 - By paul beebe The Salt Lake Tribune Published Oct 19, 2011 07:41PM MDT Public anger that sparked the Occupy Wall Street protest is spilling over into direct action against Utah and U.S. banks, especially ones that took federal bailout money and charge high bank fees to make up for lost income while cutting back on lending and paying big bonuses. The fury is showing up in calls for customers to move their deposits to other banks or credit unions as a way to strike back at financial institutions that activists say have too much power in Washington. The latest moveme... ...

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Occupy the Classroom

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Nicholas Kristof - Oct. 19 (Opinion) - The single step that would do the most to reduce inequality has nothing to do with finance at all. It's an expansion of early childhood education.

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Poll: Obama faces trouble with key voters

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salt Lake Tribune - Aug. 28 - By KEN THOMAS and JENNIFER AGIESTA The Associated Press Published Aug 27, 2011 05:13PM MDT Washington • Whites and women are a re-election problem for President Barack Obama. Younger voters and liberals, too, but to a lesser extent. All are important Democratic constituencies that helped him win the White House in 2008 and whose support he’ll need to keep it next year. An analysis of Associated Press-GfK polls, including the latest survey released last week, shows that Obama has lost ground among all those groups since he took office. The review points to his vulnerabilities and prob... ...

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NewsTrust on Fact-Checking and the Wisdom of Crowds

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By Walter Frick - Aug. 25 (Interview) - Truthsquad is a new pro-am fact-checking service we are developing with the Center for Public Integrity, to help journalists and citizens separate fact from fiction together. We are combining the best practices of crowdsourcing with the knowledge of a large nonprofit newsroom and the reach of major news partners. This unique approach empowers citizens to collaborate with journalists to investigate controversial statements from politicians and newsmakers. Participants are invited to post questionable claims online, research factual evidence supporting or opposing these claims, and verify their accuracy as a community, with professional oversight.

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Huntsman hits Perry on climate change, Fed

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salt Lake Tribune - Aug. 21 - The Associated Press Published Aug 20, 2011 06:07PM MDT Washington • Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is pounding away at rival Rick Perry’s skepticism of manmade global warming and criticism of the nation’s central banker, saying those stands hurt the GOP and make the Texas governor come off as a not-so-serious national figure. Huntsman, a former Utah governor who was President Barack Obama’s first ambassador to China, has trailed in early polls nationally and in early voting states, leading his campaign to pledge more aggressive attacks on the t... ...

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Bill Gates: Was the $5 Billion Worth It?

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By JASON L. RILEY, Bill Gates - Jul. 24 (Editorial) - A decade into his record-breaking education philanthropy, Bill Gates talks teachers, charters—and regrets. 'It's hard to improve public education—that's clear. As Warren Buffett would say, if you're picking stocks, you wouldn't pick this one." Ten years into his record-breaking philanthropic push for school reform, Bill Gates is sober—and willing to admit some missteps. "It's been about a decade of learning," says the Microsoft co-founder whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is now the nation's richest charity. Its $34 billion in assets is more than the next three largest foundations (Ford, Getty and Robert Wood Johnson) combined, and in 2009 it handed out $3 billion, or $2 billion more than any other donor. Since 2000, the foundation has poured some $5 billion into education grants and scholarships. Seated in his office at the new Gates Foundation headquarters located hard by the Emerald City's iconic Space Needle, Mr. Gates says that education isn't only a civil-rights issue but also "an equity issue and an economic issue. . . . It's so primary. In inner-city, low-income communities of color, there's such a high correlation in terms of educational quality and success."

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The Finland phenomenon

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Denver Post - By David Sirota: - Jul. 09 (Opinion) - When I heard the news last week that the Department of Education is aiming to subject 4-year-olds to high-stakes testing, all I could do is shake my head in disbelief and despondently mutter a slightly altered riff off "The Big Lebowski's" Walter Sobchak: Four-year-olds, dude.

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