Education Current Events

Donald Trump’s choice for the new Secretary of Education faced a grilling at her recent senate confirmation hearing.

Betsy is a wealthy businesswoman who has long called for changes to public education which she terms “a dead end”. However, her practical experience in public schooling is non-existent. She hasn't worked as a teacher, administrator or policy maker for public schools and has no personal experience of the system either.

The verdict is in, and when it comes to homework, it appears that less is more. Research shows that several of the countries scoring top in the world for education, surprisingly dole out the least amount of homework to their students.

As a social studies teacher in the Common Core era, my curricular responsibilities have gradually shifted away from historical material and more towards the realm of teaching strategies for reading and creating nonfiction text. More and more, teaching the skills required to engage with social studies content has usurped the push to memorize names, dates, locations, and stories.

When shock waves from political events hit schools, children and parents can be left feeling adrift. In the wake of impassioning events such as the US election and our recent UK referendum on leaving the European Union, societies can feel fractured and bruised, and respond in less than productive ways. Hate crimes have soared in the UK in the aftermath of a campaign that unleashed uninhibited language and racism alongside grievances, and this is beginning to be seen in the US too.

The Presidential elections in the United States are an exciting, yet contentious time. Every four years on the first Tuesday held after the first Monday in the month of November, American voters go to the polls. For months before the actual election, debates, primaries, and caucuses are held to introduce the people to the candidates who intend to run for the highest office in the United States.

Eventually, each political party decides on its official nominee. Though people can run as third-party or write-in candidates, the Presidential debates have almost always been between the Republican and Democratic nominees (the only exception to this being in 1992 when Ross Perot garnered high enough polling numbers to be invited).

This infopraphic features a detailed breakdown of education statistics everywhere from North America to Sub Saharan Africa.

Standout numbers include student-to-teacher ratios (25-to-one in Mexico vs. six-to-one in Sweden), and college enrollment vs. graduation rates.

Interesting stuff, courtesy of Limerick Tutorial College:

Education Around The World - An infographic by the team at https://www.limericktutorial.ie/…