November 15, 2013
Phonar: a massive, free photography class
Cory Doctorow,
Boing Boing,
November 15, 2013
This is very much part of the MOOC business model: "Four years ago when I first opened my photography classes online the big issue was 'free' - if you 'give your classes away for free then no one will pay for them'. My answer to those people was that the classes weren't what people paid for - they paid for the learning experience, of being in the room - this online version - this open and connected version just meant that the room they paid to be in now sat at the middle of a network." The online audience is part and parcel of what makes being in the classroom desirable (and to many people, worth paying for). Is this a good model? A fair model? I think it would be fine in a world where education is freely accessible and where incomes are equitable. But we're not really very close to that at the moment, so I have mixed feelings.
Classrooms of Shame
Colleen Flaherty,
Inside Higher Ed,
November 15, 2013
Inside Higher Ed reports: "Leaky ceilings, dim lighting, roaches, mold. Those images don't evoke the ideals of higher education, but for the growing number of professors posting pictures of their rooms and offices to the social media feed called Classrooms of Shame, they're an everyday reality." I think it would be interesting to see what international contributions to this feed would look like (Tacloban classroom of shame: "today we don't have a roof..."). And, for full parody value, a version focused on institutions like Harvard and Cambridge ("Lunchroom of shame: the champagne serbet was made from a Roederer Cristal Brut 1999, not 2000 - I don't know how we can stand for this! Photo: Hotel Club).
How income inequality hurts every Canadian's chance of building a better life
Staff,
Globe, Mail,
November 15, 2013
Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper has run a series of articles focusing on the growing income gap (including a stunning full-page graphic I can't find online) and educators will find results like the following interetsing: "A Globe and Mail analysis, using standardized test scores and Statistics Canada income data paints a clear picture of inequality in Toronto’s public elementary schools: High-income areas are primarily home to high-achieving schools while lower-income areas have a higher number of lower-scoring schools." In cities like Vanbcouver and Edmonton, students can travel to whatever school they want. But in Toronto, they are locked into their own neighborhood. Open education doesn't just mean free learning materials: it means accessing the full range of educational services in your city, not just those reserved for poor people.
Redefining the Minimum Wage
The Editorial Board,
New York Times,
November 15, 2013
The minimum wage is due for a reset. And while this may not appear to have a direct connection to education (after all, how many minimum wage earners manage to attend college or university?) it points to increasing inequality, and thereby, an increasing need to employ teachnology (and other measures) to increase access to education. The New York Times editorial staff writes, "if the minimum wage had kept pace over time with the average growth in productivity, it would be about $17 an hour. The problem is that the benefits of that growth have flowed increasingly to profits, shareholders and executives, not workers." This is twice to three times the current minimum wage in the U.S. Related: the Billionaire Census ("The combined fortune of the world's billionaires now stands at $6.5 trillion, up from $3.1 trillion in 2009" - RT)
The Access Gap
John O’Leary,
The Sutton Trust,
November 15, 2013
The only thing that surprises me about this report is that the number could be as low as 25%. But this is a minimum figure, and the advantage gained by children of higher-income parents is likely much greater. So in this sense the THE headline is misleading. In any event, the report cited here (and available in full here) makes it clear that "children of wealthy parents already have much more access to opportunities to succeed than children of poor families, and this is likely to be increasingly the case in the future unless we take steps to ensure that all children have access to quality education." For example, "At the top English institutions only one in eight young undergraduates comes from ‘lower’ occupational backgrounds. This compares to more than half at some modern universities... Similarly, more than 40 per cent of Oxbridge students attended a private school." The Sutton Trust press release is here.
Who Benefits Most from Billions in Postsecondary Tax Credits? Not Low-Income Families
Christine Neill,
C.D. Howe Institute,
November 15, 2013
I find it surprising to find myself in agreement with the C.D. Howe Institute on a position, but that is the case on tuition tax credits today. They argue that tuition tax credits should be refundable. "A non-refundable tax credit cannot reduce the amount of tax owed to less than zero, but a refundable tax credit can reduce tax payable below zero and provide a refund." The reasoning is that most beneiciaries of the existing people are higher income taxpayers. "Only 10 percent of tax filers have an income above $80,000, but they account for about 42 percent of total tuition and education credits transferred to parents." Hedre's the full report.
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