The Best Article About Homework I’ve Ever Read
The best article about homework that I’ve ever read, and probably the best one ever written, is in the December 17, 2012 issue of The New Yorker, written by Louis Menand.
It begins:
Here is something you probably didn’t know about France: its President has the power to abolish homework.
Nice, right?
And lest you think that le President de la France is doing this to appease the parents who proclaim homework to be history’s greatest education monster:
[French President] M. Hollande, however, is not a progressive educator. He is a socialist. His reason for exercising his powers in this area is to address an inequity. He thinks that homework gives children whose parents are able to help them with it—more educated and affluent parents, presumably—an advantage over children whose parents are not. The President wants to give everyone an equal chance.
Sounds reasonable. If nothing else it’s a different perspective on the so-called homework wars.
As with most education issues, it’s not that simple. Read the whole article, it’s worth it.
Louis Menand: The End of Homework? : The New Yorker
How To Stop Online Gaming From Being a Hellish Pit of Vicious Verbiage
This article about a video game called League of Legends (which I’ve never played or even heard of) intrigued me because the game maker, Riot Games, is attempting to address what is apparently a serious problem within the Legends community.
Apparently many of the players are dickheads.
And as lead game producer Travis George puts it in his interview with Gamasutra, “Nobody wants to play a game with somebody who’s mean.”
Amen to that.
Of course, mean people playing games online is not limited to League of Legends. Which is a problem once your kids want to get involved.
As a parent who grew up playing video games, I’m highly conflicted about the current “social” state of gaming. What used to be a niche element of the gaming world — online play with strangers — has become as ubiquitous as broadband Internet connections. Read more »
DaddyDeal: One Dollar iPad and Tablet Sleeve, Free Shipping
Got an iPad or some other tablet type of computing device? Need a sleeve to put it in? Have we got a deal for you.
A Different Way To Look At Autism
From the New York Times Magazine:
Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University (and a regular contributor to The Times), published a much-discussed paper last year that addressed the ways that autistic workers are being drawn into the modern economy. The autistic worker, Cowen wrote, has an unusually wide variation in his or her skills, with higher highs and lower lows. Yet today, he argued, it is increasingly a worker’s greatest skill, not his average skill level, that matters. As capitalism has grown more adept at disaggregating tasks, workers can focus on what they do best, and managers are challenged to make room for brilliant, if difficult, outliers. This march toward greater specialization, combined with the pressing need for expertise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, so-called STEM workers, suggests that the prospects for autistic workers will be on the rise in the coming decades. If the market can forgive people’s weaknesses, then they will rise to the level of their natural gifts.
The Autism Advantage – NYTimes.com.
DaddyDeals – McFarlane Toys Cyber Monday Sale
Like toys? Sports? Saving money? We dug up a Cyber Monday DaddyDeal from McFarlane Toys that will save you 30 per cent on all sorts of neat stuff.
McFarlane Toys is the purveyor of fine toys and collectibles from franchises such as Halo and The Walking Dead, as well as sports figures great and small. (Mostly great and/or not small.) Sometimes these two worlds collide, as in this statue of Hines Ward as he appeared in The Dark Knight Rises. (Only $12.99, people!)
Here’s the deal (via ComicBookResources) – “Between 12:01AM and 11:59PM PST on November 26th, the entire store will be 30%.” So all day Monday November 26th Pacific time, you save mucho dinero online at McFarlane Toys. You’re welcome. Visit their site and get shopping.
Calvin Johnson’s Dad Told Him It Would Be OK
Watching some Thanksgiving football now. Phil Simms just told a little story about the Detroits Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Apparently Johnson had been getting frustrated by his stats so far this season. Calvin’s dad said it would be OK. (I’m paraphrasing from memory, so that’s not a quote.)
Anyway, it would appear dad was correct. Calvin Johnson just made an amazing touchdown catch and is already over 100 yards receiving in the first half of the game against the Houston Texans. UPDATE: Here’s video of the catch.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1RkWcRCL1c]
The lesson? Listen to your father.
Happy turkey day!
DaddyDeal – 5% Off At The Shelving Store
It is not yet Black Friday, but as we proved yesterday, who cares? Deals are always around. This one saves you 5% at The Shelving Store. Read on. Read more »
