Category Archives: Education

My Burning Ears:

I do hope that someone not utterly hare-brained has an idea how to get us out of our current one. Have the central banks actually been following some kind of long-term masterplan to that end, or have is what we’ve seen so far just a dance between periods of fire-fighting and spells of trying to gradually pull away from the fire-fighting without the steps necessarily belonging to some grander underlying scheme?

So far it’s been firefighting and hoping. Peeps keep trying to raise interest rates to get back to “normal” and the economy deflates again.

The problem is difficult.

The actual answer is economic growth. Well, yes, D’Oh. But the generation of that, well. Actually, this is an area where Ritchie is partly right. Monetary policy isn’t going to solve that problem. It can – and has – prevented deflation and thus negative growth. But actual growth?

Fiscal policy isn’t it either, although it can help. Reducing the UK tax burden to something like Singapore’s would help, certainly. And while I can dream no, that’s not a serious suggestion.

The other bit is government. Reduce the regulations preventing growth. The 1930s, for example, saw a housing led boom in the economy. But then back then it didn’t take 5 years to get from field to breaking ground with planning permission. REACH, as properly insisted upon, means you should pay up £250,000 for making even lab bench amounts of some new chemical to show that it’s not harmful. That slows down chemical research a bit, no? The entire economy is festooned with these restrictions that slow down economic growth.

One reason that it’s been computing – and online manifestations – that have been growing so much is that it’s all new. There are no regulations to stop you experimenting with whatever. You just can’t do that in any extant area of the economy.

The actual way out of the current slow growth and low interest rate world is laissez faire. Within the usual Common Law strictures of don’t kill the customers etc. But just leave markets and capitalism free to get on with experimenting.

This is my last column. After 26 years as a staff writer and 20 years – on and off – as a columnist, I’m leaving the Guardian. In April, I take up a post as professor of sociology at Manchester University.

The academic background is, umm, what?

Or are the two, Guardian columnist and professor of sociology, the same thing?

In a tweet directed to the university, she said: “This speaker is part of the anti-trans platform. Free speech is one thing, but trans rights are human rights and we shouldn’t be debating human rights.

We’re told these days that health care is a right, housing is a right, food is a right. We cannot discuss these things?

Freedom of religion is a human right yet we cannot discuss Israel, Judaism?

Tracey Loughran, a historian and dean in the Essex University humanities department,

She really want to insist that universities cannot discuss human rights?

Well, no, of course not, the argument is in fact that what I declare to be rights isn’t discussable only what we might add to that roster in the future…..

So, whinge, whine, peeps being unfair to the North:

‘Scallies with matching coldsores’? It’s time to stop sneering at northern towns
The media battering of the north of England, seen recently in Jack Hurley’s Rubbish Seaside posters, fosters shame and hopelessness in those growing up there. It needs to end

The poster series, actually in The Guardian itself, includes Exmouth, Southsea, Margate, Teignmouth, Brighton, Yarmouth, none of which are traditionally considered to be Northern towns.

Can these people actually read?

Rebecca Grant started her teaching career in Blackpool. She currently working on a PhD about educational disadvantage in Manchester, writing for Kick Down the Barriers in Blackburn and continues to teach in secondary schools. Charlotte Yates has worked in a number of roles in education and currently teaches English in a state secondary in the North West of England.

Does explain what’s wrong with the education system though.

BTW, the poster series is rather good.

Geography has become a “soft option” for students from privileged backgrounds expected to enrol at universities, an Oxford University professor has claimed.

Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at Oxford, said British geography departments often have “some of the narrowest and poshest social profiles” when looking at the backgrounds of students.

You’re not actually going to subject bright kids who might actually be able to do something to an education by Danny Dorling, are you?

Children in care who are given boarding school places are three times more likely to go to university, the first major study has shown.

Sending vulnerable youngsters to boarding schools also makes them six times more likely to achieve at least two A-levels, according to a new report by the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation.

The charity works with local authorities to place disadvantaged children in some of the country’s most prestigious institutions including Eton College, Harrow School, Radley College and Wellington College.

And even at Ampleforth they’d be less likely to be fiddled with too.

As I recall it. So, Facebook is still really only in US universities and being used to rate people hot or not more than anything else.

So, UK student sets up something similar. And gets closed down by the UK university for being a naughty boy.

I know I’ve written about it somewhere, somewhen. But does anyone recall the full story?

Only one out of every 25 pupils in schools for those with behavioural difficulties or exclusions managed to gain passes in English and maths GCSEs this year, according to national data which also shows little headway being made in improving overall exam results.

People who don’t study don’t pass exams.

And?

Essay-writing firms claim that they use a service offered by Turnitin, a plagiarism detection tool used by universities, to provide their customers with reassurance that the work they purchase will not be flagged as suspicious.

OK. Tool to detect p[algiarism exists. So, people wanting to avoid plagiarism will use tool to do so.

And, obviously, those selling the essays will use the tool to ensure that the tool used to try to find them doesn’t.

All obvious enough.

When a student or staff member at a subscribing institution runs a Turnitin check using that institution’s subscription, the article that they are assessing is often added to the Turnitin “student database” so that future submissions can be checked for plagiarism against its content. However, when an individual uses the WriteCheck service, essays are not added to the main database.

Access to the WriteCheck service costs $7.95 (£6.40) for one paper, $19.95 for three papers or $29.95 for five papers. HE registered with the service and had one article checked. At no point in the process were we required to verify our identity or say why we were using the service.

The essay mills aren’t paying to have stuff checked individually, don’t be stupid. They’re employing a student with access to an institutional account to do it.

Obviously.

Chris McGovern, chair of the Campaign for Real Education and a former Government advisor, said that the focus on workload has become a “distraction”.

He added: “Teachers end up being used as porns in a political war, they are being encouraged to think they are over worked.

Although the genre of teacher does overtime to educate the pupil has been covered before….

Labour is “ripping apart the fabric of education”, independent school leaders have claimed, after John McDonnell warned that the party would treat them “like any other business”.

In a move that threatens the closure of private schools across the country, the shadow chancellor yesterday confirmed that a Labour government would impose more than £1.6bn in taxes on them.

It comes after The Daily Telegraph obtained a leaked shadow treasury document, revealing that Labour is planning a £1.64bn raid on private schools by imposing VAT on fees.

Treated like any other business?

OK. Operate like any other business then.

None of this crap about sharing facilities, guiding the local state schools. Sod the bursaries. As we don’t get charitable tax treatment so we’re not going to act like charities.

It’s possible – not likely, but possible – that the nett would be on the schools’ side.

With blatant disregard for the public benefits of motivational idioms, researchers have concluded that practice does not, necessarily, make perfect.

A study of violinists found that merely good players practised as much as, if not more than, better players, leaving other factors such as quality of tuition, learning skills and perhaps natural talent to account for the difference.

The work is the latest blow to the 10,000-hour rule, the idea promoted in Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book, Outliers, which has been taken to mean that enough practice will make an expert of anyone. In the book, Gladwell states that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness”.

Not that Gladwell actually said that. Rather, 10,000 hours is a necessary precondition.

The larger point though any and every adult knows. People just click with some things and not with others. This is true of doing music at all – I reached my plateau and wasn’t going to get any better at about Grade VII. Just didn’t have the innate understanding of music necessary to take it further. Algebra plateaued somewhere in between dy/dx and integration. Just never could get the brain around the latter. Sure, could work though a known equation, work to rule. But composing one? Nahhh.

Even within a subject – two years of cello led to no one wanting to put me in even for Grade I. Two terms of trumpet had me sailing through Grade IV. Grade V has to be worked at a little bit……

And the thing is, every adult does know this, every language has an equivalent of horses for courses…..

At times, students compose pretty complicated assignments. Thus, an annotated bibliography may become a serious challenge for many people. Though it doesn’t seem to be that hard to write, many people refer it to as one of the most boring tasks. Accordingly, students feel no enthusiasm about writing it. They write it reluctantly and pay little attention to details. Notwithstanding, this assignment should be written with great precision. Every detail is vital and may cost you a lot of grades.

Study group

An annotated bibliography provides a list of informative sources you’ve used to complete any of your academic projects. Every source provides general and specific data about the author, a title of an article or book, a year of publishing, the name of the publisher, and similar details. It helps your teachers/professors and other students to access and verify this data quickly. In the end, you should give an objective evaluation of the effectiveness of the informative sources you have used in your paper.

As you can see, this assignment has multiple requirements and details to deal with. Many college and university students make crucial mistakes while they write an annotated bibliography. To avoid them, you should learn them all.

Make allowances for the following issues:

1. Disorganized references.

2. Too long annotations.

3. Poor research.

4. Incorrect citations.

5. Poor planning.

A reliable team of academic experts from a professional annotated bibliography writing service will shed more light on these points.

Issue #1

Most bibliographies are rewritten by students for many a time. One of the common reasons to do that is disorganization of references. Many students are simply unaware that there are several ways to organize references. 

You can organize your informative sources by:

• Author;

• Title;

• Publication date;

• Subject.

Depending on this peculiarity, the organization of your notes varies. Accordingly, you should obligatorily identify the correct format and follow the instructions of your academic supervisor.

Issue #2

Another possible issue is related to the length of your annotations. Commonly, students are not permitted to exceed the length of one paragraph. Many educational institutions consider it as a mistake and take away some grades. Other colleges and universities allow exceeding the length of a single paragraph. In this case, it’s necessary to make a clear spacing between the continuation of one annotation and the next one. Otherwise, annotations will be messed up.

Issue #3

The issue of inadequate research is likewise crucial. Unfortunately, it’s a common mistake that can be met in merely every piece of writing. A bibliography is one of such. Many students are too lazy to conduct in-depth research. As a result, they put to use the first sources they find on the Internet. Most of them may not be trusted. This makes the entire research worthless because the data isn’t officially confirmed.

Issue #4

As you write scientific research, you are obliged to use dependable data. It is commonly presented in the form of examples, statistics, surveys, interviews, and so on. You are allowed giving citations. As you write an annotated bibliography, you are obliged to cite every source you use. Nonetheless, many students just do not know how to cite correctly.

As a result, the intended audience doesn’t receive quoted comments, cannot evaluate the book or another literature piece, isn’t able to compare and contrast different works, etc. Wrong citing induces a lot of complications. Students risk losing all possible grades.

The main reason that leads to this mistake is not following the demands for your writing format. There are various types of formats, such as MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, and others. Every format is unique after its own fashion and has some important differences. You may not even notice them but they do exist. Thus, you should place a date in the middle or at the end of the citation. Even the location of commas may be crucial. Obligatorily learn all the details about the assigned format and practice referencing and citing.

Issue #5

Another huge mistake is to arrange citations in the wrong way. Your citations must be arranged in a specific order, such as chronological or alphabetical ones. It enhances productivity and makes literature review much clearer and easier to read. Nonetheless, many writers ignore this requirement or forget about it. As a result, everything looks like a real mess. It doesn’t allow focusing properly.

For example, you have seen three initial citations listed after an alphabetical order. Accordingly, you think that you’ll easily find other works using ABC. However, the next citations go in accordance with their format or date of publication. It’s simply impossible to find something. Beware of possible complications and choose a concrete order.

A Few Tips to Prepare a Good Annotated Bibliography

As you can see, there are many issues you should know about. In the event, you struggle with an annotated bibliography we can help you. There are several tips you should undertake to avoid mistakes and set things correctly. 

Take a look at the following table:

Try to remember these tips and use them in your future bibliographies. Define the writing format, learn its demands, and strictly follow them. Consult your academic advisor and avoid pitfalls.

Before modern-day toothpaste was created, pharmacists mixed and sold tooth cream or powder. Early tooth powders were made from something abrasive, like talc or crushed seashells, mixed with essential oils, such as eucalyptus or camphor, thought to fight germs. Their flavors came from oils of cinnamon, clove, rose or peppermint. Many contained other chemicals such as ammonia, chlorophyll and penicillin. These ingredients fight the acid-producing bacteria that can cause tooth decay and bad breath.

Penicillin in early toothpaste? Wouldn’t people have noted infections clearing up?

Universities have been warned over degree class inflation as an analysis reveals that seven in ten students who get less than DDD grades at A-level go on to graduate with top degrees.

Of the 3,025 students who went to university last year after achieving less than DDD, 69 per cent went on to graduate with either a first class or upper second degree.

This is seven per cent higher than the previous year, and a 73 per cent increase since 2010/11, according to a major report published on Thursday by the Office for Students (OfS).

Whaddayamean grade inflation? Mo, it’s the superlative efficiency of the new universities in teaching grievance studies…..

Giving children detention during break time is a violation of their human rights, the British Psychological Society has said.

Schools should never threaten to take away a pupil’s break or lunch time as a punishment, the society’s educational and child psychology division.

OK, yes, that’s really something we should put up there with free speech and fair trials, isn’t it?

Sats are no better than teachers at predicting pupil’s GCSE and A-Level results, a study has found.

Researchers from King’s College London (KCL) say their findings call into question the benefits of standardised exams.

The study, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, found teacher assessments at age 7, 11 and 14 were just as effective as using Sats results to predict pupils’ subsequent exam success.

We would rather hope that professionals who dealt with the children for a year would be able to predict results. So, why the surprise? The idea that teachers actually know anything?

This isn’t to comment on the decision itself – about which I know nothing, Rather, the ghastly bureaucratese of the justification.

Oxford University in ageism row as celebrated poets ineligible for top job because they are too old

Well, OK. It’s this that grates:

A spokesperson for the university said: “The University of Oxford operates an Employer Justified Retirement Age (EJRA) for employees in all academic posts.

“From 1 October 2017, the University has adopted an EJRA of 30 September before the employee’s 69th birthday. Despite its unusual appointment process and duties, as an employed professorship the Professorship of Poetry is subject to the EJRA.”

Yes, yes, we know what you’ve done. What we want to know is why?

I spent part of my childhood in Ankara and part of it in Madrid. Commuting between Spain and Turkey in the early 1980s was a strange experience. ….. It often felt as though I was travelling from one end of Europe to the other.

It might sound dramatic, but I have often likened my experience of hearing about how black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students do worse than their white peers at university to the five stages of grief.

There was the initial shock and denial that there could be any discrepancy between my white student peers and myself in achieving a first or upper 2:1 class degree. Surely this gap would vanish if entry requirements, subjects, and socio-economic backgrounds were all accounted for?

When I saw that a 13% gap persisted even after other factors were controlled for, I felt frustration and anger. I could not imagine how universities had allowed this to happen. As BAME students, we expect that if we put in the hard work, we should get good grades.

There comes a point in every education where hard work isn’t the thing any more. There really is a stage at which aptitude, innate intelligence, skill, perhaps, is what is being tested.

Different systems might have this at different stages, from the whining schoolboy having to do Greek to the post-doc student having to actually some up with some new knowledge. But we really are trying – the point of the system being – to sort between those who simply work hard at it and those who are good at it.

This is, of course, nothing to do with BAME. Uncovering talent is uncovering talent irrespective of culture, nationality and melanin content. But to fail to grasp that it ain’t about studiousness at some point in the process is to have failed to grasp the point of the system itself.