Today Japanese surgeons report the world’s first successful surgery using IPS cells. These are cells taken from the patient’s body, and treated so that they act as if they were stem cells. They were then implanted in the patient’s body to repair damage elsewhere, in this case, the eye. A couple of years ago a…
In Austin, we are meeting Wednesday August 27th at a restaurant. For the first time we will have a presentation, earning clock hour. (No charge for training, but everyone buys their own meal.) Call me for more information. Many people are planning to come and are excited about this group. Many others are just in…
“Students in the lowest SES quartile who attended a private school in 8th grade were nearly four times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than students from the same quartile who attended a public school.” — Council for American Private Education This is a significant statement. Students in private school outperform public school —…
How are you celebrating Independence Day? I’ve been reading the biography of John Adams. Learned a lot and have been very encouraged. For instance, John Adams said that Independency happened in the hearts of Americans before it was one on the battlefield. The Stamp Act was repugnant because no citizen should be taxed without consenting…
Vacation Liberty School, a new program for your elementary aged summer program. It teaches the history of the founding of our nation in an interactive and fun way for ages 5-10, and runs about 20 hours. Founders visit. Games abound. Inspiring and well researched. This is about 20 hours. Cast normally present every morning in…
This is Holy Week for Christians. Today is Good Friday, leading up to Resurrection Day, the most important celebration in Christianity. Did you notice this week was also declared the Week of Early Childhood? In Texas both parties are talking about government expansion into early childhood education. Looks like some favor expanding HeadStart and some…
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/09/common_standards_will_it_chang.html Please let me know what you think of this. Did you hear President Obama say in his State of the Union address that we should work on early childhood education? Don’t you imagine Hillary Clinton will have early childhood on her agenda if she is president. What do you think?
There has been a movement for at least 20 years to boost self-esteem in children. Why did this ever get going? Baumeister et. al. trace the literature to California Assemblyman John Vascocellos arguing that raising self-esteem in youth would reduce crime, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, school underachievement and pollution (p.1) but even after nine years…
What does it take to be a great educator? Better formal training? Natural talent? A love for children? Kindness? Moral excellence in order to think of the children’s needs and the family’s needs and the center’s needs before one’s own? Or faith for a child to achieve academic excellence? Or what? How do you rate…
I was struck by the story of one of the American olympians who at 4 climbed to the top of the department store. Most parents would have punished, and I’ll bet he was told nto to do that — but his parents paid for him to go to gymnastics class. Have you any more stories…