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Showing posts with the label standards

Social Media

Social Media Standards We see more and more inciteful postings appearing on various social media sites.  These include of course recruitment to terrorism – the big one.  Social media sites state they are continually trying to reduce such postings, but they are completely on their own recognizance on how to do it and what to do.  Thus, little is achieved.  They don’t know what to do and simply do not wish to spend the resources to do anything. What is currently missing is a set of standards for what should not be posted.  Such standards for what cannot be transmitted on broadcast television do exist, and while they are mild they have worked for decades.  Ask anyone, I do not favor more regulations, but it is time the government should create an independent agency to first study this problem and then develop standards and guidelines.  Representatives of the the industry, elected officials, and media experts should be involved. However, unless and until there are standards, t

Blame game in K-12 education

Premise: The US performs poorly international math tests, TIMSS and PISA The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. TIMSS is used to compare over time the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. TIMSS is designed to align broadly with mathematics and science curricula in the participating countries. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009001 Overall, the US came in tenth among four graders and ninth among eight graders. On the PISA test, the United States came in 25 out of 35.   China , which did best on the test, cited “ China also raised teacher pay and standards and reduced rote learning, while giving students and local authorities more choice in curriculum.” Comments from the big shots. Education Secretary Arne Duncan , “The results show that U.S. students must improve to compete in a global economy. … This should be a massive wake-up call to the entire country.” Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill