Civilization

Are Animals People?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The disparity between experiments that suggest sophisticated cognition in animals and those that find hard limits to animal intelligence has created a debate over animal “personhood.”
The recent fatal attack of a SeaWorld trainer by the orca Tilikum has led to renewed questions about how humans should [...]

Tags: animal intelligence, cetaceans, cognition, dolphins, orca, seaworld trainer, sign language, tilikum
Posted in Civilization, Consider This, Innovation in Society, Seed Magazine, learning | 1 Comment »

Craig Barrett Takes On Vivek Wadhwa In The Tech Education Debate

Editor’s note: The most valuable employees of any technology company are the engineers and scientists, which is why everyone in Silicon Valley does whatever they can to ensure the continuous supply to this talent pool. The size of the talent pool is ultimately determined by the number of people who [...]

Tags: colleges and universities, improvements in education, math and science, math students, science degrees, science skills, talent pool, talented workers
Posted in Civilization, Consider This, Innovation Needed, Need to Know, Shape of Things to Come?, TechCrunch, economics | No Comments »

Vittana Applies The Kiva Model To Help Finance Education In Developing Countries

Image via CrunchBase

The microfinance model has proved to be a valuable way to raise funds for entrepreneurs all over the country, as exemplified by the success of Kiva. Seattle-based Vittana is taking a similar approach to helping fund education in developing countries by allowing you to lend directly to students in [...]

Tags: education in developing countries, loans for students, microfinance organizations, student loans
Posted in Civilization, Consider This, Innovation, Promising for so many reasons, Startups, TechCrunch, learning | 1 Comment »

Building a Better Teacher

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ON A WINTER DAY five years ago, Doug Lemov realized he had a problem. After a successful career as a teacher, a principal and a charter-school founder, he was working as a consultant, hired by troubled schools eager — desperate, in some cases — for Lemov to tell them [...]

Tags: better teacher, better teaching, charter school, parental involvement, poor performance, rigorous academic standards, standardized testing, strengths and weaknesses, student test scores
Posted in Civilization, Consider This, Dire Warnings, Innovation Needed, Innovation in Society, NY Times, Need to Know, Shape of Things to Come? | No Comments »

It’s All About Schools

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THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
I took part in a “qat chew” the other day at the home of a Yemeni official. Never done that before. Qat is the mildly hallucinogenic leaf drug that Yemeni men stuff in their cheek after work — and sometimes during. My hosts insisted that qat [...]

Tags: boys and girls, critical thinking, education system, religious doctrines, school degrees, schoolchildren, thomas l friedman
Posted in Civilization, Consider This, Innovation Needed, NY Times, Promising for so many reasons | No Comments »