Imagine If All Atheists Left America

Personal goals - keep them to yourself?

I read a shocking article in Newsweek via mental_floss today.

Announcing life goals publicly may have an adverse psychological effect on whether you actually achieve your goal.

According to the scientific study, it is good to have goals... but even better if you keep your goals to yourself. Keep that in mind when you start on you New Year's Resolution list.

So are we doing students a psychological disservice by encouraging them to make public announcements of their academic goals? (e.g., when students say, "I am going to graduate!" and then begin to slack off.)

More importantly, how do we create a psychologically effective sense of urgency and determination to accomplish their goal?

Or does a psychological study of adult behavior not apply to at-risk teenagers?

All work and no play...

Daily School Recess Improves Classroom Behavior

School children who receive more recess behave better and are likely to learn more, according to a large study of third-graders conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

TJ and the gang knew this 10 years ago.

Strategies for keeping students in school

Staying Power: How to End the Dropout Crisis | Edutopia

This year, an estimated 1.25 million kids will leave school without earning a high school diploma -- that's approximately 7,000 students every day of the academic year.

Some strategies mentioned in this article include:
Engage and Partner with Parents
Cultivate Relationships
Pay Attention to Warning Signs
Make Learning Relevant
Raise the Academic Bar
Small Schools
Rethink Schedules
Develop a Community Plan
Invest in Preschool
Adopt a Student-Centered Funding Model

Are you going to school?

Afghan Girls, Scarred by Acid, Defy Terror, Embracing School - NYTimes.com

“My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed,” said Shamsia, 17, in a moment after class.

1,300 Afghan girls are going to school despite having been burned with acid. Despite the lack of regular electricity. Despite the lack of running water or paved streets. Despite living in a culture that does not provide for the education of women. The parents of these girls want them to get an education despite the constant threat of violence or murder.

Are your kids going to school?

Tragicle.

Via Pharyngula: Edward Current must be a highly trained theologian

8 years of 'oops'

So Long Worst President Ever; 10 Reasons History Will Hang You | | AlterNet

Bernie Horn takes out his Bush-Bashing stick one last time:

So, congratulations for being the worst president in American history.
That's not just my personal opinion; that's the opinion of 109
historians polled by the History News Network. Fully 61 percent ranked Bush as the "worst ever;" 98 percent labeled his presidency a "failure." And this poll, taken in early 2008, predated the cataclysmic housing and banking crashes. Bye-bye W -- history will not be kind.