As part of the OECD’s 2015 test of 15-year-olds (pdf) around the world, called PISA, the group asked students what occupation they expected to be working in when they were 30. When it came to science—the focus of this year’s PISA results—the results were confusing.
Every three years the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tests 15-year-olds around the world on their math, science and reading abilities.
Considering the ubiquity of science in our everyday lives, from understanding what we eat, to cloud-based computing, to battling global warming and understanding how life-saving drugs work, it’s not surprising that kids want to know more.
As a child, Dana Narvaiša hated school. Her teachers thought she asked too many questions and her English instructor used to gleefully skip over her when it was time to read aloud to the class.
When Julie Lynn-Evans, a well-known UK-based psychotherapist, talks about the dramatic rise she has seen in self-harm, anorexia, depression and suicide threats among the teens in her practice, she is quick to assign blame: smartphones.
Kids around the world were subjected to yet another math and science test, and once again, a handful of Asian countries crushed the rest of the world.
Every year in Singapore, tens of thousands of 12-year-olds must take a high-stakes, high-pressure test called the Primary School Leaving Examination. The results largely determine where a child goes on to secondary school. In the minds of many, the three-digit score—less than 200 is deemed disastrous and selective schools require much higher scores—determines a child’s broad life outcomes.
Imagine you are nine. You read something in class. You don’t understand it. Do you raise you hand and announce you are lost? Or do you pretend that you’ve got it, and move along?
Pressure is mounting from Hillary Clinton’s supporters for a recount of votes in three key states that Donald Trump narrowly won in the recent presidential election. Jill Stein, who ran for the presidency on the Green Party’s ticket, has raised close to $6 million in a crowdfunding campaign to initiate recounts in these states, and on Friday, filed for one in Wisconsin. On Saturday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign counsel, Mark Erik Elias said Clinton would join the effort, though he noted that their own investigation has not turned up any evidence of tampering. A reversal of the results in those states could, in theory, tip the election to Clinton. Could this actually happen? If so, how would it work? Would it even matter? Read on…
The gender pay gap is stubborn, and real, and cause for plenty of debate. Is it because women hold themselves back, not “leaning in” enough; or is it discrimination, unconscious bias, and heavy glass ceilings that are causing the discrepancy?
After Donald Trump was elected US president last week, teachers reported that Hispanic and Muslim children were arriving at school in tears, worried that they or their parents would be deported, and upset about Trump’s inflammatory language dubbing them “rapists” or terrorists.
Pop quiz: A man takes two people hostage. He has a gun. He threatens to kill the hostages, and then himself. To change his mind, do you:
Quartz asked parents and teachers around the world to collect their kids’ reactions to the election.
London
In 2008, research suggested there was no gender gap in math performance in the US. From second to 11th grades, girls did just as well as boys on state standardized math tests.
On the night of Jan. 18, Finland will host a country-wide parent-teacher conference. The objective: to get parents to stop complaining about school, and get them excited about innovations sweeping through classrooms around the world, not least at home in Finland.
Reports show that kids’ burgeoning screen use is hurting their imaginations, their ability to interact with each other and their attention spans.
It is well known that many US companies do very little to help working parents. Most don’t offer paid parental leave and few offer substantive child-care benefits.
When Phil Graves, a father of three young girls, worked for Deloitte, his days looked a lot like those of many working professionals. He left before the kids were up to commute to work in San Francisco. He raced through his day, and dashed home to make the bedtime crush: bath, bedtime stories, a few sweet snuggles before lights out for the kids, dinner with his wife and a flurry of emails before bed.
A friend posted on Facebook this mock note from her daughter:
In my late 20s and early 30s, I thought of myself as an efficiency machine. I got up early to run most days, worked long hours, and frequently had breakfast meetings and evening drinks with sources. I wrote a lot of stories.
First, the good news: Parents generally derive a lot of enjoyment from parenting.
On Tuesday night, the two US vice presidential candidates will face off in Virginia to debate which of their running mates is better suited to be president.
Before the first US presidential debate, Donald Trump threatened to rattle Hillary Clinton by inviting Gennifer Flowers to the event, one of many women alleged to have had an affair with her husband, Bill Clinton.
