Asia Needs More Male Champions for Gender Equality
When Warren Buffett issued a rallying call a couple of years ago for men to champion the advancement of women, the world took note. Exhorting fellow men to get on board, he said the prospect of unleashing the talent of 100 per cent of America’s human capacity made him an unbridled optimist about the nation’s future. From […]
The Power of an Educated Woman
On International Women’s Day, I would like to celebrate the ways in which the world has improved for women and girls. In many countries, primary and secondary school enrollment rates are the same for boys and girls. Two-thirds of all countries have reached gender parity in primary enrollment. Globally, however, 62 million girls between the […]
Should My Kids Learn to Code?
A recent article in The New York Times paints a fascinating picture of college prep hitting the playground, with first graders visiting college campuses, making diagrams of what classes they want to attend and filling mock applications to ensure that the class of 2030 is college-ready. Indeed, the ‘college admissions’ frenzy is now kicking off as early […]
Teachers Should Be Clamoring For Edtech
Most arguments for edtech focus on the ways in which new digital tools will help students. While learners will certainly benefit, the science fiction fear of robot teachers is exacerbated when we forget that edtech is fundamentally a tool for teachers. Great learning tools help teachers do their jobs more effectively by providing more data. […]
Parenting with Technology
When we relocated from Oklahoma City to Abilene, Texas, my kids were unhappy to leave their friends and teachers. My daughter, for instance, loved the lessons given by her violin teacher Dr. Hong Zhu. We decided to use Skype to continue the lessons, which seemed a wild idea for music lessons. We just wanted to […]
Intrinsic Motivation in Education and Video Games
Why is it that children can be so dedicated to learning and mastering the languages, systems, and patterns of video game worlds but not interested in school work, which teaches them how the languages, systems, and patterns of the life world around them? The answer is not a mystery. It is simple: context. Games give […]
Paul Tough: A New Take on ‘Character’
In this interview, Paul Tough – author of How Children Succeed and other works – redefines “character” as a collection of skills and habits that children can all practice, learn and improve, not least at school. “Character” refers to skills like the ability to persist, bounce back after a failure, or deal well with a confrontation. “They’re really about […]
The Spark of Creativity is Essential for Change
In this interview, Dr. Monique Canto-Sperber, Philosopher and President of the Foundation Paris Sciences et Lettres in France, discusses why we need creativity. She argues that creativity is absolutely necessary in a fast-moving world in order to explore new possibilities and generate innovation. Sometimes this creativity grows out of a natural feeling of dissatisfaction with […]
Education in India:Looking Back and Looking Ahead
This tenth ASER is in a way a summary of what we have observed over the tenures of UPA I and II. It is also a baseline for the new government and what it has to deal with. So, what did happen over the last 10 years? Parliament had unanimously passed the constitutional amendment to make education […]
Education and Food Security: One Success, Two Warnings and Three Paradoxes
This is article 2 of 4 in our special focus on education’s impact on development and why the new development goals must go further to ensure that all children have access to quality basic and secondary education. This special focus is co-produced by Global Partnership for Education. A phenomenal success Education is a very smart […]