for-profit schools

US Senate Committee Health, Education, Labor and Pensions | Harkin: Report Reveals Troubling Realities of For-Profit Schools (link)

“In this report, you will find overwhelming documentation of overpriced tuition, predatory recruiting practices, sky-high dropout rates, billions of taxpayer dollars spent on aggressive marketing and advertising, and companies gaming regulations to maximize profits. These practices are not the exception -- they are the norm; they are systemic throughout the industry, with very few exceptions,” Harkin said.

NY Times | "Federal Rule Would Cut Funding to Some Career- Training Programs" 

The government would cut off funding to programs that consistently fall short under the "gainful employment" rule, to be published Thursday--effectively a death sentence for the programs, because a majority of their revenue comes from federal student loans and Pell grants... 

... They frequently note that as a whole, for-profit schools have low graduation rates and charge more than nonprofit schools. Their students tend to borrow more money, and former students are far more likely to default on their loans.  

For-profit schools also disproportionately serve low-income and minority students... Consumer advocacy groups say the schools simply prey on unsophisticated consumers...

middle east

Harvard Gazette | "The Islamic State of play" (link):  

“What ISIS offered was order, and people were craving order in Syria. The second thing ISIS offered was a respite from the bombing,” said Amos, noting that the Syrian government largely refrained from bombing ISIS-held territories. “If you were a Syrian and you’d been through two years of complete chaos in northern Syria, ISIS looked pretty good.”  

In Iraq, “By and large, the Iraqi Army had behaved so badly in Mosul that they [ISIS fighters] were welcomed when they first arrived,” said Amos. “So that is how they do it: They find places where there is chaos — people don’t know how to survive, they have no way to make a living — and ISIS brings order.”

NY Times | "A Town Shouldn't Fight the Islamtic State Alone" (link)

We are defending a democratic, secular society of Kurds, Arabs, Muslims and Christians who all face an imminent massacre... 

Western governments should increase their pressure on Turkey to open a corridor for Syrian Kurdish forces and their heavy weapons to reach the defenders of Kobani through the border...

The people of Kobani need the attention and help of the world.

interesting reads

1. The Atlantic | "The World's Greatest Fears, Mapped by Country" (link)

2. NY Times | "To Siri, with Love" (link)

The developers of intelligent assistants recognize their uses to those with speech and communication problems -- and some are thinking of new ways the assistants can help. According to the folks at SRI International... the next generation of virtual assistants will not just retrieve information -- they will also be able to carry on more complex conversations about a person's area of interest. "Your son will be able to proactively get information about whatever he's interested in without asking for it, because the assistant will anticipate what he likes..." 

Gus: "Siri, will you marry me?
Siri: "I'm not the marrying kind."
Gus: "I mean, not now. I'm a kid. I mean when I'm grown up."
Siri: "My end user agreement does not include marriage."
Gus: "Oh, O.K."

3. NY Times | "The Building Blocks of a Good Pre-K" (link)

While grown-ups recognize that pretending helps children find their way into the world, many adults think of play as separate from formal learning. The reality is quite different. As they play, children develop vital cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional skills.... It is so deeply formative for children that it must be at the core of our early childhood curriculum. 

What is referred to as self-regulation in preschool becomes resiliency in high school.... this trait, which she [Dr. Duckworth] famously calls grit, can make or break students, especially low-income students.... have their roots in early childhood.

the fault in our stars

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that.  

There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got.   

But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.”