school

At the start of every new year resolutions on diet and health abound. Yet there seems to be little discussion on schoolchildren's health and nutrition, and taking a more open education approach to it. This is remarkable since childhood obesity and diabetes are at record levels in the US. Today there are 12.5 million obese children—three times as many as there were in the 1980s—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Open source can provide schools with high quality, well-functioning IT solutions at low cost, according to a case study done by VTT, a Finnish government research institute. The researchers looked at the use of Linux and other open source applications by the Kasavuoren Secondary School in Kauniainen, a municipality near Helsinki. The case study, available since May 2011, underpins a plea to schools to increase their use of free and open source software. 

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Incredible work comes out of open source communities. But communities far removed from the world of software development often thrive following the same principles.  

Openness. Sharing. Collaboration. Transparency. Meritocracy. A common purpose.

Following are nine stories from nine very different kinds of communities. Yet all follow the open source way, in their own ways. » Read more

Teacher-bashing and union-bashing seem to go hand-in-hand these days, especially in the opening remarks of school reform discussions. Yet when I look back with a critical eye on my own schooling—a hodgepodge of rural and suburban public, private, and homeschool experiences—it's not bad teachers or active unions that come to mind.¹ Rather, a series of systems, opportunities, and curriculum gaps needed the most improvement.

So without further ado, here are seven things I would have changed about my own school years. » Read more