Citizen Cartwright

Supreme Court on race in college admissions

The court could announce as soon as Monday a ruling that may be the beginning of a new chapter limiting college administrators' discretion in using race in deciding on admissions, says longtime reporter on the court Joan Biskupic of Reuters.

New science education guidelines include climate change

The guidelines, known as the Next Generation Science Standards, were put together by a consortium of 26 state governments and several groups representing scientists and teachers.

The guidelines — the first broad national recommendations for science instruction since 1996 — include for the first time a recommendation that climate change be taught as early as middle school.

And the guidelines "take a firm stand" that children must learn about evolution, says The New York Times.

New rules may improve your doctor's bedside manner

Under new Medicare regulations, doctors won't get as much money if they get poor patient-satisfaction scores or too many preventable readmissions.

So medical schools, health systems, malpractice insurers and hospitals are setting up education programs for everyone from medical students to seasoned professionals who have spent years talking to patients.

The training includes putting doctors through role-playing sessions with actors to teach basics such as always facing the patient, letting them speak uninterrupted for two minutes and using key words to show compassion and empathy. For example: "I am so sorry you are in pain."

Health systems are using a model known as Four Habits, which teaches doctors how to create rapport with patients, seek their views, demonstrate empathy and assess their ability to follow a treatment regimen.

While most medical schools give some instruction in communication with patients, it tends to come in the first and second years and isn't emphasized as much as clinical skills later, says The Wall Street Journal.

Two minutes?

New technology tells your professor if you've done the reading

Nine colleges are testing technology from Silicon Valley start-up CourseSmart that enables them to track their students’ progress through digital textbooks.

“It’s Big Brother, sort of, but with a good intent,” says Tracy Hurley, dean of the school of business at one of those colleges, Texas A&M.

Note to slackers: A student can improve his or her score by leaving the digital text open while doing something else.

The 'parallel world of pseudo-academia'

As an inveterate researcher myself, I find this alarming:

Some science researchers are warning about what they see as the proliferation of online journals that will print seemingly anything for a fee.

They say nonexperts doing online research will have trouble distinguishing credible research from junk.

“Most people don’t know the journal universe,” says Steven Goodman, a dean and professor of medicine at Stanford and editor of the journal Clinical Trials, which has its own imitators. “They will not know from a journal’s title if it is for real or not.”

In fact, researchers say universities are facing new challenges in assessing the resumes of academics.

Jeffrey Beall, a research librarian at the University of Colorado in Denver, has put together his own blacklist of what he calls “predatory open-access journals.”

There were 20 publishers on the list in 2010; and now there are more than 300. Beall estimates that there are as many as 4,000 predatory journals out there — at least 25 percent of the total number of open-access journals.

So now we have to research the research. Readers, if you come across other ways of traversing what one scientist calls this "Wild West," please let me know.

The automation of education: Essay grading

Software using artificial intelligence to grade student essays is about to be made available free on the web by EdX, a nonprofit founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to offer Internet courses.

NRA-commissioned report on arms in every school

With the Senate set to debate gun control this month, a National Rifle Association task force led by former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., released on Tuesday a 225-page report calling for armed police, security guards or staff members in all U.S. schools.

And the report urged states to ease gun restrictions to allow trained teachers and administrators to carry weapons.

Etiquette training at MIT

At the geeky Massachusetts Institute of Technology, students can get a "Doctorate of Charm" certificate for attending sessions on how to navitage a formal sit-down dinner, tweet appropriately, operate in a cross-cultural workplace, understand the basics of contemporary art, and network with older alums who can be helpful professionally.

A college degree as the new high school diploma

"Degree inflation,” as economists put it, has been steadily infiltrating America’s job market, says The New York Times.

Across industries and geographic areas, many jobs that haven't required a college diploma — like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters — increasingly require one, according to Burning Glass, a company that analyzes job ads.

Because so many people are going to college now, those who don't graduate often are assumed to be unambitious or less capable, the Times says.

D.C. high schools may drop government class

Okay, readers, do we agree that our democracy depends on citizens being informed?

So call me amazed to read that the D.C. public schools may drop the requirement that a high school student take one government class.