littleBits the future of your child's education?

littleBits (spelled lower case L, upper case B, all one word) consists of tiny circuit-boards with specific functions engineered to snap together with magnets. No soldering, no wiring, no programming, just snap together for prototyping, learning and fun. Each bit has a specific function (light, sound, sensors, buttons, thresholds, pulse, motors, etc), and modules snap to make larger circuits. Just as LEGO™ allows you to create complex structures with very little engineering knowledge, littleBits are small, simple, intuitive, blocks that make creating with sophisticated electronics a matter of snapping small magnets together.

With a growing number of available modules, littleBits aims to move electronics from late stages of the design process to its earliest ones, and from the hands of experts, to those of artists, makers, students and designers. 

littleBits make BIG things happen for MoMA Stores

Make Something That Teaches Something

Visit them http://littlebits.cc/

More And More Students Are Deciding To Enroll In Community College

Gov. Jerry Brown signs Dream Act for state's illegal immigrants

No other Country or State in the world takes money from it's legal citizens and rewards illegal immigrants. Struggling Californian students life just became a little harder this past weekend when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Dream Act for state's illegal immigrants. The new laws allow illegal immigrants full access to public and private money that once was reserved for legal citizens.

This is after all just another back door attempt at rewarding those who break the immigration laws of the USA. The argument goes like this it's not the children's fault that their parents broke the law, pay for their education. Oh wait you have a degree but are not allowed to work, we would not want to waste all of that money we spent on educating the illegal students. The last step in the plan is that they plan to ask for full citizenship for students and their extend families.

Some have made the argument that perhaps we should also then give ill-gotten gains from other types of criminals to their children after all it's not their fault that daddy was a drug dealer . While others think it will begin the next Californian gold rush. After all who would not want not only a free University degree for their children but also citizenship for their family while not having to be troubled with applying and going through that normal citizenship process.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs Dream Act for state's illegal immigrants
John and Ken: John and Ken's blog postings.

Jerry Brown has signed the Illegal Alien CA Dream Act!
John and Ken: John and Ken's blog postings.

Norway High Schools get ArchiCAD in Curriculum

Norway embraces ArchiCAD for its high-schools, bringing cutting edge BIM technology to over 200,000 students.

Graphisoft has recently agreed with the Norwegian Building Industry Association (BNL) to provide all secondary schools in Norway with free ArchiCAD licenses. The BNL is encouraging schools to use the money saved on licenses to pay for courses for teachers.

Does America Really Need More College Grads?

Four Arguments Against Higher Education


Debunking Arguments for Higher Educations


Opposed to Higher Education



Opposed to Higher Education


Analyzing the Higher Education Income Gap


The Practicality of a College Degree


Success Without Higher Education


Arguments Against Higher Education


The Low Quality of Higher Education


Summary
The rapid growth of China, India, Brazil and other emerging powers has dramatically altered the complexion of the global economy in recent years. At the same time, rising deficits, high trade imbalances, a declining dollar, and a lingering economic downturn have placed America's position within the global economy in peril-and have policymakers deliberating over the keys to America's economic future.

One area often cited as critical to the nation's future economic strength is higher education, particularly that America must dramatically increase the number of college-educated citizens to remain a leading economic power.

At Last -- The Full Story Of How Facebook Was Founded

Student loans turn into crushing burden for students

Natalie Hickey picked up $140k in student debt, some of it at interest rates as high as 18%. Her monthly payments are roughly $1,700, more than her rent and car payment combined. Caught in an increasingly common trap in the nation's $85-billion student loan market, Hickey borrowed heavily, presuming that all her debt was part of the federal loans

Hickey knew she would need loans to complete her degree, so she went to the campus financial aid office as a freshman. After she filled out paperwork, Brooks Institute set her up in a loan program administered by Sallie Mae, the nation's biggest student lender.

Sallie Mae was chartered by the federal government in 1972, and most of its business is in issuing federally insured student loans. But while it may appear to be a quasi-government agency, it is in fact a for-profit company whose stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hickey ended up with $20,000 in low-interest federally guaranteed loans issued by Sallie Mae, and $120,000 in higher-interest private loans issued by Sallie Mae.

Hickey said no one explained the difference to her.

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Calling Out Bad Guys Online

Inspired by his sister, a social entrepreneur uses the Internet to stop bullies. Justin Bergener remembers how deeply a bully's harassment affected his sister. When Angela was a sophomore in high school, a classmate tormented her with crude sexual remarks until, after several months, she switched to a private school that offered online classes.

The beauty of the site, Bergener said, is that it allows for two-way anonymous conversation. It gives even the shyest kids a way to come forward while giving school authorities a mechanism to probe for additional information, he said.

Ever on the lookout for approaches to stem school violence, many educators and parents welcome a technology that encourages kids to speak up. But other experts in cyberbullying caution that, because Internet-based harassment can differ from face-to-face harassment, the online tool could be an insufficient -- and potentially harmful -- Bandaid.

read more | digg story