Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

On my way to the gym this morning I listened to yet another story on NPR about the FBI/Apple controversy surrounding accessing the iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorists. Quick synopsis - Apple refused, FBI found a 3rd party who was able to create their own algorithm to hack into the phone, FBI dropped case against Apple. But - everyone is worried.  Will the FBI share this code-breaking algorithm with other law enforcement? Will we all be vulnerable now to some outside person accessing the privacy of our smartphones?! Legal issues aside, what I find interesting is the fact that an algorithm unlocked the information. Or algorithms created the 'locked phone' in the first place. As a math person, it's always  fascinating to think about how algorithms create so much of what is around us, and while I don't understand it myself, there are people out there who do.  People who can create a code to break into a locked phone. Or an algorithm to pick stocks or predict weather...

I was listening to NPR this morning, as usual, during my workout. The Pulse did their entire hour on the Rebirth of the Library .   As an avid reader, this was of great interest to me. I love books. I have a crazy collection of books, all down in my basement now since I live in a tiny house with little room for my shelves and shelves of books. But - I don't have the heart to get rid of them, and I do reread them - it's like coming home to old friends.In fact, I just reread over the holidays The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (an annual tradition)...which can only be done correctly with a the actual book that allows me to flip back to the maps a million times. NPR's many stories related to the library included many things about how libraries of today are still relevant, and how many libraries are changing. I would suggest reading/listening to the different stories. The one that really sparked my mathematical interest however was the one by Peter Crimmins entitled Will BookBo...

Listening to NPR again on the way home from the gym this morning and another story related to education.  John Ydstie's report, Why Some Men Earn Less Than They Did 40 Years Ago , basically talks about how blue collar working men earn less now than in 1973, in part because they have the same level of education as they had back then - no college, just high school diploma.  What startled me was the statistic that just over 30% of men attend college.  Really? That's pretty low, and surprising to me with all the push you hear for college readiness.  I may have to find actual research and data related to this... Anyway, interesting story - yet more evidence we need to change something about WHAT we teach in our educational system.

My blog yesterday regarding math curriculum being too abstract got a comment from Milo's Mama , who passed along an article on the racial wealth gap.  Her point was that there were more practical things we could be teaching in math, such as finance, taxes, etc. that might address this problem.  So we are back to the relevancy of what we teach.  And as I drove home from the gym this morning, I hear yet another story on NPR about the racial wealth gap (turns out it's a two parter!).  I took this as a sign that I should perhaps do a follow up! This second part of the story talked about breaking the cycle of poverty, and mentions several programs designed to help low-income families save money, invest and basically teach them about using money wisely.  One of these programs starts with kindergarten because, as the City Treasure Jose Cisnero's says  '"It's all about building aspirations in that child's mind." I am not going to go into details about th...