SmartFlix:
SmartFlix will rent you nearly four thousand How-To DVDs in English. Subjects range from construction techniques (tile laying, cabinet making, timber framing), outdoor activities (kayaking, archery), and self-help, to such specialties as welding, lock-picking, and primitive fire-making.
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this might be better than netflx

Intellectual Property Watch » Inside Views: Indigenous Communal Moral Rights:
A more and more robust literature on traditional cultural expressions is being written, discussed and even filtered into legislation. Most academic thinking on the topic agrees that Western intellectual property (IP) laws do not offer adequate or appropriate protection for certain types of creations. One example is the poor fit Western copyright law provides for traditional cultural expressions.1 A traditional cultural expression (TCE) can be described as forming “part of cultural heritage and identity, and their protection and preservation are linked to the promotion of cultural diversity and human creativity.”2

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worth the read.

If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind:
Did you see NCLB–The Football Version?

Author Unknown

l. All teams must make the state playoffs, and all will win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time and in the same conditions. No exceptions will be made for interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL

3. Talented players will be asked to work out on their own without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren’t interested in football, have limited athletic ability, or whose parents don’t like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th games.

5. This will create a New Age of sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal goals.

If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind.

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harrison begeron?

Have Laptop, Will Learn?:
So, if this project is a huge success and actually causes some global reconceptualization of what learning is all about, it could have a positive impact on libraries. On the other hand, having Intel, Microsoft, and the worldwide education establishment poo-poohing your initiative is, as we used to say in Iowa, a tough row to hoe.
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ALA posits optimism without real thought about OLPC. Why do people think this is a good idea? because people think that technology is a good idea. I’m with Bill Gates, fix the vital infrastructure of health and education, and technology will resolve itself.

The Dream Palace of Educational Theorists – New English Review:
Professionals have their own credentialing systems: You may have graduated law school, but you’ll still have to pass the bar exam, and so on. Then why make aspiring lawyers go to law school? Presumably for the same reason we insist on cube jockeys having bachelor’s degrees from accredited four-year colleges. Why not let them study up at home from Teaching Company DVDs, then sit for a state-refereed common exam when they feel they’re ready? Why not let lawyers learn on the job from books and as articled clerks, the way they used to? I don’t know. College-going is just an irrational thing we do, the way upper-class German men used to acquire dueling scars, the way women in imperial China had their feet bound. Griggs vs. Duke Power probably has something to do with it. Since, following that decision, employers are not permitted to test job applicants to see how intelligent they are, the employers seek a college degree as a proxy for intelligence.

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ahhh, a nice critical piece to start the day. keep in mind that this ‘journal’ is a bit iffy in terms of who it affiliates with and i’m not really supporting this guys writing, just saying…. that there is something to be critical about in the critique of education, and well, the way education conceptualizes the person is one place for critique.