Lines can tell a lot about the relationship between different things. The most interesting lines tend to be steep and diagonal, suggesting a direct and strong relationship. Like the line between family wealth and education. The richer the family, the better its children do in school. Or U-shaped lines that map happiness. After an all-time high in our youth, happiness declines … [Lee más...] about When a Flat Line is Interesting
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Better education: a feat for Panama’s Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous territory
by Angela Funez* http://vimeo.com/75413693 Video is in Spanish We often ask: why do so many children not attend school? Or: Why do schools lack trained teachers? But we seldom think about the challenges that poor families in remote communities must face in order that their children attend school. And how difficult it is for governments to provide acceptable educational … [Lee más...] about Better education: a feat for Panama’s Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous territory
Mysteries of the brain, poverty and student learning (Second part)
How does poverty affect the brains of poor children? Can the economists and education policymakers learn from neuroscience findings? These were the questions that we posed in the last post, and that we will now try to address. The answer to the first one is... Yes. So far, neuroscientists have found strong important differences between the brains of poor and non-poor … [Lee más...] about Mysteries of the brain, poverty and student learning (Second part)
Mysteries of the brain, poverty and student learning
Traditionally, economists like me have believed that poverty can explain underperformance in school because poor families are unable to accumulate human capital due to short-term cash constraints. An unaware reader might think: what in the world does that mean? In plain terms, this means that poor kids do not usually have the resources to pay school fees, buy textbooks or … [Lee más...] about Mysteries of the brain, poverty and student learning
What if the prince were a dropout?
Last week it seemed like the whole world got involved in the royal birth, taking bets on the new prince’s gender, weight, name and arrival time. This betting is all in good fun but it got us thinking about the babies who have the odds stacked against them, even before they enter the world. Right now Latin American kids have about a 50/50 chance of graduating high school. … [Lee más...] about What if the prince were a dropout?
