Ethos, The Weblog
Monday, May 31, 2004
A Good Graduation Gift
I find the idea of the graduating class donating money to an investment account held separately from the university and then donated back after several decades very interesting. We all know UT's endowment fund doen't quite perform that well...
The New York Times > Education > $75,000 a Record Gift for Yale? Here's How
Monday, May 10, 2004
Commencement Speakers for Hire...
What do money, connections, private jets, and honorary degrees all have in common? They are all methods universities use to lure graduation speakers of course!
The New York Times > Education > Want a Big-Name Speaker for Commencement? A Private Jet Helps
What do you want to hear at graduation
The day is upon us...and someone older than us (Don Evans...cough)is most likely about to speak platitudes as he wishes us well in our commencement. Hopefully his disconnect from our generation will not include references we don't get or even care about.
"As Robert L. Simon nicely put it in Neutrality and the Academic Ethic, 'the point of a commencement is to honor the graduates, not expound one's views to a captive audience that has no formal means of reply.' "
The Chronicle: 5/7/2004: Not My Generation
My Brain is too Busy
The brain apparently can handle observing only about four objects at a time, which is just one conclusion from studies on the ability of human perception. My favorite part of the article is the stranger and door experiment.
Telegraph | Connected | Did you see the gorilla?
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
An Interesting Look at Grade Inflation
A proposed solution to grade inflation at universities would incorporate a statistical look at how a student performs relative to others as well as the grading patterns of the professor. An interesting porposal...but it will doubtfully ever make it past people thinking "What if?"
The New York Times > Magazine > Essay: How to End Grade Inflation
Monday, May 03, 2004
More to Math...Poincaré, Riemann and Thurston
The math nerd inside of me is happy...
The Chronicle: 4/23/2004: Mathematics With a Moral
