I remember how it was -- JR
Genes and personality in education
Kathryn Paige Harden, a professor of psychology and behaviour geneticist from the University of Texas, says acknowledging "genetic luck" could be used to help create a more equitable society.
When it comes to how well kids and adolescents do in school, Professor Harden says we already know all things aren't equal.
"We have a ton of research about that from educational and developmental psychology," she says. We know that poverty and disadvantage outside of school impact students' educational outcomes.
But Professor Harden argues that cognitive ability is another part of the equation. "If you have better working memory, better visual spatial reasoning [or] a stronger vocabulary, school is easier for you," she says.
Non-cognitive factors also come into it. One of those is personality, something that Professor Harden is very interested in.
"There are personality traits that might make school easier or harder," she says. Things like impulsivity, how organised you are and how persistent you are. And these traits are at least partly shaped by our genes, she says.
The relationship between genetics and educational and economic success is complex. Professor Harden says people often try and simplify it by comparing it to a poker game.
"There's the genes or the hand you get dealt, but there's still how you play that hand," she says.
But the effect of genes on things like personality means this metaphor can break down.
"Our genes are also influencing how we play the hand we're dealt. It influences how motivated we are, how [much we plan], how much impulse control we have," she says. "It makes this line between what's effort and agency and what's [genetic] luck kind of impossible to tease apart."
Given genes are immutable, Professor Harden says a lot of people have asked why the recent studies matter so much.
She says this is because there is scope to intervene and make a difference. "Just because something is genetic doesn't mean we can't intervene on it environmentally."
One example she highlights is how family therapy is used to help treat alcohol abuse problems in adolescents.
"[Genetically speaking], not every teenager is equally likely to develop an alcohol abuse problem. Some of that genetics has to do with how your body metabolises alcohol, but some of it has to do with personality," she says.
"Do you tend to like loud, rowdy friends? Do you like to go to parties where substances will be on offer?"
Professor Harden says randomised controlled trials have shown that family therapy, which aims to improve parent-teenager relationships and communication, is an effective treatment and helps kids who are "most genetically at risk".
"That's because one of the pathways between their genetic risk and their addiction is through their social environment."
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Success Academy shows again that charter schools can excel
Success Academy keeps showing how great public schools can be — when they’re focused on excellence for the kids, rather than serving adult “stakeholders.” The latest: The Post reports over 93% of Success Academy eighth graders passed four state Regents exams, when passing five is the central qualification for a Regents high-school diploma.
These kids are predominantly poor and black or Hispanic, and they were stuck in remote learning for more than a year. But they’re outperforming students in the regular public schools who are three and four years older.
That’s because the Success Network doesn’t fall back on excuses: It’s determined to teach, to help every scholar reach his or her highest potential. Even during COVID, every student learned from live instruction. (In one concession to the remote-learning challenge, Success dropped the passing score from 70 to 65, but that’s still a higher standard than the regular system uses.)
As a result, most of these young men and women not only passed, but scored at a high level in Algebra I, Global History, Living Environment and English. This, when fairly few city eighth graders even take one Regents exam.
Meanwhile, the state education establishment is working to please “equity” advocates who want to do away with the exams, watering them down and seeking every opportunity to cancel the tests.
No wonder students and families are fleeing city-run public schools and flocking to charters and other high-quality alternatives.
The only thing preventing more kids from enrolling at high-quality charters like Success is the state cap (preserved at the behest of the teachers unions) that prevents more such schools from opening.
Happily, GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin vows to eliminate the charter-school cap if elected in November. That makes him the clear choice for any voter who cares about public education, or simply about kids.
https://nypost.com/2022/07/18/success-academy-shows-again-that-public-schools-can-excel/
************************************************Urgent warning issued to millions of Australians with student debt - with payments set to SOAR again
Millions of Australians still paying off their student loans will be hit with yet another increase in repayments amid the spiralling cost of living crisis.
Millions of former university students will be stung with a $2.7billion interest bill after annual indexation rates surged from 0.6 per cent to 3.9 per cent.
The soaring interest rates mean graduates with HECS or HELP debts will pay an extra $923 on top of the average loans repayment of $23,685.
Indexation is a formula applied to student loans that have been unpaid for more than 11 months after the student has graduated.
It maintains the real value of a loan by adjusting it in line with changes in the cost of living, which is measured by the consumer price index.
The rate is closely tied to inflation, which rose to 5.1 per cent in the March quarter.
The surging borrowing rates comes as students feel the pinch from increasing costs of living, affecting the cost of petrol, groceries and electricity.
Graduates hoping to secure a home loan will also be impacted as banks consider outstanding HECS or HELP debt when deciding how much to lend.
Data from the Australian Taxation Office has revealed student debt has more than doubled in the last seven years with just under three million students owing a total of $69billion to the government.
Students graduating in the next three years could be hit even harder by surging indexation rates after the former Liberal government axed taxpayer subsidies for arts, law or business courses from 2021.
Graduates are required to start making payments on their HELP loans when they earn more than $48,361 - with the minimum wage just $42,000.
In May, students with HECS or HELP were warned they would soon be slugged with the highest increase in repayments in 10 years.
As a result, former students may choose to start making voluntary repayments towards their debt to bring the total down and decrease the interest rate.
Experts however said it would be foolish to pay HECS debt early because it's the cheapest loan a person will ever receive.
Pivot Wealth founder Ben Nash told Nine.com.au the indexation rate was concerning because it exceeded current wage growth.
'When you look at it against the wage growth, which is annualised at 2.4 per cent, you can see that it is challenging at a rate higher than the growth in wages,' he said.
'So it means that people are going to have to pay more of their salary to have the same impact'.
Mr Nash said the numbers shouldn't discourage people from seeking higher education because it's likely the indexation rate will average out to about two per cent over 10 years.
'It's only slightly positive because the cost is still going up, but the HECS increases are not as high as increases in a lot of other goods and services,' he said.
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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