Free Republic

For the first time in the College’s history, students are studying during a summer semester, making this a momentous first as we celebrate Pride Month on campus. We are, however, four days into June, and we’ve heard little talk from student organizations, faculty, or the College about events to mark the occasion. In the town of Oberlin, there is a similar void of broadly-advertised Pride programming. While students are sure to observe the occasion on their own, it seems like a waste that this unique confluence of events will happen without official recognition. Oberlin can definitely be a great place...

In Europe, when it gets serious, you have to lie... at least if you are an unelected bureaucrat like Jean-Claude Juncker. In Russia, however, when it gets serious, attention immediately turns to the children. Which is why we read a report in Russian website Znak published Tuesday, according to which Russian state officials and government workers were told to bring back their children studying abroad immediately, even if means cutting their education short and not waiting until the end of the school year, and re-enroll them in Russian schools, with some concern. The article adds that if the parents of...

In a recent paper, Lubinski and his colleagues caught up with one cohort of 320 people now in their late 30s. At 12, their SAT math or verbal scores had placed them among the top one-100th of 1 percent. Today, many are CEOs, professors at top research universities, transplant surgeons, and successful novelists. That outcome sounds like exactly what you’d imagine should happen: Top young people grow into high-achieving adults. In the education world, the study has provided important new evidence that it really is possible to identify the kids who are likely to become exceptional achievers in the future,...

Admiral James Stavridis, commander of NATO and overall chief of U.S. and coalition forces in the Libyan war, says American intelligence agents are "examining very closely" the rebel forces for whom U.S. forces have gone to war. So far, Stavridis says, the U.S. has discovered "flickers" of the presence of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, although Stavridis calls the opposition leadership "responsible."

Hey, who’s up for a little civilizational-decline anxiety on a slow Tuesday news night? Why, I haven’t wet myself like this over China since that Chinese professor ad during the campaign!After reading this, I’m going to have nightmares like Cartman in that “South Park” episode about the Beijing Olympics. “Wow, I’m kind of stunned, I’m thinking Sputnik,” said Chester E. Finn Jr., who served in President Ronald Reagan’s Department of Education, referring to the groundbreaking Soviet satellite launching. Mr. Finn, who has visited schools all across China, said, “I’ve seen how relentless the Chinese are at accomplishing goals, and if...

new campus joke: “Dude, she was all like, ‘What’s that building? It’s, like, so big.’ And I go, ‘That’s the library. There’s like so many books.” Ha ha ha ha! Oh, how the tears roll down my face every time I hear that one. It’s the image conjured in the mind, you see. Those wacky kids actually know what the library is! Of course, knowing where the library was, what was in it, and intuiting the purpose of the objects held there used to be a commonplace. But now, according to Philip Babcock (UC Santa Barbara) and Mindy Marks (UC...

"Students who rely on all-nighters to bring up their grades might want to sleep on that strategy: A new survey says those who never study all night have slightly higher GPAs than those who do."

Undergraduates Study Much Less Than Professors Expect, Survey of Student 'Engagement' Says By ERIC HOOVER Only about 11 percent of full-time students say they spend more than 25 hours per week preparing for their classes -- the amount of time that faculty members say is necessary to succeed in college. Forty-four percent spend 10 hours or less studying. Yet students' grades do not suggest that they are unprepared for their academic work: About 40 percent of students say they earn mostly A's, with 41 percent reporting that they earn mostly B's. Those are among the major findings of the latest...

Utah's controversial firing squad may be doomed. "Essentially, we're going to discuss the repeal of the firing squad" during a meeting today of the state Sentencing Commission, says executive director Ron Gordon. Gordon has conducted a study that examines different methods of execution and the question of who decides on which method to employ — the Legislature or the condemned person.Lt. Jeff Meyers points to restraints used on prisoners in the firing-squad chair at the Utah State Prison. A new Deseret Morning News-KSL poll found that while 45 percent of Utahns still favor the firing squad, 51 percent believe it...

The US says Saddam Hussein has no intention of disarming Iraq is still studying a UN order to destroy its al-Samoud II missiles and has not yet made a decision, says the country's head of weapons monitoring. General Hossam Mohamed Amin said he hoped the issue would be resolved without the intervention of the US or Britain. In a letter handed over to the Iraqis on Friday, chief UN inspector Hans Blix set a 1 March deadline to begin destroying the missiles. The UN says their range exceeds the limit set after the 1991 Gulf War, and the UN...