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To Increase Learning Time, Some Schools Add Days to Academic Year
The New York Times: It was the last Sunday in July, and Bethany and Garvin Phillips were pulling price tags off brand-new backpacks and stuffing them with binders and pencils. While other children around the country readied for beach vacations or the last weeks of summer camp, Bethany, 11, and Garvin, 9, were preparing for the first day of the new school year at Griffith Elementary, just six weeks after the start of their summer vacation. Griffith, one of five schools in the Balsz Elementary School District here, is one of a handful of public schools across the country that has lengthened the school year in an effort to increase learning time.
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One Thing Anyone Can Do to Get Instantly Happier
Reader's Digest: There are quirky New York City moments—for example, commuting on a crowded subway next to a man clipping his fingernails—that, even as a lifelong New Yorker, really get to me. But according to a recent article in the Atlantic a new study titled “Grin and Bear It” in the journal Psychological Science showed that even a forced smile can help relieve everyday stress. Here’s what happened: researchers asked 169 participants to hold chopsticks in their mouths, then told them to hold a variety of expressions including a blank face, a standard smile, and a Duchenne smile (also known as a genuine smile, visible from the muscles around your mouth to your eyes).
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Truth meets the gaffe factory
Chicago Tribune: Does President Barack Obama really believe entrepreneurs "didn't build" their businesses? Does his rival Mitt Romney really "like being able to fire people?" Welcome to summertime, when the fate of political campaigns hangs on silly sound bites. Political gaffes, catnip for heat-seeking media, are showing up increasingly in the form of what I call pseudo gaffes. That's a truthful and seemingly inoffensive statement that, taken out of context, reinforces the worst impressions voters may have about the candidate. Read the whole story: Chicago Tribune
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Mental side of sports: It’s not just for Olympians
The Wall Street Journal: Now that you've been watching the world's top athletes compete in London, you may be inspired to go out and pursue your own sport at, um, less than an Olympic level. But even without their talent or practice regimens, you can take a lesson from what Olympians know: The mental game matters, too. Experts say even weekend warriors can benefit from the kinds of mental strategies elite athletes follow, things like following a routine or adopting a mantra to guide you through crucial movements. Megan Rapinoe has a routine at the Olympics.
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Kids Just Wanna Be Helpful
Pacific Standard: There’s a school of thought that considers young children essentially pure. “All things are good as their creator made them,” wrote philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, “but everything degenerates in the hands of men.” Newly published research provides some support for his supposition. “From an early age, humans seem to have genuine concern for the welfare of others,” concludes a research team led by Robert Hepach of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
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Something for the weekend
Financial Times: While waiting for exam results, or the outcome of a job interview, many of us might catch ourselves bargaining with the universe; in return for exam or job success we promise to become better citizens, kinder to our friends etc. Now researchers from Chicago Booth and the University of Virginia have examined this phenomenon a little more closely. They wanted to see whether just as individuals expect others to return a favour, whether these individuals at some level also expect the universe to do the same thing.
