Oil wealth has changed the dynamics in Scandinavia. Swedes that used to look down on Norwegians (Who knew this? I did not know this.) are now having to emigrate for jobs. There are certain parallels to the United States. [Slate]
What we can learn from school choice in Sweden. As with so many other things, even though this corresponds with my political preferences, I think there are limits to what a large, heterogeneous country can learn from a relatively small homogenous one. [Forbes]
The French may abolish homework. Here is a good piece on the subject. [New Yorker]
How does your local school district rank against the rest of the world’s? My old district does reasonably well, in the 60-something percentile in both math and reading. Which is kind of scary, for our country and the world. [The Atlantic]
Michael McLaughlin claims, but doesn’t really back up, the notion that anti-meth ads featuring the ravaged faces of drug use, are ineffective. I express skepticism because this is precisely the sort of thing that would have worked on me when I was younger. It strikes at a crucial element of my younger identity: vanity. [HuffPo]
America, it would seem, needs Icebreakers. [Popular Mechanics]
Family values failure [Marginal Revolution]: Fewer children in the United States grow up with both biological parents than in any other affluent country for which data are available. Ashley McGuire thinks the GOP needs to woo women voters due to a War on Married Women. The problem is that a lot of solutions to these outlined problems are not necessarily conservative ones [Weekly Standard].
Two-state solution? Try 8-State Solution. It sounds like an intriguing idea. [Jerusalem Post]
Maybe we’re not Bowling Alone. [Boston Review]
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The marriage penalty issue flares up every so often but nothing ever comes of it. Surprising because the solution is so simple: abolish the “married filing separately category and allow married people to file singly if they choose. I’d like to see an explanation as to why this hasn’t happened.
What is the difference between between “married filing separately” and filing singley?
It’s the first check box on the 1040. A separate filer pays steeper rates.
Regarding Swedish school choice, I’m not really interested in choice arrangements that aren’t selective. Peer group control is probably the #1 reason to care which school our kids attend, at least in the likely range of other factors.
For that matter, I’d want to look at the Swedish experience a little closer before taking their word that there is no selection effect.
I knew that there was such a thing as filing-separately (I think TurboTax had us do that for state taxes). it thought the point of the option was that it mitigated most of the marriage penalty. If that’s not what it does, what’s it for?
I support school choice primarily on ideological rather than self-interested grounds. As such, while I completely understand where you’re coming from and while that would provide a huge disincentive for Clancy and myself ever putting Lain in a choice school, it becomes unworkable if you allow for selectivity.
Not that I have any problem with selective public schools. Clancy went to a state science school. I do think that they should be run by the state.
My old school system in Connecticut ranks in the 27th percentile for math and the 33rd percentile for reading. That’s …. well, I’d say that “horrible” is a pretty good choice of term. But then it’s a rather troubled district, with 75% of students eligible for free lunches.
The district where I now live is somewhat better, 37th percentile for math and 55th for reading. Considering, however, that only 25% of students qualify for free lunch, it should be doing much better.
My school district is 22% “need”.