Round-up

Interesting argument in favour of scraping summer vacation for students. It’s good for international competition; the summer vacation itself is the product of outdated needs; and ridding ourselves of the lengthy break may be an act of egalitarianism. It would, that is, level the playing field between the rich and the poor students: “…wealthy parents can afford to give their children all sorts of edifying summer experiences that downscale parents cannot. And this, as researchers at Johns Hopkins have found, leads to backsliding: Educational advancement across classes tends to be fairly even during the school year. But downscale students actually decline in educational achievement over the course of the summer, while upscale students remain relatively stable.” This reminds me of Nicholas D. Kristof’s op-ed for the New York Times yesterday. He restated the common point that success is the product of education and opportunity – and not of innate talent. We should keep this in mind and consider seriously whatever policies might make the education of the poor and the rich more alike.

Here’s an account of the conditions in which Pakistanis displaced by the fighting between government forces and militants are living. There are approximately 2 million of them in just over a month of fighting.

Warfare among early humans may have helped midwife the development of altruism.