Nshima & Curry

The university gift with strings attached

If you went to college in America, you probably spent a small fortune on books, perhaps even more than you spent on beer. The books --  almost always new hardback editions -- were required reading in various courses. Well, what if you found out that a particular book was required not by a professor but a university donor? You wouldn't be pleased, would you? I'd be utterly furious, especially if it was one of the books that I actually read.

According to the Charlotte Observer, at least one university donor has prescribed a book for students and it's none other than Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

As a college student in Chapel Hill, John Allison stumbled across a collection of essays by Ayn Rand and was hooked by her philosophy of self-interest and limited government. As he rose over the decades to chief executive of BB&T, one of the country's leading regional banks, Rand remained his muse.

He's trying to replicate that encounter through the charitable arm of his Winston-Salem-based company, which since 1999 has awarded more than $28 million to 27 colleges to support the study of capitalism from a moral perspective.

But on at least 17 of those campuses, including UNC Charlotte, N.C. State and Johnson C. Smith University, the gifts come with an unusual stipulation: Rand's novel, "Atlas Shrugged," is included in a course as required reading.

The schools' agreements have drawn criticism from some faculty, who say it compromises academic integrity. In higher education, the power to decide course content is supposed to rest with professors, not donors. Debate about the gifts, which arose at UNCC this month, illustrates tensions that exist over corporate influence on college campuses.

UNCC received its $1 million gift pledge in 2005, but details about the "Atlas Shrugged" requirement came to light as the school dedicated an Ayn Rand reading room March 12.

"It's going to make us look like a rinky-dink university," UNCC religious studies professor Richard Cohen said Thursday after UNCC Chancellor Phil Dubois told the faculty council about the gift. "It's like teaching the Bible as a requirement." [Link]

You mean UNCC isn't a rinky-dink university? If not, then imagine what's happening at the hundreds of actual rinky-dink universities and colleges in America, including the ones I attended. Surely donors are not just putting their names on buildings, walls and scholarships, but also "suggesting" what ideas should be taught and where professors can stick academic integrity.

If UNCC and the other 16 universities had an ounce of integrity left, they'd give John Allison a message: "Sorry, Mr. Allison, but we've decided that the only Rand you can force on us is the South African kind."

A school full of smiley-faced children

If you're a good parent, you probably try hard to protect your children from strangers who might harm them.You monitor your children's activities on the Internet and you don't let them post pictures of themselves on public websites, especially pictures that might draw attention from the wrong people. You expect schools to exercise the same caution. If they post a picture of your child on their website, you expect them to cover your child's face with a large smiley face. Well, not really, but that's exactly what a school in England did, in a case of child protection ingenuity.

A primary school has been accused of being alarmist for covering up the faces of pupils on its website – apparently to protect them from paedophiles. Bizarrely, the images have been altered with the type of smiley faces popular during the Acid House dance craze of the 1980s. The decision was taken at Cann Hall Primary School in Clacton, Essex.

Headmistress Clare Reece said yesterday: "The public nature of the internet is an issue we feel strongly about. Not all parents want their children's picture on there. You can't say what is going to happen with any of those pictures."

She said that the photographs were printed unaltered in the school newsletter which was sent to parents. But on the primary's website, the children's faces are obscured.

The school guarantees the content of the site is "child friendly", adding: "In order to protect our children, we have made the decision not to include any photos of our pupils on this website." [Link]

A lot of schools don't post any photos whatsoever. If they do post photos, they get parents' permission or make sure children are unidentifiable. The smiley faces are great because they not only save the photographer the trouble of getting the kids to smile, but also protect children from all pedophiles, except the rare smiley-face-tantalized ones. That might explain why one boy, in the back row of medal-winners pictured above, was given a sad face. He must be the principal's son.

Get good grades, earn some cash

When I was a little kid, my mother offered me money to do math, 2 ngwee per sum. As I grew older, the monetary rewards stopped, perhaps because my mother didn't want me to be motivated only by money. Or perhaps it was my sister who spoiled it all with her "show me the money too" demands.

A British school tried to motivate students with money too, but only for one year.

PUPILS who say they were told they would earn £100 for good GCSE grades were left with nothing after the school dropped an incentive scheme - without telling them.

Children at Buile Hill secondary in Salford were promised cash in return for achieving marks of grade C and above. [Link]

Grade C and above? When they set the bar so low, the children won't be challenged much, unless they're trying to become limbo dancers.

A program in New York City is also dangling cash in front of some students.

The REACH program, operating in 31 schools in New York City, is offering low-income and minority students cash incentives for high AP test scores. Starting this school year, students earning a score of 3—the first passing score—stand to make $500, a score of 4 earns $750, and a top score of 5 will be worth $1,000. [Link]

If we can give $1,000 to the student who manages to earn a top score, perhaps we can give a few bucks -- or at least 50 cents -- to the student who manages to stay awake in class. And what about the student who remembers to comb his hair?

Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College, isn't sold on monetary rewards for students.

Obviously, the intrinsic rewards of learning aren’t working in New York schools, at least not for a lot of children. It may be that the current state of achievement is low enough that desperate measures are called for, and it’s worth trying anything. And we don’t know whether in this case, motives will complement or compete.

But it is plausible that when students get paid to go to class and show up for tests, they will be even less interested in the work than they would be if no incentives were present. If that happens, the incentive system will make the learning problem worse in the long run, even if it improves achievement in the short run ­ unless we’re prepared to follow these children through life, giving them a pat on the head, or an M&M or a check every time they learn something new. [Link]

He might be right, but without those 2 ngwees my mother gave me, I'd probably be at McDonald's, handing out the wrong change.

Photo by Paultron

Miss Teen South Carolina robbed of title

It was the final round of the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, only five contestants left. "This is the round of the competition that ultimately determines their fate," Host Mario Lopez said. "The make it or break it moment. The ladies will have to demonstrate their ability to answer a thought-provoking, final question."

Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss Teen South Carolina, was first up and drew a question from judge Aimee Teegarden: "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

Upton licked her lips briefly, then proceeded to give the most brilliant answer in the history of beauty pageants: "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some ... people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and ... I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for ..." [YouTube video]

What a great answer! I can't believe she didn't win. Her answer was superb for five reasons: (1) She used the term "U.S. Americans," acknowledging the existence of other North, Central and South Americans; (2) she explained why so many Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map (they don't have maps); (3) she demonstrated that she can name countries in the rest of the world (South Africa and the Iraq); (4) she showed her concern for the rest of the world, stating that U.S. education should help South Africa, the Iraq and the Asian countries; and (5) she singlehandedly destroyed the stereotype of the dumb blonde.

When teachers act like gangsters

During my schooldays, I endured a number of canings and pinchings at the hands of teachers and principals, both in Zambia and India. I vividly remember my entire Form 3 (Grade 10) class being caned in Ndola, Zambia, because we were making too much noise. My butt was sore for days -- and striped for even longer. I also remember being pinched so hard at a Seventh Day Adventist school in Madurai, India, that part of my arm turned green and my eyes saw red.

Corporal punishment has thankfully been eradicated in some countries, including Canada, but it's still prevalent in many others, including India, where one poor girl in Bangalore was recently attacked by five gangsters posing as teachers.

In a gruesome incident, an 11-year-old VIth standard girl student of a City school was allegedly beaten black-and-blue by her teachers resulting in grievous injuries. Reason? For not doing her homework. Worse, the teachers who beat her up are themselves women. [Link]

Females beating another female? I'm in total shock. Were they taking testosterone or something?