three things make a post

[moominmolly]

Sugru! Moldable silicone putty. Fix things, or make them awesomer. This stuff is pretty fantastic. I used it last night for the first time and have already gotten a couple of compliments, and all I did was pad the bottom of a ceramic coffee mug to de-clonk it.

We're happier when busy but our instinct is for idleness. I've been thinking about this article and research for days now, and examining my own (very powerful) instinct for idleness. Why do I have it, when I clearly get so much joy out of productivity and creation?

The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers. Basically - early education matters a great deal, later in life. Given that I'll have a kindergartener in a month (!), this is also on my mind.

To follow up on my value/valueless post from yesterday, I value the fact that I have an extremely insightful and awesome management team on my side at my job. And I value all of the amazing contributions you guys commented with. It brightened a really difficult day, for me, so: thanks.

Comments

[vespid-interest.livejournal.com]

The Kindergarten article doesn't say if the teachers are responsible for the kid's success or if the kids just manifest their intelligence or upbringing even at that early age. For instance some kids know how to read before starting Kindergarten, or are used to learning constantly, etc. I'd expect those kids to do better in life even with an average Kindergarten teacher.

[vespid-interest.livejournal.com]

Also: "futile business" is the model Farmville is built on I think. This is something I will really think about!

And Sugru looks awesome.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

The article may not say so explicitly, but the associated graphic is of the correlation of the performance of *other* children in the class to adult outcomes. There are a number of analyses shown in the lecture slides which also show the correlations of teacher experience to adult outcomes.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

The article is referencing a study that randomly assigned students to kindergarten teachers, though. (Random assignment is not the norm, which is part of why this stuff is so hard to study.)