education

Will Online Courses Make Education a Human Right?

The Overwhelming Majority of Today's MOOC Students Are Western, White, and Well-Off. Recent Experiments Suggest How That Could Change.

Just the first word in the name—massive open online course—poses the question. Just how big can MOOCs be?

MOOCs combine filmed lectures, readings, course material, and online interactions among professors and students—with the goal of reducing costs and expanding access to higher learning. Many MOOCs today already are huge. Andrew Ng, co-founder of the MOOC platform Coursera, used to teach 400 students a year at Stanford, whereas more than 100,000 students registered for his first MOOC on machine learning. Ng calculated he would have had to teach at Stanford for 250 …

By Marianne Krasny and Bryce DuBois |

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Schools Aren’t Giving California Kids Enough Screen Time

Movies Like Citizen Kane, Vertigo, and The Joy Luck Club Will Teach Students More About Modern State History Than Textbooks Ever Could

By Joe Mathews |

California teachers, you should be showing your students more movies.

And not for babysitting purposes, or to fill holes in your lesson plan. As our state considers new frameworks for the …

Why Don’t Angelenos Trust Homegrown Talent?

Unfortunately, to Make It Big in L.A., You Often First Have to Go Make Your Mark Elsewhere

By Joe Mathews |

Last week, Michelle King was appointed superintendent of L.A. Unified, California’s largest school district. But can we really trust her to lead the Los Angeles schools? After all, she’s from …

Let’s Face It, California Is Nuts

From Education to Infrastructure, the Golden State Dares to Defy Common Sense

By Joe Mathews |

My fellow Californians, the state of our state is nuttier than ever.

In saying that, I do not meant to judge the sanity of individual Californians—to the contrary, national surveys show …

Stress, Pregnancy, and Grief Shouldn’t Limit Success in School

Long Beach Is a Tough Place to Live, So I Want to Bring Health Care to My Fellow Students

Jocelyn Ly |

In the next few weeks, a wellness center will open at Long Beach’s Roosevelt Elementary School, right across the street from Polytechnic High School. The center will have special hours …

Why Can’t We All Fight On Like Old USC?

California's Public Universities Could Learn Some Things From the Rise of the Trojans

By Joe Mathews |

The University of Southern California football team is likely to lose to archrival UCLA this Thanksgiving weekend. But away from the gridiron, USC is on a decades-long winning streak that …


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