In The News

Teaching Them Young: Tots Learn to Say “Ni Hao” to Mandarin

Neha Bhayana November 13, 2014
Children have a knack for learning foreign languages in early childhood and those who master an extra language can even gain some cognitive advantages, suggests the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Parents in India are enrolling children as young as 3 years old in after-preschool language programs, and many were pleased when the founder of Facebook surprised the globe by...

American Schools Are Training Kids for a World That Doesn’t Exist

David Edwards October 23, 2014
Education must prepare students for a fast-changing world, argues David Edwards for Wired. The world must handle 2 billion more people over the next 20 years along with a stressed food supply and climate change. “The many rich and varied human cultures of the earth will continue to mix, more rapidly than they ever have, through mass population movements and unprecedented information exchange, and...

Conflicts Disrupt Schooling Across Region

Haytham Nuri October 15, 2014
The number of children who cannot attend school has reached 30 million worldwide, according to a report by UNICEF. Violent conflicts, terrorist organizations, and natural disasters have forced schools throughout the world to close, which curtails the social mobility of entire generations. Activist groups throughout the world have tried to garner international support, but continued violence and...

Glasgow Becomes First University in Europe to Divest From Fossil Fuels

Libby Brooks October 13, 2014
Glasgow University in Scotland has voted to divest from the fossil fuel industry and is selling its holdings in the sector, worth £18 million, or US $12 million. The decision follows a year of pressure and campaigning from a student organization, the Glasgow University Climate Action Society, part of a broader international university movement. The “Fossil Free” university movement began in the...

China's Tech Factories Turn to Student Labor

Eva Dou September 30, 2014
Chinese factories that assemble electronics for high-tech firms or their suppliers rely heavily on student interns from vocational schools for labor, reports Eva Dou for the Wall Street Journal. Some students claim they must work 12-hour shifts, six days a week, for three months to a year as a condition of graduation. "China has traditionally relied on migrant workers to man factories in...

Thai Junta Chief Nominated to Be Prime Minister

James Hookway August 21, 2014
Without a whimper and only three abstentions, the Thai legislature has nominated the general who seized power in May as prime minister. The king’s approval is also required, but that is considered a formality. “The 60-year-old commander has said he aims to win over voters and foreign investors, who are looking beyond Thailand and its troubles to other locations such as Indonesia and Vietnam,”...

Saudis Have Lost the Right to Take Sunni Leadership

David Gardner August 13, 2014
Governments that secretly fund intolerant extremists to harm opponents lose credibility in the international community and with their own citizens. In a globalized world, such financing connections are transparent, and the international community must devote scarce resources to battle groups with bizarre goals, like Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Such extremist groups are...