Friday, March 28, 2014

Daily Links 3-28-14

Returning just in time to provide you with some interesting reading for your weekend: where is the next James Madison, choice rather than more spending will fix education, an anniversary surprise, and more.

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Where is the next James Madison? An article well worth reading and thinking about from Erich Bridges.

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Making the case for school choice:

The alternatives to traditional public schools differ in many ways, but they all discard the idea of government dictating where students go to school, how money is spent and what's being taught. 
Instead, students and their parents pick the schools. Money goes with the student. Schools survive and prosper by doing a better job of educating. If they don't deliver, the students will find another school, taking the money with them. 
Students will be better served in private schools run like businesses. There's no reason to shy away from what this means: operating for profit, replacing principals with CEOs, paying good teachers more, firing bad teachers, giving schools freedom to innovate in instruction methods and curriculum, letting new schools enter the market, allowing bad schools to fail, encouraging successful schools to take over unsuccessful ones, getting rid of unions that protect bad teachers and stifle change. 
 Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds, who also wrote a terrific book on this subject.

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Not that there is any doubt in my mind but here's 4 reasons why real books are better than e-books. (via Aaron Armstrong)

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Anyone who is a fan of Sherlock Holmes knows all about his arch enemy Professor James Moriarty. But was he a real person?

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Give the Tampa Bay Rays credit: they know how to help a couple celebrate an anniversary.

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And while we're on the subject of baseball, this book is at the top of my reading list:
Here's an early review of the book. Thanks to the author for the tip.

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Want to become a better writer? Try copying the work of others.

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Some very odd and specific rules from libraries.

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