random news roundup.

Gilbert's argument is that feminism and the unyielding demands of employers have propelled women away from taking care of their small children during the day and toward jobs that they don't necessarily like much. Gilbert thinks that "an intellectual elite of well-paid professional women" make paid work seem better than it is for many women, and household work more "servile, tedious, mind-numbing."

this is from an article about how we started blaming parents when bad things happen to their children. [interesting article overall, although one of my friends thought it was hilarious that i was reading a parenting article. i had one of those moments where i really didn't get it. you know? i was like, what? i was reading slate. what's your problem.] this paragraph, though, was the most interesting part to me. maybe it's not a new idea, and the author of this article disagrees with it, but here's my read - maybe we should be talking about the fact that mothers wanting to work and mothers needing to work are two different issues.

With the wisdom of hindsight, it is clear that the link between educational excellence and economic security is not as simple as “A Nation at Risk” made it seem. By the mid-1980s, policymakers in Japan, South Korea and Singapore were already beginning to complain that their educational systems focused too much on rote learning and memorization. They continue to envy American schools because they teach creativity and the problem-solving skills critical to prospering in the global economy.

this is kind of interesting - i guess that, in the 80s, we thought that japan especially was going to rise in the global economy because their kids were so brilliant, and it hasn't really happened. which raises the question of whether teaching our kids to be successful in life isn't the same as teaching our kids to be successful on standardized tests.

i think my DVD player is dying. i remember buying it - i had gone in to buy the $30 dvd player, but the slightly sleazy guy at best buy told me that i would come home at 3 a.m. and it wouldn't work. [damn best buy guy, knowing my life.] so i got the $50 dvd player. three years later, i want to watch friends and episode 4 on every dvd won't play. grrr. i don't really want to buy a new one, but i'm at the stage in which i have to trick the dvd player into playing. and tricking technology never turns out well for me.