Link roundup

1. The Los Angeles public school system is reducing the emphasis on homework, making it now account for no more than 10% of students' grades. This criticism is pathetic:

Critics — mostly teachers — worry that the policy will encourage students to slack off assigned work and even reward those who already disregard assignments. And they say it could penalize hardworking students who receive higher marks for effort.

Shouldn't the teachers be confident that the kids who work the hardest on homework will also score the best on tests?

2. I might have linked to this before, but since it won an Emmy, here's a video by the Washington Post in which a comic book cover featuring Frank Cho's Brandy character (based on Lynda Carter) is brought to life. Via.

3. Seven fascinating moments in online video game history.

Link roundup

1. Robin Hanson:

Yes, maybe homework helps kids to learn things that their tests do not test. But more likely, homework functions to get kids used to doing a lot of work, in preparation for their future industry era jobs. Learning seems secondary.

2. Elephant and rhino playing tag.

3. Tie Fighter helmet.

Link roundup

1. Tax dollars at work in Southern California:

When it's completed this fall, Riverside's Hillcrest High School will be a high-tech academic hub with wireless Internet, a robotics lab, digital smart boards in every classroom and a first-rate performance hall worthy of any "Glee" hopeful.

But no students.

Sapped by state budget cuts, the Alvord Unified School District doesn't have the money to turn on the lights or hire staff for the $105-million campus.

2. Young Jason Kidd.

3. It's a tremendous shame George Takei hasn't been able to show off his personality until the last few years.

Link roundup

1. Create a Star Wars name contest.

2. Mickey Kaus:

It would be ironic if Amherst-style reforms finally gave lower income Americans greater access to college just when elites were concluding that college isn’t worth it. But when you think about it, a non-college world in which high school graduates acquired the skills they wanted on the web or in ad hoc classes and proved their worth by performing well in actual jobsmight be a preferable form of meritocracy. a) There would be no “signaling” of status for life, the way an Ivy League degree now signals status for life.

3. Bradley Cooper wants to make a Hyperion movie so bad that he submitted a spec script. (I love the book, but it's probably unfilmable.) Via.

Brochure for a college criminology course

Criminology and Criminal Justice brochure by Junior for Griffith University. Via.