An interesting ranking of universities

The top 100 universities under the age of 50, thanks to The Guardian.

Some highlights:

• South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology is the number one university under the age of 50.
• 30 different countries are represented in the top 100 – compared to just 26 in the top 200 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings
• 20 of the top 100 under 50 institutions are in the U.K. Australia follows next with 14
• 9 universities in the rankings are from the US. In the Times Higher Education world top 100 universities ranked for reputation, the US dominated taking 60% of the places on the list
• The University of Illinois at Chicago is ranked 11 on this list
• 1998 - the youngest university, Milan-Bicocca in Italy came 25th
• 5 - both Spain and Taiwan have five institutions on the rankings following after the UK (20 institutions), Australia (14) and the US (9)

Tips on writing the college essay

Here are three short but informative pieces that appeared on The New York Times website about writing college essays, and you'll notice a common theme:

Juniors: In the Quiet of Summer, Start Your Essays. Six suggestions to keep in mind, including: Everyone loves a good story — particularly the overburdened college admissions counselor who has to read hundreds of student essays, too many of which view this assignment as an opening for self-promotion. It is far better to think of the college admissions essay as your chance to tell a good story.

The College Admissions Essay: Finding a Topic. Three tips, with this final thought: Everyone has a story to tell. It’s just a matter of discovering that story.

Advice on Whittling Your College Essay. A few tips on keeping the essay short (500 words!) but full of meaning and impact, including: Your first decision is where to pick up the narrative. Keeping in mind that a 500-word essay is a limited piece of real estate, don’t start your story about building houses in Haiti in your bedroom in Philadelphia, packing your bags. Skip the plane ride. Just plunge right into the action that matters most. That said, the work of telling a good story is understanding what matters most.


The Times also has a great blog about college admissions and aid that's updated a couple of times a week, The Choice. I recommend you skim through past posts and check in weekly to see if anything applies to you. The summer before senior year is no time to rest -- actively start the college search process.

April assignment

In April, we will ditch the internet and return to the technology of the early 1900s, the time of Clara and Esteban and magic.

Instead of keeping a blog, you will track The House of the Spirits in a log. (A blog, in case you didn't know, is just a web-log, as it was originally called.)

On Wednesday, April 4, have a log prepared, following these instructions:

• Take five sheets of paper* and fold them in half. You now have a small, 20-page log.
• On the cover, neatly write your name (in small print) in one of the corners.
• On the inside front cover, neatly write "Quotations" (in small print) centered at the top .
• Leave the next page blank. This will be your title page.
• On the first interior page, neatly write "Rosa the Beautiful" (in small print) centered at the top.
• Continue neatly with all the chapter titles on subsequent pages, ending with "Epilogue."
• You should have two pages remaining: the inside back cover and the back. Leave those blank for now.

* use either lined paper or blank printer paper, but understand that you will write inside this log; if you use lined paper, you will have to write sideways.

Further instructions will follow. If you have questions about the above, ask before Wednesday.

March assignment

Every week, you will write two response-style argument essays. I will post multiple links to articles or prompts here; you must do the following:

1. Read an entire linked piece.
2. On your blog, write a one-sentence summary of the writer's central argument.
3. Write an essay (~500 words) defending, challenging, or qualifying that argument. You should not do any additional research before writing the essay; instead, the supporting evidence must come from your own knowledge or reading.
   

For full credit: Complete two essays per week; include context and your thesis in your introductions; include two or three body paragraphs with evidence; wrap up with a conclusion.

Week 4 readings: The last week of this assignment! Hopefully next month will be easier.

Prompt 1: "Learnt in Godhra, forgotten in Jaipur" by Aakar Patel (LiveMint)

Prompt 2: "Why We Like What We Like" by Alva Noe (13.7 Cosmos and Culture)

Prompt 3: "Please Read This Story, Thank You" by Linton Weeks (NPR)

Prompt 4: "Has the Sexual Revolution Been Good for Women? Yes" by Ann Patchett (Wall Street Journal)

Due Friday, March 30.

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Week 3 readings are, on the surface, easier, but hopefully the ideas will be challenging enough.

Week 3, Prompt 1: "What Does It Mean To Be Cool?" by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein (Philosophy Now)

Week 3, Prompt 2: "Does Surveillance Make Us Morally Better?" by Emrys Westacott (Philosophy Now)

Week 3, Prompt 3: "The Limits of Science" by Anthony Gottlieb (Intelligent Life)

Week 3, Prompt 4: "The Rise of 'Awesome'" by Robert Lane Greene (Intelligent Life)

Bored? Here's a bonus article to review logical fallacies (Philosophy Now).

Week 3 posts are due on Saturday, March 24.

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For Week 2, all the prompts are from the same author, Sir Francis Bacon -- an English lawyer, statesman, essayist, historian, intellectual reformer, philosopher, champion of modern science, and contemporary of Shakespeare. You can read about him at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I've selected four short essays by Bacon -- the language might be challenging, but if you go slow (and maybe read aloud), you should be able to understand his point.

Week 2, Prompt 1: "Of Marriage and Single Life"

Week 2, Prompt 2: "Of Atheism"

Week 2, Prompt 3: "Of Youth and Age"

Week 2, Prompt 4: "Of Studies"

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Week 1, Prompt 1: "TV Is Good for You" By Joel Waldfogel (Slate)

Week 1, Prompt 2: "Rick Santorum, Meet My Son" by Emily Rapp (Slate)

Week 1, Prompt 3: "Thinking vs. Feeling: The Psychology of Advertising" by Derek Thompson (The Atlantic)

Week 1, Prompt 4: "Why Good Advertising Works (Even When You Think It Doesn't" by Nigel Hollis (The Atlantic)

Please post week 1 essays on March 9.

Photo Essay: Class Night

Thanks for the fun evening, Kairos!

Bonus post: Greatest Song

If we were to compile the 50 greatest songs of all time, which song would you include? Post a link to that song on your blog. Make it a song that sends shivers down your spine.

Need inspirations? Check out Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

For now, here's my submission: "All I Ever Wanted" by Airborne Toxic Event

OK, here's an alternate (to prove a point). This is Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova performing "When Your Mind's Made Up."

I also enjoy old songs. Here's Robbie Williams performing "My Way" in concert:

Here's the bonus: On your blog, write a short analysis of your chosen song, examining two or three features that help explain why it is so memorable. See the Wall Street Journal article on Adele to see how you might write about lyrics and melody.

Holiday Homework

Grades are in.

Semester 2 starts with this spread of grades:

A-range: 12 students

B-range: 3 students

C-range: 12 students

D-range: 8 students

F-range: 17 students

January is over ...

and it's time to reassess this assignment.

Dehra Dun wasn't rebuilt in a day, and neither is a blog assignment.

In case you see this before returning to school, here's the assignment for February:

1. No more original posts until further notice. (That's right, no article responses or college essay drafts in February.)


2. Instead, I want you to comment on others' blogs. Respond to friends, to strangers, that crazy kid in your section, that creative kid in the other section. Read an entire post (or two or three or more), and respond with why you did (or didn't) like it and specifically how the writer can improve. The more comments you leave behind, the better.

As the photo above suggests, it's OK to tear something down, as long as the intention is to improve on the original. Two skills we'll work on during the second semester:

• Collaboration: If two brains are better than one, imagine what a community of brains can accomplish.
  


• Revision: What's better than Coke? New Coke! OK, maybe not -- maybe no Coke at all is the best option. But here's something you may not know: Coca-Cola, the world's biggest soft drink company, at one point in its history decided that the "original" formula just wasn't good enough. So, scientists and technicians devised a new formula that tasted a little more like Pepsi. The public hated New Coke, and the company quickly had to revert to the original (just like I might revert back to the original blogging assignment). How did Pepsi respond to all this? It changed the labeling on its products. (See? More revision!) Two lessons to be learned from this: 1. If revision is good enough for Coca-Cola and Pepsi, it's good enough for you. 2. Big corporations will do whatever they need to do to get your money (so don't be a sucker).

Safe travels, and see you next week. In-class essay (or something) on day one!

January is almost over

... and most of you are way behind on your holiday homework.

Review the "grading" section of the assignment.

Don't cry when your first grade of the semester is a zero.