Berkeley, California has been the fifth city I've lived in over the past five years (in order: Chicago, Champaign, Minneapolis, Washington, Berkeley). That city per year streak comes to a close, as Jill and I are sticking around in Berkeley for at least a few more years yet. I'm enrolling in Berkeley's Political Science Ph.D. program. Moreover, the law school is extending my fellowship (and funding) for at least one more year -- which (in addition to making graduate school considerably less impoverishing than it would otherwise be) means that I can keep my connection to the law community even as I embark on this new adventure.
It will be a bit odd to move over to the demand-side of the education marketplace. But I'm excited to get started, and excited to continue my involvement in the Berkeley community.
* * *
Why "Ashkenormativity" Isn't a Thing. I did not expect this post to be good, and was pleasantly surprised. Not sure I'm ultimately persuaded, but very thought-provoking.
I get the technical objection Justin McBrayer is raising here, but I think "facts are things subject to proof, opinions are matters of pure belief" works as a rough-and-ready distinction suitable for elementary school students. And as one of those darned millennial skeptics of the existence of moral facts, I am obviously dubious that such a belief is responsibility for all the ills of Kids These Days.
My former colleague (and longtime electricity market expert) Bud Earley lays out two views on how distributed generation will effect electric utilities.
Interesting article on how various civil rights centered groups view the ongoing debates over standardized testing. This is, as the article notes, one of the few areas where the mainstream left really is pretty fractured.
Did Hillary Clinton steal Hadassah's logo? Spoiler: No! "H" with a red and blue color scheme is not as original as one might think.
A prominent activist on behalf of undocumented immigrants who warned he would be killed if deported back to Mexico, was killed after being deported back to Mexico. This sort of scenario was, by far, the worst part about clerking. There were many circumstances where I felt pretty confident that a regular person -- not always a saint, but not a monster either -- would be killed if sent back to their home country. But under the laws of the United States and the precedents of the 8th Circuit, their asylum claims were doomed to fail. And so I issued recommendations that I basically knew meant that regular people would be violently killed. It is something that everyone who touches our immigration system has to deal with.
Showing posts with label tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tests. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 09/04/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
This is a little late, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a fascinating story about an area police office who found out recently that she was intersex.
A judge has ruled that the ADA applies to airlines.
My home county is posting a decline test scores and an increase in the racial achievement gap. Mounting economic diversity is to blame, claims the school superintendent.
A Texas woman is fighting back against predatory lenders, saying they targeted her because she was Black.
Maryland's new DNA law is under criticism due to concerns it would allow police to keep a suspect's DNA on file even if she or he was not convicted.
The Human Rights Campaign's equality index shows an increase in firms' protections of LGBT Americans.
The chair of Vermont's commission on Native Americans has resigned in frustration with legislative inaction on recognizing local tribes.
Steven Steinlight of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies tries to convince Jews to oppose immigration (legal and illegal). Somehow, I'm skeptical it will work.
The Ft. Myers News-Press lauds a recent slavery conviction of several agricultural owners in Florida, but lays the blame for the problem squarely on our immigration policy. "Disrespect for human beings is in the DNA of the current system. Respect demands that we legalize the foreign labor we clearly need to harvest our crops."
The ACLU is suing to block Rhode Island's use of e-verify, which they say improperly labels foreign workers as ineligible to work.
The New York Times reports that the process of transitioning in the workplace has become easier for transgender individuals.
Federal job bias claims are down, but Paul Secunda thinks that it's mostly due to an unfriendly environment to whistle-blowing.
A Georgia man is scheduled to be executed in a few days, despite the fact that seven witnesses have now recanted the statements that got him convicted in the first place.
The few remaining Black Republicans are bemoaning the fact that their party seems to have all but given up on attracting Black voters.
The Colorado affirmative action counter-measure has failed to make the ballot. In contrast to the original, Ward Connerly-backed initiative, which would have barred affirmative action in all forms outright, this one would have only clarified that racial quotas are illegal.
This is a little late, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a fascinating story about an area police office who found out recently that she was intersex.
A judge has ruled that the ADA applies to airlines.
My home county is posting a decline test scores and an increase in the racial achievement gap. Mounting economic diversity is to blame, claims the school superintendent.
A Texas woman is fighting back against predatory lenders, saying they targeted her because she was Black.
Maryland's new DNA law is under criticism due to concerns it would allow police to keep a suspect's DNA on file even if she or he was not convicted.
The Human Rights Campaign's equality index shows an increase in firms' protections of LGBT Americans.
The chair of Vermont's commission on Native Americans has resigned in frustration with legislative inaction on recognizing local tribes.
Steven Steinlight of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies tries to convince Jews to oppose immigration (legal and illegal). Somehow, I'm skeptical it will work.
The Ft. Myers News-Press lauds a recent slavery conviction of several agricultural owners in Florida, but lays the blame for the problem squarely on our immigration policy. "Disrespect for human beings is in the DNA of the current system. Respect demands that we legalize the foreign labor we clearly need to harvest our crops."
The ACLU is suing to block Rhode Island's use of e-verify, which they say improperly labels foreign workers as ineligible to work.
The New York Times reports that the process of transitioning in the workplace has become easier for transgender individuals.
Federal job bias claims are down, but Paul Secunda thinks that it's mostly due to an unfriendly environment to whistle-blowing.
A Georgia man is scheduled to be executed in a few days, despite the fact that seven witnesses have now recanted the statements that got him convicted in the first place.
The few remaining Black Republicans are bemoaning the fact that their party seems to have all but given up on attracting Black voters.
The Colorado affirmative action counter-measure has failed to make the ballot. In contrast to the original, Ward Connerly-backed initiative, which would have barred affirmative action in all forms outright, this one would have only clarified that racial quotas are illegal.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 08/15/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
The family of a gay California teenager who was slain by a classmate is suing the school, saying that it endangered their son by allowing him to wear feminine clothing and makeup.
Solid move by Tim Kaine: He issued a pardon to a local woman who had lived in the US since she was 7, who was facing deportation for a minor crime she committed 12 years ago. The move is giving her at least a one year reprieve from her deportation order, allowing her more time for appeals.
The Post cautions Americans that an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration will not work forever.
Also from the Post editorial page, a reminder to not forget about New Orleans.
An elementary school principal in Texas is under investigation after allegedly asking that her grandchild be placed in a classroom with "nice white neighborhood boys."
A former state legislator known for his "tough on crime" positions has stirred ire in his local community because he is sheltering former sex offenders who, thanks to ever tightening laws, cannot find places to live.
Rhode Island has lost over half the membership of its Commission on Hispanic Affairs after 11 resigned in protest over increased crackdowns on illegal immigration.
The Florida branch of the United States Civil Rights Commission has come out in favor of automatic restoration of the civil rights of released felons.
Ward Connerly is dodging Nebraska's campaign finance laws requiring donor disclosure by creating a shell organization to funnel the money through.
Black student test scores in San Francisco are lagging way behind their White peers.
Could a Major League Soccer squad do anything more foolish than harass its Latino fans? That's like a hockey team trying to drive out Canadians.
Jurors have convicted to prison guards on civil rights charges after they allegedly allowed inmates to rape a teenager in prison overnight for traffic violations.
The family of a gay California teenager who was slain by a classmate is suing the school, saying that it endangered their son by allowing him to wear feminine clothing and makeup.
Solid move by Tim Kaine: He issued a pardon to a local woman who had lived in the US since she was 7, who was facing deportation for a minor crime she committed 12 years ago. The move is giving her at least a one year reprieve from her deportation order, allowing her more time for appeals.
The Post cautions Americans that an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration will not work forever.
Also from the Post editorial page, a reminder to not forget about New Orleans.
An elementary school principal in Texas is under investigation after allegedly asking that her grandchild be placed in a classroom with "nice white neighborhood boys."
A former state legislator known for his "tough on crime" positions has stirred ire in his local community because he is sheltering former sex offenders who, thanks to ever tightening laws, cannot find places to live.
Rhode Island has lost over half the membership of its Commission on Hispanic Affairs after 11 resigned in protest over increased crackdowns on illegal immigration.
The Florida branch of the United States Civil Rights Commission has come out in favor of automatic restoration of the civil rights of released felons.
Ward Connerly is dodging Nebraska's campaign finance laws requiring donor disclosure by creating a shell organization to funnel the money through.
Black student test scores in San Francisco are lagging way behind their White peers.
Could a Major League Soccer squad do anything more foolish than harass its Latino fans? That's like a hockey team trying to drive out Canadians.
Jurors have convicted to prison guards on civil rights charges after they allegedly allowed inmates to rape a teenager in prison overnight for traffic violations.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
It's Got To Be The Test
Neat historical tidbit from the G-Bitch, citing "The Gendered Society" by Michael S. Kimmel:
And the footnote to that:
Via Feminist Law Profs, who write that "Just Because You Are A Paranoid Feminist Doesn’t Mean The Sexists Aren’t Out To Get You." Heh.
That being said, my LSAT scores, of course, are unimpeachably accurate indicators of my legal intelligence.
UPDATE: G-Bitch wants you to know that the true props should go to Ceejay, who was the original source for the quote.
Test scores were no better as indicators. At the turn of the century, women were found to be scoring higher on comprehensive examinations at New York University. Since scientists “knew” that women were not as smart as men, some other explanation had to be sought. “After all, men are more intelligent than women, examination papers or no examination papers,” commented the dean of the college, R. Turner. “Women have better memories and study harder, that’s all. In tasks requiring patience and industry, women win out. But when a man is both patient and industrious, he beats a woman any day.” (It is interesting to see that women’s drive, ambition, and industriousness are used against them, rather than labeling the problem as men’s impulsiveness, impatience, and laziness). In the 1920s, when IQ tests were first invented, women scored higher on those tests as well. So the experimenters changed the questions. (31)
And the footnote to that:
Turner is cited in “South Side Observer, 29 April 1896; C.A. Dwyer, “The Role of Tests and Their Construction in Producing Apparently Sex-Related Differences,” in “Sex-Related Differences in Cognitive Functioning,” M. Wittig and A. Peterson, eds. (New York: Academic Press, 1979), p. 342.
Via Feminist Law Profs, who write that "Just Because You Are A Paranoid Feminist Doesn’t Mean The Sexists Aren’t Out To Get You." Heh.
That being said, my LSAT scores, of course, are unimpeachably accurate indicators of my legal intelligence.
UPDATE: G-Bitch wants you to know that the true props should go to Ceejay, who was the original source for the quote.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Call Me David, Lord of Mathematics
I took the GREs today. As you may know, I did not really study for them that seriously. I did a few practice sections, and one full test, in which I got a better score on the quantitative section than I did on the verbal. Which is weird, because while I'm a rather verbose person on the one hand, I fear and loathe math on the other.
The GRE is a computer-based test, and has some weird quirks. The most notable is that the questions are path-dependent. If you do well on early questions, they start giving you harder ones. If you start missing questions, they become easier. I'm told they still throw in an assortment of difficulty levels regardless, for standardization purposes. But overall, the test adjusts to your ability level.
There are two main upshots to this. The first is that you can't go back to check your work. Once you input an answer, that's it, you're moving on. This is somewhat annoying, especially for someone like me who works fast (and thus sometimes makes sloppy mistakes) but generally catches them on the read-over. But that's not a huge deal. What is a big problem is that the difficulty-adjustment plays tricks on your mind. Now, I'm a pretty good test-taker. So let's say I get a few answers right early. Now I start seeing some harder questions. Oh my God, these words don't even look remotely familiar! This is so difficult! But wait, that should mean I'm doing well! Then, of course, a few questions pop up that seem easier. Good news? Nope--because now I'm convinced I got each of the last five wrong and the test as readjusted itself to "third-grader" mode. And so it goes, up and down, harder and easier. The entire ordeal is a recipe for paranoia.
But anyway, back to me. As I said, I did slightly better on the practice math than I did on the practice verbal (750 math, 740 verbal was my last practice test score). This translated very weird percentile-wise--the 740 was 99th percentile, but the 750 was 84th percentile. Nonetheless, even with a last-second review of trig with my engineering school-bound brother, I had a lot of trouble imaging I'd do better on math than verbal on the real test.
Because its computer-based, they can give you all your scores (except the writing section) right in front of you. My final score? 720 verbal....790 quantitative. For some perspective, not only is that higher than I got on my SAT (1510 versus 1500), my quantitative score on the GRE was higher than my verbal score on the SAT (780 in the latter case), after having taken a grand total of one true math class in the past three years.
Now I just have to figure out what that score means for grad school applications....
The GRE is a computer-based test, and has some weird quirks. The most notable is that the questions are path-dependent. If you do well on early questions, they start giving you harder ones. If you start missing questions, they become easier. I'm told they still throw in an assortment of difficulty levels regardless, for standardization purposes. But overall, the test adjusts to your ability level.
There are two main upshots to this. The first is that you can't go back to check your work. Once you input an answer, that's it, you're moving on. This is somewhat annoying, especially for someone like me who works fast (and thus sometimes makes sloppy mistakes) but generally catches them on the read-over. But that's not a huge deal. What is a big problem is that the difficulty-adjustment plays tricks on your mind. Now, I'm a pretty good test-taker. So let's say I get a few answers right early. Now I start seeing some harder questions. Oh my God, these words don't even look remotely familiar! This is so difficult! But wait, that should mean I'm doing well! Then, of course, a few questions pop up that seem easier. Good news? Nope--because now I'm convinced I got each of the last five wrong and the test as readjusted itself to "third-grader" mode. And so it goes, up and down, harder and easier. The entire ordeal is a recipe for paranoia.
But anyway, back to me. As I said, I did slightly better on the practice math than I did on the practice verbal (750 math, 740 verbal was my last practice test score). This translated very weird percentile-wise--the 740 was 99th percentile, but the 750 was 84th percentile. Nonetheless, even with a last-second review of trig with my engineering school-bound brother, I had a lot of trouble imaging I'd do better on math than verbal on the real test.
Because its computer-based, they can give you all your scores (except the writing section) right in front of you. My final score? 720 verbal....790 quantitative. For some perspective, not only is that higher than I got on my SAT (1510 versus 1500), my quantitative score on the GRE was higher than my verbal score on the SAT (780 in the latter case), after having taken a grand total of one true math class in the past three years.
Now I just have to figure out what that score means for grad school applications....
Monday, August 20, 2007
GREs
I'd like to say that my reduced blogging of late has been due to intensive GRE studying (I take the test Wednesday), but that would imply that I've been, er, studying (intensively or no). I've taken a few practice sections, and oddly enough, I'm doing better on the quantitative sections than the verbal. Odd, I know. But in addition to test prep, I've hit a bit of a groove on the article I'm working on, so that's the real culprit in why the blogging hasn't been quite up on top of things. Post-Wednesday, at the very least, I plan on getting back on pace.
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