links 1-12-11

India higher ed is a huge industry, as it is elsewhere (the crore equals 10 million):  the reason compulsory education messes up the economy and education of nation-states is this built-in bureaucracy that cannot be altered.  I have a post up about India's new mandatory schooling laws here.

A New Hampshire judge rules against homeschooling and for the socialization of students in mass institutions that are graded and peer-grouped. If this report is true, it is disturbing to hear.

AP program, notoriously overbuilt, undergoing much-needed rehab

Food Dyes in the News from Fed up with School Lunch

The McEducation of Charter Students

2011 Statistical Abstract  Data Book by the Census Bureau has numbers of homeschooled under Education, School Choice.  Lots of other data, too.

Open-Source Textbooks

MIT Introduces Complete Courses , from the post up at Open Culture:

This week, MIT’s OpenCourseWare project launched OCW Scholar, a new series of courses “designed for independent learners who have few additional resources available to them.” To date, MIT has given students access to isolated materials from MIT courses. Now, with this new initiative, lifelong learners can work with a more rounded set of resources. OWC Scholar takes video lectures, homework problems, problem solving videos, simulations, readings, etc., and stitches them into a structured curriculum. Perfect for the self-disciplined student. http://postinspace.blogspot.com/2010/11/think-twice-india-and-learn-from.html