The United States declared independence in 1776 against what it saw as the overweening power of the British crown regarding taxes, regulations, and representation. Since that time, Americans have resisted anything that smacks of government enforced conformity. The United States at its founding...
In the UK, Physical Education (PE) is compulsory in state schools until the age of 16 – that is, that sports are compulsory for as long as education is compulsory. Every year, more and more parents complain to their children’s schools about PE; they believe that their children...
The length of full-time undergraduate degree courses varies from country to country, and may not be standard even within one education system. However, around the world four-year degrees are most common, with five years or more not unknown in countries such as Germany and Italy. England stands...
In the age of apparent equality women are increasingly encouraged to ‘have it all’, balancing career, children and marriage in order to be seen as successful. Some feel this is bad for children who are then cared for by a child-minder, nursery, or member of the extended family....
Universities are higher education (18yrs +) institutions, and in the UK they are traditionally publicly funded. Recently, the introduction (and subsequent increase) of tuition fees has prompted discussion about the possibility of privately funded universities, with Anthony Grayling's...
The question of the best way to raise children is one which is widely debated in all liberal democracies. It is also commonly believed that decisions regarding childcare should be left to parents in the private sphere of the home. Typically, states become involved in questions concerning...
Military recruitment has diversified in recent years to include the use of schools as a platform for the armed services to present to school children on future opportunities for employment. Though not altogether unheard of previously, in the United States it has become a particularly debated...
Latin and Ancient Greek were once considered central to an academic education in many countries. Latin was the language of much academic discussion until the eighteenth century; it was used since it could be understood by all “educated” people. Latin remains the formal language of the Roman...
One of the most contentious social issues in most countries is that of education. In education, people see a clear route to a better life for their children. Most people regard some level of education as a right; the degree of education to which we are entitled by right varies from country to...
Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter are breaking down barriers between teachers and students, redefining the way they communicate and interact with each other. Both current and former students ‘friend’ their teachers on such websites, which often contain a lot of information on...
The universities of Oxford and Cambridge, sometimes known collectively as ‘Oxbridge,’ have for many centuries been seen as the pinnacle of higher education, both within Britain and across the globe. Yet for the eleven or so centuries they have been in existence, many claim, Oxford...
The number of students going into higher education after finishing compulsory education has in recent years grown astronomically with many institutions accepting more students from poorer backgrounds than ever before. Such increases are generally welcomed, both by governments and by their...
In 2000, the United Nations convened a Millennium Summit to address the world’s main development challenges. The identified goals were adopted by 189 nations and set to be achieved by 2015. Target goal #2 was “to achieve universal primary education.” Since education is a...
The role that undergraduate studies play in employment and education is becoming increasingly difficult to decipher – not only for individual students, but also for business owners and education administrators. The issue for students mostly relates to the cost of the degree and whether that is...
It is interesting to note that the world’s best universities are also the most internationalized. Of course this is correlation and not causation but it does flag up some interesting issues. Part of the reason why Oxbridge and the Ivy League recruit so extensively overseas is, of course, because...
In a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Vernonia School District v. Acton that schools could randomly test student athletes for drug use, after a student, James Acton, was banned from trialling for his school football team without consenting to a test...
The debate between "comprehensive sex education" (also just called "sex education") and "abstinence-only education" is long-standing in the United States, and exists in many other societies around the world that are split between more sexually progressive groups and...
In most common law countries any common assault (that is deliberate or reckless physical contact without consent) is illegal. There are however a series of exceptions to that proposition where the public interest is deemed to justify allowing such assaults. For example, we allow people to cause...
English is widely regarded to be one of the most difficult languages to master. Despite its widespread use, both English-speakers and people learning English as a foreign language have complained about how hard it is to spell English words correctly. Although English is not alone in its...
Merit pay for state school teachers means rewarding teachers for better performance according to specific and measurable criteria. State schools are schools that the government provides (in the US and Canada known as ‘public schools’), as opposed to ‘private schools’, which are schools created...
Single-sex schools are schools that only admit those of one specific gender, believing that the educational environment fostered by a single gender is more conducive to learning than a co-educational school. Studies conducted have shown that boys gain more academically from studying in co-...
Sex education has been taught in schools in a range of countries around the world for nearly a century in various forms[1] it has become a fixture in schools in most Western countries. The specifics of the education program vary...
At a time when there is a common belief that the word as an art for is in decline, a question arises over what is being taught in schools and whether or not the 'classics' - the works which have been canonised by English scholars and are widely recognised to be the best works of art in...
A voucher system is one in which, instead of tax revenues being distributed directly to state-managed schools, parents are issued with vouchers that can be spent on education in any school, whether it is managed by the state or not. Schools therefore compete for pupils and the funds that come...
Nearly every country in the developed world, and more and more in the developing world, provide free primary and secondary education. Such education is generally uncontroversial and accepted as necessary by both liberals and conservatives around the world. In the case of university education,...
Affirmative action is the term used for a system that instead of operating purely on meritocratic grounds, grants preferential status in selection for people of a particular sex, race, ethnicity or other similar qualification. Affirmative action is used to assist groups who were victims of past...
Bullying can be any form of behavior, physical or verbal, intended to berate, humiliate, scare, or harass another person. The behavior is usually repetitive, and can extend over a long period of time. Bullies are frequently in a position of power over their victims, either physical or social....
The majority of the world's states have some form of welfare program meant to ensure the economic and social wellbeing of their citizens who may find themselves in dire economic straits, like unemployment, subsistence farming or landless day labour. The government may give financial benefits...
National testing of schools requires schools to test their children every year to measure how much they have learned. The government only gives money to schools which do the testing. The goal of national testing is to compare students in different schools and give extra money to those schools...
In many countries children are required by law to attend school up to a specific age. When children reach this required age they then often have the...
Single-sex schools are schools that only admit those of one specific gender, believing that the educational environment fostered by a single gender is more conducive to learning than a co-educational school. Studies conducted have shown that boys gain more academically from studying in co-education schools, but that girls find segregated schools more conducive to achievement.
Capital punishment is the sentence of death, or practice of execution, handed down as punishment for a criminal offence. It can only be used by a state, after a proper legal trial.
In this debate testing should be defined as all testing including, medical research, cosmetics, toxicology, and psychology research where animals are used in any part of an experiment. An animal could sensibly be defined as vertebrates.
In many countries children are required by law to attend school up to a specific age. When children reach this required age they then often have the choice to remain in education or leave in search of employment opportunities.
Internet censorship has been growing precipitously in countries around the world. Freedom House finds that 20 of 47 countries examined have increased their restrictions on internet freedom in 2011 and 2012 against only 14 with increasing freedom.[1] At the same time the methods of control have been becoming more restrictive.
Government transparency, the idea that government should be open about what it is doing with its citizens, has been around since the enlightenment when parliaments began to be more powerful than kings. We usually consider that governmental transparency is a part of good governance in a democracy.
