SHOP TILL YOU DROPShopping for 'Cut Scores'
…In a phenomenon test administrators say they have known about for years, some savvy students are deliberately seeking out institutions with lower entrance test benchmarks that will either place them out of remedial coursework or require them to take less of it. Among discussions of ballooning enrollments and constricted budgets, this student tactic was a point of much discussion at last week's meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges…. (Inside Higher Ed)
WHAT, ME WORRY?Scientists fear worst on global warming
Politicians insist that urgent and widespread action can yet prevent the worst of global warming but the cracks in that argument have been showing for some time.
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Today's Guardian poll of attendees at a climate conference last month ... exposes the gulf between political rhetoric and scientific thinking. Of more than 250 experts surveyed, more than half said the 2C target could still be achieved but only 18 thought that it would be. By the end of the century, most thought average temperatures would rise by some 4C.
…The authoritative report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 laid it out in simple terms. If carbon emissions continue to rise at present rates, then the IPCC's best guess is a 4C rise by 2100. The Guardian poll merely highlights a belief that the warning has simply failed to penetrate. As one said: "I think a full understanding of what must be done quickly, and the consequences of insufficient action, is lacking among the policy makers and the public." Another said: "Current government actions are playing into the hands of ... an electorate that doesn't quite understand how serious climate change is."
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Bob Doppelt, director of the climate leadership initiative at the University of Oregon, said: "One of the problems is that the issue is still being framed as a scientific and environmental issue. This is a major mistake. Climate change is just a symptom of dysfunctional social and economic practices and policies. It is a social and economic issue. The emphasis needs to shift away from the biophysical sciences now to the social sciences if we have any hope of solving this problem."…. (The Guardian)
