Two News Stories From Abroad Suggest American Education Is On The Wrong Track

News about schools in England and Finland challenge a prevailing assumption in American education–that it’s better for students to learn on their own than to be explicitly taught. GETTY It can be risky to look to other countries’ education systems for models. Nevertheless, two recent news stories from abroad raise doubts about prevailing American views on how students learn. Too often, American education reformers and policymakers have called for emulating other seemingly successful systems without taking into account the myriad differences between any two countries. An approach that has worked…

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CNN Televised Its News Anchors Getting Drunk On New Year’s Eve

On Monday, CNN’s anchors and correspondents engaged in what has become an annual tradition for the network on New Year’s Eve: drinking on air. CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Brooke Baldwin and Randi Kaye spent the night drinking shots, champagne and vodka-sodas and encouraging viewers at home to join them, highlights of which you can see in the video above. While CNN was not the only network to show hosts drinking on air (Fox News hosts mixed drinks on camera during its New Year’s Eve special), its broadcast centered on…

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Reliance Jio Broadband Tests, Amazon and Flipkart Sales, Nokia 3310 India Launch, and More News This Week

Welcome back to our weekly news roundup, where we catch you up with all the tech news you might have missed during the course of the week. As you may have guessed, some of the news that most people were interested in was about sales, from both Amazon, and Flipkart. Amazon’s Great India Sale started on May 11, and ends today, May 14. In the course of the sale, we’ve seen a number of great offers on phones and other electronics, and Sunday your last chance to get a deal.…

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Facebook Instant Articles Now Compatible With Google AMP; Apple News Support Due Soon

In a move to unify news publishing platforms, Facebook on Thursday announced that it is adding support for Google AMP and Apple News to its Instant Articles platform. Publishers will now be able to create a single Instant Article article that can be published as Google AMP and Apple News articles as well. Facebook also laid emphasis on how this move will let the publishers cut costs on building different versions for three different platforms. While the Instant Articles SDK extension is available for Google AMP, it will be rolled…

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Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales creates news service Wikitribune

Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales is planning a news service that combines the work of professional journalists and volunteers. His goal is for Wikitribune to offer “factual and neutral” articles that help combat the problem of “fake news”. The service is intended to be both ad-free and free-to-read, so will rely on supporters making regular donations. One expert said it had the potential to become a trusted site, but suggested its influence might be limited. Wikitribune shares many of the features already found in Mr Wales’s online encyclopaedia, including the need…

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Fox News to drop host Bill O’Reilly after harassment cases

Fox News is reportedly about to drop the country’s top-rated cable news host, Bill O’Reilly, amid claims he sexually harassed female colleagues. The Wall Street Journal – owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News – reports the network is “preparing to cut ties” with the presenter. Pressure on Fox has mounted since recent reports that five women received $13m in payouts because of Mr O’Reilly. More than 50 sponsors have withdrawn ads from his show, The O’Reilly Factor. US media report that the board of 21st Century Fox…

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