Really interesting piece arguing in favor of sending kids to school a little younger, rather than a little older... The slight difference can make a big difference in the long run, in some cases.

Quoted: At what age should children go to kindergarten? At what age should your child go to kindergarten? What if these questions appear to have different answers?

A very interesting Medical Examiner piece from Slate about how doctors need to shift the focus away from diagnosis and toward treatment

Quoted: When doctors are freed from commercial pressure, how do they perform? It turns out improving the quality of health care has only a little to do with drug companies. Their influence is a symptom of a deeper pathology. The real trouble is that doctors—somewhat paradoxically—are not focused on actually treating disease.

Great PhD paper about parental involvement and spouse choice in urban India. She did a lot of her research using online marriage sites. I actually read a little blurb on this in the Atlantic Monthly - very cool.

Quoted: When parents are involved in mate choice, sons are significantly less likely to marry college-educated women and women engaged in the labor force.

This book looks worth checking out.

Quoted: Slate is publishing two excerpts from Tim Harford's new book, The Logic of Life, which is premised on the notion that if we want to understand our world—or how to change it—we must first understand the rational choices that shape it.

A contentious statement from Bill Cosby. I think the writer does a good job of pointing out some of the flaws with his argument, while bolstering his better points.

Quoted: A few years ago, Bill Cosby set off a firestorm with a speech excoriating his fellow African-Americans for, among other things, buying $500 sneakers instead of educational toys for their children. In a recent book, Come On People, he repeats his argument that black Americans spend too much money on designer clothes and fancy cars, and don't invest sufficiently in their futures.

Wow, apparently Japan is adopting Indian forms of education to make itself more competitive in the Asian markets.

Quoted: Suffering a crisis of confidence these days about its ability to compete with emerging Asian rivals, Japan is in the midst of a craze for Indian education.

Despite the fact that Yahoo! Answers has been more successful than Google's similar venture, this article refers to it as "every middle-school teacher's worst nightmare about the Web." Apparently the factual errors are egregious...

Quoted: The blockbuster success of Yahoo! Answers is surprising once you spend a few days using the site. While Answers is a valuable window into how people look for information online, it looks like a complete disaster as a traditional reference tool.

Melissa, great artice from Encarta! But I disagree with its contention that you don't need an MA to get into most doctoral programs. That might be the "official" statement of most PhD programs, but ask around (especially in the humanities) and you'll find that lots of people have MAs before applying...

Quoted: Master's degree programs are the ugly stepchild of higher education. They don't get a lot of respect, but they do a lot of the work around the house.