whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1.
(Comments)

...he Australian outback - long before the advent of cheap computing - the School of the Air was launched. Teachers communicated with their students over ham-radio and thousands of kids got a first-clas...

2. Dealing with the consequences of Zimbabwe
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nd Z$70 million to the US dollar and all prices double, on average, every month. If you're a school teacher on a fixed salary then each month you can buy half the food you bought the month before...

3. Zimbabwe: the Hollow State
(Analysis/Analysis)

...r. The result is that the only formally employed people left in the economy are working for the state as teachers, policeman, bureaucrats, street sweepers and the like. Most formal businesses are clos...

4. People, Planet and Profits: the complexities of corporate governance
(Analysis/Analysis)

... boards in some way? "No," says Janice Hester-Amey, portfolio manager at the California State Teachers' Retirement System in the US. It's a surprising response from a union pension...

5. Unlearning helplessness: how donors reinforce poverty and dependency
(Analysis/Analysis)

...them that they are just awful with men, bullied children have parents who think of them as weak, and the teacher of lazy students doubts they have the ability to be taught. Giving charity is just ano...

6. We're from Mars and we want to help: four lessons in development
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ence is far preferable to our own.  You really don’t want this."  And they go on to teach us how to be self-sufficient, propping up our unsustainable habits with donations and lar...

7. The Martians Really Care: four points to govern development
(Analysis/Ideas and Challenges)

...l Poland plays host to thousands of eccentric aliens who enjoy the climate and set up schools where they teach in their own language in a way totally foreign to the locals.  They work for free.&n...

8. Government rewards the worst schools for poor performance
(Analysis/Analysis)

...h to assist them out of their difficulties.  This results in the ((moral hazard)) situation where ((teachers)) get paid MORE when they do a worse job.  The ((unions)) encourage this situatio...

9. Does Africa need the most expensive school in the world?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...bsp; Winfrey's ((school)) dwarfs that.  Her 152 pupils will each cost over $ 60 000 per year to teach, house and feed.  This is significantly higher than the $ 7 500 I originally mention...

10. X Challenge: Develop the cheapest most effective school
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ty.  One laptop per child isn’t going to change this. In essence the requirements are good teachers, a pleasant study environment conducive to learning (no guns, no gangs, and kids with ...

11. How much does a free education cost?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ow much tuition costs when so much is donated (including their entire $ 14 million building, and all the teaching) but you can sponsor one of their 2 000 learners for $ 1 150 a year.  The total c...

12. The poor have never had it so good ... now what?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...y diversify by raising a number of different crops and livestock.  Development organisations do not teach this finesse.  They expect market conditions to remain identical.  But demandin...

13. School vouchers offer the poorest an opportunity to learn at better schools
(Analysis/Analysis)

...rse incentives to failing schools.  Bad, under-resourced schools receive extra money but, since the teachers and staff are not incentivised to improve or penalised for failure to do so, there is ...

14. What do Richard Branson and Che Guevara have in common?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...and keep providing for themselves and their families. The customer is always right and, if you like the teachings of Che Guevara, then the teachings of Che Guevara you shall have. People may fight f...

15. Senescence, the death of development
(Analysis/Analysis)

...l Poland plays host to thousands of eccentric aliens who enjoy the climate and set up schools where they teach in their own language in a way totally foreign to the locals. They work for free. Polish ...

16. Vouchers and Individual Choice
(Analysis/Analysis)

...l graduation scores of each of the different schools. That way parents can see which schools are better. Teachers’ Unions have become quite powerful and are extremely unhappy with these types of...