1 . My university has now topped the U.S. News &. World Report rankings for 11 years running. Given Princeton’s success, you might think I would be a fan of the list. Not so. Don’t get me wrong. I am proud of Princeton’s teaching, research and commitment to service. I like seeing our quality recognized. Rankings, however, are a misleading way to assess universities. Different schools have distinct strengths, structures and missions. The idea of picking one as “best”, as though educational programs competed like athletic teams, is strange.

However, the U.S. News rankings attract great attention and a huge customer base. Applicants and their families rely on the rankings and feel pressure to get into highly regarded institutions. As a result, many schools make intense efforts to move up in the rankings. This competition produces damaging consequences. For example. some universities avoid doing difficult but valuable things—such as admitting talented lower-income students who can succeed at university if given appropriate support.

Still, students and families need comparative information to choose universities. If rankings mislead, what is the alternative? For generations, buyers have turned to Consumer Reports for advice about almost everything except university education. When Consumer Reports evaluates a product, it assesses multiple factors so that potential buyers can make their own choices wisely, Similarly, university applicants need information about some basic variables. Graduation rates are crucial. A university that does not graduate its students is like a car with a bad maintenance (维修) record. It costs money without getting you anywhere. What applicants need is not the average graduation rate, but the rate for students with backgrounds like their own. For example, some places successfully graduate their wealthy students but do less well for lower income students. Applicants should also see some measures of post-graduation outcomes.

Here is a partial list of other factors that matter: cost of tuition (学费) and fees; high-quality teachers actively engaged in undergraduate instruction; and a learning culture composed of diverse students who study hard and educate one another. Judged by these criteria, many schools could be “Consumer Reports Best Buys”. Applicants should be excited to get into any of them; they should pick the one they find most appealing; and they should not waste time worrying about which is “the best”.

It would be great to have a Consumer Reports for universities. I hope that some national publication will have the courage to produce an annual, user-friendly Consumer Reports-style analysis of higher education institutions, even if it is not as attractive as a football-style set of rankings. In the meantime, those of us who understand the imperfection in the rankings must call them out—even when, indeed especially when, we finish at the top.

2 . While technology addicts teens to their devices, they are not helpless against the draw of it. Here are five ways educators can support their students’ digital well-being.

Explore design tricks companies use. The technology we use daily is designed to catch and hold our attention. Companies know what keeps our eyes on the screen. To help, teachers can unpack design tricks and explain how companies employ features like auto-play to get users to stay on their apps.     1    

Talk about how technology can increase feelings of anxiety. The decline in youth mental health is linked to an increase in social media use.     2     We can help our students by allowing them to consider the benefits of technology and then to think about changing the habits that aren’t serving their well-being.

    3     Social media can bring the feeling: “All my friends have better lives than me.” Plus, design features like “read receipts” can lead to teens knowing their messages have been seen and stressing about why friends haven’t yet replied. These are classic examples of thinking traps. Identifying them can help teens remove some negative thoughts.

Uncover the ways that AI can play a role in misinformation. AI is rapidly changing the world. Recommendation algorithms (算法), which determine what we do and do not see in our search results, can have very real results.     4     By understanding how these technologies work, students can start to enjoy more benefits of technology.

Encourage families to have meaningful conversations with their child. Take the time to share with families the topics and resources you’re teaching in class.     5     Knowing we’re all in the same boat is important.

5 . For many years we have talked about education in a changing society but have done little to educate for uncertainty. Perhaps the best insurance we can offer for this uncertainty is the presence of a good mind. To develop a good mind the student must learn how to learn and develop a taste for learning. The world of tomorrow needs flexible individuals, intelligently mobile individuals, individuals who can land on their feet when their jobs become technologically outdated, and individuals who can deal with the unexpected.

To educate for flexibility we must distinguish between training and education. To train is to emphasize immediate goals to neglect (忽视) the long-term growth. To educate, however, is to foster (培养) limitless growth to develop the good mind.

An inevitable element in education for flexibility is an attitude favorable to change. This is hard to develop. It requires faith in oneself and in the future. Then, what can the school and college do to build an attitude more favorable to change? Certainly they can and must develop the self-confidence of students, and build them up with repeated success instead of constant failure. Schools and colleges can help students admire what is admirable and provide continuing guidance in how to become a real person having faith in the future and having a good mind of his own.

To meet the striking social changes of the future, continuing education is a necessity. As Native Americans noted, you should keep on learning as long as you're ignorant. The flexibly educated person knows that today's fact may be tomorrow's misconception. So we should raise awareness of lifelong learning.

The test of a modern society capable of meeting change with accelerated (加速的) evolution instead of revolution does not lie in asking, “Is everybody learning?” To be learning is not only a condition for survival; it is also the basis for being richly alive.

Good morning, everyone!

Thanks for Listening!

7 . Attachment Parenting is not Indulgent (纵容) Parenting. Attachment parents do not “spoil” their children. Spoiling is done when a child is given everything that they want regardless of what they need and what is practical. Indulgent parents give toys for tantrums (发脾气), ice cream for breakfast. Attachment parents don’t give their children everything they want, they give their children everything that they need. Attachment parents believe that love and comfort are free and necessary. Not sweets or toys.

Attachment Parenting is not “afraid of tears” parenting. Our kids cry and have tantrums sometimes, of course. But they do this because their emotions are so strong that they need to get them out. They simply expect us to listen to them. We pick up our babies when they cry, and we respond to the tears of our older children because we believe firmly that comfort is free, love is free, and that when a child is in need of comfort and love, it is our job to provide these things.

Attachment Parenting is not Clingy Parenting. I do not cling (抓紧) to my children. In fact, I’m pretty free-range. As soon as they can move, they usually move away from me. Sure, I carry them and hug them and chase them and kiss them and rock them and sleep with them. But this is not me following them everywhere and pulling them back to me. This is me being a home base.

Attachment Parenting is not Helicopter Parenting. I don’t hover. I supervise (监督). I follow, I teach, I demonstrate, I explain. I don’t slap (拍，打) curious hands away. I show how to do things safely. I let my child do what he wishes to do, first with help and then with supervision and finally with trust. I don’t insist that my 23-month-old hold my hand when we walk on the sidewalk because I know that I can recall him with my voice because he trusts me to allow him to explore and he trusts me to explain when something is dangerous and to help him satisfy his curiosities safely.

Most of the negative things that I hear about “Attachment Parents” are completely off-base and describe something that is entirely unlike Attachment-Parenting. Attachment Parenting is child-centered and focuses on the needs of the child. Attachment Parents simply believe that children are taught, not trained.

8 . The term home schooling means educating children at home or in places other than a normal setting such as a public or private school. These days, homeschooling in America is ________.

Teaching methods at homeschooling ________. Some parents follow a strict timetable and ________ a traditional school environment. Other parents follow an extreme form of homeschooling in which they do not give grades or tests and allow their children to study wherever they want. More parents, however, follow the middle ________ to provide a balance between freedom and discipline.

Why do parents choose homeschooling? Some believe that children in public schools experience too much “peer pressure”, or social pressure from friends. They say it may have a ________ effect on the child’s studies. Other parents are dissatisfied with the quality of education in the public school. About half the parents who teach at home are ________ motivated and use lessons by mail or Internet from church schools. Whatever the ________ may be, it is evident that more and more children are being taken out of normal schools every year. ________, many questions have emerged, encouraging the debate over home schooling against public schooling.

What then is the future of education? Although children often learn well at home, weak regulations in most states mean that officials rarely challenge or ________ parents who say they are home-schooling. As the ________ continues, so do the questions about what home schoolers are studying at home. How can parents ensure that their children are prepared academically for college? How are home schoolers ________ to make sure they are getting the same educational standards that school students must have? Recent studies in the United States have shown that homeschooled children tend to be slightly better in subjects like English and art, but they are obviously less ________ math and science. Finally, there are questions regarding the children’s emotional development. Are they too ________ their fellow students? Are they ________ the opportunity to get the social benefits of being in a large classroom of students? As with any debatable issue, the answers to these questions are never ________.