Public school teachers seem to be enduring a lot of vocal criticism these days, as politicians and “reformers” call for measures that tie student performance to teacher job security.

While genuine public discourse about educational policy and philosophy should be a good thing for us all, it’s all too easy to lay the “accountability” at the feet of teachers and ignore the many other factors that contribute to student “performance”, some of which may be even more fundamental to student success.

For example, it turns out that if we provide students with healthier, more nutritious meals, they will perform better and miss less school.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/apr/10/school-dinners-jamie-oliver

Test scores up.  Absenteeism down.  Lifetime income substantially raised.  All by replacing industrial, highly-processed cafeteria food with the real thing.

I always liked Jamie Oliver.

I will be presenting today at the 2012 TEDxNYED conference at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York.

http://tedxnyed.com/2012/speakers/patrick-honner/

I will be giving a short presentation on creativity and mathematics.  I am very excited to be a part of the event, and to see other presenters like Christopher Emdin, Frank Noschese,  Bre Pettis, and many others!

The event will be live-streamed.  More information can be found at the TEDxNYED website.