I'm reading an encyclopedia entry about apes Koko, Panzee, Panbanisha, Kanzi, Washoe, and Nim Chimpsky.

All of these apes have learned approximately 150-300 words/lexigrams/signs. Several hundred non-human primates have been taught or attempted to teach basic signs, but could only learn 10-20, rendering the above-mentioned outliers.

Animal Language Acquisition (ALA) is criticized by cognitive linguists. They hold that language is an evolved trait, and that animals capable of language would have already evolved it as a means of communication. Most animals are not vocal, and therefore would use signing (or some form of gestulation) instead of oral speech; this is why Washoe was more prolific than most apes before her - she was taught ASL for communication as opposed to verbal speech.

I recently saw a news broadcast about a all boys elementary school. Going to an all womens college, I understand many of the reasons that girls like a single sex education, but I was really surprised at the evidence in this broadcast.

They brought up the fact that girls are much more ready to learn in first grade than boys are. Since the girls are ready, the teaching goes much more quickly since, to the teacher, it seems as if at least half of the class is understanding-the female half at least. These boys only schools slow down and make sure that their young men understand the material. Since boys are also much more active than girls, much if the teaching is hands on and interactive, so as to keep the boys' attention. More recess breaks are allowed also in order to allow the youngsters to run off all that male energy they have.

The first few of chapters of Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever talk about how women consistently defer to men. I agree with everything Judge Judy has to say on this topic. Women do allow men to step up and take credit for many of their ideas. The stereotype that girls should be shy and demure around men definitely has an impact on them. I often see some of my best friends who are absolute geniuses turn into dingbats the moment they are around boys. Who says that girls can't be strong minded and assertive?

It is the end of the semester and the work is piling up. The workload for most college students is unbearable. Three fifteen-page papers, three finals and two in-class presentations are on the agenda for this week alone. Not to mention finishing up that other essay due from two weeks ago that you needed an extension on. You are scheduled for twelve hours to work in the dining hall this week. The holiday season is upon us and you haven't finished your Christmas cards. Not to mention gathering all the presents you are expected to give. There is a month-long break coming up and your room needs to be ready for it. There are dust bunnies the size of Godzilla that are about to eat your month's worth of dirty laundry that still need to be done. You haven't packed a single sock and your mother is calling about trip arrangements. If it hasn't happened already, the dreaded all-nighter is coming for you!

When were you first exposed to a foreign language? Was it at home, or school? Does it offend you when people speak a language you don't understand in your presence? Today, Hispanics are the fastest growing (and largest) minority group in America. Given places like my neighborhood, The South Bronx, this is clearly a fact. I remember feeling like the odd girl out whenever my Spanish speaking classmates would utter their native language, leaving me without any clue of as to what they were talking about. My teachers always appreciated their presence in class, as they offered a lot more to our Spanish classes. They'd never consider suspending them for doing what we have the privelge of doing every time we open our mouths - speaking in our native language.

It now appears that coffee and tea reduce the risk of serious liver damage in people who drink to much (not that anyone at Bryn Mawr would ever do that), are overweight, or have too much iron in their blood.

Why do we still have to carry around pennies? Personally, I hate change. There is really nothing I buy that uses up my change. Pretty much everything in life costs at least a dollar, so why is the Federal Reserve still making us suffer through carrying around coin?

With the exception of Ebay, which typically has items start at a bid of 1 cent, there really are no items selling for just one cent. Even a piece of gum costs a nickel. Couldn't everything just be rounded to the nearest five cents or give a certain quantity of an item worth less than a nickel for 5 cents?

We have all heard of the tremendous wealth and generosity of Bill Gates (founder, owner, and CEO of Microsoft). He has donated millions upon millions upon millions of dollars to multiple charities. However, not many people have heard of the marvelous gift given by Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay. He and his wife, Pam Omidyar, donated $100 million to Tufts University (their alma mater).

What happens if you take a group of student bloopers made in history classes around the nation? This article. Read on if you want to laugh.

Many of us have a rough idea of what we want to major or even what career we want to follow. But, at the same time there are plenty of those who do no know what they want to do with their lives in the near future. College is suppose to be about taking different classes and experiences. Right?
In this article, college freshman face major dilemna, it talks about how it might be to your disadvantage if you delay on figuring out what you’re going to major in. It is suprising to hear that 80% prospectives are undecided. That is a huge amount! For those who already come to college with a major in mind, those students end up switching 2 to 3 times before graduating.

With finals around the corner, many college students are hitting the pharmacies. If they don't have prescriptions for the drug Adderall, then these pill crazed academics go

After reading Glamourous' new post about the Borden murders and how the murderer(s)? conversed their plans over sites like myspace and xanga, I felt that the poll needed to be counted. Check out Glam's post: Myspace, The Small World Phenomenon, and Kara Beth Borden

Anyway, I thank everyone who voted. This issue is near and dear to my heart (since my own old high school is trying to figure this dilemma out)High School on the Forefront of the Blogging Dilemma

Heaven won't have children if it’s up to Dan McCauley. Chicago restaurant owner has recently posted a sign on the front door of his restaurant

I know many of you have not seen the newest Harry Potter film, so I will not post about that as of yet, but here is an entry inspired by the events surrounding the film the past few weeks and influential they can be.

Paul English has cracked the codes. While everyone else is listening to a computer telling them to push "1" for more options to push more numbers, Paul is actually talking to a live person about his problem.

I was recently invited to a dinner by my head of school along with some of my high school (Oakwood Friends School) classmates in the area. The head of school had heard about Web of Influence and asked for my opinion on a matter of blogging. He described to me that a student had posted a picture and a comment that bad for the school's reputation. The kid was shown smoking a bong and saying, "They don't call it Dopewood for nothin'!"

College is expensive. We all know that. We also all know that it is getting more expensive as time goes on. Not only is this requiring a number of student loans and scholarships and financial aid, it is also preventing some brilliant people from continuing their education. I know plenty of smart and hard working people who graduated at the tops of their classes, but could not afford to go onto college. However, this changed in New Jersey in 2004.

This may be considered a continuation to my "Where do little girls learn to dress?" but this topic needs to be broadened to "Where Do Little Girls Learn To Act?"

How do you procrastinate?

This is somewhat related to Whimsical Monkey's post just below. I swear I didn't know!

Anyway, Will Richardson, an educational blogger I have a lot of respect for, wrote about a question he got from a teacher during one of presentations. She was saying that the students at her school were posting the answers to tests in their blogs. And she said, "What do we do about that?" Will's response was, creative use of blogging.

The principal of Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, NJ has told the students there to quit blogging or face suspension (note that the "real" journalist got the name of the school wrong, but this "just a" blogger checks the facts). He claims that he is doing it for their own protection ("please, think of the children!") but looks more like a freedom of speech issue to me.

Being at a single sex school has often been said to be more beneficial for learning than a coed school. Well last week in Newsweek there was an entire article about how beneficial an all womans school is. But the part that I found to be pretty exciting was that Bryn Mawr was the only womans school mentioned throughout the article. It talked about how by being at Bryn Mawr the author herself, was a

This is a tangent that I was thinking about, and am therefore branching off of Judge Hatchet's blog. With regards to children and dressing older than their age, there's another issue entirely when dealing with clothing.

What do you wear to getting a job? We've all been told that first impressions last a lifetime, but what do people do when they can't get those interview worthy clothes? There are hundreds of websites give a set of rules and guidelines for how to dress when searching for a job. But if you already don't have the income to afford to follow those guidelines, where do you go?

I know the issue has been raised many times, but it was called to my attention again while reading this article in the latest edition of newsweek, written by none other than a Bryn Mawr alumna, Christine Flowers. The topic in concern is the education and experience that single-sex institutions provide. While mens colleges have been completely phased out, the few prominent women's colleges still left struggle to stay afloat. Personally, I think that single-sex higher level learning institutions provide amazing opportunities to their students and it makes me so sad to think that they may one day fade away all together.

As I'm sure everyone knows, TheFacebook is a web community designed to connect students with other students from around the world. TheFacebook is a helpful tool, providing an outlet for students to search for friends from high school and meet new friends at their current college.

However, there is a draw back to this "technological advancement." Everyohe has heard their parents say "well when I was your age, we didn't have the internet, much less cell phones." This article from Newsweek explains how college freshman, now more than ever, are so technologically advanced.

Reading the Barely Legal Blog this afternoon made me realize that there are some aspects of college that are totally an improvement on high school, and others that still haven't changed.

In his post entitled "Random Rant," of which I feel our blog contains many, Russ talks of the students in his Monday/Wednesday class who constantly fly into a panic when the teacher says, "We will pick up there tomorrow." I agree with his rant. Everyone should be mature enough to know that the teacher means, "At the next class," but no; everyone has to snicker or say, "You mean Wednesday?"

Prom has been cancelled at Kellenberg Memorial High School this year, and 489 seniors are outraged. The administration feels that this is a necessary measure due to the fact that the money being spent on gowns, tuxedos, limos, and after-parties is becoming excessively excessive, to say the least. Whether it is being viewed as a right of passage or an outlet to flaunt the most expensive designer labels, school officials feel that it is unnecessary for thousands of dollars to be spent on this one evening. Requests by the schools to parents to not go overboard have gone unheeded, and $500 gowns and tuxes keep strolling in the door on Prom night.

Today is the day that I catch up on everything that I've been putting off this past week. My catch phase for this week was "I'll do it tomorrow." Research for a paper? I'll do it tomorrow. Studying for a mid-term? Oh, I'll just do it tomorrow. It's a vicious cycle, isn't it?

Procrastination catches up with us all, whether you be the student who waits to study until the night before (or until 1 am before) your big test, or waits until the day before a paper is due to write that twenty page research paper.

I recently read Judge Hatchet's blog on dress codes, and it got me reminiscing and reflecting. At my old school, it was free dress till the end of my freshman year in high school, when the dreaded uniform was implemented. There was an uproar at the announcement- how could the administration do such a thing! Our freedoms were being threatened! Petitions were passed around, talks were held, l'esprit de la revolution filled the air. I stayed silent in all the chaos, for as a student who was often picked on for not really giving a damn what i wore, the uniform was a minor blessing in disguise. Now, no longer could anyone accuse me of dressing poorly, or being slovenly. (i wasn't, i just enjoyed being comfortable.) Those students who flaunted their brand names the most were the ones who cried foul the loudest. I felt that the uniform was so helpful in eliminating alot of boundaries between students, because nobody can tell your monetary status when everyone is dressed the same.

Now that I am in college, I don't have to worry about dress codes like I did in high school (not that there was really anything to worry about). My high school only did a double take if someone's skirt was like see through or they were wearing a t-shirt that advertised an alcoholic beverage. Other than that, it was pretty much fair game for what one wore to school.

My sister now attends a very conservative boarding school that has some very strict guidelines pertaining to dress. No spaghetti straps, no bellies, no outlandish hair styles ect.