Topic: Education

In the past two weeks, the two biggest university ranking surveys - from the Times Higher Education and the US News & World Report - were released. The news was mixed for the University of Illinois. The school finished #24 on the THE world poll, ahead of such heavyweights as the London School of Economics and Carnegie Mellon University. But the law school placed 47th in the US News ranking, a lowly spot for a school that was once finished consistently in the top twenty. These rankings cause a lot of consternation, since they can affect fundraising efforts, and attempts to recruit high-achieving new students. But according to Scott Jaschik, editor of Inside Higher Ed, both surveys have serious problems.

Music - The Beach Boys, "Be True to Your School"

The University of Illinois is proposing a joint venture with the Chinese Department of Education to set up a Confucius Institute, for the study of Chinese language and culture. There are institutes like this at colleges all over the Midwest, but they are also controversial. Some people are uncomfortable with working so closely with the Chinese government, while more conspiracy minded people believe the institutes are a covert form of spying. Wolfgang Schlör from the university joins us to discuss the proposal.

Tonight, PBS is airing a documentary about the war over textbook content in Texas. Two years ago, radio documentarian Trey Kay made a one hour special on the first major textbook fight, which took place in West Virginia in the 1960s. The fight back then was more than political - books were burned, schools boycotted, and one protestor was shot through the heart. Kay joined us to discuss what many see as the start of the American culture war.

Jim Meadows, Illinois Public Media News

Sean Powers, Illinois Public Media News

Guest Host: Jeff Bossert

From time to time, Illinois Public Media organizes or participates in other organizations’ “community conversations.” They’re opportunities to discuss a wide range of issues and ideas, to hear what various communities care about, and – ideally, for those of us in the news business – to inform the stories we ought to tell, and the way we ought to tell them. Such was the case Thursday. Illinois Public Media's Jim Meadows and Sean Powers join us to discuss what they learned from conversations with attendees of an event through Champaign Unit 4 schools.

Michael Schlosser, Interim Director, Police Training Institute
Margaret Gray, Graduate of PTI’s 10-week Adult Citizens Academy course

State and university officials have been working on a plan to keep the University of Illinois’ Police Training Institute open. The state’s Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board unanimously agreed earlier this month to re-certify courses there, after initial discussions about closing the facility led to vocal support from area legislators and Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing, among others. While all involved are working to determine what shape PTI will take in the months ahead, we thought it might be helpful for you to learn a bit more about what the Police Training Institute already does now. Craig Cohen will talk with Michael Schlosser, Interim Director of the Police Training Institute, and Margaret Gray, a recent graduate of the PTI’s 10 week long Adult Citizens Academy course.

David Leake, Staerkel Planetarium Director; Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Parkland College
Illinois Public Media's Craig Cohen speaks with Staerkel Planetarium Director David Leake about the "Transit of Venus." The planet will pass across the sun for six hours, beginning at 5:09pm the evening of Tuesday, June 5th, and then not again until the year 2117. Parkland College invites the public to view the transit using Staerkel Planetarium telescopes. The public is invited to park in the C-4 parking lot on the west side of Parkland College, and south of the planetarium, and then walk to the telescopes

Marina Terkourafi, U of I Assistant Professor and Director of Modern Greek Studies

Kathy Sweedler, Extension Educator, Consumer Economics Champaign/Ford/Iroquois/Vermilion Unit, University of Illinois Extension