South China Morning Post (August 3)
“Plummeting scores in English-language tests among Japanese lower secondary school students have triggered concern that future generations will be unable to communicate in the world’s lingua franca. In nationwide tests conducted in April, just 12.4 per cent of 15-year-olds were able to reply correctly to five spoken questions in English.”
Tags: Communicate, Concern, English, Future generations, Japan, Language, Plummeting, School, Scores, Students, Tests
LA Times (June 14)
“The chances of getting COVID-19 will not be zero anytime soon—even for vaccinated people. So, for all of us to comfortably return to in-person work, send our kids to school and abandon our masks, we will have to rely on multiple lines of trust…. Unfortunately, Americans’ willingness to trust one another was already in decline before the pandemic began.”
Tags: COVID-19, Decline, In-person, Kids, Masks, Pandemic, Return, School, Trust, Vaccinated, Willingness, Work
Tampa Bay Times (April 5)
“Physical distancing and masks are being credited for a decline in common viruses.” Pediatric hospitalizations for respiratory illness are down 62% while only a single child has died of the flu, an illness that usually claims the lives of 100 – 200 children per season in the U.S. Beyond masks and physical distancing, other pandemic factors also play a role. “It’s become a serious societal faux pas to go anywhere with a fever – so parents don’t send their ailing kids to school.”
Tags: Ailing, Credited, Distancing, Faux pas, Fever, Flu, Hospitalizations, Illness, Masks, Pandemic, Pediatric, Respiratory, School, U.S., Viruses
The Economist (April 8)
Most cities now waste a tremendous amount of space providing parking for cars that aren’t moving 95% of the time. This could change. “When autonomous cars that are allowed to move with nobody inside them become widespread, demand for private cars could fall sharply. Starting in the morning, one car could take a child to school, a city worker to his office, a student to her lecture, party people to a club, and a security guard to his night shift, all more cheaply than taxis. Cars that now sit idle could become much more active, which would drastically change parking needs.”
