stem

The four major disciplines propelling our students and our society forward; all about education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

40 Complaint Letters, 5% Valid: What Schools Lose When Parents Stop Talking
Start with the numbers: 40 complaint letters. After review, substantively valid and compliant complaints accounted for only 5%. What about the rest? A child was bumped by a classmate. Two extra pages of homework. The teacher’s voice was a little loud.
By Jin22 minutes ago in Education
The Secret Compartment Economy: Why Schools Cannot Win the Phone War
On e-commerce platforms, one thermos has an inner liner whose bottom unscrews into a compartment. The product page says: “Double-layer hidden compartment, metal-detector-proof.” Next to it is a storage box shaped like a fake book. Open the cover and inside is a phone-sized hollow, with the product image helpfully labeled “lockable.” Scroll further and alarm clocks, desk lamps, lunch boxes, and tissue boxes have all been remade for the same purpose: hiding phones.
By Jin4 days ago in Education
The Teacher Who Was Reported for Doing the Ordinary Part of His Job
When Zou Hua learned a complaint had been filed against him, he was preparing a lesson. The principal opened the door and called his name. Zou Hua put down his pen and followed him into the hall. The principal said nothing until they reached the office. Then he played a video. A parent held a phone toward the camera and said the teacher would not let her child eat. Zou Hua watched it twice. He recognized the parent of the student who had cut the lunch line. He stood for a moment and said, “I told him to step out of line and wait at the back so the other students could get their food first.” The principal did not reply.
By Jin6 days ago in Education
The Slow Research Promise Was Never Meant for You
Who gets to slow down? In spring 2025, a “slow research” initiative circulated among AI scholars. One hundred nineteen teachers and researchers signed it. They pledged not to select students by paper count. The wording stayed modest. It targeted undergraduates. It did not call for sitting on a cold bench. It did not claim moral high ground. It said something practical: a CV stacked with papers can hurt an applicant with teachers who care about taste.
By Jin7 days ago in Education
Ten Strange Scientific Experiments That Sound Completely Fake
The Scientist Who Gave Himself Tapeworms The famous self-experiment conducted by the late British TV doctor, presenter, and medical journalist Dr. Michael Mosley.
By Kristen Barenthaler7 days ago in Education
They Were Forced to Pose With the Word “Humiliation.” Fifty Days Later, the Investigation Is Still Silent.
On August 26, 2026, Leibo County in Sichuan’s Liangshan Prefecture held its autumn education administration meeting. More than twenty teachers were called to the stage. They wore white shirts and black trousers. Behind them, on a large screen, were two Chinese characters: 耻辱. Humiliation.
By Jin10 days ago in Education
I Used a College Theorem on My Exam. The Grader Drew a Line Through It.
The scout and the bricklayer The first time I used a theorem I was not supposed to use, I lost four points. The answer was right. The method was not. I had written the name of a university calculus rule, and the grader drew a line under it and wrote: No basis. Four points gone. Not because I was wrong. Because I had walked into the exam with a foreign passport.
By Jin10 days ago in Education
One Word, Three Schools, and a Century of Confusion
The Chinese word xueyuan (学院) is used for too many things. One xueyuan may be an independent undergraduate college with its own charter, admissions office, and president. Another may be a dean’s office inside a university, a unit that cannot award a degree on its own. A third may be a research institute with no undergraduates. A fourth may be a missionary-era college that once called itself a shuyuan (书院). The sign on the door is the same. The institution behind the door is not.
By Jin10 days ago in Education
Beyond the Stage: How One Los Angeles Nonprofit Is Opening Doors to Careers in Music and Entertainment
For many young people growing up in Los Angeles, the entertainment industry is everywhere and yet, for some, its opportunities can feel impossibly out of reach.
By Crystal Willis11 days ago in Education
Beijing Has 26 Elite Universities. Four Provinces With 300 Million People Have Six.
26 and 6: The higher education rift between Beijing and the four provinces Beijing has 26 Project 211 universities. Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei have more than 300 million people and six. Put these numbers together. They need no annotation.
By Jin12 days ago in Education
A Tsunami Hit Mathematics. Academia Just Built a Surfboard.
On October 11, 2026, the Yau Mathematical and AI Laboratory Alliance was established at Tsinghua University. Shing-Tung Yau leads it. It brings together eight major mathematical institutions: Qiuzhen College, the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, the Beijing Yanqi Lake Institute of Applied Mathematics, the Morningside Center of Mathematics, the Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences, the Southeast University Yau Center, the Hetao Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences in Shenzhen, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s cross-disciplinary mathematical science academy. The alliance has more than 1,000 scientists. Its stated directions include mathematics-specific large models, AI-assisted formal proof and conjecture discovery, interpretable AI, and intelligent computing in cross-disciplinary fields.
By Jin12 days ago in Education
AI Proved 370 Theorems Overnight. The Math Department Went Silent.
Three in the morning, fourth floor of the math department. One corridor light was out. The other made the whiteboard look gray. Lao Chen refreshed arXiv. The list had grown by three hundred seventy proofs. The numbers ran one after another, like parts coming off a line. He clicked the first one. Two lines of definitions. One lemma. He scrolled. On the third page, he stopped. The whiteboard still held the problem he had written three years ago. The same conjecture. Its corner was smudged from his sleeve. He closed the page. The screen went dark and showed the stubble on his chin.
By Jin12 days ago in Education