Links van 29 mei 2018 tot 3 juni 2018

De nieuwe schoolstrijd: excellentie versus gelijke kansen – De Standaard
Wie zegt dat ons onderwijs tegenwoordig onvoldoende excellentie stimuleert, heeft een punt. ‘De zesjescultuur’ noemen de voorstanders van excellentie het. Niet dat die enig effect zou hebben op leerlingen met een achterstand, want de ‘verloren groep’, die zelfs het laagste niveau niet haalt in de PIRLS-test, is bij ons eveneens groter dan in de ons omringende landen. Op basis van de cijfers blijken de pogingen om de achterblijvers en drop-outs op te krikken weinig succesvol. We scoren dus niet op het vlak van excellentie, maar evenmin op dat van gelijke kansen creëren.

A New Hope (2003) on Vimeo
The original concept was to film people playing their favourite scenes from Star Wars episode IV. It quickly became clear that not all of the scenes would get filmed if we proceeded in this way. The AAS pookahs told us to film any remaining scenes reading from the script wearing rabbit masks.

Microsoft – GitHub acquisition talks resume
Microsoft recently held talks to acquire software developer platform GitHub. The talks have come amid GitHub's struggle to replace CEO and founder Chris Wanstrath, who stepped down 10 months ago. GitHub was last valued at $2 billion in 2015, but the price tag for an acquisition could be $5 billion or more.

Israeli army kills Palestinian nurse in Gaza border protest: medics | Reuters
Razan Al-Najar’s death brought to 119 the number of Palestinians killed in weekly demonstrations launched on March 30 in the Gaza Strip, an enclave controlled by the Islamist group Hamas and long subject to grinding Israeli and Egyptian embargoes. Najar, a 21-year-old volunteer medic, was shot as she ran toward the fortified border fence, east of the south Gaza city of Khan Younis, in a bid to reach a casualty, a witness said. Wearing a white uniform, “she raised her hands high in a clear way, but Israeli soldiers fired and she was hit in the chest,” the witness, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.

Senior EPA officials collaborated with climate change denial group, emails show | Environment | The Guardian
Newly released emails show senior Environmental Protection Agency officials working closely with a conservative group that dismisses climate change to rally like-minded people for public hearings on science and global warming, counter negative news coverage and tout Scott Pruitt’s stewardship of the agency.