Digital Distractions, Decline in Driver Licenses, Worlds Awaiting

World Events (1:05) Guest: Quinn Mecham, PhD, Professor of Political Science at BYU  We welcome BYU political science professor Quinn Mecham back for his monthly analysis of three international events we should be paying attention to: A resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, economic and political crises in Venezuela, the British Referendum on EU membership.  Digital Distractions (28:05) Guest: Barney McCoy, Associate Professor of Broadcasting and Journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln  Put yourself in the shoes of college kids today with a high-powered computer in their pocket, tempting them with texts and status updates and endless opportunities for distraction.  It’s a real problem. Students surveyed for a study in the Journal of Media Education estimated they spend an average of 20-percent of class time using digital devices for stuff not related to class.  The Apple Seed (42:15) Guest: Sam Payne, Host of BYUradio’s “The Apple Seed”  Sam Payne joins in studio to captivate us with a new story  Decline in Driver Licenses (51:22) Guest: Brandon Schoettle, Project Manager of the Sustainable Worldwide Transportation Group at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute  If turning 16 is a big deal, it’s for really one reason – you’re old enough to get a driver’s license in most states and maybe even get a car if your parents really like you. So it’s surprising to discover that only a quarter of all 16 year-olds in the US have a license. That rate has actually been declining steadily since the 1980s when closer to half of 16 year olds were licensed to drive.  Ethnic Studies Course (1:06:04) Guest: Emily Penner, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Stanford School of Education and Center for Education Policy Analysis  Achievement gaps in US education are well-documented and worrisome:  black and Hispanic students are twice as likely as their white peers to drop out of high school. In math alone, black and Hispanic eighth graders are about two to three years behind their white peers.  Stanford researchers working with the San Francisco Unified School District wanted to help these students, but they didn’t bring in math tutors. Instead, they made a ninth grade ethnic studies class mandatory for all students with GPA lower than 2.0. The results were a measurable academic success.  World’s Awaiting (1:23:25) Guest: Rachel Wadham, Education and Juvenile Collections Librarian at BYU and Host of BYUradio’s new show “Worlds Awaiting”  How to instill a love of literature in children is the question at the heart of a new show on BYUradio, “Worlds Awaiting.” It premieres this Saturday, hosted by Rachel Wadham, the Education and Juvenile Collections Librarian here at BYU.