Various recent innovations in secondary education in New York have used the city itself as an organizing theme for curricular experimentation. Urban Assembly schools like the School of Design and Construction or the New York Harbor School focus students’ attention on the built and natural environment around them. [...] John Surico takes a closer look at CTE programs in New York City. — urbanomnibus.net

“Any time you post an ad for an unpaid internship, you’re writing ‘Poor people need not apply’ in big letters at the top,” says Mikey Franklin, founder of the Fair Pay Campaign to end unpaid internships.

If the fairness argument hasn’t been persuasive, the threat of lawsuits has been. Magazine publisher Condé Nast just settled a suit brought by some of its former unpaid interns. Rather than start paying, the company shut down its internship program altogether. — marketplace.org

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) today committed to timely passage of the National Design Services Act (NDSA), which will give architecture students the same relief from crushing student loan debt, which is already granted young lawyers, doctors and others – in return for community service. — aias.org

Demand for courses in agriculture, engineering and architecture have risen sharply, latest figures in third-level education show, indicating renewed confidence in the building and construction sector.

Student interest in science and business continues to grow but demand for subjects related to the built environment has rocketed, based on preliminary information on student first preferences put together by the Central Applications Office (CAO). — The Irish Times

Wendy Holm, the Boston Latin teacher who has incorporated Urban Plan into her economics courses, said it combines basic concepts she has taught her students with something very close to a real-world context.

“One of the goals that the Urban Land Institute has is that kids come out of this experience and through it have this broader view, then, of this kind of experience and take it into their adult life,” said Holm. — bostonglobe.com

The Working Group plan puts forward a number of recommendations that are worth pursuing under any financial model. However, we believe that the contingencies and risks inherent in the proposals are too great to supplant the need for new revenue sources. Regrettably, tuition remains the only realistic source of new revenue in the near future. — Richard S. Lincer, chair of The Cooper Union Board of Trustees

While the projects had wildly different end products, they both had a similar starting point: focusing on how to ease people’s lives. And that is a central lesson at the school, which is pushing students to rethink the boundaries for many industries.

At the heart of the school’s courses is developing what David Kelley, one of the school’s founders, calls an empathy muscle. — New York Times

Our goal is to raise $600,000 to cover the incoming students' tuition bills for one year while a long term solution is developed to sustain the Cooper Union's promise of free education. — One Year Fund

What if you could earn a degree as quickly or slowly as you can learn, regardless of whether you plodded through 80 hours in a classroom lecture?

That could be the next wave of higher education, as schools come under more pressure to cut costs while proving the value of expensive degrees and competing with the growing number of high-quality free online courses. Call it the decoupling of instruction and testing. — Co.Exist

Mark your calendars for the fast-approaching DesignDC, the annual conference of education and networking at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (Sept. 25-26) and the District Architecture Center (Sept. 27) in Washington, DC. For three full days, visitors can attend numerous education sessions that will cover just about every aspect in design.

In light of a new school year, a significant topic in this year's conference is continuing the discussion on school safety. — bustler.net