Crib sheet 15.06.10

Hundreds of thousands of readers have been consulting our University Guide 2011 since its launch last week, both the main league table and the specific subject tables . I've been having a look at which subjects are getting the most viewings and it seems the recession is at the forefront of minds of school leavers – or perhaps their parentes. Top of the list of courses is business and management studies (23,000 hits), which has been neck-and-neck all week with law (21,000). In third place, economics is on 12,000. The first arts subject to feature is English , on 10,000. As for the university profiles , which provide info about campuses, accomodation and fees, the most consulted page by some margin is Warwick's , followed by UCL's and Oxford's . Report card SpongeBob goes to school Why should teachers pick the topics used as a framework for learning? Find out what happens when the kids get the chance to choose . Simmertime Student complaints have soard 37% in the past two years. Is something going seriously wrong, or is everyone just a lot more moany these days? Phil Beadle The penny's finally dropped . It's not education, education, education. It's the economy, stupid. Quote of the week Does it sound annoyingly backslapping if I award the slot this week to the Guardian editorial of last Friday ? Judge for yourselves – we're on the topic of repaying student loans and our anonymous editorial writer suggests that those in high-wage jobs should make a bigger contribution than those in poorly paid employment: "Everyone would contribute, but investment bankers would repay more than social workers. Get the design right, and it could boost the public finances, by taxing the high-paid for longer. It is welcome that the Labour leadership contender Ed Balls is floating the idea. He should now turn his own highly educated brain to showing he can make the sums add up." On the margins Never did I imagine that one day the Improbable Researchers would deign to put their minds to something I actually care about. This week, no disrupted rabbit sex , no rising cows , not even a bishop's rectum . Instead the pressing issue of why washing machines walk . It drives me nuts. Some days mine gets more exercise than I do. And now they tell me it's because of bad vibrations – should I get the laundry feng shui-ed? What you said A heated faith schools debate erupted in response to the suggestion that Gove's academies plan would open the door to a lot more religious education. Conifer opined: "Sounds like a disaster in the making. Who voted for this government?" Thfc123 got up a few noses with: "If comprehensives were not so utterly rubbish in many cases parents would not be doing their damndest to pretend to be of faith so that their child could get a decent education. The left have systematically destroyed the UK education system and yet you are still moaning." And HandandShrimp asked excitedly: "Does this mean funding for the proposed Beelzebub High is now a goer?" Stories of the day Family business Why does the dynasty model work so well? Mike Baker Who's going to look after the national curriculum now? Apprenticeships How Essex has grasped the nettle and made them work Teaching awards Pats on the back for inspiring work in North, Midlands and Northern Ireland. Plus Shirley Williams talks about why it's all so important. Bonus of banking A university joins up with a Nobel prizewinner to offer loans to help disadvantaged women in Glasgow start businesses Series Philosophy for prisoners We're not happy about Nietzsche University challenge Sixth-formers finish their exams and dream of university And there's more EducationGuardian.co.uk All today's EducationGuardian stories EducationGuardian on Twitter Online learning and teaching resources from Learn Job vacancies in education Sign up to get Crib sheet as an email