Episode 2 is now available for download: Agassiz, Inc. Please share far and wide, early and often. Thanks! This week I speak with biographer Christoph Irmscher about the legacy of Louis Agassiz, one of the most influential men in the development of the practice of science in America. Irmscher’s book is called Louis Agassiz: Creator […]
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What is Learning?
Question: Define the purpose of guttering on a house. Answer: Choose the response that represents your thinking. a. to catch rain water coming off the roof b. to catch and direct rain water deflected by a roof out away from a vulnerable foundation c. to correct an imposition d. to protect a preconception We have […]
Expressing a Patriotic Core
“Expressing a Patriotic Core” was posted on Schools Matter today. This is a review of “How Self-Expression Damaged My Students,” by Robert Pondiscio in The Atlantic Monthly. Pondiscio is a PR man for The Core Knowledge Foundation which is the nationalist organization founded by conservative educationalist E. D. Hirsch, Jr. I spend a good part […]
Because We Said So
I felt the below was worth passing on. We have no “establishment” journalism any longer; from the NYT to the Washington Post to Your Local Paper (if you still have one), these vestiges of another era serve only to promote the reigning ideology of business. And how can we blame me them, we opine, they […]
The Value of Employment in Education
Here are some things I noticed today looking at the HR postings for a local school corp. High School Guard (one really ought to train in law enforcement): $14.70 per hour, 8 hours. Preventionist: GED. Aids in literacy education: $8.70 per hour, 6.5 hours Locker Room Aide: No clue what this is: $8.70 per hour, […]
Eliminating Randomness
You know I’ve written against Minecraft in the near-past (and I promise I was being gentle in presenting my argument) and what follows, though only notes toward something, builds a bit upon it. First, I’ll propose that the only thing unique about the human animal is its language (and what that language “constructs”). Next, we […]
Judge Not Lest…
From a letter by Morse Peckham in response to a New York Review of Books piece by Christopher Ricks on five of his works, “Out of Order (1971).” Judging Art: (1) Any proposition can be used as a basis for judging art. (2) An indefinably wide range of propositions has so been used, and new ones […]
From Foreign Policy to School Systems
Recently I started working in our school system as a “preventionist.” This is basically an aide position and paid that way. The job posting required no degree and simply a GED as education level. Preference would be given, though… All that was indicated otherwise was, “should be able to work closely with a literacy coach.” […]
Buying Mayor Ballard: More Truth About the Project School Closing
In my last piece, The Truth about the Project School Closing: The Indiana Corporate School Complex,” I noted how Indy mayor Greg Ballard was promoting a school privatizing movement full of crony capitalism, propaganda, and lots of money, one at odds with the community-led/social justice Project School. Therefore, the fact that Ballard, last year, accepted tons of […]
Losing Our Soul–Silencing Heart, Mind and Voice
If you haven’t read Doug Martin’s piece on the planned destruction of what remains of the ethos that is Community as well as the very heart of true Charity (take some time to think about the real meaning of this word), please set to it with all speed and attention. It is a detailed report […]
Articles
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Explanation and Example: Capitalist Nationalism
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Building the Insanity In: Ex Machina
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Dislodged Giant: Can We Use Stevens to Interpret Dickinson?
