Who’s Afraid of Nell Scharff? (cross-posted at Schools Matter) Now, if you’ve read The Atlantic‘s piece on the “writing revolution” (I’ll review this in another post) you may have picked up on the name Nell Scharff, but you may also have just paid her no attention. She is introduced in the piece and identified in this way. Her [New Dorp principal] decision in 2008 to focus…
Schools (Don’t?) Matter, (Nor) Does Creativity?
Okay, I’ll confess to being less than tactful most of the time. But I gotta tell you, I’m pretty tired of one particular complaint that I hear (rather, read) again and again on education sites and FB pages dedicated to combat testing regimes in public education: “Your stealing my child’s creativity!” Be sure, I too am against constant and coercive testing as this serves our…
“takers and parasites,” this means you
It is this–more from Matalin than from Romney–that makes me believe the US has “leaders” (oligarchs) entirely capable of a massive “downsizing” of its population. Who would offer to defend the population of the US against its government/oligarchs? Who can “correct” the unmatched military power in the world–the one who has proven more than ready to incinerate populations? There can be no consequences (international courts?!)…
Examining the Beats
For Eric and the forthcoming teacher-student collaborative blog: “The Monkey-Rope.” From The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) The novel ends in a figuration that is so well-known that I thought it would interesting to pull out the one word that seems to capture the “flailing” nature of our human constructions–our dreams. This word is repeated nine times in the novel (the discovery of…
To Dissect a Polemic: First, Examine the Polemicist
Dissecting The Atlantic’s Reform Manifesto: Part IV Go to Part I; Part II; Part III “Why Kids Should Grade Their Teachers,” by Amanda Ripley I had an instructive moment in my education well after I left the educational institutions at which I’d been vacationing (“all work and no play,” right?): I was working at a bookstore, naturally, as I was “between” my eight or nine Clinton-approved careers (there are…
Empty of Fact: Rachel Brown’s Bellwether Propaganda
I asked Doug Martin, my colleague at The Common Errant and a dogged investigator of politico-corporate-educational malfeasance, to help us interpret the misleading graphic presentation offered by Rachel Brown for The Atlantic‘s Reform Pamphlet. Ms Brown seems to responsible for page 87; I don’t think it’s appropriate to say she wrote it as it is primarily a presentation of “content” I would compare to what Netflix offers…
Listening to Literature, or Hearing Hard Words
I believe I’ve said somewhere else that I really only discovered a “fecundity” of thinking in myself* when I started listening to audiobooks while walking. You know how you need to justify reading to yourself as an activity that isn’t just “wasting time” (stupid American “values”)? Maybe you don’t, but something in me, still, even after realizing what a great part of life actual thinking…
Homeschooling, Freely Unequal
Dismantling The Atlantic Monthly Reform Manifesto 2nd Installment I. I introduced the The Atlantic’s Reform pamphlet (“22 pages…”) by focusing on the presentation of content. But, I regret to say I left out what might have been the most important part: the “cover” of the section. It’s a TEST BOOKLET! Surprised? II. Now, this is clearly ideological content on all levels. There is ZERO subtlety here. How is…
Autism, ADHD, Adaptation and Randomization
[Cross-posted at Schools Matter.] I. Some time ago I wrote a piece noting how it seems autism is becoming a useful “disorder” to have. (I used the quotes for a reason which I hope becomes clear.) The post, “Autism: the next ‘specialty’ credential,” tried to create a kind of choral effect between an essay by Adam Philips on the cultural definitions (always changing) of “mental…
“Clubbed Voices” for the Doubtful
It is often said that Moby Dick is difficult to read. I don’t intend to disagree. It’s the kind of book that really can’t even be classified with clarity these days. It is in no way like a novel that we read now the time) SometimesIn the USA, â public information on erection Is dose-dependent and cialis without prescription. (much more levitra vs viagra vs cialis…