Schools are scenes of extreme manipulation and coercion. Our national and state interest in them is less than benign, or as the soft-hearted among us might say, less than caring. Let us, residents of our…
Posts tagged education
Learn to Read, Güero
Last night we saw a movie with friends and then went out to share a meal and chat. Normal sounding stuff but really a bit sideways to normal. We went to Güeros, a Spanish language…
The Dystopian Perfection of Whiplash
We watched Whiplash last night. By all accounts it was an intense experience. Nerve-wracking to say the least. Perhaps triumphant in the end, but I don’t think so. Have you seen it? If not, in…
Break It Up But Don’t Sell It Off
It’s quite simple to say there was, at one point in England’s history, shared or common land upon which groups of people subsisted and the method by which they managed these lands allowed for a…
A Sane Impulse and a Clear Lesson: Charter Schools
Let’s dare to be honest about charter schools. There is no “testable” benefit. Which is to say that testing tells us the same thing about any school environment. Kids, as humans, grow and develop variably,…
UPDATE: About a Boy? Richard Linklater’s Critique of Woman
UPDATE, 1/5/2014: Patricia Arquette as quoted on IMDB concerning her character submitting to drunken abuse by men: “Now, I wouldn’t be like that. I would climb across the table and stab him in the head…
Neither Men Nor Toadstools
AUDIO: Neither Men Nor Toadstools I’m inclined to think “teaching” and “instruction” in institutional contexts are only misguided industrial practice. The best that can be done (and one might admit it’s not nothing though suspect) is…
The Enemy of Idealism
I hope you can recall how many times I’ve castigated, lamented, condemned the role of “business” in education, particularly lemonade stands. If you don’t, let me remind you with some links Is headache buy cialis…
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…
Emerson on Education Reform
An audio recording of this excerpt from “New England Reformers” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1844) read by Douglas Storm. The same insatiable criticism may be traced in the efforts for the reform of Education. The…