education 148

The fact that the people who will likely occupy the top of the socio-economic chain—and whose decisions will thus set the terms of most Americans’ existences—have little room for the…

During my brief foray into public education, I taught a group of seventh-graders a typical lesson from a standard middle school literature textbook: we read a chapter from Ramsey Ullman’s…

The future is grim, my friends.

We’re like small-mouth bass, and we’ve swallowed the technological treble hook.

"Intellectual" and "Disinterested," as we use them, are new words. I "prefer" old words: Scholar, Monk, Contemplative, Lover of Wisdom.

Academic leftists and conservative critics of academe are united in a fundamental proposition, says Stanley Fish. True enough, say I: education is endless and the world is a nauseating abyss.

Save, print, drink.

What is this thing we call “socialization” and why is there a perception that this is best achieved in the classroom and thwarted by homeschooling?

If there’s one thing we have in higher education today it’s a superfluity of bluster.

The fundamental reason why American children are not educated properly is simply because the American people do not want their children to be educated properly.

Computers are not The Answer to creating better students.

What is the purpose of education?

I just completed Nicholas Carr's excellent book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, and--because that's the sort of person I am--I couldn't resist writing a review-essay…

The problem is that public schools inherit children who are "overentertained and distracted."

Obama is suffering because whether or not it is true, he seems not to understand what is going on around the country. Whether or not it is true, he seems…

Holland, MI. I heard many fine presentations at Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Ethics and Culture from November 12-14, and one in particular that piqued my interest was…

Philadelphia, PA. If you have read just one of Wendell Berry’s novels or short stories, then you have glimpsed this Kentucky farmer’s love for family, place, and story.   In a contemplative…

Rock Island, IL “Morning Cyanide” is a fun game for the whole family. The best thing about it is this: not everyone has to be awake at the same time…

Claremont, CA. The New York Times has joined a host of other publications asking the question: Is college worth it? And again, just like every time I read an article…

Virginia schools are opting for local produce and ingredients over cellophane-packaged mystery meals. Are these elementary schools adopting a version of localism?

Claremont, CA. I spoke last week at the New Jersey Governor’s School for Public Issues, a (mostly) state-funded summer program for civic-minded students about to enter their senior year in…

My review of Jonathan Zimmerman's Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory appears in today's Wall Street Journal ("In One Room, Many Advantages"). The book is well worth…

Democratizing eighth-grade algebra promotes social justice. (Brookings Institution) Money, mechanization, algebra. The three monsters of contemporary civilization. Complete analogy. (Simone Weil) Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. There are a lot of conspiracy…

Many who are alarmed at the prospect of the “abolition of man” have found in Huxley’s Brave New World a dark and salutary warning – an imaginative rendering of our…