Yes, I know there is an inauguration going on, but as far as I am concerned it is the day I planned to start working in earnest, so I am working (despite jury duty, which I hope to dispatch post haste). In this post I will work first by reminding Obama of certain campaign promises … More Back to the Twenties
I am in my house. The cat sitter drank the champagne. California is really beautiful. It is 2009. Watch out for “school reformers” and tell Obama to appoint Linda Darling-Hammond Secretary of Education! To be a school “reformer” is to support: § a heavy reliance on fill-in-the-bubble standardized tests to evaluate students and schools, generally in … More Linda Darling-Hammond
I never get over missing the Western landscapes and Woody Guthrie’s song “Roll On, Columbia” never fails to make me nostalgic. The video has majestic photographs, but listen closely to the song lyrics. They are racist, colonialist, anti-environmentalist, and although Guthrie would never admit it, they favor big business. These are some errors in modernization … More Limits of Modernity
The title of this post is an excellent question since so many of the poorly written essays I have read defend the implementation of “Biblical” principles. I know exactly what grades I would really give on these examinations. I learned how to make grades for courses like this one as a T.A. and I cannot … More What Grade Would Jesus Give?
JOB MARKET PEOPLE: You do not have to have a Ph.D. program at your new school, but you do want a strong major and a good M.A. Barring the M.A., you want a really, really strong major. Otherwise you might as well stay home and teach at a community college, or “go secondary,” because it … More RAPIDAMENTE
BANE: Do you know what it is to manage a course with a complicated textbook, an online activities manual with hundreds of pop up windows between which you have to keep navigating for each student, a test bank with very long and complex, but not very good tests in it, and WebCT? It means you … More Banes of Finals Week
In this post we will discuss Neil Postman, whom I did read for pleasure, but first we will mention my least favorite book of all time: The Velveteen Rabbit. I avoid public radio at this time of year because it is given to reading this book. THE VELVETEEN RABBIT I dislike The Velveteen Rabbit intensely … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Neil Postman. A Book of Anti-Pleasure: The Velveteen Rabbit
Now much has been discovered. RIEDUCAZIONE It was abusive but the thing about it was that, like all abuse, its ultimate goal was to teach self abuse. I already knew how to do that, having learned about it very early on in life. Education militated against it, which is why I liked education. Reeducation reactivated … More Mais, yeah: révélations du jour
ACADEMIA I have criticized Robert Boice’s writings on writing not for their actual content but because, I have said, they speak to people who do not know how to set up a writing program and need to know, or people who do not like to write and need to discover a way to write nevertheless. … More Balance. A Manifesto in Fragments
Every morning I face the debris of the life I allowed Reeducation to destroy. Some days it is more difficult than others and today is a difficult day. I have some points to make for this reason. 1. This is not a fully new insight but it is freshly said. Reeducation’s values involved “accepting” unacceptable … More Random Notes on Reeducation
