Near the beginning of George Orwell’s 1984 our hero Winston Smith attends a rally at the Ministry of Truth where he works in the Records Department. It’s the daily ritual two-minute hate – a routine emotional release designed to keep everyone full of fear and enraged at the enemies of the state. Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds,…
I: LANDSLIDES AND REALITY WHY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NEEDS TO DISAPPEAR. Ron Reagan, Jr., recently offered, as clearly and succinctly as anyone, why the Republican Party, as currently constituted, needs to disappear. We have a two-party system in this country. You could argue that maybe we should have a multi-party system, and maybe that’s what will happen in the end…
As we head into Back-To-School season, what are your school’s plans for teaching the 2016 presidential election? Seems to me that the some tried-and-true routines of the past are not going to work in any valuable and instructive way this season. One approach would be to ignore it all together. More peaceful that way for sure. But what a lost…
“You Have Sacrificed Nothing” Grieving father Khizr Khan said four simple words: “You have sacrificed nothing”. It was one of those moments of astonishing clarity. A father grieving over the loss of his son – and speaking without notes or a teleprompter – delivered a resounding rebuke of everything Trump is and stands for. These words sang out in a…
Human apathy is the greatest calamity of all. I have heard many extraordinary presentations and speeches at NAIS Annual Conferences over the years. None has had the impact of Bryan Stevenson. I was one of perhaps 6.000 plus educators who heard this remarkable performance by a gifted storyteller last Friday. It moved many to tears and all to their feet…
We celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday on Monday and that means a day off. It’s a recent habit to use a part of the weekend to read or re-read something he wrote and give it some thought. Seems the least thing to do. Last year it was Have Courage: The Letter from Birmingham Jail. This year it’s the speech he…
Here’s some good advice from Superman worth sharing in these political times of divisive politics and inflammatory anti-immigration rhetoric. “…and remember, boys and girls, your school – like our country – is made up of Americans of many different races, religions and national origins, so … If YOU hear anybody talk against a schoolmate or anyone else because of his religion,…
Here for one way to start is Derrick Gay’s TEDx talk exploring the challenges of the word “diversity.”
I haven’t read Go Set a Watchman and I’m not sure I will. I did read the first chapter in The Guardian and was not particularly impressed. If Harper Lee did not want it published then she didn’t want it read. But read it or not, it’s hard to miss all the controversy over the publication and the revelation of…
The Letter from Birmingham Jail One of the most resounding rebukes in history. And as you read you can hear the cadence of the voice rising and falling with indignation and righteousness. It’s a long letter. Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure…
In Memory of Lance Corporal Frank Herbert Sims. Royal Army Medical Corps who died on 28 January 1919 Age 34 Son of Albert John and Rosa Sims, of Streatham, London; husband of Frances Sims, of 115, Strathyre Avenue, Norbury, London. Father of Edith and Kathleen. With the a brief two hour exception last Friday, I have never worn a poppy. This…
Could it be that some of the harping on 21st century skills and the need for 21st century schools is partly a political pretext for the ignorant and arrogant to bash and trash teachers and schools? Just a thought in response to Teacher of the Year Anthony Mullen’s Road Diaries in Teacher Magazine. “Teachers should be seen and not heard”.…
On the last day of the year, time to show an affirming flame as another low dishonest decade ends. I’ll leave all the best and worst and top ten lists to others, but merely remark – that for all the base mendacity in the real world, life in school remains a place of joy and possibility. The words and phrases…
When I’m in the car I listen to WAMC, and yesterday I heard Roland Fryer’s Dowmel lecture. His specialty is race-based economic issues, and his research projects seek to answer the question of why African-Americans are harder hit by poverty than other demographic groups in America The focus was education and the data dismal. Fryer is a brilliant economist, an…
Is this what we mean by that current refrain “Whatever it takes”? This is from another era – 1991. Anything much changed? More well-intentioned (mostly) but misguided reformy ideas. And it’s always worth remembering the Latin roots of the word “inculcate” meaning to grind in with the heel.