It’s becoming harder and harder for independent schools to stand out from the crowd. Unless a school is truly a place that is clearly defined by a unique mission – and has the program and lived values to bolster the claim – it risks sinking. Either a facilities arms race will outpower it or lower price alternatives will undercut the…
When Lawrence Olivier produced Henry V toward the end of World War II it was partly funded by the government and intended as a morale booster. It was an heroic spectacle, a celebration of monarchy and a reminder of Britain’s past exploits in France. It opened in November 1944; five months after the Normandy invasion. Britain was back on the…
Epitaph on a Tyrant Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after, And the poetry he invented was easy to understand; He knew human folly like the back of his hand, And was greatly interested in armies and fleets; When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter, And when he cried the little children died in the streets. by…
I did not attend the NAIS Annual Conference this year – first time for many years – so I don’t have any takeaways to report like Grant Lichtman. But I was in Baltimore for an ICG (Independent Curriculum Group) board meeting and I was at the conference center to pick up a set of attractive little enamel badges (see below)…
Guest Post by Susan Scheid Writing in the Washington Post today, Fareed Zakaria weighs in once again, as many already have, on “what went wrong.” His solution? “Democrats need to focus on the gut, not the head.” Zakaria is often insightful, but in this case, he’s way off the mark, offering, as so many do, a facile prescription without anything…
Ok – so you wanted to be a head of school and you applied for a job and then you got it. Congratulations. Among all the things that you now have to make a priority is becoming the expert on the history of your school. This will take time. Schools are not alike and independent schools often take pride in…
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…
London on November 11th 1919 – a two minute silence at 11 o’clock to observe the first anniversary of the end great war. This photograph by an unknown artist conveys the collective grief of a people. To stand in that crowd in the stillness and silence for two minutes – the individual weight of personal loss and mourning magnified beyond…
Unless the mass of workers are to be blind cogs and pinions in the apparatus they employ, they must have some understanding of the physical and social facts behind and ahead of the material and appliances with which they are dealing. – Schools of Tomorrow John Dewey; Evelyn Dewey 1915 Children today need to understand, just as fully as did previous…
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…
This is the Night Mail crossing the border, Bringing the cheque and the postal order, Letters for the rich, letters for the poor, The shop at the corner and the girl next door. Just watch this clip from “Night Mail” – the documentary film from 1936 – and be transported to another time, another place. It’s the London, Midland, and…
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…
Here’s something terrific for free: It’s an E-book of great articles from the always useful Educating Modern Learners, an online source with which I am proud to be associated. I’m still working my way through the content – and in some cases re-reading – but no disappointments. These people write well about important and useful topics. See the list below.…
This well outfitted German trench has a lighted Christmas tree and soldiers celebrating with music and sausages! It’s true – there was a truce in parts of the line along the western front in 1914. The official diarist of the 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade reported: “Christmas in the trenches will always be remembered by the Battalion as a day of…
For anyone with even a passing interest in the First World War here is an unparalleled opportunity: Operation War Diary. The National Archive (UK) has digitized 1.5 million pages of British Army unit diaries, signals, operations orders and messages from the war. They are releasing them to an army of citizen historians to read, classify, and tag. Moving through the…