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  • Ben Franklin’s 5 Tips for Making Americans Better Writers

    Ben Franklin’s 5 Tips for Making Americans Better Writers0

    On average, American students demonstrate poor reading skills. Indeed, the most recent Nation’s Report Card shows that only 38% of high school seniors are proficient in this area. But high school writing skills are worse: only 27% of students – one in four – achieve proficiency in writing.    In 1733 Benjamin Franklin noted, “It seems

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  • Ben Franklin’s 5 Secrets to Successful Friendships

    Ben Franklin’s 5 Secrets to Successful Friendships0

    In a recent edition of Psychology Today, Dr. Suzanne Degges-White suggests that the pathway to living a better life comes through being a better friend. As such, she goes on to list ten ways in which individuals can improve their approach to friendship. While Dr. Degges-White’s suggestions are valuable, I couldn’t help but wonder what

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  • Ben Franklin’s 4 Rules for Disagreeable People

    Ben Franklin’s 4 Rules for Disagreeable People0

    Ever had an encounter with a person who, despite all your efforts, is difficult to get along with because he is so disagreeable? If so, Ben Franklin would probably sympathize. His high level of interaction with the public, not to mention his overbearing relatives, likely led him to write the satirical “Rules for Making Oneself

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  • Ben Franklin’s 3 Tips for People Actually Interested in Rational Debate

    Ben Franklin’s 3 Tips for People Actually Interested in Rational Debate0

    Benjamin Franklin’s famed Autobiography portrays a bright, talented young man, eager to be a success, but with a touch of mischief coursing through his veins. Reading between the lines, one can almost picture the spirited young Franklin as the equivalent of a modern-day Facebook troll. But something happened to Franklin in his late teens that

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  • Ben Franklin on the Value of Rational Debate

    Ben Franklin on the Value of Rational Debate0

    When students in a maximum security prison education program beat out West Point cadets in a debate competition a while back, the story made headlines because of its almost man-bites-dog nature.  West Point debate coach Adam Scher recently responded to the phenomenon in an opinion piece for The Washington Post. As Scher implies, debate competitions

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  • Ben Franklin never forgot this conversation with his father…

    Ben Franklin never forgot this conversation with his father…0

    When Benjamin Franklin was a boy he was very fond of fishing; and many of his leisure hours were spent on the margin of the mill pond catching flounders, perch, and eels that came up thither with the tide. The place where Ben and his playmates did most of their fishing was a marshy spot

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