Blog Template

Are We Pushing Kids to Read Too Early?0
- Culture
- August 22, 2016
Late last week, The Washington Post highlighted a bit of a rant titled “What the modern world has forgotten about children and learning,” by author Carol Black. In essence, Black’s article takes issue with the modern education system’s insistence that every child fit into its timetable of learning. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than
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9 Surprising Quotes on Welfare Reform 0
- Culture
- August 22, 2016
On August 22nd, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, better known as Welfare Reform. Shortly before signing the Act, President Clinton noted that the old welfare system: “[I]nstills the wrong values [and] sends the wrong signals, giving children who have children a check to set up house on their
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‘American Journalism Collapsing Before our Eyes’0
- August 22, 2016
Veteran journalist Michael Goodwin, writing in the New York Post over the weekend, said a tragedy is unfolding before our eyes. Donald Trump may or may not fix his campaign, and Hillary Clinton may or may not become the first female president. But something else happening before our eyes is almost as important: the complete collapse of
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Memorization Is Still a Necessary Skill 0
- August 22, 2016
With another school year about to start, here’s a bit of advice from a recently retired college history teacher. Beware of teachers whose opening day gambit assures all new students that they have little or nothing to worry about on the following front: none of that dreaded memory work will be asked for, much less
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Children Should be Encouraged to Read Fantasy Fiction 1
- Education
- August 19, 2016
Recently I spoke with a friend who expressed some angst that his 12-year-old son was primarily interested in reading fantasy novels. Efforts to introduce the lad to higher forms of literature were proving more difficult than he’d expected. Not to worry. Fantasy novels and science fiction yarns, I said, are often gateways to the higher
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Were Cavemen more civilized than Millennials?26
- Culture
- August 19, 2016
In a previous article for Intellectual Takeout, I commented on G. K. Chesterton’s complaint that the modern world’s perception of the so-called “Cave Man” was based on a supercilious prejudice, or what might be called a chronological snobbery, which was akin to racism. The stereotype that we’ve created for our Neolithic ancestor is of a
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