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Why Can’t People Disagree Without Taking Things So Damn Personally?0
- July 20, 2016
Many in our audience express dismay about people not being able to discuss hot-button issues – politics, religion, race, sexuality – without it devolving into anger and name-calling. Why is it that people can’t have a disagreement without taking things so damn personally? Well, one obvious reason is human nature. Our positions on controversial topics
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Who Said It: Famous Philosopher Or Disney Character?0
- Education
- July 19, 2016
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Middle School Reading Lists 100 Years Ago vs. Today 5
- Education, Literature
- July 19, 2016
I recently dug up a 1908 curriculum manual in the Minnesota Historical Society archives. It provided instructions on everything from teacher deportment to recommended literature lists for various grades. As a book lover, I was especially interested in the latter! With the exception of a few textbook-like anthologies, the chart below lists the recommended reading material for
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Can the Decline of the West Be Stopped?0
- Culture
- July 19, 2016
In watching the 2016 campaigns unfold, it’s hard not to be depressed. It feels to many like America and the West are in decline. Demographic and economic struggles, threats from parts of the Muslim world, increasing tensions with China and Russia, and racial tensions weigh heavily upon many Americans today. At the same time, it feels
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Oxford Scholar: A Remedy for the Decline of Knowledge 0
- Culture
- July 19, 2016
When I was 9, I somehow ended up in a grade school musical entitled Tracers of Lost Parts of Speech. The play used a mild mystery format peppered with songs to teach young children about nouns, adverbs, prepositions, and their many other blood relatives. While I enjoyed being in the play, my 4th grade friends
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James Madison on the Separation of Church and State 1
- History
- July 19, 2016
It’s not unusual to witness discussions on the topic of whether or not the United States was founded “as a Christian nation.” (Or, worded slightly differently, whether or not America had a Christian founding.) The answer to this question depends largely on semantics. On one hand, the Founding Fathers were overwhelmingly Christian and built a
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