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  • The Wise Men Know What Wicked Things Are Written on the Sky

    The Wise Men Know What Wicked Things Are Written on the Sky0

    The end of the twentieth century of the Christian era is not far distant, and all about us things fall apart. There comes to my mind the last drawing from the pencil of William Hogarth, who died in 1764: it is a sufficient representation of the state of civilization today. Hogarth’s final drawing is known

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  • How One Teacher Discovered That iPads in the Classroom are a Bad Idea

    How One Teacher Discovered That iPads in the Classroom are a Bad Idea0

    In the last few years, countless school districts have passed initiatives to get iPads in the hands of every student. The rationale is that access to technology will improve learning and shrink achievement gaps between white and non-white students. But as teacher Launa Hall discovered, iPads in the classroom actually deter learning and other important

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  • High School Curriculum 200 Years Ago vs. Today

    High School Curriculum 200 Years Ago vs. Today0

    Has the curriculum in America’s high schools been “dumbed down”? The question is often asked, but many lack anything beyond anecdotal evidence to compare past curricula with the present.   So, to make an initial, humble offering for the sake of comparison, I thought I would post the curriculum of the first public high school

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  • Have Americans Forgotten How to Make Friends?

    Have Americans Forgotten How to Make Friends?0

    Have you ever heard of paying someone to be your friend? If not, prepare yourself, for renting a friend or hiring a person to “snuggle with” is a rising new business. According to The Atlantic, “Samantha Hess and Becky Rodrigues are paid to hug people. Cuddlers for hire, they will hold clients close, in a

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  • 10 Rather Sobering Quotes from Joseph Conrad

    10 Rather Sobering Quotes from Joseph Conrad0

    1. “Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.”   2. “It is not the clear-sighted who lead the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm mental fog.”   3. “A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.”   4.

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  • Virtual reality is coming. Is that a good thing?

    Virtual reality is coming. Is that a good thing?0

    The Financial Times has an interesting piece celebrating the developments afoot in the virtual reality (VR) sector. According to Roy Taylor, a vice-president of the chipmaker AMD: “’VR is happening here on a scale and with an energy you can’t believe,’ he said. ‘The universities are pouring millions of dollars into it. I don’t think

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  • Teaching Students to Write in the Wrong Way

    Teaching Students to Write in the Wrong Way0

    American students are terrible writers. Employers, professors, and statistics agree. In 2011, only 27% of American 8th and 12th graders were deemed proficient in writing. Naturally, teachers are working hard to overcome this problem. But a recent article in The Wall Street Journal makes me wonder if some are approaching it the wrong way: “English

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  • Single Moms Now Rooming Together

    Single Moms Now Rooming Together0

    Yesterday The Washington Post reported on a growing phenomenon: more single, separated, or divorced mothers are joining forces and moving in with each other. “When Kimberly Taylor separated from her husband three years ago, she and her daughter, Amelia, stayed in the marital home — a four-bedroom house in Woodbridge, Va., with a finished basement

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  • Being Emotional Isn’t a Form of Debate

    Being Emotional Isn’t a Form of Debate0

    Discourse, especially in schools, is miserable these days. As Randall Smith, the Scanlan Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, argues, there are only three options when it comes to uncomfortable topics, “Non-judgmentalism, furious indignation, or ironic detachment.” How he describes his experiences teaching at the college level goes a long

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