Blog 3 Columns

High Schoolers Don’t Read Books Anymore… and Why That Sets Them Up for Failure 0
- Culture
- August 20, 2018
By now, it’s a well-known fact that American adults don’t read. Fourteen percent can’t read at all. Thirteen percent can’t read proficiently. And according to Pew, one in four adults didn’t even bother to pick up a book in the last year. But these are adults, right? They’re busy with work and parenting and social
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America, Aristotle, and the Politics of a Middle Class: A Review 0
- Philosophy
- August 20, 2018
Is the American project doomed because the Enlightenment liberal philosophy on which it is based contains such contradictions that today’s social and political failures were inevitable? Or are we inflicting disintegration on ourselves through bad thinking and bad choices in more recent times, committing a kind of cultural suicide? These are among the happy choices
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4 Ways to Talk to Boring People 0
- Culture
- August 20, 2018
If, like myself, you are an incurable snot, you probably often find yourself trapped in hopelessly boring conversations with hopelessly boring people. These, “boring people” could be friends, relatives, coworkers – anyone whom social standards (and basic human decency) oblige you to regularly engage in small-talk. However, even as you shrivel up inside as one
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Motherhood: Why Society is Making it the Most Stress-Ridden Career 0
- Culture
- August 17, 2018
An op-ed published last week in the New York Times has confirmed that motherhood is the most controversial and stress-ridden career of the 21st century. Author Kim Brooks knows this better than most. For her, it all started with a knock on the door by a police officer with a warrant for her arrest. The
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Is Political Correctness Killing Entertainment?0
- Culture
- August 17, 2018
On August 3rd, 1966, stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce was found dead in his bathroom, seemingly of a drug overdose. Only 40 years old at the time, Bruce’s untimely death followed a string of run-ins with the law, and a four-month period in a New York workhouse. The crime that landed Bruce in hot-water towards the
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Former Syracuse Professor Explains Why the University Should Not Be a Shopping Mall 0
- Culture
- August 17, 2018
As a colleague of mine recently observed, today’s high school students seem to be much more prone to choosing college alternatives than they were a few years ago. Such observation is not a figment of imagination, but a reality across the globe, a fact which various sources confirm. The first source is a poll out
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Cruel to Be Kind: Should You Sometimes Be Bad for Another’s Good?0
- Culture
- August 17, 2018
Imagine that someone you care about is procrastinating in advance of a vital exam. If he fails the test, he will not be able to go to university, an eventuality of major consequence in his life. If positive encouragement doesn’t work, you might reverse strategy, making your friend feel so bad, so worried, so scared,
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The Tragic Decline of Music Literacy (and Quality)52
- Culture
- August 16, 2018
Throughout grade school and high school, I was fortunate to participate in quality music programs. Our high school had a top Illinois state jazz band; I also participated in symphonic band, which gave me a greater appreciation for classical music. It wasn’t enough to just read music. You would need to sight read, meaning you
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Stoneman Douglas at 6 Months 0
- Education
- August 16, 2018
It was six months ago but feels like just yesterday. On Feb. 14, a deranged teen attacked students and staff members at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17. Like millions of parents and grandparents across America, I was transfixed by the news that day, watching the coverage with horror. I grieved for
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High Schoolers Don’t Read Books Anymore… and Why That Sets Them Up for Failure 0