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Blog 3 Columns

  • Does Britain Have the World’s Best Health System?

    Does Britain Have the World’s Best Health System?0

    “The National Health Service is the closest thing the English have to a religion,” Margaret Thatcher’s Chancellor Nigel Lawson famously once observed. However, given the swivel-eyed fanaticism with which its supporters will defend it, even from the overwhelming evidence of its shortcomings, at this point it might be more accurate to describe the NHS as

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  • Why Today’s Students Can’t Pass This 1922 College Entrance Exam

    Why Today’s Students Can’t Pass This 1922 College Entrance Exam2

    For generations, each autumn has bestowed the unofficial arrival of adulthood on young people as they head off to college for the first time. But while the entrance into the Ivy Halls has occurred for years, one part of that ritual seems to have disappeared, namely, the entrance examination. Oh sure, we have SATs and

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  • Why So Many American Catholics Loathe Pope Francis

    Why So Many American Catholics Loathe Pope Francis9

    Around the world, Pope Francis is understandably rather popular. It’s not just that he’s a good pastor; it’s that he doesn’t hesitate to speak truth to power when he can have an effect. But he’s probably less popular among US Catholics than anywhere else in the Church. The reasons for that are instructive, and not

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  • Why did medieval monks preserve pagan literature?

    Why did medieval monks preserve pagan literature?0

    Many educated people – though perhaps not enough – know that it was medieval monks who preserved classical culture. Between their daily offices, the monks huddled in their cells by candlelight to copy the great cultural artifacts of Western civilization. But why did they preserve works that had been produced by, and often reflected, the

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  • Virtual Schooling is Surging

    Virtual Schooling is Surging0

    I haven’t been a student in a typical classroom since the turn of the millennium. Back then, technology was just beginning its march into all aspects of modern life, including education. Earlier this year, I took a fully online course and was pleasantly surprised, not only by its intellectual rigor but also by the virtual

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  • Pet-Sitting Kids May Now Get Slapped with Fine

    Pet-Sitting Kids May Now Get Slapped with Fine0

    I got my first job offer around age nine. It was for the illustrious position of “cat-sitter” and lasted for a handful of days while my neighbors were on vacation. The venture was successful, and for the next several years I poked my head through their hydrangea bushes and slipped in the back door countless

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  • Monopoly was Created to Portray the Evils of Capitalism

    Monopoly was Created to Portray the Evils of Capitalism0

    ‘Buy land – they aren’t making it any more,’ quipped Mark Twain. It’s a maxim that would certainly serve you well in a game of Monopoly, the bestselling board game that has taught generations of children to buy up property, stack it with hotels, and charge fellow players sky-high rents for the privilege of accidentally

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  • How to Lose Every Argument

    How to Lose Every Argument0

    Usually, I’m hesitant to lay ultimatums down saying that one tactic or another will never, ever work. That makes a lot of assumptions that I’m not qualified to make, However, I would say that with certain goals, being uncivil harms, not helps, the cause. This is true for any cause. But it is especially true

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  • 5-Year-Old Fined $200 … for Selling Lemonade

    5-Year-Old Fined $200 … for Selling Lemonade0

    On summer evenings when I drive home from work, I often see small children selling lemonade in my neighborhood. Most of the time I honk my horn and wave, but occasionally I’ll pull up and purchase a cup, usually for 25 cents. I happen to like lemonade, but that’s usually not my primary motivation for

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