Given the recent interest in starting universal preschool programs in states and cities around the country, it’s perhaps no surprise that The Atlantic highlighted the one begun by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio. As The Atlantic describes it, de Blasio’s preschool program is the great equalizer which gives the same goods and services
READ MOREOne of the great transitions in education in the past fifty years has been the increased emphasis on the so-called STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – and a corresponding diminishing of the place of the traditional liberal arts or humanities, especially literature, history and philosophy. This has been due in part to
READ MORELast week, I bought an item at the store, swiped my card, and then signed my name on the electronic notepad at the register. But while such an occasion is a regular occurrence, I came away with a unique experience: my electronic signature actually looked normal. The thought passed through my mind that technology must
READ MOREIt’s commonly believed by Americans that allowing students to skip grades is unhealthy for their social and emotional development. However, an article in this month’s Scientific American suggests the opposite. The article describes the work of the “Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth” (SMPY), which over the past 45 years has identified 5,000 gifted individuals and
READ MOREI recently ran across a cartoon which depicted two boys glancing out the window while playing on their digital devices. The word balloon read, “It’s sad to see others playing outside. They must not be fortunate enough to have a phone.” Yet even while many exclaim what a shame it is that children are increasingly
READ MOREYou can tell it’s the silly season when journalists and media organizations are freaking out because a journalist asked a presidential candidate pointed questions. Earlier this week during a Commander-In-Chief forum on NBC, Matt Lauer asked Hillary Clinton about her use of email from a clandestine server during her tenure at the State Department. Clinton
READ MOREWhen it comes to America’s educational woes, maybe the problem isn’t a ?“dumbed-down” curriculum or a lack of student effort… Maybe the problem is that there are too many ugly teachers? Okay, that’s just a bit of an exaggeration. However, a new study conducted by University of Nevada researchers and published in the Journal of General
READ MOREDuring my senior year AP English class in high school, we read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It was brutal. I thought I was a pretty good reader because I had worked my way through most of Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, and Leo Tolstoy, but I struggled to get through Heart of Darkness. To this day,
READ MOREth college football season upon us, this is a good time to consider again the allure that fielding winning teams in the big-money sports (football and basketball) has for many higher education leaders. Just as many students are convinced that getting into an elite college is essential to their futures, so many college presidents are
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