Feeding Mind, Pursuing Truth
Blog 3 Columns
- Home
- Blog 3 Columns
C.S. Lewis’ theory on why so many modern marriages fail0
The last several years have seen a rise in articles sounding alarms about the decline of marriage. A Salon article and its accompanying graph from earlier in the summer are a perfect example. According to Salon, marriage rates have dropped roughly 30 percent since 1980, to 6.9 per 1,000 people, and everything from religious decline
READ MORE
‘White America’: Eminem channels Christopher Lasch0
- Culture
- August 11, 2016
You know Eminem, but do you know Christopher Lasch? He was one of the more brilliant political philosophers of the 20th century and seemingly spot on in his book The Culture of Narcissism. I was reminded of that when in the same day I watched Eminem’s White America music video and then skimmed The Culture of
READ MORE
Why the US needs more Career and Technical Education0
- Economics
- August 10, 2016
The National Conference of State Legislatures recently released a report entitled “No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State.” Recognizing the United States ranks 17th in reading, 21st in science, and 26th in math in international comparisons like PISA, the report set out to discover what high-performing countries were
READ MORE
What is the Goal of Modern Science?0
- Science
- August 10, 2016
“Whether, in the end, science will prove to have been a blessing or a curse to mankind, is to my mind, still a doubtful question.”—Bertrand Russell, The Future of Science (1924) By any casual reckoning, the modern scientific project has thus far proven a mixed success. To list the pros and cons would be a
READ MORE
Unruly students could be ruining your child’s future0
- Education
- August 10, 2016
Teachers, parents, and researchers have long recognized that unruly students in classrooms can impact the quality of education for other pupils, but it has been difficult to estimate their impact. In The Long-Run Effects of Disruptive Peers(NBER Working Paper No. 22042), Scott E. Carrell, Mark Hoekstra, and Elira Kuka report that classroom disruptions lead to more than just short-term lower grades
READ MORE
Students Seek ‘Non-White’ Roommate0
- Culture
- August 10, 2016
Racial harmony, ever-elusive in American history, is proving difficult in modern America, too. Consider this story from the Claremont Independent: A group of students at the Claremont Colleges are in search of a roommate for next year, but insist that the roommate not be white. Karé Ureña (PZ ’18) posted on Facebook that non-white students
READ MORE
How statistics are twisted to obscure public understanding0
- Education
- August 10, 2016
Mark Twain attributed to Benjamin Disraeli the famous remark: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.’ In every industry, from education to healthcare to travel, the generation of quantitative data is considered important to maintain quality through competition. Yet statistics rarely show what they seem. If you look at recent airline
READ MORE
Can You Compete with an 1899 American Civics Student?0
- Culture
- August 10, 2016
Jay Leno’s Jaywalking segments are notorious for providing multiple facepalm moments. Leno’s classic 4th of July segment is no disappointment in that respect, for it shows multiple interviewees stymied by simple American civics questions. Jay Walking: citizens show no knowledge of… by TalkerOne The fact that the grandfather of the last family in Leno’s interview
READ MORE
Why media should give the guy with the silly haircut a fair shake0
- Culture
- August 9, 2016
The latest superhero extravaganza, Suicide Squad, comes from the DC Comics universe. It’s an updated Dirty Dozen: gather half a dozen psycho crims with superhuman powers and promise them a reprieve from death row in exchange for carrying out black ops. There are lots of explosions, violence, a saucy female lead in hot pants, and deadpan humour.
READ MORE