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Stop Blaming Poverty for Educational Problems 0
- Education
- November 3, 2015
Last week the news hit that U.S. student scores in math and reading had dropped. In stark terms, this news tells us that only 40% or less of American 4th and 8th grade students are proficient in math and reading. These poor results are excused by a number of issues, poverty being the most prevalent.
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Why Tennessee Forces Seventh Graders to Learn Islam 0
- Education
- November 3, 2015
How big is the distinction between education and indoctrination? Not terribly, if you ask some Tennessee lawmakers. They are pushing to remove any mention of religion from Tennessee’s State Academic Standards. At issue is an apparently controversial unit in seventh grade world history class that spends some time exploring Islam. At some point, the students
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14 Nuggets of Wisdom from Wendell Berry 0
- Culture
- November 3, 2015
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) combines knowledge and experience better than most intellectuals, having divided his time between writing and farming for much of his life. He is the author of more than 40 books of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, including such notable ones as The Unsettling of America and Hannah Coulter. He is known
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15 Thoughts from the Father of Modern Propaganda 0
- Culture
- November 3, 2015
Fascinatingly, the term propaganda has roots in the Catholic Church’s missionary work and push-back against the Protestant Reformation. Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media studies at New York University, describes the development of the word propaganda as follows: “The word had been coined in 1622, when Pope Gregory XV, frightened by the global spread of
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Tradition! “Fiddler on the Roof” Gets it Wrong 0
- Culture
- November 3, 2015
It is hard not to have seen the 1971 film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof or a stage performance of the play. It is a staple in high school drama clubs across the United States and the world. Many communities have a local playhouse that has at one time or another put on a
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Preschoolers Increasingly Using Tablets without Supervision 0
- Culture
- November 2, 2015
Last December, while spending time with a classroom full of inner-city children, I struck up a conversation with 4-year-old twin boys. They proudly told me that they had each received a tablet for a Christmas gift. I was duly impressed – and alarmed. According to today’s New York Times, my alarm was justified, but my
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