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Genetics—Not Fancy Schools—Largely Determine Academic Success, Study Finds 0
- Culture
- March 27, 2018
Late last week, an article in the U.K. Telegraph caught my eye. It reported on a new study which found that selective grammar schools – akin to what the U.S. might refer to as college-prep schools – aren’t necessarily the key to producing smart kids. The thing that does produce smart, academically successful kids is
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The Sexual Revolution’s Unwanted Progeny 0
- Culture
- March 27, 2018
A few months ago, I wrote about the sexual revolution that needs to happen, but won’t. Partly because the more powerful can, and often do, elicit grudging “consent” from the less powerful, seeing mutual consent as the sole moral criterion for sexual interactions is problematic. That’s one of the sexual revolution’s unwanted progeny. We need
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A Generation of Visigoths: Neil Postman’s Graduation Speech 30 Years Later 0
- Culture
- March 27, 2018
Neil Postman (1931- 2003) was one of the most prolific and influential American intellectuals of the 20th century. A longtime educator at NYU, Postman authored 18 books and more than 200 articles in the nation’s top magazines and newspapers, such as The Atlantic, Time magazine, and Harper’s Magazine. Part of Postman’s immense popularity, I’ve long
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The Real Reason We Have Mass Shootings 0
- Culture
- March 27, 2018
One of the unavoidable tragedies of youth is the temptation to think that what is seen today has always been. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in our responses to the recent Parkland, Florida, massacre. Part of the responses to those murders are calls to raise the age to purchase a gun and to have
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New Federal Program Takes Aim at the College Textbook Racket 0
- Economics
- March 27, 2018
College students will keep more money in their pockets thanks to a new US$5 million pilot program approved as part of the $1.3 trillion appropriations bill that President Donald J. Trump signed on March 23. The new grant program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, will support the creation or improved use of open
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Cell Phones, Silence, and Solitude: Finding Stillness in a Noisy World 1
- Culture
- March 26, 2018
“Whether or not it draws on new scientific research, technology is a branch of moral philosophy, not of science.” ~ Paul Goodman During my sixteen years in the classroom, I’ve witnessed the unbelievably rapid transformation of mobile phone technology. At one point, I overheard a brutally honest conversation between a group of senior boys. They felt
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