Today a Russian fighter jet was shot down by Turkey. The pilots were captured by Syrian rebels. At least one appeared to be dead in a video in which the rebels chanted “Allahu Akbar” – “God is great” – over his body. Turkey, a member of NATO, claims that the Russian plane invaded
READ MORERecently, the Pew Research Center released a study on how Americans view the government. Not surprisingly, public trust of government is at an all-time low of only 19%. But there’s also low confidence in the American people. The survey shows that since 2007 trust in the public’s wisdom and ability to make political decisions has
READ MOREAccording to relationship coach and author Kira Asatryan, using the “busy” excuse is harming our friendships. Her three reasons why it might be time to eliminate the term “busy” in social interactions? “Everyone is busy.” Anyone can claim it at any time so it has become meaningless. “It’s open to (negative) interpretation.” The person on
READ MOREThe OECD (the organization responsible for the international PISA exam) just released a new study on the state of international education. Among the report’s many charts is one which shows the number of hours students are in school. The U.S. ranks quite high with roughly 90,000 compulsory instruction hours. In other words, U.S. students spend
READ MOREThe American Family Survey recently released a new report on American attitudes toward children, family, and marriage. When asked to name the biggest issue American families face, respondents did not pick economic related issues, such as a lack of jobs or high cost of living, nor did they pick cultural issues, such as the increase
READ MOREOn the first day of our spring semester, at the little liberal arts college at which I teach, I have for the last fourteen years had the joy of watching forty freshmen respond to the complexities and depth of a seemingly simple document, that we call, the Mayflower Compact. It really should be rather straightforward:
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