What kind of choices will our students make when faced with big, hairy problems in their own lives, and for the world we leave them? Will they have the tools to make these choices based on sound information and reasoning? Will they repeat mistakes of the past, or will they learn from them? Will they [...]
The American experiment, which now seems so natural to us, is a thoroughly artificial device designed to counterbalance the natural impulses of group suspicions and hatreds. . . . This vast, artificial, trans-tribal construct is what our Founders aimed to achieve. And they understood that it can be achieved effectively only by intelligent schooling. (From E. D. [...]
Dear Friends and Colleagues, Last week I posted a blog after the Alabama special election. I have received some feedback that it was overly harsh and condemning of people and a region, and that some educators were so upset that I will probably no longer be in their circle of respect. To those who have [...]
While this space is used exclusively for matters related to education, we increasingly must find and deal with the Venn overlap of social, economic, and political trends that both reflect and impact the ecosystem of which education is just one element. What we teach/learn, and how we teach/learn MUST recognize the reality of the world [...]
America is not rural Nebraska. America is not suburban California. America is not 1955 and it is most certainly not 1776, 1863, or 1908. America is ALL of America, equal parts past, present, and future. Sen. Ben Sasse knows this…at least some of it. In Part One of this three-part blog series on Sasse’s book [...]
Feedback on our Sandbox series of FREE face-to-face virtual meet-ups has been off the charts! 100% of attendees say they took away something new and useful. 98% say they shared something with others 95% say it is super easy to join and use 96% say they recommend this form of PD to their colleagues So [...]
Part One of a three-part series on The Vanishing American Adult, by Sen. Ben Sasse Ben Sasse and I are very different people. Sasse is a conservative Republican who grew up in rural Nebraska, and now represents that deep red state in the United States senate. I am a fiscally pragmatic, social progressive, usually-votes-Democratic, [...]
You likely know the reputations of Oxford University and Eton College. Less familiar might be Queen Anne’s School, in Reading, just 30 miles west of London. What can my four days of visits at these three centers of learning tell us about the state of education innovation in the world today? Queen Anne’s School is [...]
Yesterday I wrote about recent speeches drawing lines in the sand around core American values, by George Bush, Barak Obama, and John McCain. A few hours later, Sen. Jeff Flake, one of the most conservative members of the Senate added his passionate voice in perhaps an historic speech on the Senate floor. I am not [...]
Educators have often been confronted with uncomfortable, and sometimes life-changing questions: When is it acceptable to take a controversial stand? When is it imperative? When should we follow a community consensus and when must we lead in opposition to community norms? On which issues do leaders rise, even when the threat of doing so is [...]
