Category

Education

• 06.12.10
  Modeling a Speech
  Education (0)

  As a teacher, what words do you use to describe how to indoctrinate students rather than educate them? The task is made more difficult if you've received the remnants of a liberal education by which you've learned that your job is to educate rather than indoctrinate. So under those circumstances, how do you get students to parrot your ideology? Teacher Elizabeth Collins found a way. She calls it "modeling a speech." Read about it in Best of the Web Today, in an article titled, "Those Who Can't Teach, Blog"
  
  
• 03.06.10
  Wanted: Parents to educate the government’s children
  Education (0)

  Some of the letters in Wednesday's WSJ respond to an earlier article by saying the problem with schools isn't tenure. Several of them mention the parents. We've all heard these things before, but let's hear them out again: More important determinants are parental support... and Your editorial really should be about "No Parent Left Behind." Why are the parents not being held responsible for their children's lack of will and motivation in wanting to learn? If we go back half a century and review why schools were effective, we see that the majority of parents supported the ...
  
  
• 12.10.09
  Squabble
  Bash the Messenger, Education (0)

  Headline in the Battle Creek Enquirer: "MI lawmakers continue squabble over schools money" My response (posted as a comment on the BCE site): Squabble? Why do you use that word? It disrespects the democratic processes of disagreement, debate, and deliberation. And if Andy Dillon says the Republican plan has provisions that would cost us federal matching funds, couldn't some intrepid reporter have asked him just what provisions those are? They may or may not be something that speaks well of the federal funding. We need to know.
  
  
• 02.16.09
  Diether Haenicke, RIP
  Education (0)

  Tonight at the dinner table I was informed that Diether Haenicke, president emeritus of Western Michigan University, has died. I am glad to be alone now with the news, behind a closed door where the others can't see me. He was one of the best public university presidents, ever -- certainly the best one I've known of. He never stopped being a professor and a man of learning when he became an administrator. I don't work at his university, but Haenicke's influence has benefited us all. We don't live in Kalamazoo, but for ...
  
  
• 07.20.08
  Rote learning and problem solving
  Education (1)

  This is one of the best blog discussions I've ever seen: WSJ Health Blog: Do Pre-Meds Really Need that Year of Organic Chemistry? There are some excellent points, pro-and-con, that apply to a lot more than just pre-med education. I've been involved in some of these same arguments in debates about curriculum change in our local K-12 school district. My antenna picked up a bad signal when I saw these words from the academic dean of Harvard's med school: "[The curriculum] could be more focused on hypothesis generation and solving problems rather than doing the rote exercises that ...