Too Much Inspiration

Last night, I saw Jonathan Kozol give this year’s inaugural lecture of the Civic Discourse Series, a joint venture of Suffolk University and the Boston Athenaeum.

A whirlwind of thoughts is twirling through my head, picking up other ideas along the way.

I found his speech was breathtaking. When it came to asking questions, although I was able to think of a question, there was so much to ask. I’m still thinking about it and still thinking of questions I want to ask.

And I want to do justice to his lecture. So, tomorrow I’ll publish a longer piece on it. Subscribe by email to get tomorrow’s essay emailed to you.

Weekly Review: December 11th to December 17th

I am ambivalent when there are too many good things over the course of a week.

My attention is caught among trying to sift through all these different news articles and bring you some of the best that I can find. I want to share all the interesting things that I found but if my attention is strained trying to find them, your attention is just as strained because of the information with which you are trying to keep up yourself.

I hope that you will enjoy the articles that I have included here.

Do you have suggestions on how I can make the Weekly Review more interesting or more useful? Please comment below. I want you to enjoy the Weekly Review and get something out of it. I don’t want to be another aggregator that you ignore.

These Things Caught My Eye

• Ready for Take-Off!
• School Reforms
• How to Think
• Edgar Allan Poe and the Frogpondians
• On Whose Merit?

Read more..

Weekly Review: December 4th to December 10th

This has been the first week that I’ve managed to keep to a form my dedication, made some weeks back, and worked on my Weekly Review several nights rather than just one. I am still overwhelmed by the streams of information that I am trying to swim in. I am learning to manage, though, and I think the quality of the Weekly Reviews is only going to increase in 2010.

These Things Caught My Eye

• Food and Thought
• Of Great Interest
• Whose Great Books?
• Sticks and Stones
• “Innovative” Education
• What is that beautiful building

Read more..

Open Door Policy

In This Essay

Letters to a Young Teacher by Jonathan Kozol

Teachers’ house calls make pupils, parents feel at home by James Vaznis, The Boston Globe

A+ for teachers’ house-call program by Hetti K. Wohlgemuth, Letters to the Editor, The Boston Globe

All children’s education suffers when they are unable to get the support of a good teacher.

But those same children’s education suffers even more when they are unable to get the support of their parents. Every day, children watch their parents, the other adults they know, and their siblings to learn what it means to be human beings. If their parents don’t show them the value of an education, how can they learn?

We often hear it said that parents are disengaged. In fact, I posted a link to an editorial cartoon about that very thing not too long ago.

But do we really look into the causes of that disengagement? Do we explore the real cost to children when their parents are disengaged? Do we look for solutions? Or do we simply point fingers?

Read more..

Weekly Review: October 9th to October 15th

Running a blog is a job in and of itself. Since starting this blog, my respect for journalists has grown because I have learned how much time it takes to craft a single post.

My essays are pure opinion pieces. I read a book, a poem, an essay, or a news article. Then I think about what I’ve read and then look at my world and see if its relevant, judge if I think others might enjoy reading about my interaction with that work.

And it takes me between two and four hours to write these essays.

Yet I’m hooked. I love writing here because I feel more alive because I am again engaging the world in ways that I haven’t since college. Each essays calls upon me to look at my world and analyze it and reflect upon it.

This is another great gift of literature.

And, yes, I call even bad newspaper essays literature.

These Things Caught My Eye

• Finger, Painting
• Do You Want Factory-Farmed Children?
• When the High Jump Becomes a Pole Vault
• Mommy, Am I Responsible Yet?
• Judging Motives to Evaluate Blame

Read more..

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