Longtime Hillary Clinton compatriot and education nationalizer Marc Tucker recently wrote in his Education Week column on a frequent theme from employers: Many graduates nowadays can't write, speak, or think worth beans. My organization decided a few weeks back that we needed to hire a new professional staff person. We had close to 500 applicants. … Continue reading Everyone Knows Graduates Can’t Write, But Testing Won’t Solve That
Ignorance Of History Sickens Our Politics, Says Notre Dame Political Scientist
Notre Dame political scientist Patrick Deneen has a new book out, called "Conserving America?" In a review at the Wall Street Journal, Micah Meadowcroft summarizes some of his argument: There is a sickness withering the tree of liberty, in Mr. Deneen’s assessment, and it arises from a catastrophic loss of historical consciousness, which he calls … Continue reading Ignorance Of History Sickens Our Politics, Says Notre Dame Political Scientist
Hillsdale College Dean Of Faculty: We Need A ‘New Renaissance’
Hillsdale College offers a bevy of free online lectures and reading recommendations. Inside its Shakespeare course, taught by English department chairman and Dean of Faculty Stephen Smith, Smith elaborated on the virtues of teaching Shakespeare in a job-oriented age. Shakespeare is a stringent course in morality that shapes the souls of those who study him, … Continue reading Hillsdale College Dean Of Faculty: We Need A ‘New Renaissance’
Quote Of The Week: Sometimes Progress Means Turning Around
We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and … Continue reading Quote Of The Week: Sometimes Progress Means Turning Around
Study: Kindergarten Students Play Less, Do More Worksheets
A large new federal study that surveyed 2,500 teachers finds drastic changes between kindergarten in 2010 and in 1998, before massive increases in federal demands on schools. These young children spend more time sitting and listening to their teachers and completing worksheets, and drastically less time learning about music, art, and science, as well as drastically … Continue reading Study: Kindergarten Students Play Less, Do More Worksheets
Students At ‘Top Universities’ Don’t Know Anything
Patrick Deneen has taught at prestigious universities, including Princeton, Georgetown, and Notre Dame. Yet he says his students don't know anything, even though they have great grades and resumes. ask them some basic questions about the civilization they will be inheriting, and be prepared for averted eyes and somewhat panicked looks. Who fought in the … Continue reading Students At ‘Top Universities’ Don’t Know Anything
You Can’t Treat School Like A Cafeteria
A literacy researcher writes about the common educational fallacy of providing students "personalized learning" that "follows their interests," explaining how the lack of a coherent, carefully structured curriculum that builds upon itself year after year mentally handicaps children. The fundamental point is one that few in education seem ready to address: Great lessons may not add … Continue reading You Can’t Treat School Like A Cafeteria
You Can’t Just Google Context
It's becoming cliche for educators to proclaim that they don't want to teach children knowledge, because people "can just Google for information." What they don't understand is that information comes in various forms, and some are better than others. As Lindsey Brigham writes on the CIRCE Institute's blog: In contrast to the meandering, holistic, and … Continue reading You Can’t Just Google Context
Here’s What’s Missing In Our Diagnosis Of Education’s Problems
Peter Augustine Lawler has recently written for National Affairs an article about what's wrong with higher education that depicts just as perfectly what's wrong with elementary and secondary education. He begins by discussing how technology is eroding jobs, turning people both into technicians and taking away lower-wage opportunities that put one on the path to higher … Continue reading Here’s What’s Missing In Our Diagnosis Of Education’s Problems
America Can’t Endure Without Civic Knowledge
America's founders considered it crucial for the preservation of our republic that the American people be well-educated. Yet we have not been well-educated as a people for decades. Jamie Gass, of the Pioneer Institute in Boston, notes statistics well-known to those who pay attention to the state of American education: Our high-school and college students hardly know … Continue reading America Can’t Endure Without Civic Knowledge
Redeemer Classical School 