In the words of Tina Fey, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s eleven-thirty.”
I had a rough semester with several students pushing every boundary repeatedly. I set down expectations, and sometimes students question the…
Continue readingAn editorial in today’s NYT suggests that some recent high school graduates are not competent in basic skills that should be required to earn their standing. The headline refers to these students’ diplomas as counterfeit, implying that students had a …
Continue readingTo be honest, I could excerpt most of Bowlby’s book. It is that good. However, little things like time and copyright concerns limit me to providing some of the highlights of attachment theory and how big a change it was from traditional psychoanalysis. “The first is to provide the
Continue readingI teach grade 12 university-level philosophy, and I teach it as a university prep-course. So we read primary sources, and we write essays longer and more complex than the standard five paragraphs. And then I brace myself for the complaints. Why do we have to read about other philosophers? Why
Continue readingAnother civics teacher and I are hosting an all-candidates debate for potential MP of my school’s riding, which, for the first time, is not my own riding even though I live just three blocks north. So I’m not familiar with the specific candidates. We contacted all parties, but, unfortunately, the
Continue readingThe experience that most prepared me for teaching wasn’t teacher’s college, it was working in a huge insurance company. They trained me to work efficiently and stay working until the job’s finished, which, in an insurance company, means forever. It’s a very useful skill when I’m marking. There are a
Continue readingYou wrote about the education system ruining your health because you started having panic attacks when you realized your future would be based on a set of criteria created by exam boards. You think young people are feeling pressure that shouldn’t be imposed on anyone. You ask, “How can we
Continue readingThere are several articles and discussions being reported about teaching philosophy to children. They largely focus on the question should we, why, and how? Britain has a program, Philosophy for Children (P4C), in which student get in groups to discuss philosophical issues after seeing a video or reading a story
Continue readingEveryone’s a buzz about schools in Finland being awesome, so I read a book and some articles and their curriculum documents to figure out what’s so special. In a nutshell, copying their school system will do little unless we can find a way to copy their entire culture, but let’s
Continue readingYesterday Hedges wrote on a profound relationship he had with a teacher who passed in December, and he had much of value to say about education: Education is not only about knowledge. It is about inspiration. It is about passion. It is about the belief that what we do in
Continue readingQuestion frequently asked by students after missing a class by Tom Wayman The Astonishing Weight of the Dead. Vancouver: Polestar, 1994. Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here we sat with our hands folded on our desks in silence, for the full two hours Everything. I gave an exam worth 40
Continue readingI’m not sure how to say this without being blasted, but I’ll try: I might understand a little piece affecting Rachal Dolezal decision to present as black rather than be a white ally. I just have one story. It was about ten years ago. I had just finished reading The
Continue readingIn Plato’s Protagoras, Socrates and Protagoras argue over the language Protagoras uses to explain what happens when, as he describes it, pleasure overtakes reason and people make horrible choices. Socrates insists that it’s not pleasure that overtakes reason, but ignorance. Here’s some key bits of the passage: They maintain that
Continue readingProfessor Edward Schlosser wrote an interesting piece in Vox about, in part, the power his students have to call the shots these days. I can attest that it’s at best, defeating, and at worst, absolutely terrifying. First of all, to clarify, my students are typically a delight, but the current
Continue readingI’m not even talking about critical thinking here, just plain ol’ thinking. It’s funny how many seem unable or unwilling to do it. While I was in a discussion group talking about Chris Hedges last week, one of the older gentlemen in the group complained that Hedges explained a lot
Continue readingThe papers are full of stories about the fight for and against new sex education legislation. Wynne seems to be holding her ground this time, though, so I’m not sure any of the debating will come to anything. But it’s raised some interesting questions and ideas, and provoked a long
Continue readingJohn Oliver’s show about surveillance is a must see: Amazing, right!?! But what sticks with me most, as a teacher and an environmentalist, is this line: “Is this a conversation we [American citizens] have a capacity to have?” Bingo. When intelligent people speak passionately about what they think is most
Continue readingA recent article in the National Post suggests that exams are passé. Joseph Brean writes, Psychologists have a quip about IQ tests — the only thing they measure is your ability to do IQ tests. They are not, as they purport to be, an objective measure of intelligence, like the air
Continue readingI wrote a tiny blurb about this over a month ago. This one is much longer and leans heavily on solid arguments from many critics – letting their words speak for themselves. The issue has become serious enough to warrant a lengthy rebuttal. THE DANGERS OF SIMPLISTIC, BIGOTED IDEOLOGY: My
Continue readingFinland’s got one of the best education systems in the world. But it doesn’t follow that every idea they have is necessarily and entirely a good idea. And this newest one seems to be forced on them, more than born out of teacher innovation. Their newest idea is to get
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