I cite below just a few paragraphs from Mark Leibovich’s After Diagnosis, Determined to Make a ‘Good Ending.’ Other than the reunion in the next life the description could be of my own father who shared much, especially the ice cream and the crooning (maybe not the James Bond) with Senator Kennedy. And in fact [...]
Archive for August 2009
Teddy Kennedy: bowls of mocha chip, James Bond, and an afterlife reunion with his brothers
August 27, 2009The real elephant or gorilla in the classroom, segregation
August 20, 2009In February of 2006 David Berliner told the American Association of School Administrators Federal Relations luncheon that the 600 pound gorilla sitting in the nation’s classrooms and making it difficult (if not impossible) for schools to do their job was poverty. Many, especially those on the political Left, believe this. These reformers would address the [...]
The “qualities” of the learners, that’s what it’s all about.
August 13, 2009The passage just below is taken from the Considerations on Representative Government by John Stuart Mill. I found it in Peter Berkowitz’s Introduction to his book, Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism. “If we ask ourselves on what causes and conditions good government in all its senses, from the humblest to the most exalted, [...]
Do we really want to replace NCLB?
August 12, 2009In last week’s Ed Week, in a Commentary article, Replacing No child Left Behind, Richard Rothstein writes: “We all want better math and reading assessments. But we should also invest in better tests of history, sciences, and the arts, and develop tools to evaluate student behavior, judge a school’s disciplinary climate, see whether students know [...]
Eric Zencey: G.D.P. R.I.P.
August 10, 2009It’s true that the value we give to things doesn’t represent something that we might want to call their “real value.” The best we’re able to do is come up with an appraisal, or market value, what they might be sold for. What is the real value of this country’s production? Is it GDP, or [...]
Does Peace Have a Chance and Fayyadism
August 8, 2009Encountered a number of ideas in my online reading today, some of them new, and some of them good, all interesting. Did I grow in understanding? Maybe. A piece in Slate by John Horgan asks, “Does Peace Have a Chance?” And the answer is yes, at least more of a chance that ever before. The [...]
The sort of thing that George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld didn’t comprehend
August 7, 2009(For if they did they would never have sent our young men to war with these people.) “Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims left Karbala on Friday after celebrating the birth of Imam Mahdi, the Shiite saint who is believed to have gone into a state of hiding in the year 873 at the age [...]
General Wald needs to come down to earth.
August 7, 2009General Wald (U.S. Air Force four-star, retired) in today’s WSJ, There is a Military Option on Iran, defends air and naval strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. He says that otherwise, “we risk Iranian domination of the oil-rich Persian Gulf, threats to U.S.-allied Arab regimes, the emboldening of radicals in the region, the creation of an [...]
Why and what do I read?
August 5, 2009Why and what does one read, assuming that one still does read, given the digital/video/image culture in which most of us live most if not all of the time? In my own case three responses come immediately to mind. I read for escape; I read thrillers. Then I read for information about what’s happening about [...]
