The art of writing ultimately comes down to the art of writing sentences. In his lovely book, How to Write a Sentence, Stanley Fish explains that the heart of any sentence is not its content but its form. The form is what defines the logical relationship between the various elements within the sentence. The same … Continue reading Academic Writing Issues #7: Writing the Perfect Sentence
This post is a paper I presented as part of a panel on the politics of teacher education at the annual meeting of the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) in 2005. It was published that same year in the Journal of Teacher Education. Here’s a link to the original. The paper draws in part … Continue reading Life on the Margins: Why Teacher Ed Has So Little Impact on Ed Policy
This post is a fascinating essay by Yasheng Huang about the Chinese examination system, which was recently published in Aeon. Here's a link to the original. It draws on his new book, which I highly recommend: The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exam, Autocracy, Stability and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They … Continue reading Yasheng Huang — The Exam that Broke Society
Metaphor is an indispensable tool for the writer. It carries out an essential function by connecting what you're talking about with other related issues that the reader already recognizes. This provides a comparative perspective, which gives a richer context for the issue at hand. Metaphor also introduces a playful characterization of the issue by making … Continue reading Academic Writing Issues #6: Mangling Metaphors
This post is an essay by Rachel Shin about the hypercompetition among students at elite universities, which appeared several weeks ago in Atlantic. Here's a link to the original. She reports that Yale undergraduates have ramped up student stress by turning the application process for admission to what are supposed to be benign extracurricular activities … Continue reading Rachel Shin on Hypercompetition at Elite Universities
This post is an op-ed I published on my birthday (May 17) in 2018 on the online international opinion site, Project Syndicate. The original is hidden behind a paywall; here are PDFs in English, Spanish, and Arabic. It's a brief essay about what is distinctive about the American system of higher education, drawn from my … Continue reading The Exceptionalism of American Higher Education
This post is a nice essay by Rosemarie Ostler about how American English evolved in the new world. It draws on her book, The United States of English, and first appeared in Lapham's Quarterly. Here's a link to the original. She shows how the American version of the language emerged from a variety of sources. Some … Continue reading Rosemarie Ostler: The Early Days of American English
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 