This post is a piece I wrote for Kappan, published in the March 2020 edition. Here’s a link to the PDF. Bureaucracies are often perceived as inflexible, impersonal, hierarchical, and too devoted to rules and red tape. But here I make a case for these characteristics being a positive in the world of public education. U.S. schools are … Continue reading Two Cheers for School Bureaucracy
This post is a classic essay by Anders Henrikkson, published in Wilson Quarterly. Here's a link to the original. It's comprised entirely from statements about European history drawn from student essays. Anyone who has ever graded exams will recognize the genre. Here are a few of my favorite lines from this piece: The Crusades were a … Continue reading A Brief History of Europe Culled from Student Papers
Today I want to explore an interesting case of counterfactual history. What would have happened if Napoleon Bonaparte had won in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo? What consequences might have followed for Europe in the next two centuries? That he might have succeeded is not mere fantasy. According to the victor, Lord Wellington, the … Continue reading What if Napoleon Had Won at Waterloo?
This post is a collection of cartoons by my favorite cartoonist, Gary Larson. What makes this a collection instead of a random sample is that they are all cartoons about cartoons. I love their self referential quality. Enjoy.
This post is an analysis of the engine for scholarly production in American higher education. The issue is that the university is a unique work setting in which the usual organizational incentives don’t apply. Administrators can’t offer much in the way of power and money as rewards for productive faculty and they also can’t do … Continue reading Lust for Academic Fame
This post is the statement issued on October 11 by the president and provost of Stanford. To me, it's the best such statement by university leaders that I've seen in response to the Hamas attack on Israel and the ongoing battle in Gaza. What I like is that they stay focused on the issues on … Continue reading Stanford Statement on Israel and Palestine
This post is a piece I wrote not long ago, something I’ve been meaning to write for years. An alternative title is: “School — Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It.” See what you think. School Gave Me the Creeps David Labaree Did you like school? I didn’t. … Continue reading School Gave Me the Creeps
This post is an essay by Peter Greene in which he discusses a fascination argument made by a free-market economist on why free-market approaches such as vouchers will not work with public education. The economist, Douglas Harris, shows how no fewer than six conditions that are necessary for the functioning of an efficient free-market economy … Continue reading Free Market Approaches Don’t Work for Public Education
Below is a piece I wrote for a book that was published by Teachers College Press in 2022 -- Public Education: Defending a Cornerstone of American Democracy, edited by David Berliner and Carl Hermanns. Here’s a link to a pdf of my piece. Here's an overview of my argument: In the 19th century, Europe created the … Continue reading Public Schooling as Social Welfare
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 