This post is about two key elements in good writing, one of which is to focus on actors and actions. Who's doing what to whom? In academic writing, the actors are often not people but social entities -- bureaucracy, racism, curriculum, schools, universities -- but the principle is the same. Some force or factor or … Continue reading On Writing: It’s All About Actors and Actions and Cutting the Flab
This post is an essay by Beverly Gage published recently in the New York Times. Here's a link to the original. In it, she draws on Richard Hofstadter's 1963 book, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, to show how this is not the first time that American universities found themselves the target of political attacks. Let's not forget the … Continue reading Beverly Gage: The American University Is in Crisis. Not for the First Time.
This post is a piece I wrote a few years 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." It's now a chapter in my 2024 book, The Ironies of Schooling. Here's a link to a pdf of the chapter. School … Continue reading School Gave Me the Creeps
This post is a recent blog entry by Larry Cuban. Here's a link to the original. He is making a strong case against the human capital rationale that has grounded the school reform movement in the last 50 years. The theory is that the primary social contribution of public education is its ability to stimulate … Continue reading Larry Cuban: School Reform Since “A Nation at Risk” Has Done Little to Promote Economic Growth
This post is a paper I published in 1997 in American Journal of Educational Research. Here's a link to a PDF of the original. It became the framing chapter in my 1997 book, How to Succeed In School Without Really Learning. Here's the abstract: This article explores three alternative goals for American education that have … Continue reading Public Goods, Private Goods — The American Struggle over Educational Goals
This post is an essay by one of my favorite historians, Gordon Wood, who published it few days ago in the Wall Street Journal. Here's a link to the original. In anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, he argues that the US is a distinctive in being a nation build on … Continue reading Gordon Wood — America Is a Creedal Nation
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 