This post is a reflection on a book by Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. In it she provides one of the most compelling and persuasive explanation for the turn toward right-wing populism in American politics and the peculiar appeal of Donald Trump. As she puts … Continue reading Hochschild — Strangers in Their Own Land
This post is an essay by David Brooks that appeared in The Atlantic in late June. Here's a link to the original. It's a tribute to people who were late bloomers. They didn't make it big right at the start of their careers but found their way to a more satisfying and substantial life of accomplishment … Continue reading David Brooks — Late Bloomers
This post is an essay by Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider, which was published recently in The Nation. Here's a link to the original. It draws from their new book, which I highly recommend: The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual. Their core argument is that the pressure for school choice -- "fund students … Continue reading Berkshire and Schneider — Why “Fund Students not Systems” Is a Recipe for Disaster
This post is an essay by Ethan Ris that was recently published in Law and Political Economy Project. Here's a link to the original. He makes a very important and often overlooked point about the nature of the American system of higher education. It is highly stratified into a dizzying array of tiers: private ranks above … Continue reading Ethan Ris: The Colleges Are Alright
This post is a recent essay by Peter Gray published on his Substack, Play Makes Us Human. Here's a link to the original. He is a research professor of psychology at Boston College, who has written a number of books about the importance of free play for children. Like me, Gray is concerned that we over … Continue reading Peter Gray: The Toxic Consequences of Attending a High-Achieving School
This post is an essay by David Brooks that was published in the Times on Jun 6. Here's a link to the original. He's addressing an issue that I've been exploring in my blog over the last few years, the way in which US higher education flipped the class dynamic. Top universities used to be … Continue reading David Brooks: The Sins of the Educated Class
This post is an op-ed that Deborah Malizia and I just published in the San Jose Mercury News. Here's a link to the original. It follows up on an earlier op-ed we did on the subject. Schools’ shift from community to competition harms our youth U.S. education system created in the 19th century to serve the … Continue reading School’s Shift from Community to Competition Can Harm Our Youth
This post is a classic piece by Karl Marx, “The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof.” It’s the last section of the first chapter in Capital, volume 1. This analysis had a big impact on me when I first read it in grad school, and it has shaped a lot of my own work. At … Continue reading Karl Marx — The Fetishism of Commodities
This post is an essay by Sara Weissman that appeared recently in Inside Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. The title tells the story: More than Half of 4-Year College Grads Are Underemployed. That means they are in jobs that don't require a college degree. More than half of recent four-year college graduates, 52 percent, … Continue reading Sara Weissman — More than Half of 4-Year College Grads Are Underemployed
This post is a piece I published five years ago in Aeon. Here’s the link to the original. I wrote this after years of futile efforts to get Stanford students to think critically about how they got to their current location at the top of the meritocracy. It was nearly impossible to get students to consider … Continue reading Luck and Pluck — Alternative Stories of Life in the Meritocracy
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 