This post is an essay by Hilarius Bookbinder recently published in his Substack. Here's a link to the original. I posted another piece of his here recently. He is my favorite read these days in my favorite new medium, Substack. He’s got a great nom de plume, don’t you think? Based on a few clues in … Continue reading Hilarius Bookbinder — In Praise of Frivolous Research
For anyone who’s interested, I’m posting below an updated list of all my publications and course syllabi, including links to these works and to full course materials. Here’s a link to the list as a Word document, which is way more useful. Feel free to share. David Labaree Links to Publications and Course Materials August 15, … Continue reading Links to All My Publications and Course Materials — An Update List
This post is an essay by Carly Ann York recently published in the Chronicle Review. Here's a link to the original. The topic could not be more timely: A defense of the value of basic research. This is the kind of research that is not aimed at solving a particular problem but at simply exploring an … Continue reading Carly Ann York — In Defense of “Silly” Science
This post is a short piece I just published in Insider Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. Scholarship Thrives on Peripheral Vision Don’t be limited by what’s straight ahead, David Labaree writes The problem with scholarly focus is that it leads where you intend to go. And this is a problem because … Continue reading Scholarship Thrives on Peripheral Vision
In this post, I explore the issue of the different ways in which people give reasons to each other. It draws on a lovely little book by sociologist Charles Tilly: Why? What Happens When People Give Reasons...and Why. One of the things that makes his account valuable is how it gives scholars a way of … Continue reading Tilly: Why? Different Ways that People Give Reasons — and Lessons for Scholars
This post is an essay by Ilana Horwitz recently published in Times Higher Education. Here's a link to the original. It draws on her new book, The Entrepreneurial Scholar: A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond. It explores an argument that I came to develop over the years of working with doctoral students -- … Continue reading Ilana Horwitz — PhD Students Should Think Like Entrepreneurs
I don't know about you, but I love reading brutal book reviews. It's a lot of fun to watch a skilled writer skewer someone else's work with surgical precision (see here and here). In the interest of balance, I thought it would be right and proper to present a review that eviscerates one of my … Continue reading A Brutal Review of My First Book
For anyone who’s interested, I’m posting below an updated list of all my publications and course syllabi, including links to these works and to full course materials. Here’s a link to the list as a Word document, which is way more useful. Feel free to share. David Labaree Links to Publications and Course Materials December 8, … Continue reading Links to All My Publications and Course Materials — An Update List
This post is a piece I just wrote about an issue I've been mulling over for years. It's about how getting a doctorate is not just another in a long chain of degrees. It's a transformative experience, and prospective doctoral should prepare to strap themselves in for the ride. Doctoral Study as a Transformative Experience … Continue reading Doctoral Study as a Transformative Experience
This post is a classic paper by Peter Rossi from 1987 (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, Volume 4, pages 3-20), which addresses a chronic problem in all policy efforts to change complex social systems. The social organizations of modern life are so large, so complex, so dependent on the cooperation of so many … Continue reading Peter Rossi: The Iron Law of Evaluation and Other Metallic Rules
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 