This post is an op-ed by Harvard undergrad Aden Barton, which was published recently in the Harvard Crimson. Here's a link to the original. To see the graphs he refers to, click on the link. The essay explores the reasons for the recent surge in careerism among Harvard undergraduate as a way to understand the … Continue reading Aden Barton — How Harvard Careerism Killed the Classroom
This post is a piece by Vladimir Nabokov in response to answers that students wrote for the mid-term exam in his 1957 Cornell literature class. It appeared in Times Literary Supplement last month with an introduction by Eric Naiman. Here's a link to the original. It's fun to imaging the great Russian writer grading undergraduate … Continue reading Nabokov on Student Exam Essays
This is a piece I published in 2012 in Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal for the Historiography of Education. It draws on my experience over the years working with doctoral students in education. The advice, basically, is to approach your apprenticeship in educational research doing the opposite of what everyone else tells you to do. Hope you like it. Sermon on Educational … Continue reading Sermon on Educational Research
This post is a piece from Harvard Magazine about a chronic state of mind that arises among undergrads at elite universities, the Imposter Syndrome. Here's a link to the original. The Imposter Syndrome is a chronic feature of student culture at elite universities. At core, it's the creeping sensation that you're out of your depth, … Continue reading The Truth about the Imposter Syndrome
In 1932, Willard Waller published his classic book, The Sociology of Teaching. For years I used a chapter from it ("The Teacher-Pupil Relationship") as a way to get students to think about the problem that most frightens rookie teachers and that continues to haunt even the most experienced practitioners: how to gain and maintain control … Continue reading Willard Waller on the Power Struggle between Teachers and Students
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 