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
This post is an essay by economist Branko Milanovic from his Substack Global Inequality and More 3.0. Here's a link to the original. In it he explores a fascinating historical question, which is why the Balkans have always been underdeveloped. And, as he points out, I do mean always. It was as true in Roman times … Continue reading Branko Milanovic — Why Were the Balkans Underdeveloped?
This is my first ever Pollyanna post. I wrote it last year in order to cheer myself about the world we live in. I think it still stands up. We Live in the Best of Times We seem to be in a world … Continue reading We Live in the Best of Times — Really
This post is an essay by Christopher Mims, which was published recently in the Wall Street Journal. Here's a link to the original. He's presenting an argument I find compelling about how artificial intelligence is not really thinking -- at least not in the way that humans actually think. Here's how he puts it: There’s something … Continue reading Christopher Mims — We Now Know How AI “Thinks” — And It’s Barely Thinking at All
This post is the text of a lecture I gave in 2009 at the University of Berne. It was originally published in the Swiss journal Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Historiographie and then found its way into my 2010 book, Someone Has to Fail. Here is the link to the first published version. It’s about a longstanding problem in American … Continue reading What Schools Can’t Do
This post is an essay by Yascha Mounk from a recent issue of Persuasion. Here's a link to the original. The issue he raises is that there are worse things than having an inherited leadership class. The much-maligned WASP aristocrats, who long dominated leadership positions in the US, at least had the decency to take … Continue reading Yascha Mounk — The WASPs Are Gone
This is a piece I wrote as the foreword to a book by J. M. Beach -- The Myths of Measurement and Meritocracy: Why Accountability Metrics in Higher Education are Unfair and Increase Inequality -- which was published in 2021. Last week, I posted the foreword I wrote for the first volume in this series, which … Continue reading Accountability Could Kill US Higher Ed
My new post is an essay by a philosophy professor who has adopted the handle Hilarius Bookbinder for his Substack Scriptorium Philosophia. Here's a link to the original. The point he's making is that just because something is a stereotype doesn't mean that it's wrong or useless. Sure, a lot of stereotypes are simple prejudice. … Continue reading Hilarius Bookbinder — Stereotypes as Heuristics
This is a piece I wrote as the foreword to a book by J. M. Beach -- Can We Measure What Matters Most? Why Educational Accountability Metrics Lower Student Learning and Demoralize Teachers -- which was published in 2021. For me, this was a chance to provide a brief summary of my thoughts about the problems … Continue reading The Problems that Accountability Metrics Pose for Schooling
This post is a recent piece by Larry Cuban that appeared on his blog. Here's a link to the original. The title tells the story. But they way he tells the story is delightful. Policymakers and Teachers Live in Different Worlds Larry Cuban Here’s a story about the different worlds that U.S policymakers and teachers live in … Continue reading Larry Cuban — Policymakers and Teachers Live in Different Worlds
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 