As I mentioned in Week in Review: Connections Edition, Anne Rice's Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008) offers a number of comments on education. The tension which Rice wrestled with in her call as a writer speaks to a reality encountered by many in the higher education, i.e., a confusing mixture of encouragement/discouragement offered by human beings in the role of shaping/teaching youth transitioning to their respective vocational roles in the larger culture. "I took to the … [Read more...] about Called Out of Darkness
end of education
Week in Review: Connections Edition
Here's the top five articles, books, websites, etc., that we've been reading or thinking about the past week. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. In addition, if you have items you'd like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike. 1. Duncan Urges 'Revolutionary Change' in Nation's Teacher-Training Programs (Kelly Field, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 21, 2009): Do you agree with the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who recently called attention … [Read more...] about Week in Review: Connections Edition
The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship: Discussion 1
George Marsden, Notre Dame's Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus, wrote The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) to take a step toward clarifying what the ancient enterprise of relating faith and learning might mean in the academy today (preface). How can this be accomplished in a time when the university has lost the ability to have substantive conversation regarding not only religion, but also anything that goes beyond the practical to the larger issues … [Read more...] about The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship: Discussion 1
How Schools Fail Democracy
Do schools fail democracy, as argued by E.D. Hirsch Jr., in How Schools Fail Democracy (The Chronicle Review, 9/28/2009)? Personally, I have been frustrated by public education's emphasis on skill development for check-lists, competitions, and test-taking with low reference to exposing students to common culture, core values, and must reads (i.e., classics). As a parent, I have slowly come to own the counter-cultural responsibility of intentionally teaching our common knowledge, but ironically it demands a lot of … [Read more...] about How Schools Fail Democracy
Who is in your class?
Would you agree with my idealistic enthusiasm for My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student, the story of a professor of anthropology at a large state university who realized that she no longer understood the behavior and attitudes of her students and returned to the classroom? And my uneasiness when reading that some "Online Professors Pose as Students to Encourage Real Learning" (Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/29/09), in the class which they're teaching? Can you offer testimonies, … [Read more...] about Who is in your class?