The Bell Curve
How a Dangerous Book Won Legitimacy
In the late 1980s, Charles Murray started seriously researching the links between race and intelligence. At that time, many conservatives considered his research beyond the pale. Murray’s employer, the conservative […]
New Teacher Blues
How I Survived My First Year
It was a Friday afternoon and the end of my sixth period freshman social studies class. As two of my students walked out the door, I overheard as one turned […]
How NOT to Defeat the Conservatives
You Can’t Out-Republican The Republicans — #1 One lesson is clear from the November elections. Democrats shouldn’t try to out-Republican the Republicans. It’s a lesson that Wisconsin Democrats hopefully will […]
Corporations Invade the Schools
Have Schools Become the Last Great Marketing Frontier?
The sixth-grade class is in the midst of a unit on nutrition and fitness called “Balancing Your Act.” To test the students’ knowledge, the teacher hands out an activity sheet. […]
What’s for Lunch?
Meal Program Threatened by Republican Agenda
When Congress passed child nutrition legislation this October, it made the most significant changes in the school lunch program since it began in 1946. Most important, new regulations call for […]
What’s Really Behind California’s Budget Woes
Four years of record shortfalls have taken their toll on California. Our classrooms are the second most crowded in the country. Fees at state universities and colleges have skyrocketed. Libraries […]
Dictatorship of Conservatives
A Critique of Richard Bernstein’s Attack on Multiculturalism
“Why do they teach us that white people suck?”— Elementary school student, Brookline, Massachusetts p. 235, Dictatorship of Virtue According to New York Times reporter Richard Bernstein, multiculturalism is an […]
What Makes a Good High School?
Fred Wiseman Turns His Camera on Central Park East
What makes a good school? What information does someone need to judge whether a particular school works well or not? Why do some city schools succeed where others fail with […]
Squanto Meets The Seven Dwarfs
Disney Movie Vacillates Between Inaccuracy and Absurdity
After watching Squanto, the new Disney movie that purports to be the life of the Native New Englander who died in the winter of 1623, I sat for a long […]
