A judge recently compared Florida governor Ron DeSantis to Orwell’s Big Brother.
Tag Archives: Education
DeSantis’s Orwellian Power Play
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1984, authoritarianism, George Orwell, Ron DeSantis Comments closed
Children’s Natural Affinity for Poetry
I describe here the remote poetry instruction I have been conducting with my 8-year-old grandson for the past four months.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Onomatopoeia", "Skimbleshanks", Eve Merriam, poetry instruction, T. S. Eliot Comments closed
The Moment Has Come to Decide
Educator Diane Ravitch’s favorite poem include two 19th century oldies that get at a teacher’s sense of mission.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Casabianca", "Present Crisis", activism, Civil War, Felicia Hemans, James Russell Lowell, slavery, Trumpism Comments closed
Teach Your Children Well
Wednesday My sister-in-law Joyce Bates, beloved by her Clarksville third-graders, recently posted an inspiring quotation by L. R. Knost about how to raise kids. After reading it, I thought of the blind beggar in the Spanish picaresque novel Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), who ascribes to just the opposite philosophy. The author of such books as […]
How Dangerous Is a Little Learning?
Pope’s “a little learning” seems dangerous at first glance but the alternative is not entirely attractive.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College", Alexander Pope, colleges, Essay on Criticism, Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Gray Comments closed
School under the Sea: Reeling, Writhing…
To welcome teachers and students back to school, here’s a description of education under the sea, as experienced by Lewis Carroll’s Gryphon and Mock Turtle.
Does School Teach Kids to Hate Reading?
An elementary school teacher is accusing traditional teaching assignments of killing kids’ natural love of reading. Is he right?
Teachers, Don’t Nip Their Buds
In “Songs of Experience,” William Blake worries that authority figures will nip the promise of budding schoolboys. “The Schoolboy” serves as a timely reminder for all teachers.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Schoolboy", public schools, schooling, teachers and teaching, William Blake Comments closed
The Inner City: Stay or Leave?
How do we get young people to stay in the inner city and make it a better place? Baldwin’s “Sonny Blues” gives us a sense of what is possible.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged educational system, inner city, James Baldwin, poverty, Sonny's Blues Comments closed
