We’ve all heard of the obfuscating fog of war. Yesterday there was an article by Crispin Sartwell in the LA Times entitled “The Smog of Academic Consensus.” Sartwell notes that the University of Colorado is proposing to endow a chair … Continue reading →
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Then again, it won’t hide the stink of a rotten egg to call it an overly-mature ovum. But that doesn’t stop the reframing and renaming on … Continue reading →
A recent commenter, a teacher, asked for my recommendations for poems for 6th-8th graders to memorize. The thought appealed to me. But when I tried to tackle it, I realized it’s harder than it sounds. Poems with cadence and rhyme … Continue reading →
There’s been some hoo-ha in the blogopsphere about a poll asking 2000 high school students to name the ten most famous Americans. Here was their list: 1. Martin Luther King Jr.: 67% 2. Rosa Parks: 60% 3. Harriet Tubman: 44% … Continue reading →
This article at American Thinker describes growing protests by parents, who maintain their kids are overburdened and stressed out by too much homework. Author Charles J. Sykes takes issue, though, citing research to the contrary: …a study by the Brookings … Continue reading →
I hereby join two other bloggers, Michelle Malkin and Tammy Bruce, in officially declaring myself to be a woman of the Left. Of the dominant left hand, that is. I’m not only a lefty, I’m very strongly left-handed, from an … Continue reading →
Last night I was talking to my fellow Sanity Squad members after taping this week’s podcast (no, it’s not online yet, but should be soon). The session you hear is usually just the tip of the iceberg for us. As … Continue reading →
Vermont English teacher Bret Chenkin has a way with words. This Boston Globe article, headlined “Teacher under investigation for alleged liberalism,” brought back unhappy memories of spending stessed-out high school days preparing for the SAT tests. But they also made … Continue reading →
Yes, indeed, I am that old–old enough to remember when Veterans’ Day was Armistice Day. The change occurred in 1954, when I was very small, in order to accommodate World War II. Since then the original name has largely fallen … Continue reading →
I wrote the following on Memorial Day, but I thought I’d post it again today, since it seems even more appropriate for Flag Day. Flag Day is one of those lost holidays. It was easy to ignore even when I … Continue reading →
I think it may be a lost pedagogical device, but when I was in grade school, we were forced by our teachers (mostly elderly women, as it happens) to memorize poetry. Lots of poetry. Most of it doggeral, but not … Continue reading →
To my intense relief, some scientists–even some female scientists–are bravely defying the PC police and stating the obvious, which is that Larry Summers’ controversial remarks merely reflected the current state of scientific knowledge in the field. The Enlightment lives to … Continue reading →