Catching up with a former graduate student
I have exchanged several emails recently with one of my former graduate students, Rosamond Hooper-Hamersley, who is in Paris. She is attending a conference on Mme de Pompadour, the subject of her...
View ArticleThe left-handed hook: We go with what we have
My last blog drew an unexpected response. One of my former students recalled playing basketball with me. That a student from thirty years ago remembers playing basketball with me in the University gym...
View ArticleIn schools, testing isn’t necessarily learning
A reaction against the accountability movement in American public education has gathered attention in Florida, a state that was instrumental in its formation. As governor, Jeb Bush wanted schools in...
View ArticleAn approach to learning
I have written a number of posts on how students learn, most recently less than a month ago, “In schools, testing isn’t necessarily learning.” I criticized the accountability movement in American...
View ArticleThe forgotten side of Islam
A professor of Islamic pedagogy at Munster University in Germany, Mouhanad Khorchide, has been teaching Islam’s “forgotten side” in an effort to counter messages that have led to deeds of murderous...
View ArticleOn minority groups and museums
Michelle Obama spoke recently at the Whitney Museum in New York City about kids that don’t go to museums: “I guarantee you that right now, there are kids living less than a mile from here who would...
View ArticleA word about fraternities
A Harvard graduate returned to college at the University of Michigan at age 38, where he had a fellowship for mid-career journalists. He had a master’s degree already and excelled in science and math;...
View ArticleThe decline of Humanities at UAlbany
I noticed a publication amidst some papers in our Florida condo a few days ago, to which my wife Anne and I moved full-time last September. We shipped six tons of stuff here from our modest home on...
View ArticleA note of hope for today’s young historians
I just started reading Gordon Craig’s book, “The Germans,” which was widely-acclaimed when it came out in 1982. In the introduction, Craig described a trip he took to Germany in 1935 when he was an...
View ArticleHere’s why testing has failed students
Arne Duncan, the outgoing Secretary of Education, has urged schools in America to “reduce over-testing” by placing a cap on the time teachers spend preparing students for mandated exams. He said, “I...
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