“Inspiration comes first, then teaching?”
This is the third part of the four-part series on an ideal University Education; the first part is here and the second part is here, and the fourth part is here. “First We Must Inspire, Not Just Inform” Maria Montessori, pictured below, noted that the student is a “spiritual embryo,” with his or her own innate pattern of growth […]
Education in the United States
What is the purpose of education? Is “school choice” the same as a free market in education? Could education be provided entirely by the free market, with no public schools? Do we have a stratified education system? These are some of the issues addressed in Kirsten Lombard’s interview of Great Connections president, Marsha Familaro Enright, […]
Would All Children Be Educated in a Free Market?
Here’s another 5-minute clip from Kirsten Lombard, editor of Resounding Books, in which she and I talk about whether all children could be educated if there were no public schools, and how that might happen. Common Ground on Common Core, published by Resounding Books, is a collection of 17 essays from across the political spectrum, analyzing this […]
A New, Value-Added Approach to College Rankings
Brookings Institute researchers Jonathan Rowell and Siddhartha Kulkarni have just published a compelling report on college rankings: “Beyond College Rankings: A Value-Added Approach to Assessing Two- and Four-Year Schools.” Their approach to college rankings is different and especially useful to students and parents. The researchers explain: Drawing on government and private sources, this report analyzes […]
University Education As It Might Be and Ought To Be (Part II)
In Part I this series, we looked at how students learn best when they are in a state of Flow— a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. In Part II, we look at creativity. Integration to Creativity: How to Nurture Creativity What I cannot create, I do […]
Dewey and Montessori: Collectivism vs Individualism in Education
Great Connections 2015: Apply now
The Great Connections program fosters active minds, empowering each individual with the knowledge, reasoning skills, and independence to understand the world and build a life of adventure and creative achievement. Do you want to be challenged to think for yourself? Do you want to gain powerful knowledge and skills that will equip you for college, for success, for […]
Why Our Children Don’t Think There Are Moral Facts
In this article on the New York Times Opinionator Blog, philosopher Justin McBrayer rightly laments the amorality rampant in the culture under the guise of cultural relativism. “[T]he overwhelming majority of college freshman in their classrooms view moral claims as mere opinions that are not true or are true only relative to a culture. ” “A misleading distinction between […]
The Insidious Path to the Death of Free Speech – and Thought
RECOMMENDED READ The maternalistic path dredged from rights protection, leading to thought control: In this Washington Post opinion piece, author, lawyer, and civil libertarian Wendy Kaminer examines “The progressive ideas behind the lack of free speech on campus.”
University Education As It Might Be and Ought To Be
Standard education not only fails to teach the philosophy, history, economics, and politics of a free society, but its methods oppress individuality and instead encourage conformity and obedience. It does the opposite of teaching young people how to live as free, autonomous persons. For a detailed look at the collectivist and authoritarian purpose and history […]