An Endangered Species Up in Arms

An Endangered Species Up in Arms

As many of you already have intuited, I don’t know everything. Nobody does, I suppose. More importantly, I don’t know everything about anything. I’m what used to be called “a generalist,” someone whose knowledge in any direction is a mile...
A New Education Debate

A New Education Debate

You may have seen stories about the poor quality of Washington, D.C.’s public schools. You probably have also heard about how Michelle Rhee was brought from near-obscurity to take over the city’s schools, overnight becoming a national symbol of dramatic...
Don’t Squat in Your Spurs or Be an Idiot

Don’t Squat in Your Spurs or Be an Idiot

June is the month of the summer solstice and America’s biggest blizzard. I don’t mean a weather event blowing in from the Arctic, but a merciless storm of words blowing from the mouths of commencement speakers at high school and college graduations. This...
Uncle Sam: Please Tax the Titans

Uncle Sam: Please Tax the Titans

I’ve already told you the story of Mrs. Campbell, my well-meaning high school guidance counselor. In case you missed it, I’ll tell you again. High school seniors in Detroit, where I grew up, had career counseling before they were turned loose on society. You took...
Ohio’s Poorly Performing School Assessment

Ohio’s Poorly Performing School Assessment

I recently learned that I teach at a persistently poor performing school. It happened after Ohio bureaucrats unveiled new, “more rigorous” criteria for determining success and failure in the state’s public schools. My district, previously deemed...