Joann Robinson and E.D. Nixon
Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ staying seated on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. Since her death, journalists should have had a chance to absorb some of the lesser-known details of her life and the boycott. In particular, I hope that the commemorations honor the contributions of Joann (JoAnn?) Gibson Robinson and Edgar Daniel […]
Writing tics and reading idiosyncrasies
In one paragraph I’m reading this morning, a student wrote about courts’ passing a decision. There’s clearly some confusion with the student between legislation and judicial opinions (and two branches of government), though maybe it’s a matter of our slippery language: Congress passes laws, and the Supreme Court passes down law. (There’s also the unlikely […]
Academic-freedom grumps
The world is all out of sorts. FIRE president David French advising the Pennsylvania House Select Committee on Haranguing Higher Ed Academic Freedom in Higher Education is strange enough. Then catch this from Joan Wallach Scott’s review of Donald Downs’ Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus and FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus: […]
Growth models
… One of my concerns with the increasingly complex world of statistical models of growth is their amazingly disconnect from fields that should be natural allies. We have great statistical packages that are incredibly complex, but some days they seem more like solutions in search of problems than a logical outgrowth of the need to model growth and development in children. …
Dropouts and the military
Jim Horn at Schools Matter (not Jim Horne, the former Commissioner of Ed in Florida) recently noted the existence of a sub-GED army enlistment program, suggesting that there’s a reciprocity between higher graduation standards (esp. graduation tests) and needing cannon fodder for Iraq. While he does note an online article boosting the GED Plus enlistment […]