Stanley Fish and the false dichotomy
In his New York Times column, Stanley Fish argues that while higher-ed faculty and K-12 teachers have a right to political activity outside the classroom, that does not extend to wearing a button to class. In response to my argument last week (and thanks not only for the shout-out but for spelling my name correctly!), […]
One more reading on culture and the way we talk about “intelligence”
Once again, I am in debt to Mike Rose, today for a thoughtful discussion of anti-intellectualism in American life and tensions in the campaign rhetoric this year, rhetorical motifs that rely on a narrow reading of intelligence. If like me, you are highly skeptical of monolithic constructions of intelligence but wince when you come anywhere […]
Yglesias on Ayers
Matthew Yglesias’s take seems about right: One thing you can say in Ayers’ defense is that it’s perfectly clear from his present-day conduct that he, in fact, realizes that unleashing a podunk domestic terrorism campaign would be a stupid and immoral thing to do. He could be going around setting off bombs. Instead, he’s a […]
Data, phooie!
Eduwonkette scoops everyone else lots of other folks by reporting on the case of Art Siebens, fired from a DC high school though the first blush of available evidence suggests he was a pretty darned good teacher. Maybe he had done something wrong, or maybe he was just in the wrong school at the wrong […]
Bill Ayers and double standards
Yesterday’s New York Times story on Obama and Bill Ayers suggests that Bill Ayers is not particularly reflective about his time as a Weatherman (their bombings weren’t that bad because of the magnitude of the crime they considered the Vietnam War to be??) but that it’s a real stretch to claim (as a new ad […]