Florida v. Georgia — in budget crises, not football
Today’s revenue-estimating conference in Tallahassee is probably going to confirm prior state revenue estimates, which are slightly better for 2010-11 than 2009-10, but that’s like saying two broken legs are better than two broken legs and a broken floating rib. The state revenues are still far below 2006, and there are three sources of pressure on the […]
Sour-grapes agreement
Michael Olneck and Peter Sacks turn petty in letters to the editor about Diane Ravitch that the New York Times printed today. Wow. I agree with Ravitch on a number of things and disagree with her on a number of things, some of which is in our area of expertise (history of education) and some […]
Historians’ automaticity, part 1
Concerns with science and math education are nothing new, and although the rhetoric today focuses on saving the planet and the economy, the argument for urgent intensification of STEM education is remarkably similar in structure to the Cold War era debates in the 1940s through the early 1960s: our country is in crisis, we need […]
Spring break
Classes are not meeting next week, many students are away from campus, and many faculty are as well, so it’s time for me to get stuff done. Certainly not as much as I’d like, but this is an opportunity to… well, maybe move from a molasses pace to a sludge pace on some projects. At […]
Every 24 minutes: why it’s time to vote on the health care bill
By Sherman Dorn on March 4, 2010
Two years ago, a friend I’ve known for more than 40 years who works at the Urban Institute updated the Institute of Medicine’s estimate of the annual excess deaths in the U.S. due to lack of insurance. In 2008, the updated estimate was 22,000 annual excess deaths. That’s an average of one preventable death about […]
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