Bertrand Russell’s Ten Commandments for Living in a Healthy Democracy Image by J. F. Horrabin, via Wikimedia Commons Bertrand Russell saw the history of civilization as being shaped by an unfortunate oscillation between two opposing evils: tyranny and anarchy, each of which contain the seed of the other. "The doctrine of liberalism is an attempt to escape from this endless oscillation," writes Russell in A History of Western Philosophy. In 1951 Russell published an article in The New York Times Magazine, "The Best Answer to Fanaticism--Liberalism," with the subtitle: "Its calm search for truth, viewed as dangerous in many places, remains the hope of humanity." But the liberal attitude does not say that you should oppose authority. Russell criticizes the radical who would advocate change at any cost. The teacher who urges doctrines subversive to existing authority does not, if he is a liberal, advocate the establishment of a new authority even more tyrannical than the old. 1: Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. 10. via Brain Pickings
The Gallup Blog: Teaching May Be the Secret to a Good Life By Brandon Busteed, Executive Director of Gallup Education, and Dr. Shane Lopez, Gallup Senior Scientist Imagine what life would be like if we started choosing our jobs based on the wellbeing they provide us. Out of 14 major career categories, teachers are No. 2 in overall wellbeing, trailing only physicians. With more than half of U.S. teachers set to retire in the next decade, it’s estimated that we will need roughly 2 million new teachers in this timeframe. Gallup and Healthways define wellbeing as all of the things that are important to how we think about and experience our lives. A career in teaching may not rank high in the minds of most college students, especially those seeking big salaries. Teachers beat out investment bankers, consultants, accountants, engineers, sales professionals, and entrepreneurs on how they rate their lives overall. Teachers are also a happy bunch. The only obstacle in our way, however, may be the workplace in schools themselves.
Haim Ginott on Teaching Teenagers EQI.org Home | Parenting | Education | Other Important Authors Notes from Haim Ginott's Books Haim Ginott's most famous quote: Notes from two of his books: Between Teacher and Child Between Parent and Teenager If you want to buy these books online from Amazon.com you can help support my site by going through my bookstore. Between Parent and Teenager, Haim Ginott, 1972 "Rebellion follows rejection." Differentiate between acceptance and approval. Ginott offers these suggestions: Don't invite dependence Don't hurry to correct facts. "Concerned adults serve best when with confidence they stand and wait." Insult cuts deeper and lasts longer when it comes from the parent. p 36 Truth for its own sake can be a deadly weapon in family relations. He quotes a child: My father is sensitive to temperature but not temperament. Chapter 3 Primum non nocere (First, do no harm.) First, of all do not deny your teenager's perception. He gives the example of a child who says the soup is too salty. On problem solving:
Education Has an Element of Danger… – Thoughts from Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk I read at least two books a month on social justice, poverty, race issues… Yesterday, I presented a synopis of the true classic, The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois, for the Urban Engagement Book Club, sponsored by CitySquare. Dr. The most famous line in the book, which he repeats numerous times throughout the book, is this: for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line… But I especially liked/appreciated this excerpt: The opposition to Negro education in the South was at first bitter, and showed itself in ashes, insult, and blood; for the South believed an educated Negro to be a dangerous Negro.And the South was not wholly wrong; for education among all kinds of men always has had, and always will have, an element of danger and revolution, of dissatisfaction and discontent. Education – an “element of danger, and revolution.” (I thought back to the book I read decades ago by Neil Postman, Teaching as a Subversive Activity).
Speech--Bernanke, The Ten Suggestions--June 2, 2013 Chairman Ben S. Bernanke At the Baccalaureate Ceremony at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey June 2, 2013 The Ten Suggestions View Video It's nice to be back at Princeton. I'll extend my best wishes to the seniors later, but first I want to congratulate the parents and families here. This is indeed an impressive and appropriate setting for a commencement. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Those are my suggestions. Congratulations, graduates. 1. Return to top
The Way to Produce a Person Trigg has seized upon the statistic that a $2,500 donation can prevent one death from malaria, and he figures that, over the course of a lucrative Wall Street career, he can save many lives. He was motivated to think this way by the utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer. From the article, Trigg seems like an earnest, morally serious man, who, if he lives out his plan, could indeed help save many lives. First, you might start down this course seeing finance as a convenient means to realize your deepest commitment: fighting malaria. Gradually, you become a different person. Second, I would be wary of inverting the natural order of affections. If you choose a profession that doesn’t arouse your everyday passion for the sake of serving instead some abstract faraway good, you might end up as a person who values the far over the near. Third, and most important, I would worry about turning yourself into a means rather than an end.
25 Things Successful Educators Do Differently : InformED ‘It is harder for us to be nice to kids’ — departing veteran principal George Wood is retiring this year after serving as principal of Federal Hocking Secondary School in Stewart, Ohio, for 21 years. He will stay on as superintendent of the Federal Hocking District. Wood is a nationally known author, educator, activist and school reform leader, and founder of the Forum for Education and Democracy . This is his last weekly letter to his staff. By George Wood Some 21 years ago I swiped an idea from my friend Dennis Littky and started sending out what I call “TGIFs.” I have grappled with what to say in this for weeks. There is not a lot (at my advanced age) that I remember about my own time as a student, but what I do remember are the acts of kindness by my teachers. I know I learned a lot of academic stuff too, but what stuck with me were the kindnesses shown when, more often than not, I did nothing to deserve them. When I look back over my notebooks and journals from the past 21 years there are plenty of things I regret. Being kind is not always easy.
Using Humor to Maximize Learning - IAE-Pedia Information Age Education (IAE) is an Oregon non-profit corporation created by David Moursund in July, 2007. It works to improve the informal and formal education of people of all ages throughout the world. A number of people have contributed their time and expertise in developing the materials that are made available free in the various IAE publications. Click here to learn how you can help develop new IAE materials. "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." (E.E. Morrison, Mary Kay (2008). This excerpt is posted here in the IAE-pedia with the permission of the author given via email on 4/23/2008. Introduction What is humor exactly? The purpose of this book is to affirm, sustain and encourage educators in the practice of humor not only as a personal tool to optimize a healthy life style, but to maximize the benefits of humor in education. Educators value humor. What a healthy dose of humor might do for you Just take a peek at what a healthy dose of humor might do for you! 1.
Should the U.S. Follow South Korea's Education System? Why Teach and Study English? Whence, and where, and why the English major? The subject is in every mouth—or, at least, is getting kicked around agitatedly in columns and reviews and Op-Ed pieces. The English major is vanishing from our colleges as the Latin prerequisite vanished before it, we’re told, a dying choice bound to a dead subject. In response, a number of defenses have been mounted, none of them, so far, terribly persuasive even to one rooting for them to persuade. The defenses and apologias come in two kinds: one insisting that English majors make better people, the other that English majors (or at least humanities majors) make for better societies; that, as Christina Paxson, the president of Brown University, just put it in The New Republic, “ there are real, tangible benefits to the humanistic disciplines—to the study of history, literature, art, theater, music, and languages.” Well, a humanities major may make an obvious contribution to everyone’s welfare. So why have English majors?