A language is a code. And if you don’t know the language, it’s a secret code. As you probably learned when you were a kid, it’s not nice to tell secrets. I thought about starting this article by using the term “foreign languages,” but that’s a vague term that I don’t find very useful. In…
Children are frequently told that there’s no limit to what they can learn and do if they believe in themselves. I’ve sometimes seen a poster, in schools and other places, which shows birds flying, and says, “They can because they think they can.” The poster is supposed to help people believe in their own ability…
Of all the things I don’t know about, death is king. I’ve never died, and the people closest to me haven’t died, either. I’ve known people who have died, but of course, I immediately lost my ability to communicate with them, so knowing them didn’t bring me much closer to understanding death. And I’ve read…
Probably, most of you get paid. If you’re lucky, as I was, you get paid to do things you like to do. Maybe, as I do now, you get paid for having already done those things. That’s even better. But if you’re unemployed, you have to rely on society’s sense of fairness. The money you…
As I write this article, December is taking off. As they do every year around this time, stores and mail-order companies are looking forward to the spending sprees that are about to happen. Advertisements are all around. And, of course, there are lots of people bemoaning how commercialized this time of year has become. Paradoxically,…
Knock, knock! Who’s there? Howie. Howie who? Fine, thanks. Howie who? Despite all the new-fangled ways to pass on culture, the oral culture still exists. I used to think my brother Howie made up the tune to the ever-popular “George Washington Bridge.” Later, I learned that he had used the tune to “The Most Beautiful…
Children usually start out life right near the people who gave it to them. That’s often really good time. Love flows back and forth, and parents and children work together to make life work. There are problems, issues, and headaches, but if there weren’t rewards that made it all worthwhile, there wouldn’t be quite so…
This country is full of liberal arts colleges, and elementary and secondary school teachers work hard to prepare students for these colleges. They try to encourage and enhance children’s natural curiosity and enthusiasm about science, mathematics, literature, geography, history, language, etc. If teachers succeeded at all they tried to do, we’d all be Renaissance people,…
As our society moves forward, backward, or sideways, school curriculum often responds. In the early and mid-1970’s, as gender equity issues seemed to make their way to the surface, people expressed their concerns about the sex role stereotyping that was prevalent in school textbooks. In basal readers, the female characters usually stayed at home and…
The PTA, PTO, or PTC is sometimes unfairly seen as a bunch of people who spend all their time having bake sales, selling wrapping paper, and organizing social events. They’re not taken seriously enough – not recognized as dedicated advocates for children and teachers. Perhaps that’s because some of the fund-raising and social activities of…