The Teachers We Need Now

What’s the difference between teaching a student and training a parrot? This isn’t the setup for a joke but actually a very serious question. To train a parrot you need to repeat a word or phrase that you want the bird to imitate, over and over again until it starts to articulate what sounds closeContinue reading “The Teachers We Need Now”

Education, Refocused

Let’s assume that when students say they are in college “to get a job,” they really are answering honestly – and hopefully. But let’s also leave open the possibility that what students are really hoping for is life direction, an opportunity to discover and develop the creative potential they possess and live it out inContinue reading “Education, Refocused”

The Paradox of Education and the Search for Its Soul

Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe. – H.G. Wells A paradox is something that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. Its apparent self-contradiction can generate a tension so strong that it snaps and collapses into a dualism of either this or that, this versus that, this but notContinue reading “The Paradox of Education and the Search for Its Soul”