Reframing, Part 1: Reframing Education

There’s a great blog post on reframing at Salon.com. The author, Dave Pollard, focuses on reframing common (and false) business myths, and it’s fascinating to see how he reframes each one. His new perspective and questions allow us to completely rethink assumptions that stifle creativity and positive change. What are common education myths that could [...]

The Hidden Costs of Shopping at Wal-Mart

There’s an article in the Detroit Free Press by Georgea Kovanis titled, “Yes, I’m shopping at Wal-Mart.” It’s a paean to a store formerly vilified by cultural creatives and eco-consumers. But with a tough economy, even people who have eschewed Wal-Mart for years are starting to shop there as money becomes tighter with rising fuel [...]

The New Yorker Cover of Barack and Michelle Obama

By now, most of us have heard about the recent New Yorker magazine cover depicting Barack and Michelle Obama in the White House, fist pumping in their Muslim and terrorist garb while the American flag burns and a picture of Osama Bin Laden looks on. I grew up in Manhattan, and The New Yorker magazine [...]

Valuing Teachers/Valuable Teachers

As an educator, Woody Allen’s famous line in Annie Hall still haunts me. “Those who can’t do, teach, and those who can’t teach, teach gym,” he quipped to big laughs. As a teenager watching the film for the first time, I laughed, too. I certainly wasn’t considering teaching as a profession back then. No status, [...]

What Does a Spectacular Education Look Like?

I’ve been contemplating the next book I will write. One idea is to write a book about what’s wrong with our educational system and how we can fix it. That’s a cumbersome title for a book, so for now, let’s call it A Spectacular Education. I don’t pretend to know how we create schools and [...]