Sports/Ski Racing: Bode Miller’s Road to Redemption
I don’t know Bode Miller personally, though I know athletes and coaches who know him well. I do know alpine ski racing. I competed internationally in my youth and have worked with ski racers, ranging from juniors to Olympians, on the mental side of the sport for 25 years. And I have followed Bode’s career […]
Read MoreEducation: Public Education Gone (Absurdly) Wrong
As I described in my recent Race to the Top? series, the need for significant reform of America’s public school system is great (Part II), yet the institutional obstacles preventing reform seem even greater (Part III). The challenges of changing a system that is so entrenched came to absurd light from a reader of my […]
Read MorePolitics/Technology: The (Mis) Information Age
We have just concluded what was one of the most tumultuous and divisive decades in our nation’s history. I’ve been thinking about what made this period so difficult. Unexpected and, in some cases, uncontrollable events certainly played a role. The 2000 Presidential election, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, […]
Read MoreTechnology: In Praise of the Blog “Commentariat”
A few months ago, I wrote a post titled The Blogosphere Jungle in which I described the truly uncivil nature of the blogosphere in which respect for opposing views and dispassionate discourse were out and ad hominem attacks and demonization were in. Yet, as I have followed and responded to many comments to my own […]
Read MoreEducation: Race to the Top Needs Real Reform
My first two posts in my Race to the Top? Series (Part I and Part II) focused on the effects of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top on children at the top and the bottom of the education food chain. This post will explore several of the more sensitive issues that prevent […]
Read MoreTechnology: Is Technology Making Us Idiots?
In his insightful 2008 article in the Atlantic, Nicolas Carr asks, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He goes on to explore how new technology has altered our reading habits and, more unsettlingly, how we process information and think. It is a cerebral piece that meets the high intellectual standards we expect of that august magazine. […]
Read MoreEducation: Four Mistakes in the Race to the Top
In my recent post, Achievement Rat Race a Race to Nowhere, I described the academic achievement rat race in which students near the top of the educational food chain strive maniacally to win (or at least finish). I argued that the emphasis on testing by former President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) and […]
Read MoreTechnology: The Law of Unintended Consequences
I’ve been called a skeptic, an alarmist, and a doomsayer because the focus of most of my technology blogging is on the risks of and what’s wrong with technology. I realize that I may sound like a Luddite despite the fact that I’m actually an early adapter and readily admit that I couldn’t function in […]
Read MoreTechnology: 10 Things I Love About Technology
I’ve been reviewing my technology-related blog posts of late and I’ve noticed a particular trend that I find troubling: I seem to be a technology doomsayer. The overriding theme I’ve identified in my own writing about technology is one of skepticism and caution. My posts tend to focus on the problems that technology creates, not […]
Read MorePolitics: Outrage 2.0
What do the following have in common? ?Too big to fail? government bailouts. Executive pay on Wall Street. The absence of universal health care in America. The influence of lobbyists on government. All of the above should immediately generate profound outrage among all of our citizens, regardless of their geography, race, ethnicity, politics, or religion. […]
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