Is STEM Over-rated?
If you’re a parent with children in K-12 education, you have likely been STEMed to death in recent years. In primary and secondary education, we are bombarded by STEM this and STEM that. As I’m sure you know by now, STEM is a hot topic these days in the ongoing debate about how to best […]
Read MoreGrit is Overrated
A recent study just demonstrated what I have always believed, that grit is overrated. Grit has become a buzzword in education and child development as an attribute that is highly predictive of success and is easily developed. But, as with most ‘solutions du jour’ for the challenges our children face, grit is simplistic and has […]
Read MoreKids Do Better in School Without Smartphones
Here’s an interesting article describing research that should come as no surprise to anyone. Students do better in school when smartphones are banned. The distraction and the opportunity costs (time spent on smartphones is time not spent studying or paying attention in class) are obvious.
Read MoreTaking Notes by Hand is Better Than on a Laptop
As anyone who has been either a student or teacher in class recently, there is a steady movement away from taking handwritten notes and toward note taking on a laptop computer. This shift seems quite natural given how technology is being used more often in every facet of our lives. But you may take pause of […]
Read MoreNew York Times Publishes Taylor Letter to the Editor
Last Friday, May 16th, the New York Times published my letter to the editor in response to a recent article about the introduction of computer programming into classrooms of students as young as second grade in Mill Valley California (my home town). Said one mother of a second grader when asked why she signed him […]
Read MoreStandardized Testing Gets a Laugh (from Louis C.K.)
Here’s a very funny take on standardized testing from the comedian Louis C.K. (first 2:30 mins.). As with most humor, there is more than a grain of truth to it.
Read MoreBlessings of the Thin Envelope
A number of my clients and other young people I know just received their college acceptance and rejection letters. Not surprisingly, some are ecstatic and others are devastated. Frank Bruni, the New York Times columnist, wrote a piece today that put the exercise of college acceptance and rejection into a healthy perspective. Reading the column […]
Read MoreEducational Media? Yeah, Right.
As many of you know from my most recent parenting book, Raising Generation Tech: Prepare Your Children for a Media-fueled World, I’m not a big fan of screen time by children. In recent years, I’ve gotten push back from parents who say that their children learn a lot from so-called educational” media, whether TV shows, […]
Read More5 Myths about Public Education in America
As some of you know, I have written extensively about public education in America and am a vocal critic of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. One of the most misrepresented findings in public education these days is that American students’ scores on achievement tests place them in the middle of the […]
Read MoreWill Technology Save Public Education?
There’s no doubt that technology is the new “panacea du jour” for public education in America today. Hundreds of millions of dollars (and much more on the way) are being spent on getting iPads and other tablets into the hands of teachers and students all over the country in classes as early as kindergarten. This […]
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