Emboldened Mischief Makers, Part One
Part One
There is a post today in Slate about "Creationism" in Colorado--that is, the Colorado legislature is proposing a bill which will
Emboldened Mischief-Makers, Part Two
There is a post today in Slate about "Creationism" in Colorado--that is, the Colorado legislature is proposing a bill which will
direct teachers to create an environment that encourages students to intelligently and respectfully explore scientific questions and learn about scientific evidence related to biological and chemical evolution, global warming, and human cloning.The author of this post, an astronomer and writer, says
The antiscience bill HB 13-1089 is one of the Orwellian-named “Academic Freedom” thrusts by creationists, where legislators claim they just want teachers to have freedom about what they can teach, but is in fact a clear and obvious attack on scientific fields that disagree with the beliefs of
Emboldened Mischief-Makers, Part Two
Part Two of "Emboldened Mischief-Makers" (Here is Part One.)
Concerning those "advocating" "Academic Freedom" via state legislatures across the country, that is to say, concerning those pushing "freedom" in legalese devised to create the opportunity for the dissemination of ideologies via a process that codifies action into law.
Here is an example of the way legislative "mischief" is made. It is important to note that this is indeed the very meat and effect of the process we hold so much stock in--that is to say, the system of representative government in which we profess to believe a good and noble and democratic system.
What follows is from the Lord Charnwood biography of Lincoln.
Stephen Douglas, who was four years younger than Lincoln, had come to Illinois from the Eastern States just about the time when Lincoln entered the Legislature. He had neither money nor friends to start with, but almost immediately secured, by his extraordinary address in pushing himself, a clerkship in the Assembly. He soon
Concerning those "advocating" "Academic Freedom" via state legislatures across the country, that is to say, concerning those pushing "freedom" in legalese devised to create the opportunity for the dissemination of ideologies via a process that codifies action into law.
Here is an example of the way legislative "mischief" is made. It is important to note that this is indeed the very meat and effect of the process we hold so much stock in--that is to say, the system of representative government in which we profess to believe a good and noble and democratic system.
What follows is from the Lord Charnwood biography of Lincoln.
Stephen Douglas, who was four years younger than Lincoln, had come to Illinois from the Eastern States just about the time when Lincoln entered the Legislature. He had neither money nor friends to start with, but almost immediately secured, by his extraordinary address in pushing himself, a clerkship in the Assembly. He soon
Emboldened Mischief-Makers, Part Three
Part Three of "Emboldened Mischief-Makers"
Part One
Part Two
Concerning "the why" of Creationism and such.
The two primary "books" for Lincoln, nearly committed to memory, The Bible and Shakespeare. So too, primarily, for Melville.
If one is to "suffer" the discipline of only a few books then they'd better be good ones! They'd better foster imagination, creativity, and linguistic virtuosity. I wonder if one gets that in the "informational text" heavy "common core"?
Concerning the spate of states proposing to legislate educators "to create an environment that encourages students to intelligently and respectfully explore scientific questions and learn about scientific evidence related to
Part One
Part Two
Concerning "the why" of Creationism and such.
The two primary "books" for Lincoln, nearly committed to memory, The Bible and Shakespeare. So too, primarily, for Melville.
If one is to "suffer" the discipline of only a few books then they'd better be good ones! They'd better foster imagination, creativity, and linguistic virtuosity. I wonder if one gets that in the "informational text" heavy "common core"?
Concerning the spate of states proposing to legislate educators "to create an environment that encourages students to intelligently and respectfully explore scientific questions and learn about scientific evidence related to
Emboldened Mischief-Makers, Part Four
And lastly, Part Four of "Emboldened Mischief-Makers."
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
It may be hard to believe but I started all of this (the first shall be the last) because I wanted to share a little bit of mischief from a student's pen who attended the Dixwell Preparatory School in Cambridge, MA, graduating in 1855. (The student is 16-years-old.)
Question:
"What is your favorite virtue? Do you select it, because you delight to practice it, or because you think you need it, or because you have seen it beautifully exemplified in a Friend?"
(No scantron question this!)
Answer:
"Here the simple question is put to me. No prevarication, no equivocation will do. I am not asked to state what
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
It may be hard to believe but I started all of this (the first shall be the last) because I wanted to share a little bit of mischief from a student's pen who attended the Dixwell Preparatory School in Cambridge, MA, graduating in 1855. (The student is 16-years-old.)
Question:
"What is your favorite virtue? Do you select it, because you delight to practice it, or because you think you need it, or because you have seen it beautifully exemplified in a Friend?"
(No scantron question this!)
Answer:
"Here the simple question is put to me. No prevarication, no equivocation will do. I am not asked to state what
Young People of the World: Adults Will Not Save You
From Mike Martin:
It was interesting to watch the inauguration of President Obama on
Martin Luther King Jr. Day but I still say people need to understand
what really brought about the Civil Rights Act. What really allowed
Barack Obama to win the Presidency in the United States of America.
People want to publicize the Tuskogee Airmen, and their history is
important and dramatic, but mostly as an illustration of the stupidity
of racism. The Tuskogee Airmen themselves had little effect on people in
the Jim Crow south. It had an influence in the banning segregation in
the U.S. military, but not much effect on civil society. The same is
