Recently I’ve encountered a seeming avalanche of comments, articles, and posts that claim that some new technological tool will make you stupid. Or possibly lazy. Or immoral. Or something. Doubtless the first stone knife was similarly received — as the end of manly dependence upon unformed sticks and stones, and the birth of a generation…
Mark Bauerlein at First Things doesn’t like laptops in the classroom (HT: Dave Black Online.) Even the title of the post says something about his view of technology. For what it’s worth, I write things by hand on my tablet. I teach Sunday School using notes, book, and Bible references on my tablet as well….
Brandon Withrow tells the story of How Westminster Theological Seminary Came to Define Fundamentalism for [Him]. It is a story that is repeated over and over again, and in this case a professor was removed from Westminster for saying much the same thing as I would about the study of the Old Testament: Green says…
Peter Enns’ post, “If They Only Knew What I Thought” struck a chord with me and at the same time called up one of my concerns, or perhaps I should say areas of conflict. I lived through this growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist and being educated in Seventh-day Adventist schools. In fact, I made…
Much as I don’t expect ebooks to replace print completely, but do expect them to take a huge chunk of the market, so I expect virtual schooling will become much more the norm, yet classrooms will still exist. I think for simple cost, if nothing else, virtual schooling will become much more common. How My…
I think this article is great, and quite accurate, from my non-expert perspective: Why Anti-Authoritarians Are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill
Brandon Haught, board member of Florida Citizens for Science has an opinion piece at the Orlando Sentinel on Florida’s science education. With the great need for people qualified in various fields of science, it’s distressing to know how poorly we’re doing as a state. Perhaps some of these measurement tools we’re using aren’t doing what…
I have the same sort of ambivalence on evaluating school performance as I do regarding church performance. A “by the numbers” approach keeps people from (successfully) making excuses, but it may not measure what you actually want to measure. In the case of schools, as I see it, the problem is that education is not…
In a blog on the American Family Association web site, Bryan Fischer has named Jessica Ahlquist, the High School student in Rhode Island who was plaintiff in a case against a prayer banner in her school, to his “American Association of Religious Bigots.” In doing so he calls her a “little atheist bully” and a…
Scot McKnight cites a study that shows many of the things we might think would make a difference in education don’t, and a number of others do. I was actually unsurprised by this. The actual study is behind a pay wall, so I don’t know if they covered it, but another indicator of success in…