Editor’s Note: I first ran across this essay, a commencement address given by Paul Hawken to the lucky University of Portland graduating class of 2009, in a beautiful book of inspirational essays called Hope Beneath our Feet. When I wrote to Hawken to get permission to reprint it, his reply included this postscript: “I went to Nevada Union High…
By Don Pelton I had a slightly melancholy experience this morning. I ran across a webpage describing all my old high school teachers and what became of them. I graduated in 1959. I was especially interested to know about the one teacher — an English teacher — whom I have spoken of ever since…
Reprinted from Diane Ravitch’s Blog under a Creative Commons License By Diane Ravitch The story about Bill Gates’ swift and silent takeover of American education is startling. His role and the role of the U.S. Department of Education in drafting and imposing the Common Core standards on almost every state should be investigated by Congress. The…
This is what I call great parenting (not just for the teaching, nor just for the praise, but for instinctively knowing that combining praise and teaching work powerfully in a young child). Besides … it’s really funny and endearing.
I caught this song on the tail-end of a segment on Democracy Now a day or so ago, and I was thrilled by the inspiring imagery — both musical and visual — of the rise of woman power. The song — an anthem, really — is a collaboration between the Eurythmics (Annie Lennox) and…