Monthly Archives: February 2015

Other Side of the Looking Glass

Posted on February 19, 2015 by JRM

I regularly caution students about oversimplified “lessons” to be learned from studying history – the historical record contains enough versions of the past to regularly offer conflicting interpretations. On the long list of historical events I’d caution against drawing analogies … Continue reading →

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Recently Read

Posted on February 18, 2015 by JRM

Africa: A Very Short Introduction by John Parker and Richard Rathbone. I’ve been mainlining books in the Oxford University Press series “Very Short Introductions“. Parker and Rathbone’s Africa captures everything I love about these books; not only does it provide … Continue reading →

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Schools We Know to be Good

Posted on February 7, 2015 by JRM

Kate Taylor did not bury the lede in a surprisingly candid profile of New York City’s schools chancellor in the Metropolitan section: A dozen principals and New York City education officials were gathered in an office early last year, sorting … Continue reading →

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To be, in a word, unborable.

Posted on February 4, 2015 by JRM

In a few years my students take seats in auditoriums of varying degrees of prestige and grandeur filled with freshmen for [insert any topic] 101. Fresh Moleskines, iPads, and laptops fill desks and experts of varying degrees of prestige and … Continue reading →

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