The average teacher in Chicago makes $76,000 a year for nine months of work. (More than many college professors with Ph.D.s.) They were offered a 16% salary increase spread over four years -- from a system that has a $665 million deficit this year and a bigger one next year. As of this Monday, the Chicago teachers are on strike over issues ranging from pay raises, classroom conditions, job security and teacher evaluations. It's ironic that VP Candidate Paul Ryan had the decency to come out in support of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel -- while President Obama lacks both the courage and the … [Read more...] about The Chicago Teacher Strike
Archives for 2012
Why They Cheat at Harvard
Great observations from Howard Gardner in the Washington Post. Dr. Gardner is a professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-author of Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet. In putting together Good Work, Dr. Garner and his colleagues interviewed "100 of the 'best and brightest' students and spoke with them in depth about life and work." They found: Over and over again, students told us that they admired good work and wanted to be good workers. But they also told us they wanted — ardently — to be successful. They feared that their peers were … [Read more...] about Why They Cheat at Harvard
Mitt Romney Reads Mike Rowe’s Letter
Governor Romney reading an open letter from Mike Rowe, creator and producer of Dirty Jobs. … [Read more...] about Mitt Romney Reads Mike Rowe’s Letter
Francis Schaeffer’s Impact
The Acton Institute: Three key themes dominated Schaeffer’s relentless assault upon social decline and spiritual impoverishment. First, he insisted that Biblical occurrences, like the resurrection of Christ, were real events in space and time. In this sense, he was an apologist for the Christian faith and saw these Biblical truths as the only legitimate foundation for our ethics. Second, he pulled Christian pietists out of a purely devotional faith by demonstrating the massive impact the faith has had on the development of civilization. For Schaeffer, the Christian faith was not some exercise … [Read more...] about Francis Schaeffer’s Impact
Interview with Charles Morris on Thriving at College
It was a pleasure to sit down a few weeks ago with Charles Morris of Haven Today for an interview about Thriving at College. The interviews were broadcast this past Tuesday (9/4) and Wednesday (9/5). If you're interested, you can stream the audio for free (at the previous two links), or freely download the programs from the iTunes Store. (The messages are called Keeping Faith, Parts 1 and 2.) Haven Today has been discussing related issues throughout the week. … [Read more...] about Interview with Charles Morris on Thriving at College
Mike Rowe to Mitt Romney: We Need More Trade Skilled Workers
Mike Rowe, creator and executive producer of Discover Channel's Dirty Jobs, writes an open letter to Mitt Romney. An excerpt: Even as unemployment remains sky high, a whole category of vital occupations has fallen out of favor, and companies struggle to find workers with the necessary skills. The causes seem clear. We have embraced a ridiculously narrow view of education. Any kind of training or study that does not come with a four-year degree is now deemed “alternative.” Many viable careers once aspired to are now seen as “vocational consolation prizes,” and many of the jobs this current … [Read more...] about Mike Rowe to Mitt Romney: We Need More Trade Skilled Workers