For the Scrooge in Your Life

Not everyone can be filled with the joy of Christmas. Thankfully, the folks at KnockKnock have created this handy release form for the Scrooge in your life. A copy for your Humbug can be found here.

Sully's Tribute to Christopher Hitchens

A loving, comprehensive tribute to one of the most important voices of our generation, from another incredibly important voice, Andrew Sullivan. My favorite quote comes from Hitch's Vanity Fair essay, published last June:

To my writing classes I used later to open by saying that anybody who could talk could also write. Having cheered them up with this easy-to-grasp ladder, I then replaced it with a huge and loathsome snake: “How many people in this class, would you say, can talk? I mean really talk?” That had its duly woeful effect. I told them to read every composition aloud, preferably to a trusted friend. The rules are much the same: Avoid stock expressions (like the plague, as William Safire used to say) and repetitions. Don’t say that as a boy your grandmother used to read to you, unless at that stage of her life she really was a boy, in which case you have probably thrown away a better intro. If something is worth hearing or listening to, it’s very probably worth reading. So, this above all: Find your own voice.

Kickin It Old School w/Strunk and White

Word.

The Elements of Style from Jake Heller on Vimeo.

Study Break! TaeKwonDo Edition

Stop the exam prep and enjoy.

The most important speech on education in years

The most important speech on education in years. To no one's surprise, it's by Diane Ravitch. The full text can be read here. Please share with anyone - friends, teachers, administrators, GR Press education "reporters" - who should be listening.

What's Popular Music Isn't Always Right

Yesterday, to the continued disappointment of prog rock lovers everywhere,  Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Beastie Boys were named the newest members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Pouring salt on that wound, here are twelve more depressing facts about popular music, courtesy of Buzzfeed. Exhibit A: Creed has sold more records in the US than Jimi Hendrix.

Mr. Obvious Fixes America's Schools

Via The Atlantic.com: Reinventing the wheel via education reforms won't create meaningful change, says Marc Tucker, President of the National Center on Education and the Economy. Instead, the U.S. should follow the lead of top-performing countries like Finland and Japan:

The top-performing nations boost the quality of their teaching forces by greatly raising entry standards for teacher education programs. They insist that all teachers have in-depth knowledge of the subjects they will teach, apprenticing new teachers to master teachers and raising teacher pay to that of other high-status professions. They then encourage these highly trained teachers to take the lead in improving classroom practices. 

The result is a virtuous cycle: teaching ranks as one of the most attractive professions, which means no teacher shortages and no need to waive high licensing standards. That translates into top-notch teaching forces and the world's highest student achievement. All of this makes the teaching profession even more attractive, leading to higher salaries, even greater prestige, and even more professional autonomy. The end results are even better teachers and even higher student performance.

"Why School Choice Fails"

Terrific op-ed in today's NY Times on the pitfalls of schools of choice. Should be required reading for every GRPS Board of Ed member, every GRPS administrator, and, most important, every Grand Rapidian who gives a damn about the city's future. Natalie Hopkinson is a parent of a Washington D.C. student:

The situation for Washington’s working- and middle-class families may be bleak, but we are hardly alone. Despite the lack of proof that school-choice policies work, they are gaining popularity in communities nationwide. Like us, those places will face a stark decision: Do they want equitable investment in community education, or do they want to hand it over to private schools and charters? Let’s stop pretending we can fairly do both. As long as we do, some will keep winning, but many of us will lose.