Choosing to present your text in unreadable forms seems self-defeating. So why do so many in education do just that? — A month of discontent. Repeatedly this winter, I’ve been asked to work in and with documents that I cannot read at all. I mean, yes, reading — the decoding of text — is not my strength. Not at all. So I listen, using text-to-speech apps. …

TPECK and the whole of learning environments Human environments are not flat, they are not two-dimensional. They are not just three-dimensional, either. And so, by extension, human experience is beyond three-dimensional as well. The world, the universe, surrounds us. It lies below us and above us. It stretches back into…

Columbia University’s new business school buildings’ reliance on stairs as social spaces is a huge embarrassment, but these architects are not alone. A glowing review of two new business school buildings at Columbia University caught my attention. The first step seemed great. A business school that was not just about Milton Friedman’s theories and quarterly profits for Wall Street is very welcome. Recently retired Dean of the school Glenn Hubbard explained in…

The Guardian is my favorite newspaper, but it is time for those with print disabilities, or just people living in this century, to draw a line in the sand. — “So I made a New Year’s resolution for 2022: more books, less phone. I set a goal for myself of 50 books. And I almost made it.” — Nancy Jo Sales in The Guardian. “Screen Shaming.” Let me introduce you to a new phrase for what is now an at…

When I originally worked on this, my idea was to support students with special needs. But I’ve discovered that Toolbelt Theory must be an essential part of everyone’s education. — The kids in your school must learn how to learn, choose, use, and adapt the technologies they will use across their lifespans. Not including this as a basic part of their education is as if schools in 1960 did not teach students how to use books, newspapers, pens, pencils, a…

Remembering one of the most brilliant kids I’ve ever met. A young man who would never have been admitted to Thomas Jefferson High School, Bronx Science, MIT, et al. and yet… — When a former student dies, it is just wrong. We are not meant to watch our children die. No matter how often it happens, it is always a wrong in the human soul. Eric Hahn died on October 14, apparently of an equipment accident while diving deep into the unknown…

We need to care for our kids’ brains at least as much as the FDA tries to protect their bodies. Educational researchers, and educators themselves, refuse to look into the side effects of their policies, their implementations, or anything else they bring to students. You’ve decided to lock all your…

Cleaning up your language doesn’t help if you won’t change your attitude. — retardation. noun formal: slow development, or development that is slower than it should be Words matter. As someone who thinks of himself as both a writer and an encourager of writing, I know that. But actions matter at least as much. And ideas matter most of all. Perhaps the second…

Perhaps schools must lower standards, raise expectations, and accept the fact that human children are not all the same. Lower Our Standards. No, not something you hear often in education writings, but it is August when we can watch televised baseball (and softball) at every age level. It’s the month…