College is for the connections . . . and the architecture

BY CARLA YANNI After the recent college admissions scandal in the United States, many people were left scratching their heads. Who would pay half a million dollars just to secure a place for a child at the University of Southern California? Sure, USC comes in at a respectable 22nd place in one national ranking of … More College is for the connections . . . and the architecture

Growing Up in Westeros: Breaking the Wheel of Fantasy Expectations

BY MARIA SACHIKO CECIRE The tendency to set up—and then dash—the expectations of fantasy has always been crucial to HBO’s Game of Thrones and its source novels by George R. R. Martin. (I refer to them collectively below as GoT.) From the beheading of Ned Stark to the slaughter at the Red Wedding, much of … More Growing Up in Westeros: Breaking the Wheel of Fantasy Expectations

On truthiness and trustworthiness: Why nonfiction is best defined as a literature of questions.

BY JOE SUTLIFF SANDERSUniversity of Cambridge It’s a cliché that by the time one finishes writing a book, one hates it. Well, I have just finished a book—A Literature of Questions: Nonfiction for the Critical Child—and if it’s not quite true that I hate it, it’s certainly true that this book continues to cause me … More On truthiness and trustworthiness: Why nonfiction is best defined as a literature of questions.

Save Us.

BY REBEKAH SHELDONAuthor of The Child to Come “Maybe it would be better not to survive.” That’s my favorite line from The Child to Come though I didn’t write it. It is spoken by Camilla Del Ray, a military woman and computer specialist from Marion Zimmer Bradley’s accidental colonization novel Darkover Landfall (1972), after learning … More Save Us.

What are the implications of philanthropic relationships in education?

BY AMY BROWNUniversity of Pennsylvania On a spring day in 2010, I interviewed Sebastian Thomas, head of the in-house nonprofit organization at the public New York City high school at which I taught for two years (referred to here as “College Prep”). Thomas was responsible for organizing the benefits, films, flyers, media, and other forms … More What are the implications of philanthropic relationships in education?

The effect of Civil Rights photobooks in transforming the social consciousness of young people

Children sit together on a tree limb in an uncredited Seventh-Day Adventist image. From Louis B. Reynolds and Charles L. Paddock, Little Journeys into Storyland: Stories That Will Live and Lift (Nashville: Southern Publishing Association, 1947). BY KATHARINE CAPSHAWAssociate professor of English at the University of Connecticut 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Voting … More The effect of Civil Rights photobooks in transforming the social consciousness of young people

Why do we have such faith in creativity?

William W. Caudill, “The Busted Box,” New Schools for New Education, 1959, page 21. Despite its abstract nature, the term “creativity” is something of a hot commodity in contemporary educational rhetoric—a reminder of the discourse that flooded the U.S. after World War II. BY AMY F. OGATAAssociate professor at the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, … More Why do we have such faith in creativity?

More guns in schools? An ethnographer’s perspective.

Author Kathleen Nolan has studied what really happens when police patrol school hallways. Images from Creative Commons. BY KATHLEEN NOLANPrinceton University lecturer <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073741899 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal … More More guns in schools? An ethnographer’s perspective.

Kenneth B. Kidd: Goodbye, Maurice. And thank you.

Moishe from Where the Wild Things Are. Image via Flickr. But the wild things cried,Oh, please don’t goWe’ll eat you upWe love you soAnd Max said:“No!” And we roared our terrible roars, and gnashed our terrible teeth, and rolled our terrible eyes, and showed our terrible claws, but Maurice Sendak stepped into his private boat … More Kenneth B. Kidd: Goodbye, Maurice. And thank you.