How Beneficial is Early Childhood Education?
The whole idea behind Head Start is to give children from lower socioeconomic families the benefits that middle and upper income families have when it comes to a rich educational environment. While critics of Head Start agree that the program does appear to help lower-income students in their early years, gains from Head Start are wiped out as these same children advance in age. Supporters of Head Start argue that early childhood gains would continue if these lower-income children were given the same benefits as they advance in age. In other words, lower-income students could benefit from intense educational support…
Killing Me Softly
My daughter Nyla posted a message on her Facebook page. It read, “I can’t wait to go to Maine for College. I have got to get out of Killwaukee.” I was struck and saddened by her use of a “K” in Milwaukee, but I really couldn’t argue with her or admonish her in any way. Lately, when the news comes on, it can reflect a dark inner city story, where someone’s life was snuffed out. Before May 2013, I had not known anyone personally who had been killed (by a person with a gun) at least not someone near and…
Cooking Demo with Chef Druschitz
Pancetta Cotto 1 whole pork belly 1 cup garlic, sliced A small handful of black peppercorns 16 fresh bay leaves Zest of two oranges Zest of four lemons Kosher salt brown sugar ¼ cup coriander, whole Fresh rosemary Fresh thyme 16 pieces whole allspice Braising oil or fat, enough to cover when roasting Procedure: Line a pan large enough to hold belly with plastic wrap. Split ingredients in half and season each side with the cure. Cover with an additional sheet of plastic and press with a similar shaped pan topped with a weight under refrigeration over night or…
The Courage to Fail
What made Thomas Edison so remarkable was not that he had a high IQ nor that he scored above average on an achievement test. Edison’s real genius was he had the courage to fail and believed he would ultimately succeed. Edison tried countless materials as filaments in the creation of the light bulb, rejecting those that failed until he found a filament that worked. Edison learned as much from his failures as he did from his successes. From the title of Paul Tough’s book, How Children Succeed, the first thought might be to anticipate math and reading teaching strategies, maybe…
Academic Success Requires Grit
Which cadets are most likely to be successful in graduating from West Point, and which cadets wash out? As it turns out, the answer is not to be found in incoming cadets’ SAT scores, their high school ranking, I.Q. or any of the normal measurements we usually associate with academic success. The answer is GRIT. Individuals high in grit do not swerve from their goals even in the absence of positive feedback. Gritty individuals stick with the task at hand; they don’t give up. When they fail, they pick themselves up and try again. These are the findings of Angela…
Symmetry
A traditional component of classical beauty is symmetry. Think about the roman arches, the Eiffel Tower, or the face of Audrey Hepburn. All of these have symmetry. Great art, while not perfectly symmetrical, has a certain balance to it. Similarly, I would argue a good book has symmetry. Characters, themes, settings, images recur, adding meaning and depth to a story. For example, in Harry Potter, one of the first things we learn about him is his scar. It makes him identifiable, different, it also represents a unique connection between him and Voldemort, and the future confrontations between the two. The…