However, each and every time he’s written about education issues, it’s amazing how coherence and thoughtfulness just seem to disappear from his consciousness.
His column today, Heroes of Uncertainty, is about psychiatry, not education. In it, he questions whether psychiatrists and their profession should really be viewed primarily as a science:
Psychiatrists are not heroes of science. They are heroes of uncertainty, using improvisation, knowledge and artistry to improve people’s lives.
The field of psychiatry is better in practice than it is in theory. The best psychiatrists are not austerely technical, like the official handbook’s approach; they combine technical expertise with personal knowledge. They are daring adapters, perpetually adjusting in ways more imaginative than scientific rigor.
The best psychiatrists are not coming up with abstract rules that homogenize treatments. They are combining an awareness of common patterns with an acute attention to the specific circumstances of a unique human being.
Brooks’ points all make sense to me. What astounds me, though, is his cognitive dissonance — he relentlessly promotes that schools and teaching should be evaluated through the “science” of standardized testing, and doesn’t seem to recognize that the same thing he is saying about psychiatry can be said about teaching.
David Brooks, who generally loses all coherence when he writes explicitly about education issues, has just written an eloquent case for the importance of being data-informed, and not data-driven.
The first is from a New York Times columnist, David Brooks, who I often criticize when he writes about education but also often praise when he writes on other topics he knows something about. He writes about immigration in his piece headlined “The Easy Problem”. He takes on a lot of the typical arguments against immigration reform and then ends this way:
The first big point from all this is that given the likely gridlock on tax reform and fiscal reform, immigration reform is our best chance to increase America’s economic dynamism. We should normalize the illegals who are here, create a legal system for low-skill workers and bend the current reform proposals so they look more like the Canadian system, which tailors the immigrant intake to regional labor markets and favors high-skill workers.
The second big conclusion is that if we can’t pass a law this year, given the overwhelming strength of the evidence, then we really are a pathetic basket case of a nation.
Another important article from The Washington Post deals with what may be one of the most critical, if not THE most critical, question in the debate — what and when is the process for the undocumented who are here to become citizens? The article reviews typical waiting times (you can get the sense of them by the title — How long is the immigration ‘line’? As long as 24 years ) and ends this way:
Immigration advocates worry that the promise of citizenship could end up being “in name only” for some undocumented immigrants. ”Instead of dying in the desert, they might just die waiting to become permanent residents,” concludes Paparelli.
Here are my choices for The Best Resources About The New Push For Immigration Reform:
The best resource out there for now is the Associated Press interactive comparing President Obama’s proposals with those from the bipartisan group of eight Senators.
Here’s the closed-captioned video of President Obama’s address today:
The first is from a New York Times columnist, David Brooks, who I often criticize when he writes about education but also often praise when he writes on other topics he knows something about. He writes about immigration in his piece headlined “The Easy Problem”. He takes on a lot of the typical arguments against immigration reform and then ends this way:
The first big point from all this is that given the likely gridlock on tax reform and fiscal reform, immigration reform is our best chance to increase America’s economic dynamism. We should normalize the illegals who are here, create a legal system for low-skill workers and bend the current reform proposals so they look more like the Canadian system, which tailors the immigrant intake to regional labor markets and favors high-skill workers.
The second big conclusion is that if we can’t pass a law this year, given the overwhelming strength of the evidence, then we really are a pathetic basket case of a nation.
Another important article from The Washington Post deals with what may be one of the most critical, if not THE most critical, question in the debate — what and when is the process for the undocumented who are here to become citizens? The article reviews typical waiting times (you can get the sense of them by the title — How long is the immigration ‘line’? As long as 24 years ) and ends this way:
Immigration advocates worry that the promise of citizenship could end up being “in name only” for some undocumented immigrants. ”Instead of dying in the desert, they might just die waiting to become permanent residents,” concludes Paparelli.
Preview | Immigration: The pathway to now is a preview to a multi-part video series The Washington Post is publishing on the last thirty years of immigration reform. It will start on May 14th, and is embedded below:
I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here).
These posts are different from the ones I list under the monthly“Most Popular Blog Posts.” Those are the posts the largest numbers of readers “clicked-on” to read. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit lax about writing those posts, though.
Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference):
Whenever New York Times columnist David Brooks writes explicitly about education issues, his sense of judgment and coherence appear to completely disappear.
However, sometimes when he writes about non-education issues, he has wise insights that can certainly be applied to the classroom and to education policy discussions. Today is one of those examples.
His column, How People Change, is an excellent critique of the now-famous father who sent an email to his children telling them he was disappointed in them and they shouldn’t contact him until they have a plan to change their behavior.
It’s worth reading his entire column, but here’s how he ends it:
It’s foolhardy to try to persuade people to see the profound errors of their ways in the hope that mental change will lead to behavioral change. Instead, try to change superficial behavior first and hope that, if they act differently, they’ll eventually think differently. Lure people toward success with the promise of admiration instead of trying to punish failure with criticism. Positive rewards are more powerful.
I happen to cover a field — politics — in which people are perpetually bellowing at each other to be better. They’re always issuing the political version of the Crews Missile.
It’s a lousy leadership model. Don’t try to bludgeon bad behavior. Change the underlying context. Change the behavior triggers. Displace bad behavior with different good behavior. Be oblique. Redirect.
In the midst of the “Lincoln mania” that is going around these days, I’ve found two pieces to be the best. I’m adding them to The Best Resources About President’s Day, which is where I list sites about Lincoln and about Washington:
I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see my previous Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month.
These posts are different from the ones I list under the monthly “Most Popular Blog Posts.” Those are the posts the largest numbers of readers “clicked-on” to read. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit lax about writing those posts, though.
Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference):
All sense of proportion and insight leaves New York Times columnist David Brooks whenever he writes about education (and, more recently, Occupy Wall Street).
However, he periodically hits a home run when he tackles other topics. He did so today in his new column, The Life Reports II.
He shares extraordinary life advice he’s gleaned from readers. It’s well worth visiting and sharing….
I thought it might be useful for both readers of this blog and for me to review those monthly lists and pick a few that I think are the very best “tweets” of the year. I’ll publish a final list in late December.
Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try to break it up into mid-month and end-of-month lists (and sometimes I’m a bit late).
I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post.
Here are a few recent good school reform-related posts from around the Web:
Marzano’s “Causal” Evaluation System by Justin Baeder at Education Week makes a great point about “research-based practices” not holding all the answers.
Brooks’ column today (Smells Like School Spirit) was certainly a bad idea, and many thoughtful people in the education world have responded. Here are the best responses so far:
Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try to break it up into mid-month and end-of-month lists (and sometimes I’m a bit late).
I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post.
David Brooks at The New York Times writes in Homework Follies that a new study shows that homework has no impact in science, English, and history, but it does have a large impact in math.
I think it’s probably also safe to say that (depending on the type of homework, of course) it would also show a large impact with English Language Learners (see Homework For English Language Learners).
I really am surprised to see so many ordinarily thoughtful national columnists — ones who I generally like — show such poor judgment when they write about schools.
What is it that blinds these columnists? In fact, what is it that does the same to so many school reformers and legislators? Do they think that since they went to school when they were children, that makes them experts in figuring out how they should be run? They all have gone to see a doctor at some point, too, but they don’t seem to be as critical or prescriptive about how they think a medical professionals should treat their patients.
Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try to break it up into mid-month and end-of-month lists (and sometimes I’m a bit late).
I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post.
