Secondary school can be a lonely place for adolescents who don’t have a best friend or a group of trusted friends. Young people will be more skilled in the art of making genuine friends (and keeping them) if they know how to be assertive, are optimistic about life, have some basic social skills and have […] … learn more→

“Drink Brawndo. It Has Electrolytes!” –from the movie Idiocracy, which presents an alarmingly credible look into our future. The word “inclusive” is used much like electrolytes in the movie, without considering if there’s any evidence having such things is always a good idea. Hey, remember last post where the Progressives had decided students can’t be […] … learn more→

An adolescent experiences the death of his mother after a lengthy illness. When I ask what services he would like to receive from the school, he initially says he didn’t expect special treatment, would be embarrassed by counseling from the school mental health staff and wouldn’t feel comfortable if many of his teachers asked to […] … learn more→

In a talk given by Guy Brousseau at the Public University of Navarra several years ago, he said that one of the most important challenges of compulsory education was having to teach people who may not want to learn and who are also obliged to do so. The background of the question of this reflection greatly conditions […] … learn more→

Teaching is hard. Staying in the teaching profession can sometimes be even harder. There’s a lack of national data about attrition, but the Queensland College of Teachers estimates anywhere between 8-50% of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years. High workloads, perceived lack of support, work-life balance and the absence of recognition appear to impact new teachers’ decisions […] … learn more→

The auditorium buzzes with anticipation. It is opening night for a group of students from the Theatre for Social Change course offered at University of Waterloo. Students are about to present the culmination of their work from the fall term. As the lights dim, the students’ fear and apprehension is palpable. Acting and performance are […] … learn more→

A few posts ago, I discussed how “aptitude” tests weren’t giving equality of outcome, so they were labeled RACIST and tossed, via a supreme court ruling which directly led to the mess we have today in higher education. That was 50 years ago…but not much has changed in tactics for the Progressives, as we’ll see […] … learn more→

When digital media entrepreneur Andrew Keen predicted in 2007 that the user generated focus of Web 2.0 would lead to a reduction of well researched and factual information – and in turn the rise of amateur opinion – he was clearly on to something. Over a decade later, and Keen’s prognosis has, arguably, come true. The internet today is […] … learn more→

Tact is primitively the sense of touch. It is not only through what we discover the tangible properties of a thing (its fluidity, softness, hardness, shape, temperature, dryness or humidity), it is also sensitivity, it is that is, touching the thing. Unlike sight, which is a sense of distance, it requires contact. In a second sense, which […] … learn more→

A disruption of the education system is needed in many ways, and big data may provide solutions to a number of antiquated education system issues. The benefits of big data can also benefit teachers, students, and educational institutions as a whole. According to an article published in the International Journal of Computer Applications, “Technology is […] … learn more→