More on Education: The Freedom to Fail

Should teachers be given more leeway?  Yep.
In schools today we place an incredible emphasis on success, perhaps to a fault. I will be the first to argue that every student and every teacher should experience genuine success on a regular basis. I will also be the first to argue that we as educational leaders [...]

Is Democracy Real or Not in America?

That’s the question Carson explores in 3 posts on the subject:
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
Quote (from post 2):
I find it interesting that states and the federal government attempt to create a system of educational egalitarianism, but fail to realize the improbability of such a construct in a society of such class differentiation. I think about the [...]

Should English Class include More Science Reading?

John Hawks points out that the majority of High School English Classes are devoid of any serious selections from non-fiction:
I want to point out something else: scientific writing of the 1800’s (and I would add the 1700’s to this) is still broadly relevant today. Thoreau is often taught in high school, in a relatively uninteresting [...]

Cogito Ergo Sum … not Dumb

Thinking hard is by it’s nature a pain in the ass.  But, it’s also fun and has the added benefit of potentially staving off Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Valenzuela et al used the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) to estimate the extent to which 37 healthy older individuals had engaged in complex mental activity throughout [...]

RNA, HIV, and the Origins of Life

The central dogma of Molecular Genetics is that information flow is unidirectional:  DNA to RNA to PROTEIN.  That is, DNA holds the blueprints, RNA is the messenger, and Proteins are the constructed functional units of life.
This dogma seems to hold for most of the species on the planet.  From bacteria to humans to insects, the [...]