The physicist, author of ‘Einstein, History and Other Passions’ talks about his work for Reagan’s commission on school reform.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Dodgy Educations?
May 14th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What a lot of people in the Labour Cabinet studied useless subjects at university.… Read the rest
History is Bunk
May 13th, 2003 8:39 pm | By Ophelia BensonBut it’s not very surprising if we don’t value learning, effort, apprenticeship, craft, if we’re not eager to spend years learning to play the cello or write real poetry that rhymes and scans, or to read Gibbon or Montaigne or The Tale of Genji or any of those long-winded books people used to write because they had nothing better to do – it’s not all that amazing if we don’t want to do that, when our leaders have such a squalidly practical, utilitarian, narrow, worm’s-eye view of the value of education. School is for job training, and that’s that. At least, that’s that when it comes to publicly funded education: they don’t mind our getting purely curiosity-driven education if we … Read the rest
Robert Park’s Column
May 13th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Virtuous Bill is math-challenged and a loser, Wall Street Journal takes herbal medicine claim at face value.… Read the rest
Neuroethics
May 13th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Steven Rose wonders about epidemics of depression and Ritalin use, the possibility of ‘smart drugs,’ and whether drugs are a cheap fix for social problems.… Read the rest
A Few Bags of Cheez Doodles Later
May 13th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Editor & Publisher asks some cogent (and laugh-provoking) questions about the ‘Blair Watch Project’.… Read the rest
The Optimist’s Slaughter
May 13th, 2003 | By Christopher OrletEarly on every thinking man makes the conscious or unconscious decision whether
to view the cup of life as half full, or dry as the Garagum Desert. Those whose
cup is half full are the world’s optimists, the Pollyannas and the kind of people
to be avoided at all costs, particularly at parties. In America they are, according
to Gallup, the majority (64 percent). These are the same folks who wave flags,
join the PTA, bet on the Cubs, and get caught in thunderstorms without an umbrella
and hopefully catch pneumonia. Pessimists, by my estimate, make up about 10
percent of the American population. The other 26 percent couldn’t care less,
and were probably too busy watching professional wrestling to … Read the rest
Most Hated Books
May 12th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Tolkien, Iris Murdoch, Derrida, Jeffrey Archer? Harry Potter, Possession, Atonement, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin? … Read the rest
A Huge Black Eye
May 12th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Washington Post on the fraudulent reporter at the New York Times.… Read the rest
Good Old Flow
May 12th, 2003 12:35 am | By Ophelia BensonWell, life is short, time is short, we’re busy, we can’t do everything – I mean, come on! There’s the job, the commute, the gym, the spirituality seminar, the assertiveness refresher course, the holistic meditation group, the energy healing hour, there’s therapy, and shopping, and catching up on tv – does that leave a lot of time for reading? Get real! So shortcuts are always welcome. Shortcuts like reading fewer books by particular great writers – or like reading only selections from fewer books by particular great writers – or – oh the hell with it: to be perfectly frank, like not reading anything at all by any great writers whatsoever. Like reading two pages of one novel by one … Read the rest
It’s All so Difficult
May 12th, 2003 12:12 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother thought or two on the fabulating reporter. The whole story, at least as presented by the reporter’s colleagues (and there are no doubt further stories behind that, or further truths), is a case study in how difficult it can be to get at the truth. Difficult in a variety of senses – difficult just in the sense of grind, slog, graft; difficult in the sense of having to overcome obstacles; difficult in the sense of beset with uncertainites, doubts, confusing evidence; difficult in the sense of painful, ethically and emotionally; difficult in the sense of stumbling in the dark, of not even knowing there is a truth to be found.
… Read the restThe investigation suggests several reasons Mr. Blair’s deceits went
Truth and the Times
May 11th, 2003 7:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe New York Times has a compellingly if morbidly fascinating story today. I feel a little ashamed at being so fascinated: it seems like Schadenfreude, the matter being obviously such a nightmare for the paper and for so many editors who supervised the perpetrator. It’s such a basic malfunction, like those mortifying occasions when fast food restaurants serve up E-coli-laced hamburgers or salmonella in the salad. But I can’t help it, La Rochefoucauld and Burke (‘I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others’) notwithstanding, or do I mean confirmed, fascinated I am.
And it’s fair enough. There is plenty of human interest or gossip appeal … Read the rest
New York Times not Relativists About Truth
May 11th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Story on a reporter’s fraud says the cardinal tenet of journalism is simply truth.… Read the rest
Whither Poetry?
May 10th, 2003 9:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Condition of Poetry is a perennial subject, and for good reason: there’s a lot to say. So, prompted by Barney McClelland’s trenchant essay on the woolly confusion of poetry with self-expression, I thought I would mention, and where possible link to, a few more jeremiads on the topic.
We could begin with Plato’s notorious dissing of poets in The Republic, or we could leap forward to the 16th century and compare Philip Stubbes’ Anatomy of Abuses with Philip Sidney’s derivative but eloquent Apology for Poetry. Or we could start with Peacock’s mocking Four Ages of Poetry and Shelley’s reply in the brilliant though far less amusing Defense of Poesy. Or we could start with Edmund Wilson’s … Read the rest
Clarke on History
May 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Another attack on learning for learning’s sake, THES says.… Read the rest
Historians and Clarke
May 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Times Higher on the Education Secretary’s views of history and historians’ views of him.… Read the rest
Ornamentalism
May 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The idea of education for its own sake is a bit dodgy?… Read the rest
Ars Gratia Marketing
May 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There is a difference between content and wrapping, says the founder of the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow.… Read the rest
Not Opposed to Medieval Studies
May 9th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But utilitarian view of education remains.… Read the rest
ALife Experiment
May 9th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
An ‘artificial world inside a computer’ helps explain how complex forms evolve.… Read the rest