Ignition for Education

Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise, by Scott Roselle and Natalie Hell (2020, University of Chicago Press) Roselle (a development economist at Stanford) and Hell (a researcher who works with Roselle at the Rural Education Action Program) argue that China may become caught in a middle-income trap because of shortcomings in its…

As I build towards a discussion of curriculum writing, I’ve examined what knowledge is, how it is structured, how we come by it, and the relationship between knowledge and opinion. I’ve also written about what skills are and how people acquire them. Before I can sensibly discuss the making of a curriculum, however, I also…

In a previous post, I examined the structure of knowledge, the formation of knowledge, and the difference between knowledge and opinion, all of which should factor in a discussion of curriculum. But, before I can actually discuss curriculum, I need to examine skills—what they are, and how people acquire them. I also need to examine…

Ron DeSantis and others on the right have spent the current presidential term whipping up fear of “left wing” or “woke” indoctrination in schools. They have never provided evidence that this is happening. Not one time. They’ve just used the idea it to court conservative-minded voters and to pass bigoted legislation. Teachers are not teaching…

I’ve promised a discussion of curriculum writing. But before I can deliver it, I have to consider how knowledge works. This is covered by a branch of philosophy called Epistemology. As you’d expect, different epistemologists have different ideas about what knowledge is, what does and does not count as knowledge, and how knowledge is structured.…