Category Archives: Education

More Items from the Authoritarian Playbook

Posted on Sunday 27 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

About the conservative agenda concerning colleges, and education; Charlie Kirk thinks you don’t need college; just watch YouTube videos, especially his own online courses; Education Secretary Linda McMahon admits her political motivations for dismantling her department; Brief items about a … Continue reading →

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David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are

Posted on Tuesday 8 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

One item today. A long piece from David Brooks, trying to understand how we got here, given history. The Atlantic, David Books, 8 Jul 2025: Why Do So Many People Think That Trump Is Good?, subtitled “The work of the moral … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Human Nature, Politics, progress | Comments Off on David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are

Viewpoint Diversity and Consensus

Posted on Wednesday 16 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry Coyne on Harvard vs the US government and the idea of “viewpoint diversity,” with a response by Steven Pinker; Why do conservatives think themselves under-represented in academia? Because they promote ideas that are not true; Will there ever be … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Education, science fiction | Comments Off on Viewpoint Diversity and Consensus

Assault on and Rejection of Reality

Posted on Friday 11 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic on how things are much worse than a misinformation crisis; Meteorologists notice that ignorance is becoming socially acceptable — but this has always been true, as C.P. Snow noted; The Republican conspiracy theory that children … Continue reading →

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Education vs. Conservatives

Posted on Monday 16 September 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Why should a ‘diverse’ campus include conservatives who are essentially against education? Paul Krugman on the eternal demonization of immigrants by conservatives; Short items about Vance’s fantasies, his aim simply to get media attention, and Trump’s clueless accusations about harsh … Continue reading →

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Distrust of Science and of Public Schools

Posted on Sunday 15 September 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Thomas B. Edsall on the roots of MAGA’s distrust of science; Hemant Mehta on evangelicals and public schools. NY Times, guest essay by Thomas B. Edsall, 11 Sep 2024: MAGA vs. Science Is No Contest [Gift Link] I’ve mentioned before … Continue reading →

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Robert Reich, THE COMMON GOOD

Posted on Friday 30 August 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s another shortish book I read recently, not a memoir but a book at the intersection of politics, morality, and human nature, which is itself another theme of my reading the past two or three years. It’s by Robert Reich, … Continue reading →

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Save the Children?

Posted on Thursday 11 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Never mind homeschooling; now there’s a cult of “unschooling”; Nascent thoughts about conservative morality, children, MAGA, and the return to a simpler past — which would be, childhood; How Oklahoma is letting right-wing figures (including David Barton) run its social … Continue reading →

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Friday 10 May 2024

Posted on Friday 10 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A round of assorted items collected on the web the past few days. Here’s that item about what universities are for, that I couldn’t find the other day. The Atlantic, Derek Thompson, 8 May 2024: No One Knows What Universities … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Morality, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Friday 10 May 2024

Can Education Account for Evolutionary Change?

Posted on Wednesday 8 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Steven Pinker on education, and how it might prioritize overcoming base intuitions that don’t apply in the modern world; The naturalistic fallacy and DeSantis’ and Fetterman’s objections to lab-grown meat. This month I’m working my way through the last ‘big’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Education, Evolution, Psychology | Comments Off on Can Education Account for Evolutionary Change?