Archive for December 2020
I hate The Great Gatsby
Across the country, students are being brainwashed. The boomers blame social media, and they may be right. But there’s another kind of indoctrination that grinds my gears — I speak of the cult of the American high school English class. Lately, there has been much evaluation of what we teach children, primarily in history classes.…
Read MoreYou are not entitled to ‘civility’
In high school, I had a better relationship with civil discourse. I was part of my school’s We the People team, and we competed in competitions centered on debating pressing constitutional issues. At Princeton, though, I noticed that things changed. I began dreading certain classes’ lectures and precepts. It wasn’t until recently that I realized…
Read MoreThe Fight Is Real
Uncharacteristically boisterous laughter echoed off the walls of my largely empty office on a fateful Monday afternoon as my young student regaled me with his latest epiphany: “Y’all’s fight must be real!” He had arrived in my office despondent and perturbed. His petite frame, always in motion, was especially restless that afternoon. Although he wasn’t initially…
Read More