If public schools are primarily engaged in the production of a consumer good called education, then the market rhetoric accompanying the voucher movement is appropriate and persuasive. If, however, public schools are instruments of civic cohesion and the primary vehicle through which we transmit fundamental American values, the issue becomes far more complex.
Continue reading “Back to School”
Creating Citizens
Education for citizenship is a hot topic these days. Many are the pundits who bemoan the perceive political disaffection of the young, so the results of a recent report entitled “Citizenship and Education in Twenty-Eight Countries: Civic Knowledge and Engagement at Age Fourteen” is of more than passing interest.
Continue reading “Creating Citizens”
My Friend Harrison
Words rarely fail me, as my family and friends frequently point out. But when I was asked to write about what Harrison Ullmann meant to this City and those of us who care about it, I suddenly found words…
Continue reading “My Friend Harrison”
What’s New?
So what, exactly, is new or different about President Bush’s much-ballyhooed “faith-based” initiative? At least three things….
Continue reading “What’s New?”
The Important Third Sector
A recurring criticism of academic life is that it is too theoretical. The public tends to be impatient with basic research; we want instant gratification, and often the practical applications of scholarship do not become evident for decades. That’s why a project researching Indiana nonprofits underway at Indiana University is so exciting: the results of the work will be both important and almost immediately useful.
Continue reading “The Important Third Sector”