The Global Search for Education: A View from Norway
Jul12

The Global Search for Education: A View from Norway

 Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland  Why have I never been to Norway, I wonder as I view the breathtaking images of this amazing country on Google search. I email my close friend, Norwegian expert and talented architect, Maddy Vigeland, and ask her to share with me a Norwegian view for my new education post. “A few things come to mind,” Maddy emails back. “In addition to skiing, the fjords — miles and...

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The Global Search for Education: Teacher Be Good
Jun28

The Global Search for Education: Teacher Be Good

 Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake in Bad Teacher  courtesy of Sony Pictures. Bad Teacher is a new comedy starring Cameron Diaz as a totally inappropriate teacher, Elizabeth Halsey. As the movie begins, Elizabeth is not excited about the first day of school. Nor is she interested in putting her students first. Truthfully, Elizabeth’s primary focus is finding a guy who’s going to take care of her. To find out whether...

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The Global Search for Education: Australia on the Move
Jun14

The Global Search for Education: Australia on the Move

 Young Australians present to their classmates In Vicki Abeles’ movie, Race to Nowhere, we met U. S. kids who were so overscheduled they had no time to be kids. The film suggested we were preoccupied with testing and performance, undermining what our kids should be doing in the classroom, let alone in their down time. So what is happening down under? I’ve been to Australia six times for business and personal reasons (my...

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The Global Search for Education: How to Develop World Leaders
Jun07

The Global Search for Education: How to Develop World Leaders

 Dwight teacher Paul Sanders and student learn Mandarin in Beijing “I don’t speak a foreign language. It’s embarrassing,” said President Obama recently. It is embarrassing, Mr. President, but it does not surprise me. You did not grow up like I did. Five different overseas schools and numerous cultures before I was 12, and then an international boarding school. My parents (with six children) were following a pay...

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The Global Search for Education: The New Chinese Education
May23

The Global Search for Education: The New Chinese Education

“The new China is strongly making for good,” proclaimed my great great Uncle George E. Morrison (NY Times feature article, 1912) who advised the Chinese leadership during the formation of the first Republic. Dr. Morrison’s speeches about the vision of his Chinese friends at the turn of the 20th century remind me of Henry Kissinger’s remarks about China’s determination to continue its remarkable economic...

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