The Global Search for Education: If Music Be the Food….
Jul26

The Global Search for Education: If Music Be the Food….

 Leon Botstein will conduct the landmark production of Richard Strauss’s opera Die Liebe der Danae opening Bard Music Festival July 29 photo courtesy of Bard College.  If music be the food of educational excellence, play on Maestro Botstein. Give me excess of Richard Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae at Bard Summerscape 2011. That strain again Maestro, it had a dying fall. It came o’er my ear like the sweet sound of...

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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: More Focus on Finland
Jun01

The Global Search for Education: More Focus on Finland

 Finnish teachers talk with Harvard professor Tony Wagner in The Finland Phenomenon “The Finns had a crisis,” life-long educator, best-selling author, and Harvard professor Tony Wagner explains as we discuss his new film, The Finland Phenomenon, made with acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton. “Their economy was failing. Their education system was poor. They knew that to grow their economy, they had to...

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