Category: Character formation
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Thinking Outside the Cell
One of the greatest difficulties I have as a teacher is getting a student to ask questions. In the modern classroom, asking questions means admitting ignorance, and somehow, despite the fact that the student is there to learn something he presumably doesn’t already know, not knowing has become a character or moral failing. Some students…
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Lifelong Learning
“Lifelong learning” has become something of a buzz-phrase lately, and I find myself a wary adherent. Certainly I am in favor of learning throughout life — my own, especially, since it’s the only one I have any control over. My unease with the phrase is partly born of the fact that it is so ill-defined…
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The Parking Problem
When we first moved to Seattle, we were entranced by the wealth of cultural and educational institutions: art museums, parks, opera, symphony, musical theater, zoos, aquariums, historical monuments. We had quite a list of places to explore, and were excited about visiting them. But after a few years of actual residence, we realized that we…