Defending science, history, etc.: A promising precedent?

It seems to me that the case of David Rudovsky and Leonard Sosnov v. West Publishing Corporation (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 2010), provides an intruiging suggestion for defending genuine science and social studies materials for school curriculum. A December 21 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reports the outcome of this case. In […]

Mooney & the “new atheists”: another round

Another round in the ongoing Neuatheismusstreit was touched off by an opinion piece in the L.A. Times by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, authors of the new book Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future. They write: It often appears as though Dawkins and his followers–often dubbed the New Atheists, though some object to […]

Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker

from BookTV.org (ncludes links for purchasing the book, or viewing RealPlayer recording of the program): Richard Kahlenberg talks about the life and career of Albert Shanker, president of the United Federation of Teachers from 1964 to 1984 and president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974 to 1997. Commentary is provided by Eugenia Kemble […]

Rod Paige v. Teachers Unions (BookTV)

  Remember when Bush’s Education Secretary Rod Paige called the NEA a terrorist organization? Well, he’s Baa-ack — with his new book: The war against hope: how teacher unions hurt children, hinder teachers, and endanger public education.Click the title (above) for detailed information on the book, and to check your local libraries on WorldCat (with […]

Time now for a new Constitutional Convention?

Jeff Weintraub’s post Re: Jefferson, Madison, & Burke on the US Constitution includes his own comments, followed by the text of a review by Cass Sunstein in The New Republic of a book by Sanford Levinson on how the US Constitution is and has been viewed, and used, from the contrasting views of Jefferson and Madison to the present day. I think there’s a lot here (in the book, review, and commentary) that could be put to great use in social studies.