"New York Times"
How Boarding Schools Are the Gateway for Chinese Student Success
Back on November 3rd, The New York Times ran a collaborative article, “The China Conundrum” combining the work of their reporter, Karin Fischer, and Tom Bartlett of The Chronicle of Higher Education. I call attention to their piece in this forum because the demand and influx of Chinese students into American higher education parallels the [...]
Read More“Room for Debate” Adds Voices to the Single Gender School Question
For the second time in a little over a week, we find a topic resonating, among the boarding/private school community as the topic of discussion in The New York Times “Room for Debate” series. Recently “Room for Debate” covered ADHD; last week the experts with perspectives examine single gender schools. We penned a post on [...]
Read MoreThe Experts Debate ADHD
If you’re unfamilar with The New York Times “Room for Debate” series, the paper floats a question to a panel of experts around a topic. Then, each expert addresses the question based on their research, position & perspective in the field. “Are Americans More Prone to A.D.H.D.?” is a recent “Room for Debate” question. ADHD [...]
Read MoreThe Case for a Gap Year- with some questions
The ‘gap year’- a fairly frequent topic of ours both as question recipients and as writers (it often comes in tandem with questions about a post graduate year)- received nice essay coverage on The Choice blog at The New York Times. As part of her National Association of College Admission Counselors (NACAC) conference coverage Rebecca [...]
Read MoreLearning from Failure: A Key to Future Success
Nancy van Arkel, Westtown School Middle School Principal knows, lives, and practices Paul Tough’s New York Times Magazine article “What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?” Like Tough, van Arkel sees failure- more specifically learning from failure- as key to future success for her students. van Arkel rhetorically asks: “How many of us learn life’s [...]
Read MoreClassroom Technology: where are the results?
New York Times reporter Matt Richtel turns a critical eye on this conundrum in his article from this past Saturday, “In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores.” This piece is ‘must’ reading for anyone involved classroom technology adoption. The problem with education- more specifically- classroom technology is that the purveyors, the public, students, their parents, and [...]
Read MoreThis Isn’t Your Parents’ School Food
As food has gained currency in the wider culture, it’s also gained currency and relevance in the independent school world. You can’t find a school today that doesn’t have an interest in sustainability, reducing waste, healthy eating, and local/regional foods. New York Times’ Jenny Anderson’s article “Tater Tots? At Prep Schools, Try the Rutabaga Fries” [...]
Read MoreInterlochen Arts Academy Earns a Brief Mention in New York Times “The Choice” Blog
In their post “The College Decision From The Professors’ Perspective,” Lynn Jacobs and Jeremy Hyman mention Interlochen Arts Academy as an example of a strong program and how to temper and weigh collegiate expectations. “Don’t make a hobby into a deal-breaker. Whether — and how well — a college can accommodate your extracurricular interests is [...]
Read MoreSupervision and Structure Required for Even the Best Teenagers When They Get Into a Group
If you have lived or worked with teenagers you’ve experienced the exponential decay of their (individual and collective) intelligence when they think together as group. In simplest terms, reasonably good, bright kids can, and do, some really dumb stuff when you put them together as group. (Insert your own example here.) Now, science is shedding [...]
Read MoreDavid Brooks Dismantles Amy Chua- Politely
Last week I shared my thoughts on the Amy Chua firestorm. Bluntly, I smelled free publicity and the chance to sell books behind Chua’s posturing. I don’t begrudge Chua’s desire to profit as one reader accused me. I simply wanted to make clear whole thing- book release, lots of buzz, lots of press, and lots [...]
Read MoreHomework Helper: A good idea?
I come to commenting on this topic somewhat reluctantly. If you’ve read “Like a Monitor More Than a Tutor” from this past Sunday’s New York Times, you might have an inkling about my trepidation. The article covers a rarified world- New York City- where families can afford to hire what I term “scheduling coaches” who [...]
Read MoreEnglish In Real Life: Fessenden Alumnus Christopher Lloyd Takes on Willie Loman
Fortuitous timing- this is too good an opportunity to pass-up- a chance to plug one of my favorite plays and an opportunity for anyone familiar with (or interested in learning) to think and reflect on one of America’s great plays, Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” I stumbled across “A Surprise of a Salesman: Christopher [...]
Read MoreNew Western Style Schools in South Korea: Competition for American & British Boarding Schools?
If you’ve been sending your children abroad because a particular educational system teaches and instills traits you seek, why not create that kind of education home? With its educational, cultural, and economic, dimensions, South Korea is addressing precisely this question. This kind of question can keep a political economist and cultural anthropologist busy for years. [...]
Read MoreMom & Dad Have a Role to Play at Boarding School Drop-off: Hint, It Doesn’t Include a Vacation in the Area for the First Few Days of School
The New York Times ran a piece on Sunday; The title says it all, “Students, Welcome to College; Parents, Go Home.” Colleges are now in the business of planning and scripting parent departures after dropping off their (usually) first year students. Closure periods and departure times are now de rigueur for parents. Hovering, mindful, involved [...]
Read MoreInternational Baccalaureate: Widening Appeal
Ten posts over the past two years, tell me (at least anecdotally) that the International Baccalaureate (IB) is making schools and their academic officers think. It’s easy to understand the IB philosophy and curriculum appealing to and meshing with boarding and private schools- with their commitments to worldliness, broad thinking and connections, diversity, and tolerance. [...]
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