Category Archives: Education

Educational Leaders Who Fail Us

I have become increasingly worried about a too-large group of educational leaders (presidents; superintendents; chancellors; provosts) who are failing at their jobs and those failures can take many forms. In the interest of full disclosure, I was one of them. But with the benefit of now more than half a dozen years and a well-cleaned […]

Why Choosing a College is NOT like Choosing a Mattress

A recent article from the Christensen Institute stated overtly that choosing a college is like choosing a mattress. In short, the argument proffered in that both choices involve lack of information symmetry, are difficult to understand and present vocabulary that is impenetrable to the layperson. And, there are so many choices, we can’t actually choose […]

The Next Generation is Being Named: Try Generation T instead of Gen Alpha or Beta

There have been a series of articles, including one in the Atlantic, suggesting that a new generation is on the horizon. Gen Z is being passed by a new generation, and the label ring ascribed to them is Generation Alpha. This happens when we define generations based on birth year. I have another name for […]

Our Approach to Risk Differs Dramatically — Even Within one Family

In this time of a pandemic and uncertainty of every sort and in every corner of our existence, we need to determine risk at the global, national, regional, local and personal levels. I want to focus here on personal risk taking. And, I can state my conclusions up front: people are very different in calculating […]

The Questions We Need to Be Asking for Schools/Colleges that are Reopening: Are We Asking Them?

I am deeply concerned that we are not asking the right questions as we move to reopen schools across the educational pipeline. I have always believed, reified by the amazing book by James Ryan, Wait What?, that asking good questions is critical to the ability to think through problems. Quality questions often get at the soft […]

We Use Aphorisms in Times of Trouble: Time for Caution

When we struggle and can’t find the perfect words to express our feelings, we oft-times turn to well worn aphorisms (defined generally as short statements of a general truth or statements that provide insight or quality advice). The trouble is that some of these common aphorisms aren’t true and yet we utter them as truisms. […]

We Don’t Recognize Mental Distress: That has to Change

SEEMINGLY UNRELATED ISSUES A recent article in the New York Times observed that doctors often miss post-partum depression. This illness affects not only the new mother but also the infant to whom she just gave birth. And it can affect other members of the household. And, the illness is usually treatable. Think about that for […]

Why Don’t We Listen to COVID Guidance?

The Marblehead Incident(s) I recently read an article about a party in Marblehead, MA attended by 20–30 young people. Apparently, no masks worn were worn. It seems there was no social distancing. There was, it appears, sharing of drinking cups (unclear what was in the cups). Now, this party occurred in a private home. (No […]

The Positive Feeling Tree: An Idea for Now

These are difficult times. That is for sure. We know too that positive feelings are important and to think positively, we need three positives for every one negative. That is why I created this Positive Feeling Tree. Each day, we take positive feelings from a jar filled with them (a gift from a friend) and […]