Claudia

Claudia

This week my daughter Claudia has unceremoniously completed her studies at the University of Vermont, even though we have no graduation gathering to mark the event. She simply turned in her last paper, and that was that. She has written this blog about how she...
The Fish That Got Away, or Catch and Release?

The Fish That Got Away, or Catch and Release?

Somewhere on Long Island, a 14-year-old boy named Eli is concluding his last day of 9th grade online-school-at-home. He has been successfully resisting doing the assignments he considers meaningless, and the hours in front of the screen have felt like a waste of his...
Let’s Talk About Bad Systems, Not Bad People

Let’s Talk About Bad Systems, Not Bad People

The rise of Black Lives Matter and the protests against police brutality this spring have led me to reconnect with a high school program I helped to start back in 1983, The Shaker Heights High School Student Group on Race Relations (SGORR.) This reconnection was also...
What Kenny Knew (Part Two of Four)

What Kenny Knew (Part Two of Four)

As a kid, my family, friends, and teachers called me Kenny. I was a bit nerdy, and something of a perfectionist. So when we had to take the annual California Achievement Test, I tried my best to get every answer right. I was annoyed when I didn’t understand the...