The Mental Health Crisis: Can School Help Prevent Mental Illness?

Louie Lang wrote an article in Phlexible Philosophy entitled “An Education Based on Happiness” (Full disclosure, I also write for Phlexible Philosophy.). The premise is that we need a shift of emphasis in education away from career-oriented education and towards a happiness education. That will go a long way towards stopping the mental health crisis….

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A Question About Student Loan Forgiveness

Student loan forgiveness has been a big part of the public debate (such as there is) for a little while now. I always encourage debate, and I’m all for student loan forgiveness. (After the financial services industry destroyed the world economy without facing any serious consequences, I’m actually for all personal debt being forgiven, but…

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The Children in the Folders

The most important moment of Dr. Robert Putnam’s presentation “Closing the Opportunity Gap” on July 21st at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts came after he’d already offered his conclusion. During the question and answer session, an audience member asked Dr. Putnam about former presidential candidate Bernie Sander’s plan to make college free. The…

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Re-de-segregation?

Today, as I do most everyday, I was scrolling through 3 Quarks Daily.  In case you don’t know, it’s an excellent site.  Once a week, on Monday, they have a collection of original essays.  The rest of the week, they are a high quality aggregator.  Instead of the usual headlines, they tend to feature longer works dealing with…

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Basic Life Skills

There are certain basic life skills everyone should have. It’s one of the major failures of our educational system that many people lack them. What’s worse is that most people are never offered the opportunity to learn these skills in school. This list is far from complete, but it’s a start. 1. Sewing – I’m…

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