News and Notes: July 8, 2013

• High Stakes testing and No Child Left Behind are not working for our k-12 students. What a surprise!

• I found this power point presentation on the “artificial extension of childhood” to be pretty compelling.  Those who advocate for longer school days and school  years would do well to consider the points made here.

• Technology can’t solve all of our problems, especially when we don’t fully understand the limits and capabilities of the tools we use. Check out this really interesting interview with Evgeny Morozov.

• Is there such a thing as “American food?”

• “Looking For a Job in Public History: An Outsider’s Perspective” Not a particularly encouraging essay for people in my position, but an important discussion we should be having about the “walled fortress” of experience requirements in public history jobs (and, by extension, many other jobs). There are many thoughtful comments as well that add much value to the essay.

• A discussion on the ethics of Amazon’s bookselling business.

• The historian David McCullough makes a beautiful speech on the importance of history in our lives.

• Nathan Johnson writes a nice essay on the Battle of Vicksburg, a battle that ended the day after Gettysburg and is often overshadowed by Gettysburg in our memories of the Civil War.

Back to thesis writing…

Until next time