By Chris Arkenberg “The intelligence of the city is on the streets.“ – Manu Fernandez Amidst the swirling maelstrom of technological progress so often heralded as the imminent salvation to […]
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Earlier this week I argued that the Affordable Care Act should be ruled constitutional. There are genuine reasons to be concerned about the scope of Congress’ commerce power, which has […]
Today as I meditate on Arum and Roksa’s much-discussed study, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” my thoughts turn to academic life at the institution where I teach. This week […]
Like climate change or poverty, political polarization in the United States may itself be a “wicked” problem, not something we are going to solve or end over the next decade, […]
If I were asked, “do you believe that human beings evolved millions of years ago from ancestors shared in common with gorillas and chimpanzees?” I would answer emphatically and unequivocally: […]
We are witnessing a paradigm shift in medicine that is equal to that of Galileo saying the Earth was not the center of the Universe or Columbus saying that the world was round, not flat.
If we have access to the same facts and evidence, we ought to reach the same conclusions about any topic. What does it mean when we don’t? We’ve all encountered […]
Diane Ravitch tells Big Think what really matters when it comes to learning, inside schools and out. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it’s not K-12 teachers who are most responsible.
Just as Mitt Romney appears to be wrapping up the Republican nomination for the presidency, congressional Republicans are taking steps to set up their own political framework for the 2012 […]
–Guest post by Meredith Hollingsworth, American University student. In 2004, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger boldly declared in a white paper the death of environmentalism. They argued that the movement […]
Today the Friends of Yemen met in Riyadh. One of the key issues, as it often is at these meetings, is that of foreign aid. Several days ago a group […]
One of our most able and informed scientific journalists, William Saletan, astutely summarizes the pioneering contribution of the dissident evolutionary psychologist Jonathan Haidt: Social conservatives see welfare and feminism as threats […]
We need to better prepare, train, and inspire successful self-directed learners to meet today’s challenges.
Orthodox globalization declares that any hindrance to rational market efficiency is a Bad Thing. So there’s no sensible counter to that unnamed Apple executive in the New York Times‘ series […]
What’s the Big Idea? On average, students pay $35,000 a year for the privilege of being educated at a private nonprofit American college. In December of 2011, indebtedness among college […]
President Obama said Monday that overturning the Affordable Care Act would be “an unprecedented, extraordinary step.” But by all accounts oral argument in the Supreme Court went badly for supporters […]
There’s a refrain amongst the din of school reform talk today that goes something like this: We could learn a great deal from the educational systems of other countries. Finland […]
The duality is right there in her name: Francesca Woodman. Woodman, daughter of two successful artists and a promising photographer herself, cherished childhood memories of family trips to Tuscany and […]
Chefs Make Change, a loose coalition of superstar chefs, is leveraging the power of micro-donations to raise a million dollars for charities, many of them focused on how, what, and whether people eat.
The brain is hardwired for storytelling. What stories give us, in the end, is reassurance. And as childish as it may seem, that sense of security – that coherent sense of self – is essential to our survival.
What’s the Big Idea? As the Assistant Secretary of Education in the first Bush administration, Educational historian Diane Ravitch became known for her push to establish national standards for K-12 […]
By Aaron Smith Since the beginning of the digital age, pundits have hailed virtual currencies as the future of our civilization’s money. While it may be difficult to imagine a […]
What’s the Big Idea? In a 2011 interview, physicist Stephen Hawking declared, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail.” Of course, the […]
I don’t think so! In the last one hundred years Germany has made two attempts to own, control and dominate Europe. Each has been repulsed. Can this third attempt succeed? […]
The world population, by U.N. estimates, has just surpassed seven billion, and it’s growing even faster than demographers’ predictions. Nicholas Kristof has an insightful column (though I depart from him […]
“Knowledge is limited,” Albert Einstein once said, “imagination encircles the world.” A new program at the CERN physics laboratory, home to the Large Hadron Collider, takes Einstein’s words as their […]
Last month, the TLC television channel premiered All-American Muslim, a reality show which follows several, from what I can see, fairly normal American families who happen to be Muslims. On […]
I have assembled a catalogue of 85 tools to help you run a more effective social media program for your campaign, organization, or business. Most of these are free. A […]
In Monday’s GOP primary debate, Newt Gingrich earned praise from conservatives while drawing justifiable anger from many for his labeling of Barack Obama as the “food stamp president.” As the […]
White-hot conservative and libertarian anger at the size and intrusiveness of government is getting a lot of attention these days. It seems so fierce, so single-minded; Let the federal […]