The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Roberto Ciucci, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turkey_Gaziantep_going_to_school_(14166610457).jpg
Category:Education
Dialogues on Getting Schooled: The High in Higher Education
Attribution: Tichnor Brothers, Publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Found this insightful, if not entertaining. Gail and Brett…and others have been espousing the value of the 3 year college degree—fits like a glove with this Economist value centric …
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The Miseducation of America
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The 1983 study, “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform” sounded major alarms about the American public education system. It maintained that our schools were failing because that, among other things, that SAT scores had dropped drastically, students could no longer write coherent essays, draw inferences, …
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Kickass and Back to School
Attribution: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, at this time of school openings, lends a hand/paw to the keeper in authenticating the challenging route that he and his sister and brother faced in getting to the one-room country school they attended in northwest Wisconsin back …
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No More Pencils, No More Books, No More Teachers…
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Summer is drawing to a close. School will be starting soon. It’s the time of year that parents usually welcome and kids usually dread. We’ve already started to see the avalanche of back-to-school ads from Target, Walmart, Old Navy, and the other big box stores. This is usually …
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Kickass and School is Out
Attribution: Rasheedhrasheed, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, assures the keeper that there is no way for him to replicate the joyous feelings he once knew when school days ended and the glorious summer laid out there like the yellow brick road. If there is another individual transitional experience of such magnitude, …
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Freedom from Thought
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In the latest in a series of educational innovations from the far-right extremist Republicans—the MAGAs—executing their regressive agenda, a new round of book-banning has been sweeping the nation over the past three years. Along with old favorites like To Kill A Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit …
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Kickass and the Accordion
Tetopa, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, recognizing today as the autumnal equinox with equal amounts of stupidity and intelligence, will be contacting the public high school across the street to offer to help with endowing an accordion chair in the new music department addition …
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Kickass and First Day of School
Airman 1st Class Jensen Stidham, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in congratulating all those young troopers who made it through the first week of school; and he warns against student loans, at least until second grade, despite what the kids might hear from the Republican …
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Kickass and the Money Lenders
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, supports the keeper in efforts to free the populace from enslavement by the money lenders, and cheers for the removal of lifetime financial shackles from young college grads. That it is impossible to own a house or a car without paying outrageous …
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Kickass and the Crossing Guard
Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s long-range view of the crossing guard down on the corner gives him—the keeper, an opportunity to witness one of countless examples of the Human race devising and using a means to blend conflicting interests to the benefit of …
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Burning Down the House
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Teachers are losing control of their classrooms, and it’s not because students have gone wild. No, the kids are not taking over the schools. They’re just fine. In fact, a student revolution wouldn’t be nearly as disturbing as what’s really going on. It’s the Republicans that are attacking …
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