What Would Alexander Hamilton Do About Debt? Side With Creditors

Imagine yourself a Massachusetts minuteman during the American Revolution. The state government promised you fair payment for your military service when you enlisted. You starved, bled and froze through several cold winters for your new country. But on payday, you didn’t get paid in currency. All you got was a war bond, just an IOU from the state. Out of patriotism, you….Read more

Your Task Has Changed: Real Teaching in the Digital Age

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. –John Quincy Adams I know what you teachers are thinking. The sand is escaping the hourglass of summer. Pretty soon, you will start teaching in the classroom. This is cause for great jubilation and also great anxiety. Huge….Read more

What Would Alexander Hamilton Do? Go Big on Government

If they break this union, they will break my heart. –Alexander Hamilton on his deathbed, quoted by Ron Chernow in Alexander Hamilton Hamilton was wary of government dissent and concerned about too much immigration. The man the New York Times calls “the country’s new favorite founder” who is an unlikely Broadway sensation, sounds like a modern conservative. But….Read more

Who Are Those Convention Delegates, Anyway?

It’s convention month and I had the pleasure of chatting this week with a person who a large newspaper once called the “grande dame” of Democratic politics in New Jersey. She happens to be a Democrat; but rest assured that is not why we spoke to her. She has been to 11 party nominating conventions and if anyone knows how….Read more

What Would Alexander Hamilton Do? Build a Wall?

The safety of a republic depends essentially… on a uniformity of principles and habits; and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education, and family…The United States have already felt the evils of incorporating a large number of foreigners into their national mass; it has served very much to divide….Read more

What Would Alexander Hamilton Do? Minimize Political Dissent

Some 200+ years later, founding father Alexander Hamilton is a hot ticket. An eponymous Broadway musical and a PBS series celebrate and illuminate Alexander Hamilton’s life and legacy. Hamilton’s views are still being debated today, so I’ve decided to look at five of his core convictions in light of today’s issues. He’s a seminal American political philosopher and co-author of the Federalist Papers,….Read more

Let Teachers Teach: Bring Creativity Back into the Classroom

The jubilation of summer vacation is still palpable in the air. But I believe that a series of issues simply must be addressed prior to first bell in September. So much is at stake for us. The future success of our society is driven by the success of the schools today. Teachers are seriously demoralized. Forget for a moment the….Read more

Grading: 3 Tips for Turning Mountains into Molehills

Are stacks of papers to grade weighing you down? Keeping you up at night? Depressing your spirit because the pile never shrinks? Grade fights with parents? I’ve been there. Grading student writing takes time; you have to climb inside the kid’s mind and think along with her. That is labor intensive. And we have to assign large volumes of….Read more