I want to recommend a post on Difficult Times at A Woman on Fire regarding reaction at her school to a local shooting death, and I want to recommend the post "I took the pledge" at Digital Hall on the topic of texting distraction. Both entries are reason to think about the role of schools in our students' growth not just intellectually but developmentally into the people they become.
At the beginning of his series of lectures on Pragmatism, William James makes the point that everyone of us has a philosophy--a worldview that governs our perspective on all the little worlds we inhabit throughout our day. He calls this perspective the "most interesting and most important thing" about each of us. And so I have to ask, Who is teaching or at least encouraging philosophy in our schools? (unless, perhaps, it is the philosophy of naked materialism)
James quotes Chesterton that "for a landlady considering a lodger it is important to know his income, but still more important to know his philosophy", and it occurs to me that amidst all our concern over preparing students to make a living we may be neglecting the importance of their making a life.
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