what is education for boston review

What Is Education For?

Does schooling help students build an ecologically literate life.

Posted March 7, 2021 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

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David Orr's book, Earth in Mind: On Education , Environment, and the Human Prospect , seems as relevant today as when it was first published a few decades ago. Schooling is failing to do what society and children need. Without careful attention to how schooled education is structured, Orr warns:

“Without significant precautions, education can equip people merely to be more effective vandals of the earth. If one listens carefully, it may even be possible to hear the Creation groan every year in late May when another batch of smart, degree-holding, but ecologically illiterate, Homo sapiens who are eager to succeed are launched into the biosphere.” (Orr, 1994, p. 5)

Orr points out that we should always remember that the architects of the German Holocaust were highly educated men, whose education Elie Wiesel described as emphasizing

“theories instead of values, concepts rather than human beings, abstraction rather than consciousness, answers instead of questions, ideology and efficiency rather than conscience .”

In my experience as a professor and classroom teacher, too many classes throughout K-12 and the college and graduate years match this unfortunate description.

David Orr explores how contemporary culture and education got off track. He identified six myths.

Myth 1: Ignorance is solvable. Rather, it is a part of the human condition. Humanity cannot comprehend the world in its entirety. (Recall that human beings can hear only part of the audio spectrum, only see part of the light spectrum, and cannot see the dark matter that comprises most of the universe.)

Myth 2: Humanity can gain enough knowledge and technology to "manage" the earth. Higher education often aims for this goal. (People certainly cannot manage the climate, as “global weirding” becomes more routine.) He suggests that the more realistic aim is to manage human desires, economies, communities, and politics . This involves shaping our desires and actions to fit our finite planet.

Myth 3: Human knowledge is increasing and as part of this, humans are getting better. In actuality, some kinds of knowledge are increasing but Orr cites historian Page Smith’s (1990) review of higher education and claim that most research in universities does not provide measurable benefit to anybody or anything. It is a common problem that data are confused with knowledge and cleverness (focused on short-term methods and goals ) with intelligence (aiming toward wholeness over the long term). At the same time, many kinds of knowledge are decreasing— e.g., ecological knowledge is on a continued decline in economically wealthy countries .

We can also point to the Indigenous place-based knowledge all our ancestors had but is being eliminated as First Nation Peoples have been eliminated or pushed off their ancestral lands. They developed a science of local landscape health, that most people today do not have (Nelson, 2008).

Myth 4: Humanity can restore what it has dismantled. In terms of education, this means that separating subjects in the curriculum will be put together by the student somehow. This, of course, rarely occurs and so the well-educated operate in their specialties without attending to the unity of things, the consequences for the planet, or their personhood (one’s choices builds one’s character). As a result, the educated have largely led humanity to massively poison air, water, and soil; destroy biocultural diversity; and destabilize planetary ecosystems and climate. Moreover, because of an incomplete education, humanity is led to believe that we are much richer than we are.

Myth 5: The purpose of education is monetary success (upward mobility). Orr notes: “The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and human. And these qualities have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.” (p. 12)

Myth 6: Our culture is the pinnacle of human achievement. But, he points out, capitalism destroys morality by making everything about money and efficiency, wiping out the planet’s biodiversity, cultural diversity, and moralities of kindness and compassion. Indeed, educated people have brought us to the sixth mass extinction (Kolbert, 2014).

Examining the lives of highly educated people who used their smarts to create systems to commit genocide (e.g., Albert Speer, Hitler’s Minister of Armaments), Orr warns how schooling can be dangerous, especially when the rest of a child’s experience lacks intimate friendships and acquaintance with the natural world.

Danger 1: A primary danger is that young people will find a career before they find a calling to bridle and channel ambition. They will focus on making a living before discovering who they are, what their gifts are, and how best to use them. In traditional societies, education focus on finding and honing the individual's gifts.

Danger 2: Schooling is likely to impress a fragmented view of the world, matching the disconnected view of the world provided by the curriculum. Graduates will become morally-sterile technicians.

Danger 3: Schooling may damage the sense of wonder, “the sheer joy in the created world” by “reducing learning to routines and memorization, by excess abstractions divorced from lived experience, by boring curriculum, by humiliation , by too many rules, by overstressing grades, by too much television and too many computers, by too much indoor learning, and mostly by deadening the feelings from which wonder grows” (pp. 23-24). Wonder is based in a trust of the world as a largely friendly place where one can feel. Thus, wonder is fragile; it is easily crushed and replaced by cynicism .

Orr suggests that education follow six principles.

Principle 1: All education is environmental education. Every aspect of the curriculum should address the laws of ecology and interdependence, include sustainability and environmental ethics. Every student should realize s/he has membership in various ecological systems. Every course should involve enhancing "ecological design intelligence," "the capacity to understand the ecological context in which humans live, to recognize limits, and to get the scale of things right. It is the ability to calibrate human purposes and natural constraints and do so with grace and economy.” (p. 2)

Principle 2: The goal of education is the mastery of one’s person (the ancient Greek Paideia). Subject matter is only a tool to reach this aim. Overall, to learn the art of living well in place.

Principle 3: Knowledge is accompanied by the responsibility to use it well. The aims of education should be ways of being that maintain stable and healthy families and communities, decent work that to the extent possible restores what has been damaged in ecosystems.

Principle 4: To know something means to understand its effects on people and communities. Ideologies, learned from business school education, of the “bottom line” or “efficiency” have destroyed many communities across the USA and world. Orr points out something still true, that “we are still educating the young as if there were no planetary emergency” (p. 27)

Principle 5: Educators, administrators, and their institutions are role models of integrity, care and responsibility in the manners described. True intelligence is integrative, not clever and quick, but taking time to ponder holistically with moral imagination .

Principle 6: Learning is active (not passive through lectures alone). Children need first-hand knowledge of connecting mind, skill, and living holistically with a full range of human capacities, fostering resilience for living in any circumstances.

Finally, like other childhood advocates today (e.g., Louv, 2005), Orr emphasized childhood nature connection ( biophilia ; Fromm, 1973)--the love of all living things. Schooling does not always foster this aspect of living well on the earth but parents and communities can provide the free-roaming and immersion experiences that help the child weave him or herself into the landscape. To begin to grow biophilia, EcoAttachment.Dance offers a simple daily activity (for each of 28 days).

Fromm, E. (1973). The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. New York: Henry Holt.

Kolbert, E. (2014). The sixth extinction: An unnatural history. New York, NY: Henry Holt.

Louv, R. (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from Nature Deficit Disorder. New York: Workman.

Nelson, M.K. (Ed.) (2008). Original instructions: Indigenous teachings for a sustainable future. Rochester, VT: Bear & Co.

Orr, D. (1994). Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Interview with a Journal: Boston Review

Everything you need to know about the nonprofit and reader-funded publication.

In this installment of Interview with a Journal, we sit down with the editorial staff at the Boston Review : Ivelisse Rodriguez (contributing arts editor), Ed Pavlić (contributing arts editor), and Adam McGee (arts editor).

The  Boston Review started in 1975 and was originally known as  New Boston Review . The quarterly focused on literature and the arts and was founded by Juan Alonso, Richard Burgin, and Anita Silvey. In the late 70s, the  Review switched from quarterly to bimonthly publication. Renamed the  Boston Review , it was edited by Nick Bromell. Subsequent editors were Mark Silk and then Margaret Ann Roth, who remained until 1991.

Joshua Cohen replaced Roth in 1991. Deborah Chasman joined as co-editor in 2001. For more than 20 years the full text of Boston Review has been available online, always for free. The magazine also publishes four themed print anthologies each year, which get sent to members and can also be purchased individually .

What appeals to you about working at a literary magazine?

Ivelisse Rodriguez: As a writer, working for a literary magazine allows you to see behind the veil. Literary magazines often seem shrouded in mystery. Who actually reads your submissions? How does a manuscript get chosen for publication? Working for a literary magazine dissipates that mystery and allows me to share with fellow writers the inner workings of a journal.

Working for a literary magazine also allows me to help writers who have been overlooked. As an emerging writer, I hoped that there was a reader on the other side who understood my work and appreciated it. Often there wasn’t. Working for a literary magazine allows me to extend a helping hand to other writers who might feel overlooked too. The biggest satisfaction in working with a journal is in looking for underrepresented voices and giving them the opportunity to publish their work and further their careers. I get to be the helping hand that was missing a decade ago.

What makes your journal different from other literary journals/magazines?

Adam McGee: Boston Review has the nonprofit mission to be a space for rich discussion of democratic life. As a result, the majority of what the magazine publishes is nonfiction essays about politics, aimed at empowering readers as citizens.

Boston Review ’s Arts in Society program—the part responsible for publishing fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and criticism—takes its direction from this larger mission. Therefore, we are interested only in writing that in some way speaks directly to the most pressing political and civic concerns, including racism, inequality, poverty, demagoguery, sex- and gender-based violence, a disempowered electorate, and a collapsing natural world. This focus makes Arts in Society fairly unique. There’s a lot of fantastic writing that doesn’t touch on our mission—but it isn’t for us.

And although it isn’t entirely unique these days, it’s worth noting that everything we publish is available for free online, including (after a few months) everything in our annual print arts anthology . We’re fully independent—supported entirely by our members , donors , and grants—so selling our anthologies helps keep our web publishing free for everyone.

How did being on the staff of a literary journal/magazine change the way you read?

IR: As a writing professor or instructor, I am looking for hope; I am applauding effort; I am applauding what is not there, but what could be. When I read for a journal, I am reading texts against other texts, seeing what is complete, and then thinking about which text stays with me for days after I have finished reading multiple submissions. While reading for a journal, the connection has to be immediate; on the first page, I need to feel pulled in by the story. So, reading for a journal is akin to love at first sight, while reading in other contexts allows for more of a courting process between the text and the reader.

What is the most important thing that a writer should include in their cover letter/pitch?

AM: A magazine is an ongoing conversation that you are asking to join. With what they’ve published already, the editors have told you the things that they’re interested in talking about and that they think their audience is interested in reading. You should have enough awareness of the magazine to be able to say in your cover letter how your submission picks up on those concerns and carries them forward.

Also be thoughtful about which things an editor will need to know to evaluate the submission (short bio, publications and awards, relevant experience or education, some unique expertise, how the piece is different from what else is out there, etc.). Make sure that those things are in the cover letter so an editor doesn’t have to hunt for them, and likewise make sure that there isn’t so much in your cover letter that those important details are difficult to find. You must be concise. A submission cover letter or pitch should rarely be more than a few clear paragraphs (unless a magazine or press specifies otherwise, and then do what they say!). Your cover letter or pitch is not the place to get creative.

What do you look for in new authors you publish? What should stand out in terms of their work and style?

IR: I focus mainly on acquiring fiction, and I have a few fairly specific things I look for. One, I want to see a completed story. I recently read for a different magazine, and there were so many great stories that needed revision and more work. I would have loved to have taken some of those stories, but because of time constraints, an editor or guest editor may not be able to accept a story that requires a lot of revision.

Next, I am looking for a story with powerful language—I’m generally never going to be interested in a story where the author has not come up with dazzling phrases, the kinds of phrases that make you stop, reread, and clutch your heart. Along with that phrasing, I want to see a writer make concrete an abstract thought that most of us have not been able to solidify.

I am also really invested in stories based in realism, and not realism where a peacock shows up in the middle of the story. For me, the magic of a story lies in its everydayness and the ability of the writer to see and show anew the world we are all familiar with. Ultimately, I want to read something that teaches me something and shows me a new way.

Ed Pavlić: In the broadest terms, our overall aim is to create an archive of new pieces by writers to represent and vivify our sense of the fascinating tumult and turbulence of contemporary experience. The goal isn’t to harvest eyeballs, likes, and retweets, but to gather and offer as widely divergent and affecting an array of socially engaged depictions and invocations as we can.

The publishing and media industries have recently undergone a long-overdue reckoning in how they handle equity and diversity. How can literary journals promote inclusivity without indulging in tokenism? What actions have your publication taken to support equal representation?

AM: There’s no silver bullet. When we launched the Arts in Society program in 2019 (combining under one umbrella our previously separate poetry and fiction programs and criticism), these questions were at the front of our minds. Among the concrete steps we took toward answering them are the following two.

First, knowing that each year we would publish an annual literary anthology and that it would always have guest editors, we committed to making sure that every year, at least half of the volume’s editors would be women and people of color. Placing decision-making power in the hands of people historically underrepresented in publishing is a way to step back from tokenism.

Second, because we knew that, for at least a few years, we would rely primarily on our annual fiction and poetry contests for the bulk of the unsolicited submissions that we publish, we knew it was important to democratize how they were run. The paid contest model is indispensable to how most independent literary magazines stay solvent, but there’s no question that it disadvantages less affluent writers as well as global writers who don’t conduct their lives in the US dollar.

To try to correct this imbalance, we decided to make our contests free to enter for anyone who is experiencing hardship (with “hardship” left purposely vague) and for people living outside of the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. This dramatically reconfigured the demographics of who was submitting to our contests and has, we reckon, made it possible for nearly a thousand people to enter who wouldn’t have otherwise been able.

But we by no means believe that we’ve solved the problem of inequality in publishing. It will always be a work in progress.

Tell us about your submission process.

We’re always open for free submissions of nonfiction pitches as well as essays written on spec. Full details are on our Submittable page. We get pitched a lot of personal essays but in fact almost never publish that genre, so that’s something to keep in mind. We publish many review essays—of poetry, fiction, criticism and scholarship, visual and performing arts—and particularly like reviews that take two or three recent things and show how they explore some aspect of the topics that fall under our mission (see above).

For fiction and poetry, we currently only accept unsolicited submissions through our annual contests, which are open during the spring and summer. This year, we are accepting paid submissions ($20) until June 30th . All contest submissions are read blind, and all semifinalists will be reviewed by guest judges Kali Fajardo-Anstine (fiction) and Sonia Sanchez (poetry). For full guidelines, see our Submittable page .

The theme of this year’s contests is “ Repair ,” which will also be the theme of our 2022 annual literary anthology. Many semifinalists and finalists from the contests will be accepted for publication.

We pay $25/poem (minimum of $50/poet) and $300 for full-length short stories. Rates for other kinds of prose are variable.

General queries can be sent to [email protected] .

–Ivelisse Rodriguez (contributing arts editor), Ed Pavlić (contributing arts editor), and Adam McGee (arts editor)

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• Study Abroad

The Pros and Cons of Studying in Boston

Home to Harvard , Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , and Tufts University (to name a few), Boston, Massachusetts is a prime location for higher education in the USA . With its rich historical, culinary and intellectual offerings, this hub of New England has much to attract students and tourists. If you are deciding whether to study at one of these top U.S. universities, here are a few things to consider before making the move.

Pros of Studying in Boston

Rich offerings for students of higher education.

Home to more than 250,000 students and 30 colleges, Boston is undeniably an intellectual city. Known for its highly developed medical, education, and technology industries, the opportunities in this New England metropolis are largely driven by the research efforts of its higher education community. Students who study here have access to internships and experiences in nearly any major and field, and many stay for careers in education, medicine, and finance upon graduating. Just across the Charles River, Cambridge hosts a number of the nation’s top schools and their highly revered faculty and research facilities. Even if you are not enrolled there, these universities offer presentations, events, and partnerships that are unparalleled in other U.S. college towns.

Historical and Culinary Attractions

As the epicentre of the American Revolution, Boston is home to a plethora of historical sites. Spend the day walking the Freedom Trail – a path in the city that takes visitors by the Old North Church and Paul Revere’s house. Have a beer in the Green Dragon Tavern, meeting place of the Sons of Liberty, and visit the Old State House, where the Boston Massacre took place. In the evening, check out one of the many colourful culinary hubs of the city, and enjoy authentic cuisine by Italian, Chinese, or Cuban expats. If you are hoping to escape the city for the weekend, Cape Cod and its quaint towns by the coast are only a couple of hours away. Whatever your itinerary, Boston has much to offer students any day of the week.

Walkability

A top-rated city for walkability , Boston is a haven for those hoping to avoid using a car. The close proximity of most major attractions makes it easy to travel by foot, and when needed Bostonians can catch the subway, buses, or ferries run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) . Regular commuters can purchase a weekly or monthly pass – the CharlieCard – to make their daily travel even easier.

Low Cost of Flights

Perhaps one of the greatest virtues of studying in Boston is the ability for students to feasibly make it home for the holidays. Among all U.S. cities, Boston offers some of the cheapest flights to Europe . While this may not be the determining factor when selecting a university, it is a costly consideration for those who choose to study far from home.

Cons of Studying in Boston

Winter weather.

While Boston does not have many drawbacks, the harsh New England winters give many prospective students pause for thought. With an average annual snowfall of 44 inches and low temperatures falling well below freezing, Boston winters are a daunting prospect for those unaccustomed to the cold. Nor’easters (strong storms from the northeast) and blizzards are not an uncommon occurrence, and can close activities citywide when of above average strength. If you are hoping to study in Boston, be prepared to invest in quality winter clothing.

Living Expenses

Like many major American cities, Boston is not a cheap place to live. With a cost of living 19% above the national average , students can expect to pay a high amount in rent – depending on location and number of roommates. Utilities, parking passes, and transportation fees also add to the annual cost of living. Students hoping to save money may consider looking outside of Boston and neighbouring Cambridge for cheaper housing, but will find the area is generally on the expensive side.

With a prolific collection of colleges, Boston has a lot to offer prospective students. Its diverse population, historical significance, and proximity to the Atlantic coast make this city is a great place to experience American culture.

Pros of studying in Boston include:

• Numerous colleges and universities to choose from
• Historical and culinary attractions
• An easily walkable layout with an extensive public transportation system
• Inexpensive flights to Europe

Cons of studying in Boston include:

• Harsh winters with unpredictable weather
• Expensive cost of living

Did you find this article helpful? Are you currently studying in Boston? Please let us know by leaving a comment or sharing your story at EDUopinions.com .

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Boeing working with union, FAA to review employee safety reports

Boeing Co. said it’s teaming up with its largest labor union and the Federal Aviation Administration to review safety issues reported by employees, part of a broader effort to address concerns about the company’s safety culture.

The planemaker, in its third annual safety report released Friday, said a new event review committee will convene representatives from the regulator, Boeing and district 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to sift through safety concerns raised by employees through the company’s Speak Up program. The union represents more than 30,000 of Boeing’s production workers.

The collaboration is part of a broad effort to encourage more employees to elevate safety concerns after a door plug blew off a nearly-new Boeing 737 Max in January because it wasn’t properly reinserted at the Boeing final assembly line. The safety report, which summarizes actions undertaken in the last year, comes about a week before Boeing is scheduled to deliver a 90-day plan to the FAA detailing corrective actions it plans to take to fix quality control issues at its factories.

FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker said in an interview on Good Morning America Thursday that the 90-day plan is just the beginning and that Boeing faces a “long road” ahead in proving it’s righted its safety practices.

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In the report, Boeing reiterated that it’s redoubled efforts to encourage employees to come forward with concerns, resulting in a more than 500 percent increase in Speak Up submissions in the first two months of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. It also said it’s conducted product safety training for more than 160,000 employees.

At the same time, the company said it’s taking steps to ensure production work is completed sequentially at assigned factory locations to reduce defects and is simplifying installation plans and production work instructions.

“Our actions are focused on making further improvements to ensure safety, compliance and conformance of our products and services, without compromise,” Boeing Chief Aerospace Safety Officer Mike Delaney said in a statement accompanying the report.

This Boston school was declared a 'New Ivy' by Forbes. Here's why.

Forbes Magazine has boldly declared a list of "New Ivies.," and a Boston school has made the cut.

Since that original list of Ivy League School was declared (i.e. Harvard University, Yale University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University and University of Pennsylvania) the workforce has changed, new schools have been founded, and those that were once distant seconds have suddenly closed the gap or even eclipsed the old guard. Welcome to the new Ivy League.

To make their new list, Forbes created a category for both public and private schools.

As a college town, it shouldn't be surprising that Boston is still represented through Boston College.

What Boston College says about being declared a New Ivy

“Forbes'‘New Ivies’ listing is an external validation of the quality of our students and their ability to use their liberal arts education to become leaders and solve problems in an increasingly complex world,” said Grant M. Gosselin, dean of Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid at Boston College in a press release from the school .  “It’s a quality that is in demand among hiring leaders.”

In the article Forbes went so far as to say that the new schools are “turning out the smart, driven graduates craved by employers of all types,” while “the Ivies are more apt to turn out entitled ones."

Leadership at Boston College seemed pleased with the recognition of their students as being hardworking.

"We are thrilled to be recognized by  Forbes  as one of the 'New Ivies,'" said Associate Vice President for Career Services and Integrated Learning Joseph Du Pont in the same press release. "This designation underscores our commitment to fostering an environment where academic excellence and career preparation go hand in hand.

How did Forbes determine a New Ivy?

The greatest qualifier for the new generation of elite schools is how much they prepare graduates for the workforce, as judged by hiring managers. To collect the necessary data, the magazine surveyed nearly 300 subscribers to its “Future of Work” newsletter, 75% of whom possess direct hiring authority.

Forbes research stated that 31% of the hiring managers surveyed thought that non-Ivy private universities such as Boston College were doing a better job of preparing job candidates.

The also looked at 2022 admission data for schools with high test scores and a selectivity measure (below a 20 percent admission rate at private schools and 50 percent at public universities), resulting in 32 colleges remaining for the hiring manager respondents to assess.

Based on data from hiring managers, the Forbes article stated that American companies are not only placing less importance on whether an applicant has a degree from a classic Ivy League but also displaying a preference for the graduates from the 20 public and private schools that make up the magazine's list.

According to the article, “33% of those making hiring decisions said they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates today than five years ago. Only 7% said they were more likely to hire them.”

These are the 10 new private Ivy schools, according to Forbes

Excluding schools with fewer than 4,000 students, the eight old Ivies and four "Ivy-plus" schools —Stanford, MIT, Duke and Chicago, this is the full list of private schools that Forbes declared "New Ivies."

• Boston College
• Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania)
• Emory University (Georgia)
• Georgetown University (District of Columbia)
• Johns Hopkins University (Maryland)
• Northwestern University (Illinois)
• Rice University (Texas)
• University of Notre Dame (Indiana)
• University of Southern California
• Vanderbilt University (Tennessee)

These are the 10 new public Ivy League schools, according to Forbes

Forbes  selected the following 10 public universities as its "New Ivies," excluding military academies and California schools. California schools were excluded because they don't consider test scores.

• Binghamton University (New York)
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• University of Florida
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• University of Maryland-College Park
• University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
• University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
• University of Texas-Austin
• University of Virginia
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

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The University of Massachusetts Boston is a research university that students praise for its value: "a private school level education at a public school price." With its "prestigious educators" and "amazing resources," UMass Boston creates "an ambitious academic community for driven students" with "interesting research opportunities" in a wide range of fields, especially in science and engineering. There's also a focus on interdisciplinary studies giving students plenty of opportunities to find their academic niche and develop practical skills. Students praise and respect their professors because they are "extremely helpful" but also "considerate and fair." In the classroom students say that professors are "very knowledgeable," but they don't try to lecture "over your heads when teaching." Outside of class "most professors are very accessible. UMass Boston "professors are passionate about what they teach," so they "love to see us [students] be engaged as well." Undergrads find that if they are "interested in a field of study, there are opportunities to seek out" shared interests and research opportunities with these passionate and helpful faculty members.

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As a commuter school that makes itself accessible to nontraditional students, UMass Boston has many enrolled students that "work full-time jobs and juggle academics and extracurricular activities as well." Consequently, UMass Boston attracts "very serious students who are well onto their way to developing good adult skills and possessing maturity." Students widely praise the diversity of cultures and experiences they encounter throughout the UMass Boston student body. "I don't think I realized how stifling a homogeneous environment could be until I left it," one sociology major tells us, "Not only do the students here come from all over the world, but people's experiences and opinions similarly shape an engaging discourse that allows me to challenge my own beliefs every day." "Since this is mainly a commuter school," it can be difficult for some to make a connection, but UMass Boston students are "hardworking, cooperative, [and] friendly and "everyone is always willing to help."

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Because UMass Boston doesn't have dorms, students reside in the bustling, college-friendly city of Boston and find other ways to engage with one another on campus. "The food is good and the cafeteria is always full of students in between classes or after class," one student tells us. The new Campus Center "offers a lot of comfortable seating and hosts many fairs like job fairs or opportunities that kids can go and get access to jobs or clubs." Perhaps because students can't retreat into their dorms between classes, it is common to see students out enjoying the campus facilities throughout the day: "People play basketball in the gym, hacky sack and football and soccer on the plaza, or read on grassy areas. There are also non-stop events on campus, from movie nights to guest speakers, which students attend." Recreational and intramural sports are popular. "I see all our clubs and organizations putting on events, to engage our student body." While many students find a large chunk of their free time occupied with family and work, "they also take the time to stay engaged inside and outside the classroom."

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At Morehouse, Biden says dissent should be heard because democracy is 'still the way'

Stephen Fowler

Jeongyoon Han

President Biden speaks to graduating students at the Morehouse College commencement Sunday in Atlanta. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

President Biden speaks to graduating students at the Morehouse College commencement Sunday in Atlanta.

President Biden told Morehouse College's graduating class of 2024 that he's committed to serving Black voters while defending freedom and democracy in the face of "extremist forces" that he says threaten the soul of the nation.

With just six months until the general election, the speech, which was filled with religious themes of struggle and resilience, also served as a continuation of Biden's warning to his supporters of what he thinks the country would look like if Donald Trump is elected again.

"They don't see you in the future of America, but they're wrong," he said. "To me, we make history, not erase it. We know Black history is American history."

The president's commencement address at Morehouse, a historically Black school in Atlanta, also comes as polling shows potentially lower support for his reelection efforts among Black voters and young voters, and as campus protests over conflict in Gaza have disrupted graduations around the country.

Biden said he understood angst over the direction of the country, acknowledged "dissent about America's role in the world" and said that those who have different views should have their voices heard in the name of democracy.

"That's my commitment to you," he said. "To show you: democracy, democracy democracy — it's still the way."

Graduating students at the Morehouse College commencement bow their heads Sunday in Atlanta. President Biden addressed the graduating class of 2024 and warned about "extremist forces" he says threaten the soul of the nation. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

Graduating students at the Morehouse College commencement bow their heads Sunday in Atlanta. President Biden addressed the graduating class of 2024 and warned about "extremist forces" he says threaten the soul of the nation.

His speech is also one of many events on his recent trip aimed at speaking to Black voters, following events with plaintiffs in the historic Brown v. Board Supreme Court case, meetings with Black Greek Letter Organizations, often known as the Divine Nine, and before he headlines an NAACP dinner in Detroit.

For weeks, several college and university campuses around the country have been roiled with student protests and encampments expressing opposition against Biden and U.S. policies and involvement around conflict in Gaza.

Biden will cap off a week of outreach to Black Americans with Morehouse commencement

Biden is set for the Morehouse graduation. Students are divided

Morehouse has seen student demonstrations, but not occupation of campus spaces or clashes with law enforcement. Outside of the ceremony, a small number of protesters gathered while the commencement itself did not see any major disruptions.

Last week, Morehouse College President David Thomas said he would rather halt proceedings than have students escorted away for protesting.

"If my choice is 20 people being arrested on national TV on the Morehouse campus, taken away in zip ties during our commencement, before we would reach that point, I would conclude the ceremony," he said on NPR's Weekend Edition .

An attendee stands in protest with their back to President Biden as Biden speaks to graduating students at the Morehouse College commencement Sunday in Atlanta. John Bazemore/AP hide caption

An attendee stands in protest with their back to President Biden as Biden speaks to graduating students at the Morehouse College commencement Sunday in Atlanta.

Those concerns did not come to pass. Apart from the heightened security and increased media presence, Biden's speech was met with a similar response to a typical college graduation ceremony.

More than 400 graduating students walked across the stage Sunday, and during Biden's speech a handful of students, some wearing keffiyehs , turned their chairs around to face away from the president.

After the ceremony, Morehouse issued a statement praising the graduating class and their intentionally muted response to Biden.

"It is fitting that a moment of organized, peaceful activism would occur on our campus while the world is watching to continue a critical conversation," the statement reads. "We are proud of the resilient class of 2024's unity in silent protest, showing their intentionality in strategy, communication, and coordination as a 414-person unit."

DeAngelo Fletcher, Morehouse College's valedictorian, closed his address to his classmates by addressing global conflict, particularly the Israel-Hamas war.

"For the first time in our lives, we've heard the global community sing one harmonious song that transcends language and culture," he said. "It is my sense as a Morehouse Man, nay — as a human being — to call for an immediate and a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip."

Biden's speech at Morehouse comes with intense scrutiny as many presidential horse race polls show the president lagging with young voters, Black voters and other nonwhite groups that helped propel him to a narrow victory against Trump in 2020.

Those polls — for now — signal a drop in support for Biden but not necessarily an equal shift toward Trump. There are also signs that some of the displeasure with Biden is more pronounced among people who aren't as likely to vote in November.

While facing a nominal challenge in the Democratic presidential primary, Biden's best-performing areas have often come in places with a large share of Black voters. For example, in Georgia's primary contest 95% of Black voters pulled a Democratic ballot, and Biden won 95% of the overall vote.

While some students, faculty and alumni expressed opposition to Biden's selection as the commencement speaker, reaction on campus during the graduation ceremony was largely positive.

Dr. Tiffany Johnson, a 50-year-old who came to the campus green at 4:30 a.m. to see her son graduate, was also excited to see Biden.

"He is the leader of the free world, the most important job in the world, and for him to come to speak to [Morehouse] graduates, to inspire them, is phenomenal," Johnson said.

Johnson said Black voters who might not support Biden are part of a "bandwagon" that do not understand what he has done for the community, and said his speech would be an ideal opportunity to share his accomplishments.

In the speech, Biden touted a track record that he says makes key investments in Black communities, including a record $16 billion funding package toward historically Black colleges and universities, protecting voting rights, and creating economic policies that strengthens Black businesses.

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Boston Public Schools makes uneven progress under 2-year-old state improvement plan

T wo years after acceding to a state-imposed improvement plan, Boston Public Schools has made progress in some areas but fallen short in others, including overhauling transportation, facilities, and programs for students with disabilities and English learners, local and state education leaders said Tuesday.

BPS has mapped out plans in a wide range of areas, from how to replace aging school buildings to improving the accuracy of data tracking. The district also has developed several academic improvement plans, including a blueprint on how to integrate more students with disabilities and English learners into traditional classrooms.

But many problems still persist that interfere with everyday schooling for students. Buses have yet to meet a monthly on-time arrival target of 95 percent or better — often coming in well below that — and the blueprint to overhaul special education was submitted a year late and will begin on a small scale this fall.

“We have more work to do to deliver on a promise of an excellent, equitable education for all students,” Superintendent Mary Skipper told the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in a joint presentation with state education officials. “We’re laying a solid foundation so that we can build the systems and structures on which positive student outcomes depend and we are deeply committed to strengthening this work every day.”

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education entered into the improvement plan with BPS and Mayor Michelle Wu in June 2022 to avert a state takeover of the district . The move came after two state reviews found widespread deficiencies in school district operations and lackluster student achievement in dozens of schools.

The reviews raised concerns about many of the district’s buses running chronically late, a special education department in “systemic disarray,” high turnover in district leadership, and English learner programs out of compliance with federal laws.

The relationship between the state and BPS has been rocky at times. Former education commissioner Jeffrey Riley often criticizedBPS and Wu. At one state board meeting in June, Riley rated the district’s progress as “incomplete” and called Wu’s high school overhaul proposal “half-baked.” A key aspect of Wu’s proposal, relocating the O’Bryant School of Math and Science to West Roxbury, collapsed in February due to a lack of community support.

A formal presentation on how the district improvement plan was going was supposed to occur in December, but the meeting was canceled.

Many education advocates in Boston are frustrated over the slow pace of change under the district improvement plan. They note the plan was effective in prescribing deadlines for generating reports, but was vague on how and when resulting recommendations would be implemented.

“There has not been an organized clear plan of action to ensure students receive high-quality instruction that leads to clear improvement and positive outcomes,” said Edith Bazile, an education advocate and retired BPS special education administrator. “It’s unacceptable.”

A written briefing , released by the state before the board meeting, summarized the progress made and the challenges, describing implementation so far as “uneven.” The briefing noted:

— Many school buses continue to run late each month, failing to meet the monthly on-time performance target of 95 percent or better, a target the district was supposed to meet starting in the fall of 2022. In March, 87.8 percent of buses were punctual.

— Seventeen out of 19 new program proposals for multilingual learners BPS wanted to roll out, starting this fall, fell short of state criteria for those programs, prompting the state to issue corrective actions to BPS to bring them into alignment. As of now, only two programs will move forward for this fall.

— Although BPS was a year late in submitting a plan in October 2023 to overhaul special education, the resulting document should go a long way in reducing the disproportionate number of male students of color with disabilities who are educated in substantially separate classrooms. Partial implementation is slated to begin this fall.

— BPS created an improved system for managing, responding to, and resolving complaints from parents and guardians about student safety. However, the district does not have a current memorandum of understanding with the Police Department, detailing how and when law enforcement should intervene. BPS and the police began negotiating an agreement over a year ago.

— BPS met a state deadline in submitting a long-term facilities plan in December, but the state noted in its briefing that the document lacked a timeline for implementation and did not include enrollment projections, which are vital for planning large-scale renovations, mergers, and closures. The completion of bathroom renovations in 14 schools was late, while renovations at two other schools are still delayed “due to various construction-related challenges.”

During the meeting, Skipper noted the district has 11 major capital projects underway. BPS is expected to announce some additional facility changes Wednesday night.

The overall tone of Tuesday’s presentation was collegial, potentially representing a turning point in the relationship between the state and BPS. Acting Education Commissioner Russell Johnston, who has played a critical role in overseeing the Boston improvement plan over the last two years, said the state and the district have formed a strong partnership and meet frequently.

“We really appreciate the openness and the dialogue that we are able to have, which the superintendent and I can both attest is very productive and often challenging at times,” he said. “ We push each other in a positive and thoughtful way.”

School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson said the district remains committed to remedying the problems.

“We are responsible for fixing more than 100 years of neglect deeply rooted in racism,” Robinson told the state board. “Now is the time to work with urgency to right the wrongs of the past and address the deep systemic problems. And progress is happening.”

Boston University

4 year • Boston, MA

Boston University is a private institution that was founded in 1839. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 18,459 (fall 2022), its setting is urban, and the campus size is 140 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Boston University's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, #43. Its tuition and fees are $65,168.

Boston University is one of the largest independent, nonprofit universities in the country. The BU Terriers have more than 20 NCAA Division I varsity sports. BU’s hockey team has won multiple NCAA national championships. BU also has nearly 500 student clubs, ranging from Ski Racing to the Juggling Association. BU created one of the first study abroad programs, and currently sponsors more than 90 international programs. Freshmen are required to live on campus, and about 80 percent of undergraduate students live on the main Boston campus, which lies along the Charles River.

Boston University’s highly ranked graduate schools include the School of Law , School of Management , School of Medicine , College of Engineering  and School of Education . BU’s School of Medicine is the nation’s first combined cancer research and teaching laboratory. BU is also the first university to open all divisions to female students in 1872. Notable alumni include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; actresses Julianne Moore and Geena Davis; television personality Bill O’Reilly; radio host Howard Stern; and Tipper Gore, former wife of Al Gore. Another unique fact: the BU Bridge is the only spot in the U.S. where a plane can fly over a car driving over a train going over a boat, all at the same time.

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Rick Hess Straight Up

Education policy maven Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute think tank offers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform. Read more from this blog.

Does School Choice ‘Work’?

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In “Straight Talk with Rick and Jal,” Harvard University’s Jal Mehta and I examine the reforms and enthusiasms that permeate education. In a field full of buzzwords, our goal is simple: Tell the truth, in plain English, about what’s being proposed and what it means for students, teachers, and parents. We may be wrong and we will frequently disagree, but we’ll try to be candid and ensure that you don’t need a Ph.D. in eduspeak to understand us.

Today’s topic is educational choice and whether it “works.”

Rick: It’s been another busy spring for educational choice, so let’s dig into the heated debate about whether choice “works.” Here’s where I’m coming from: I’ve supported full-spectrum educational choice since the last century, including intradistrict choice, charter schooling, school vouchers, education savings accounts (ESA), and the rest. That said, regular readers also know that I’m critical of the absolutist rhetoric favored by some choice advocates, over-the-top claims for choice, and the insistence that choice works. As I see it, educational choice is part of the answer to our challenges, but it isn’t the answer. Choice enables more parents to find options that are right for their child, creates more room for the emergence of promising new options, and offers educators more say as to where they’ll work. These are all very good things.

But educational choice programs are no one thing. They vary dramatically, from relatively restricted open-enrollment programs that give students some choice among district schools to ambitious ESA programs that radically reimagine how schooling works. Just within charter schooling, there are vast differences from state to state in who is permitted to authorize schools, how they are authorized, the goals they are required to meet, and so forth. Broadly asserting that choice is “good” (or “bad”) ignores that it means many different things depending on context, policy, and practice.

In short, choice isn’t a bag of magic beans. Worse, suggesting it is makes it less likely that anyone will do the hard work necessary to make choice programs deliver. Ultimately, the how of choice matters mightily. How tough is it for good new schools or programs to emerge? How do we ensure that scam artists aren’t ripping off families and taxpayers? How do parents find out what the options are? How does the financing work? The answers to questions like these determine whether a school choice program works for the families that participate or not.

Anyway, that’s how I tend to approach all this. Curious to hear your take, especially given how much you’ve thought about these issues in the context of your scholarship on institutions and deeper learning.

Jal: Yet again, there is a surprising amount of agreement here. Choice can mean very different things depending on the context and the nature of the regulations. In some states, even fairly proven providers can’t open new schools, whereas in others, licenses are offered to schools that have no track record or plan. As I’ve talked with graduate students coming from all over the nation, their views of choice often vary significantly depending on what state they are coming from.

From an innovation perspective, I think the hopes of the choice movement have not been realized. Charter schools, in particular, were created based on the idea that they would use the freedoms they had been granted to try out new possibilities, which might, over time, influence traditional public schools. But in practice, most charter schools, including a number of the most well-known ones, have mostly just done the same old thing—the same seven-period days, same subjects, same teaching methods. Even Nina Rees, the former head of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, acknowledges that charter schools frequently haven’t been as innovative as their advocates have hoped. The reasons for this are almost overdetermined: Teachers teach as they were taught, parents expect school to look the same as what they experienced, external measures like state tests and college admissions reward conformity, etc.

If we wanted to take advantage of some of the benefits of choice to generate more genuine innovation, we would need to make some changes. For instance, we would have to alter the external ecosystem: If we want schools to be organized around students doing more authentic work, then schools have to be evaluated on the basis of students doing that kind of authentic work. These evaluations might include performance assessments or balanced scorecard-style dashboards. Or it might look like the state getting out of the business of measuring outcomes entirely and trusting that parents will be able to select the schools that work for their kids, without having one set of measures that standardizes everything. (Ted Sizer advocated market over state accountability for this reason in The Red Pencil .) A more split-the-middle option would be to have the state perform periodic accreditation reviews, such as those that are used in England. This would allow schools to experiment as they like but offer some protections that public institutions are meeting a certain floor of public goals.

What do you think, Rick? Has choice produced “innovation”? How do we create quality without standardization?

Rick: You know, it’s almost disturbing how much common ground we find in these exchanges, even surrounded by frenzied hyperbole (with Kentucky’s lieutenant governor recently thundering that “‘school choice’ is nothing more than welfare for the well-to-do”). I’m always struck how crazy it is that we’ve ceded so much ground to the self-interested industry of outrage-peddling politicos and culture-war grifters.

But that’s a sermon I’ve preached many times, so I’ll get back to the point. I agree with you both that choice works largely by creating room for better solutions to emerge . . . and that it mostly hasn’t. As you note, this is due to the failure (of even its supporters) to embrace the kind of ecosystem that fuels rethinking. For me, it’s useful to think of this as a humane, organic vision of school improvement. Now, talk of choice as “humane” and “organic” can sound odd when the debate is filled with talk of “wars on public education” and “failing public schools.” But all this wild-eyed rhetoric misses the mark. The promise of choice is not that, tomorrow, schools will magically be “better.” The promise of choice-based systems is that, over time, they create room for educators and families to build better solutions.

This should all be intuitive to anyone who’s spent much time talking school improvement with principals or district leaders. Conversations are peppered with phrases like, “I’d like to do this, but the contract requires . . . ,” “I’d like to pay them more, but HR says . . . ,” or “I’d love to move those dollars, but we’re not allowed. . . .” Educators wrestle with layers of rules, regulations, and contract provisions. That’s why choice can be so appealing: It can make it easier for educators to pioneer promising new school models. School vouchers and ESAs make it feasible to offer alternatives to low-income families who’ve long felt trapped in local schools. Charter schooling enables educators to get a new school approved by a charter authorizer without having to spend years pleading with district officials for flexibility, facilities, and approval.

This kind of inertia is hardly unique to education. Older organizations are rarely good at managing change. They tend to grow rigid, routinized, and hierarchical with time, making it tougher to leverage new technologies or meet changing needs. That’s why the average life span of a Fortune 500 company is just 50 years. When we tell educators they’ve no path other than “fixing” aged systems or schools, we put them in a nearly impossible position.

That’s one reason I’m optimistic about choice today, in the wake of the pandemic. As I noted in The Great School Rethink , the emergence of microschools, learning pods, and hybrid home schools; the adoption of large-scale ESA programs; and the explosion of home schooling have together changed the choice landscape. Choice is no longer mostly about a handful of broadly similar urban charter school networks; today, it’s far more decentralized, dynamic, and geographically dispersed. Of course, these new changes have also surfaced new challenges, ranging from accountability for public funds to questions of staffing and logistics. Our ability to thoughtfully navigate these will determine the success of this next era of educational choice.

Wondering what you make of this changing landscape and what it means going forward, pal.

Jal: Embracing a “humane and organic” approach to school reform? If you don’t watch out, you’re going to get kicked out of the GOP, Rick.

I agree with your idea that the emerging choice landscape—particularly the growth of home schooling, learning pods, and microschools—is much more varied in its goals, means, and approaches than the charter schools that dominated the dialogue in the aughts and 2010s. There also seems to be a much more fundamental willingness to rethink what is taken for granted. This can range from parents who want to resist the standardizing pressures of schools to those whose kids aren’t being served well by the peer or racial dynamics of such schools.

There isn’t yet much research about these efforts, so what I know about them is pretty partial. But still, there is a sense that these folks are motivated by a much more human focus than past reformers. Rather than being committed to grand ideals like social mobility for other people’s children, these are people who are looking at their own kids not as abstractions but as real human beings who are not being served well by school. We can hope that what they generate is much more varied and authentic and that it serves the wide diversity of interests that young people bring to the table.

At the same time, the idea of unschooling and escaping the conformity of public education is not a new one, nor is it a surefire way to educate children successfully. Experience suggests that there are certain Romantic ideas that will turn out to be not entirely true. While intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning are important (and in much too short supply in regular public schools), for most kids, they won’t be sufficient without some structure, community, and routine. Some kids listen better to other adults than they do to their own parents. Thus, there is a lot to be figured out in this emerging world: Who should “teach”; what sorts of structures, communities, and routines should replace the ones previously provided by school; and what models work and for which kids.

To make this a bit more personal, we were home schoolers for most of one year during the COVID-19 pandemic. We had a bright 6-year-old who was bored by virtual school and would click “leave meeting” rather than partake in the community-building activities his school had designed for 1st graders. We enrolled him and his best friend in a little school in our living room. We used some materials for science and social studies that my wife found on a home-schooling site and signed up for Beast Academy , a virtual math program for bright kids who like math. Beast Academy was a hit and lasted well past the pandemic. The home-schooling materials we got were more mixed: Some landed and some didn’t. For ELA, we had him read (what he wanted) and write (what he wanted). This was good, but only worked because his kindergarten teacher had already taught him to read. Eventually, the friend had to go back to school, and our son got sad and lonely without him, and so he went back to school. The lesson here is that what we call “school” is really a bundle of things—curriculum in different subjects, teachers, friends, specials—all of which have to be replaced in ways that work. This is much easier said than done.

One obvious question is what the role of the state is in this process. When we home schooled, we just had to fill out a form with the district at the beginning of the year saying what we were going to do and then one at the end saying what we had done. This seems a little light to me. I think some kind of performance of understanding in different domains is important to ensure that real learning has taken place. But the trick, as is always the case with any alternative arrangement, is that if we put too tight strictures on what counts, we are going to lose the innovation that choice can potentially unleash. Finding a way to manage this balance is the key to making the new choice movement more innovative than the old.

The opinions expressed in Rick Hess Straight Up are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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