It has been said that talk is cheap. Well, perhaps a better way to express that is our casual talk can cheapen the matter about which we speak. For example, I have often heard something like this said, “Everybody has a disability. I’m terrible at math, that’s my disability.” But wait just a minute, everybody…
May is traditionally the time of year when teachers are appreciated and graduates are cheered on as they move out of the cocoon of secondary education. This may also be the right time to consider what the high school experience has taught students about each other and what success is for the individual. Beginning in…
Mother’s Day is an important day to acknowledge our mothers. Everyone has one, and if we’re fortunate, we have a good relationship with our mothers, or good memories, or both. But many of us have had a difficult relationship with our mothers, which can make us bitter or unfeeling about the idea of mother. I…
The following is a commentary submitted to but not used by NPR. The 504 Demonstration is a nearly universally unknown moment in American history that deserves inclusion in our common body of knowledge for school instruction. Recently, the movie Crip Camp‘s nomination for an Academy Award, and memoirs by Judy Heumann and myself, plus HolLynn…
The following is a commentary that I wrote concerning the Columbine school shooting, April 20, 1999. It was written for NPR’s “Morning Edition,” although it was never aired. I wrote this in 2003. Since then, gun violence has exploded as grizzly mass shootings proliferate and the grim parade of school shootings continues; Sandy Hook Elementary…