Author Archives: Chris Osmond

        The world does not need another fanboy post about Radiohead. I get it. But my recent experience with 1997’s OK Computer has me thinking about some pretty trenchant education topics, so here I go. (Plus, many of my students were six years old – six! – when it dropped, so I wonderContinue reading “Okay, computer.”

My head’s buzzing after last night’s Grammys. To wit: 1 – I do not dig The Arcade Fire. I respect them, I get them, and I am thrilled to see Merge Records get this big boost, but the band itself leaves me cold. The thing is, they seem so serious about NOT leaving me cold. TheirContinue reading “A Tale of Three Divas”

Thanks to Rob Helfenbein at IUPUI for sharing this via Facebook. http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/why-i-am-not-a-defender-of-the-status-quo-in-education-because-the-status-quo-is-failed-ed-reforms/ I am grateful for the bright line it draws between competition and privatization, which so many students don’t see initially. And why would they? We are easily dazzled by the idea that “competition encourages innovation” when it is divorced from its free-market roots.Continue reading “Privatization, Teach For America, and “Common Sense””

Check out this broadcast of WFAE’s “Charlotte Talks,” which discusses upcoming funding challenges in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools but along the way gives some insight into the “audit culture” as it looks in school right now. I only heard the first 15 min live but imagine the rest of the hour is also time well-spent. http://wfae.org/wfae/19_100_0.cfm?id=6878&action=display What mostContinue reading “audit culture in Charlotte-Meck”