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Education Reading

Latest Read: Invisible Walls

Invisible Walls: How to Create Deeper Connections Through the Purity of Experiences by Stephanie Zorn-Kasprzak. Stephanie holds a degree in Written Communication and Master’s Organizational Leadership from Lourdes University.

Invisible Walls: How to Create Deeper Connections Through the Purity of Experiences by Stephanie Zorn-Kasprzak

Today Stephanie is Executive Director of the Monroe County Opportunity Program in La Salle Township, Michigan. In addition, Stephanie is a part time professor at Eastern Michigan University. And most importantly Stephanie is my sister in law.

Stephanie is working to show readers how the pandemic shifted the world and not for the better. However the last two years have taught her that true, lasting bonds will be the key relationships and our own character.

The first Chapter starts boldly with a lesson one cannot forget. Stephanie shared the sudden passing of her older brother Tim. This included a passage how her Dad attempted to revive his son. This was so overwhelming for me to read. In fact, Mr. Zorn is a wonderful man that I have known for twenty years, so visualizing this event was very painful.

And yet, Stephanie makes this a powerful lesson: do not wait to live your dreams. This reminded me of Daniel Pink’s latest book The Power of Regret. In a later chapter in recalling a trip to Germany, Stephanie shares how visiting the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp created a life long impression.

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Education Reading

Latest Read: The Witches Are Coming

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West. Lindy is a columnist at The Guardian, a contributor to This American Life, and a freelance writer appearing in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vulture, and Jezebel.

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West

She is the founder of I Believe You, It’s Not Your Fault, an advice blog for teens, as well as the reproductive rights destigmatization campaign #ShoutYourAbortion.

Following the release of her book Shrill, she launched a streaming show about her life. So, this book is a series of cultural essays and supports her previous book and TV show. Lindy is addressing Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo movement, Trump, climate change, misogyny, white nationalism, and even Adam Sandler.

As a follow up to Shrill, her social media hashtag launch #ShoutYourAbortion is further addressed. Perhaps the mission of her book is to indicate that America has not learned about the impacts of sexual abuse, fat shaming, rape culture, abortion, and the gender pay gap.

Yet, Lindy is accurate to document whenever a woman does stand up, the counter attack is the title of this book. At the same time, Lindy writes about how people are with Ted Bundy’s “charm and charisma”. Drawing a line that Bundy murdered women, somehow the judge leaned towards wanting to interact with him and basically buy him a beer.

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Education Reading

Latest Read: The Coddling of the American Mind

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff. This book is the result of their very popular article in The Atlantic magazine.

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff

Jonathan is a social psychologist and professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business and he is focusing on the psychology of morality and moral emotions. Greg is an author and activist and is currently serving as President of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

Jonathan and Greg reveal how the following ideas became established after 2013: students’ feelings are always right, students should avoid pain and discomfort, and finally students should look for faults in others and not themselves.

They also address three specific untruths that are part of a larger philosophy in which students are certainly portrayed as fragile who must be protected and supervised by adults.

However, by setting aside all good intentions, they indicate untruths actually harm students by teaching them the opposite of the basic foundation of wisdom.

Admittedly, much of this is driven by social media. In fact, look at our recently finished mid term elections. In fact, candidates for public office actually campaigned stating students were identifying as cats and brining litter boxes to school.

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Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: In a Different Key

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan, Caren Zucker. This book was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. John is a journalist, broadcaster and debate moderator. Caren is a television news producer who has worked most extensively with ABC News. She also produced and cowrote a six-part series on autism for PBS in 2011.

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan, Caren Zucker

The subject is certainly a challenging topic for many. Likewise, this book should be mandatory reading, not just parents of an autistic child. In fact, this can be used as a 101 textbook for society.

John and Caren are providing a foundational history of Autism. In fact, they are indeed providing the historical context to understanding medical and social developments in treating children. There is certainly a wealth of insights for any reader. Much of the discovery will surprise the reader.

Instead, their approaches treating children for “autism” began in the 1930s. Historically the examination of treatments for children labeled insane span the early 1900s. However, a significant European study was delivered on June 4th 1944. However, D-Day landings insured the report would be given little attention across Europe and in America.

John and Caren introduce Donald Triplett, the first child to be documented with autism. Dr. Leo Kanner who published a landmark paper Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact in 1943 established Donald’s diagnosis.

This contradicted the tale of Bettelheim’s theory of autism, in which the lack of a mother’s warmth to her child was the source of autism. This theory is also known for some reason as Refrigerator mother theory due to the term established in the mid 1950s as a label for mothers (or fathers) of children diagnosed with autism or schizophrenia

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Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: The Bias That Divides Us

The Bias That Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking by Keith E. Stanovich. Keith is Emeritus Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the University of Toronto and former Canada Research Chair of Applied Cognitive Science.

The Bias That Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking by Keith E. Stanovich

He is the author of over 200 scientific articles and seven books. He received his BA degree in psychology from Ohio State University in 1973 and his PhD in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1977.

Since the beginning of the pandemic I have read quite extensively. This one really makes me think deeply about bias. Dr. Stanovich is providing a lot of insights when addressing bias. In addition, the writings address the political polarization that is tearing this country apart. This is a deep dive, it should really consume your time in addressing myside bias.

He is certainly addressing “myside bias” which is more commonly refereed to as confirmation bias. In fact, Myside bias is an outlier. It is very interesting to understand many, including very intelligent people do fall victim to this bias. However this is complex. One element of myside bias is less than impactful to impact our testable beliefs. These bias are easily checked against empirical reality.

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