Sometimes I think the real reason Hume aimed his skeptical arguments at the notion of causation is because he perceived the manifold ways dubious argumentative strategies can give causal arguments tremendous rhetorical force. George Will was kind enough to provide us with just such a perverse causal claim this week. Recent events at Penn State, University of … Continue reading Progressivism Isn’t Everything, It’s The Only Thing
Some maintain that arguments are dialogues and such therefore be evaluated as such. I have my doubts about this view, because so many of the arguments I encounter seem to be monologues, or at least the critical parts of them don't have anything to do with dialoguing with someone who disagrees with you (assuming the back-and-forth exchange is what is … Continue reading W-T-F
If we still wonder why our children isn't learning, we might also ask some why well-educated and rich adults can't seem to learn either. On that point, once again, George Will has found the root cause of educational success in the American inner city. What might it be? If you guessed, eliminate the teachers unions, … Continue reading Who cares
In the never begun quest to figure out why our children isn't learning, George Will hits upon the answer: Unfortunately, powerful factions fiercely oppose the flourishing. Among them are education schools with their romantic progressivism — teachers should be mere "enablers" of group learning; self-esteem is a prerequisite for accomplishment, not a consequence thereof. Other … Continue reading Stop contradicting yourself
The only thing that makes George Will madder (and more incoherent) than "global warming" are teachers' unions. Just as teachers' unions have singularly (without any interference from any other causal factor) been able to destroy public education and all that's good in America, environmentalists aim to destroy the economy for their Marxist political agenda. I … Continue reading The Green Hornet
A frequent question among our chattering classes is whether our children is learning. The answer seems to be no, they isn't. What would explain that? George Will has the answer: Moynihan also knew that schools cannot compensate for the disintegration of families and hence communities — the primary transmitters of social capital. No reform can … Continue reading Shopworn Panaceas
George Will, sometime libertarian, writes: >In today’s political taxonomy, “progressives” are rebranded liberals dodging the damage they did to their old label. Perhaps their most injurious idea — injurious to themselves and public schools — was the forced busing of (mostly other people’s) children to engineer “racial balance” in public schools. Soon, liberals will need … Continue reading School rites
George Will loves to use the word “traduce.” It’s one of those words that sounds real smart, but in the end just conceals the absence of actual reasoning: >In 1943, the Supreme Court, affirming the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses children to refuse to pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag in schools, declared: “No official, high … Continue reading Traduction
In January of this year, the Florida Supreme Court–yes, that’s the one–held in a 5-2 ruling that tax payer funded vouchers for private school violate the state’s constitution. I wonder what their reasons were. But why bother, when you’re George Will you can attack their motivations and the people who approve: >But Florida’s Supreme Court … Continue reading Don’t say “vouch”
Among the hundreds of thousands of student victims of the whims of the all powerful teachers’ union, all students of Logic 101 have been subjected to the following counterintuitive stipulation: “some” is a quantifier; it tells you how many. But how many does “some” mean? Well, and here’s the counterintuitive part, it means *at least … Continue reading Will to compare