Arguments for government involvement in education are many. They include the views that many parents cannot afford to educate their children, that private philanthropy cannot make up the deficit, that too many parents don’t care enough about education, and more. At the same time, government involvement in education has risks: * Less parental control over […]
Education’s “Public Choice” Dynamic Read More »
From a post by Lant Pritchett at the World Bank site: “In the early 20th century Helen Todd, a factory inspector in Chicago, interviewed 500 children working in factories, often in dangerous and unpleasant conditions. She asked children the question: ‘If your father had a good job and you didn’t have to work, which would
Are schools worse than factory jobs for kids? Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “In our era of Keynesian economics on steroids, we should ask: How close is current Keynesian practice to original Keynesian theory? “John Maynard Keynes‘s main claim to fame is his advocacy of deficit spending as a tool of economic recovery. In a depressed economy, the argument runs, the government
Can We Blame Keynes for Keynesianism? [new The Good Life column] Read More »
Our polarized academic world, combining weak understandings of sexual bio-psychology with politics. I juxtapose this piece from The New York Times, “Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm,” with this report from Britain’s The Telegraph, “‘Paedophilia is natural and normal for males’ How some university academics make the case for paedophiles at summer conferences.”
Trigger Traumatists versus Paedophiles in Academia Read More »
Atitudes racistas são remanescentes de um passado primitivo. Existe ainda muito racismo, contudo, progredimos em algumas partes do mundo, como mostra o gráfico dos países mais e menos racistas do mundo, publicado pelo The Washington Post. Em grande parte da Europa, América do Sul, América do Norte, Oceania e em alguns outros lugares, o racismo recuou significativamente.
A tolerância racial é o melhor que podemos conseguir? [Portuguese translation] Read More »
A new book is forthcoming this spring: Steve Jobs and Philosophy. The editor is Shawn E. Klein, a professor of philosophy at Rockford University. He has assembled sixteen essays on Steve Jobs’s impact. Klein’s summary: “Jobs was an outstanding achiever and a complex man with serious faults. This book is neither demonization nor hagiography. It
Shawn Klein’s *Steve Jobs and Philosophy* Read More »
Reflection upon an unpleasant email exchange I had recently. My correspondent was of a type I’ve encountered before, often enough to be irritating and to warrant creating a new conceptual category for. You might know of whom I speak: the aggressively screw-you types who use crude versions of Rand’s philosophy as a bludgeon to demonstrate
Objectivism and Zen — typo version Read More »
The microscope reveals symbols for the British pound and the American dollar, and for Jews, communists, and homosexuals (triangles). The poem at the bottom reads: Infectious Germs With his poison, the Jew destroys The sluggish blood of weaker peoples; So that a diagnosis arises, Of swift degeneration. With us, however, the case is different: The
A Nazi graphic against capitalism, communism, homosexuality, and the Jews Read More »