I thought I’d introduce myself for anyone reading this blog. For thirty years I worked as a professor at a small liberal arts college before retiring and stepping away to look at where the profession was going. The press of everyday battle, the pull of responsibilities and the inside perspective limit if not condition one’s view of the whole enterprise.  Occasionally one needs to step out of the river in order to see it. I was particularly concerned with two things: the educational “crisis” and digital tools for education.  The crisis in public education is leaving some (usually the poor) with a limited education and view of the world, while offering critical thinking, skills, and training to the wealthy and the poor who have managed to succeed in the crappy educational system . Of course not all those eligible take advantage of the opportunities offered to them and the presentation of those opportunities is not always as well done as it should be. Nevertheless I was coming to see that we were offering a “tracked” educational system of which I was seeing only those tracked for the management or skilled class. Continue Reading