Posts Tagged ‘Life Lessons’
What Are We Really Teaching Our Kids?
I published this article in Inside Higher Ed in September 2020. Even though it addresses the crisis in education brought about by both COVID and the George Floyd tragedy, its message seems highly relevant to our current climate, as well: What or why to teach are more important considerations than how to teach if we are to…
Read MoreHow The People of Ukraine Are Living Out The Deepest Lessons of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky
Pierre Bezukhov at the Battle of Borodino in War and Peace Ukraine And Russia Whenever I mention that I teach Russian literature these days, I get a weird look of surprise, confusion, or even disgust. I’m not alone. A few weeks ago a German university canceled a class on Dostoyevsky in order to make a…
Read MoreWhat Mandela Learned From War and Peace: How to Keep Hope Alive in Troubled Times
In Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela singles out War and Peace as a book that had a profound influence on him during his 27-year incarceration. He says that he returned to the novel over and over again, referring to it as his all-time favorite years later. As the world remembers December as the anniversary…
Read MoreWhy Teachers Must Bring Humanity to The Classroom
The Metamorphosis in the Classroom The Metamorphosis happens sometime between the moment when John Smith exits his car in the college parking lot, treks across the beautiful grassy campus, enters the building where he’s about to engage in something called Teaching, and finally, steps foot into the Classroom where said Teaching will take place. The…
Read MoreThis Is What Happens When Things Fall Apart
“Once we’re thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost; but it’s only here that the new and the good begins.” — War and Peace We’ve all had moments when our world suddenly snaps. It’s as if we’ve just woken up from a troubled night’s sleep — or perhaps even a good one — to find the…
Read MoreCrime and Enlightenment: Important Lessons Teens Teach Me About Life
The Inmate, the Student, and Tolstoy The gate closes behind me with an iron thud. I walk down the hallway, enter the classroom, and take my seat, flanked by the prison guard on my right, and on my left the chaplain and library administrators. Fifteen pairs of male eyes—wary, curious, bemused, intense—look at me…
Read More