A New Season and Some Reorientation

Poem: “Ox Cart Man,” by Donald Hall 

Statement of the Whole:  Amazing to think about, but Backporch Education Podcast is now beginning its fourth Season!  Jason and Steve take a few minutes to lean back and think about where we have been, where we might go from here.  Join in the dreaming. 

How to Do College the Cambridge Way

Peterhouse College, Cambridge University

 

An Interview with Josie Parker 

Josey Parker

Poem:  “Inside of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge,” by William Wordsworth 

Statement of the Whole: What is the modern college experience?  Are all colleges and universities working off the same basic plan?  Why do colleges in Europe seem so different?  In this episode, Steve interviews Josey Parker, who is a graduate of England’s Cambridge University and now pursuing her Masters there.  They discuss how the U.S. and Europe forms of higher education are alike and are different.  And in doing so, shed some light on the higher purposes of attending college in the first place. 

Notes: 

Cambridge Website: How the University of Cambridge Works 

What Can We Learn from the History of Education?

Poem: Choruses from the Rock VI, by T.S. Eliot 

Statement of the Whole: Steve and Jason look at the last 250 years of education in America in a brief survey format.  Gleaning a few lessons only whets the appetite to dig in deeper.  Join them for this quick flight through the fancies of American education and where all the past might be taking us in the future.  

Notes: 

Coming soon: Steve’s full presentation of A History of Education in America.  A series of monologues in which Steve outlines the history of education in America and traces the roots of where we are today.  This will be available behind our paywall soon, once we open up our shop, The Sideporch

Black·board /ˈblakbôrd/ noun.  a large board with a smooth, typically dark, surface attached to a wall or supported on an easel and used for writing on with chalk, especially by teachers in schools. 

Books mentioned: 

Marrou, Henri Irenee. A History of Education in Antiquity. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1982. 

Ravitch, Diane. Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform. Touchstone, 2001. 

What Can We Learn from the History of Education?

Poem: Choruses from the Rock VI, by T.S. Eliot 

Statement of the Whole: Steve and Jason look at the last 250 years of education in America in a brief survey format.  Gleaning a few lessons only whets the appetite to dig in deeper.  Join them for this quick flight through the fancies of American education and where all the past might be taking us in the future.  

Notes: 

Coming soon: Steve’s full presentation of A History of Education in America.  A series of monologues in which Steve outlines the history of education in America and traces the roots of where we are today.  This will be available behind our paywall soon, once we open up our shop, The Sideporch

Black·board /ˈblakbôrd/ noun.  a large board with a smooth, typically dark, surface attached to a wall or supported on an easel and used for writing on with chalk, especially by teachers in schools. 

Books mentioned: 

Marrou, Henri Irenee, and Henri Irénée Marrou. A History of Education in Antiquity. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1982. 

Ravitch, Diane. Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform. Touchstone, 2001.