Chester E. Finn

Dec 3, 2024 | the74million.org | Chester E. Finn

Put Students First: Support Journalism That Exposes Truth and Inspires Action. Donate to The 74 Perhaps you’ve been wondering why many recent articles, predictions and speculations about Trump’s plans for the U.S. Department of Education focus on its abolition while others predict that it will be forcefully deployed to reshape what schools teach. Consider the Washington Post’s excellent education reporter Laura Meckler, writing on Nov.

Nov 27, 2024 | educationnext.org | Chester E. Finn

Ah, David Brooks. Ordinarily, I’d start a piece in which I plan to (partially) disagree with him by stating that he’s a very smart guy—but what I’m going to push back at this time is his much-disseminated contention that America needs to rethink what “smart” means. Even though his own qualities would likely still qualify under his new formulation, I ought not take chances. Nowadays, he might not even want to be termed smart.

Oct 15, 2024 | educationnext.org | Chester E. Finn

In 1953, the Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin published one of the 20th century’s most celebrated essays, titled “The Hedgehog and the Fox.” He was riffing on the Greek poet Archilochus, who wrote that “the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” In this essay, Sir Isaiah divided people—well, writers and thinkers, those sorts of people—into two categories.

Jul 19, 2024 | educationnext.org | Chester E. Finn

Three decades ago, the College Board “recentered” the SAT. Now, it’s “recalibrating” Advanced Placement. Though both adjustments in these enormously influential testing programs can be justified by psychometricians, both are also probable examples of what the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan famously termed “defining deviancy down.”Citing Durkheim, Moynihan was referring mostly to crime that was rising across much of the country when he wrote in 1993, but his seminal essay addressed education, too.

Mar 28, 2024 | youthtoday.org | Chester E. Finn

This is the first part of a two-part essay on the need to reengage with civics education in the United States. How about a ceasefire in the civics wars? Possibly even a peace treaty? This could turn out to be easier to achieve than pausing the conflict in Gaza (or Kashmir or Sudan).