“A government is like everything else: to preserve it, we must love it.”
Today’s schools teach only the ugliest parts of US history, turning students off from civic engagement. Shutterstock
When he was young, Thomas Jefferson carefully copied those words — a quote from the great political philosopher Montesquieu — into his “commonplace book,” the private journal he kept as a student for future inspiration.
“Everything, therefore, depends on establishing this love in a republic,” the passage continued. “And to inspire it ought to be the principal business of education.”
Thomas Jefferson thought teaching children American History, at an early age, should be a central focus. Continue reading
The US film industry may have generated revenues somewhere in the region of $40 billion last year, but it seems Hollywood still has plenty of work to do if it wants to compete with that most hallowed of American institutions: the public library… 
This isn’t a new thought, as highlighted below, but this does need to be a growing trend. Teaching the youth that not only is it acceptable to work with your hands, it is also very rewarding. The process of creating something, and then being able to hold it in your hand, can have a profound effect on a kid’s desire to learn more… 
There is this idea Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad asking Malaysians to emulate Japan and Korea as models, of showing recordings of good teachers teaching. The 94-year-old prime minister liked it a lot and wants school to adopt and implement. I suppose his minister of education would also abide by the wishes, as a loyal party member. But I hope I am wrong. That this is not to be the solution to improve our education system, any for that matter. If this is so, I believe this is an idea whose time should never come. 
On November 22, 1889, Gertrude Jones of Tennyson, Indiana penciled her name into her copy of Complete Arithmetic, a math curriculum book in use at the time. In 2016, the book is now in my possession. It smells delightful, if you’re into old books. 
As if LEGOs weren’t enough of an awesome childhood toy, one teacher has found another awesome educational/developmental use for this super-toy – as a math education aid! Alycia Zimmerman, a 3rd-grade teacher in New York, uses them to explain fractions, squares and other mathematical concepts. 
Rowe joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business to discuss his new book, The Way I Heard It, and was asked why there are “seven million unfilled jobs in our country.” 
Today’s students see themselves as digital natives, the first generation to grow up surrounded by technology like smartphones, tablets and e-readers.
We’ve all had it embedded within us since the day we were born: The only way to become smarter, no matter what you study or where you are, is to read. What few people tell us, however, is why 
This October, students at Abbey Lane Elementary School in Levittown, New York, will take on a project that helps make the lives of cancer patients, survivors, and their families just a little bit brighter. They’re writing letters to cancer survivors to give them hope and encouragement. 
I’m working on writing a middle grade book. I love to write. I read loads of middle grade books. I’ve friended every middle grade author I know on Facebook and enjoy reading about them. But when I sit down to write, it’s not that fun. In fact, it’s frustrating and stressful and time-consuming. Because the truth is that hard work isn’t really that much fun.