A few months ago, Stanley Fish came to speak to students at Teachers College, Columbia University. I was in attendance. His talk consisted of his reading from a manuscript that was to be published this year and taking questions from the audience occasionally. The thrust of his argument has been repeated many times before and [...]

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On the campus of Columbia University is Butler Library.  Its neo-classical design, with fourteen imposing columns supporting the names of famous ancients, immediately draws the eye of any passerby. The names etched into stone above these columns are of great classical writers: Homer, Herodotus, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, Cicero, and Vergil.  Interestingly, one of these [...]

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My friend Brian is back from Japan.  He’s a music teacher, about to begin work at a new school on Long Island.  Last night, he and I began comparing the teaching of music with the teaching of English.  I shared with Brian my concerns around reading in my own English classroom–how a teacher can never [...]

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