The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: teaching

  • Running the Race (My speech given as Distinguished Faculty recipient)

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    mongreldogs
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    I have had the honor of being named as the Hun School’s first recipient of a new Distinguished Faculty Endowed Chair. One of the prices is that, today, I had to give a speech at the first-ever Convocation. Since some people have asked, and since I have an ego the size of Montana, I decided…

  • And the Sky Swept Clear of Angels : 9/11, 5 Years, and Lost Worlds

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    mongreldogs
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    Though exiled to the swamps of New Jersey, I am a native New Yorker; and so this date arrives every year like a punch in the gut. I no longer think of the attacks every day, but it took 18 months before that ceased. When I do think of them, I am immediately transported back…

  • Uncle Pennybags a Socialist?

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    mongreldogs
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    I’m really not a fan of the me-too blog, which just strings together links to the original thoughts of other. But I saw this on Cosmic Variance and thought it was brilliant, so here we go: “Lessons from Monopoly“. It’s an interesting analysis of the socio-economic implications of the Parker Brothers game. As seems to…

  • What’s the Matter with Kansas?

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    mongreldogs
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    Today, at least, nothing. In a curiously intense summer primary contest for the state Board of Education, the day was won by people who believe that the science standards should reflect, you know, actual science. Their opponents were a cabal of Intelligent Design boosters. There’s a nice wrap-up at Forbes.com and a more gung-ho, in-your-face…

  • Academic Freedom versus Indoctrination?

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    mongreldogs
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    A week or so ago (2006 July 23), the New York Times had an article (“Conspiracy Theories 101” by Stanley Fish) detailing a brouhaha surrounding Kevin Barrett. Mr. Barrett is a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin who has gotten into hot water because he shared with his students his strong conviction that the World…

  • Another reason why US textbooks are so lousy…

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    mongreldogs
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    I saw an article in the New York Times (Schoolbooks Are Given F’s in Originality; 2006 July 13) that detailed a controversy broiling for some American history textbooks. It seems that, in describing the 9/11 attacks, the books A History of the United States and America: Pathways to the Present use virtually identical language. Apparently…

  • Testing and Teaching Physics

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    mongreldogs
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    Lately I’ve been on a merciless campaign to reduce the paperwork clutter in my lab/office/classroom. Today I dove into the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet (because obviously, bottom drawer = hard to acess = most moldly junk.) and came across an envelope containing the qualifying exam I had to take when starting grad school…

  • From the Past: Instructions for Stanford Physics Qual 1993

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    mongreldogs
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    In cleaning out a file cabinet, I came across the Qualifying Exam that I had to take in order to pursue a degree in Physics at Stanford University. On top was a cover letter by Dr. Bob Laughlin, which I reproduce below. Hopefully he won’t have any issue with that! 🙂

  • Mainstream acceptance — woo hoo!

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    mongreldogs
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    Well, I went away to Vermont for four days and nearly missed the telltale sign that my blog is Out There in cyberspace. That’s right, I got my first spam comment yesterday morning. I must be on somebody’s radar… 🙂 Interestingly enough I was wondering if having comment moderation turned on was overkill. Guess that’s…

  • Why “Mongrel Dogs”?

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    mongreldogs
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    First of all, as noted on the About page, the title of this blog comes from a Dylan song, “My Back Pages”, specifically In a soldier’s stance I aim my hands At the mongrel dogs who teach Fearing not I become my enemy In the moment that I preach I like the euphony of the…