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Practically Idealistic blog
 
The title for this blog originated with use of the term “practical idealist” in this 1996 opinion piece, which asked: “To what kind of work should a practical idealist aspire?” A century and a half earlier, Emerson, in his 1841 essay Circles, wrote: “There are degrees in idealism.  We learn first to play with it academically. . . .  Then we see in the heyday of youth and poetry that it may be true, that it is true in gleams and fragments.  Then, its countenance waxes stern and grand, and we see that it must be true.  It now shows itself ethical and practical.”  John Dewey and Mahatma Gandhi embraced practical idealism in the 20th century, as did UN Secretary General U Thant.  Al Gore invoked it in a 1998 speech. In the context of this blog, the term is meant to convey idealism tempered but not overwhelmed by realism: a search for the ideal on a path guided by common sense.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013

National Seminars for 2013

This year’s national seminars, as well as New Haven seminars, have begun with public school teachers participating as Fellows.

9:29 am edt 

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Edutopia’s George Lucas: Teachers as “Unsung Heroes”

An addendum to the May 5 post below about Teacher Appreciation Week: In a May 7 Edutopia post, George Lucas, filmmaker and founder of Edutopia, reflected on teachers as "unsung heroes."

9:51 pm edt 

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10; the National PTA is among the organizations with resources. (Disclosure: My wife is active in a New Haven PTA.)

May 2012 and earlier posts contained related material.

2:14 pm edt 

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Abusive Coaching -- and the Alternative

Charles Blow of the New York Times cited Coaching Boys into Men in his recent column about abusive coaches – and about the need to counter their behavior with constructive alternatives.

This blog mentioned Coaching Boys into Men in a December 2011 (December 24) post about “positive coaching.”

The Futures Without Violence organization (formerly the Family Violence Prevention Fund) offers the Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) tools for free download at CoachesCorner.org.

One can also join "men who give" to counter domestic violence, cited in a January 2013 (January 5) blog post.

8:23 pm edt 


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