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Good Morning,

I hope the New Year is treating everyone well, and that everyone has enjoyed a break from the madness.

I would like to kick things off this morning with some education – meets – politics overlap. We have a special senate election coming up in my home state of Massachusetts on January 19. (If you are not from the Bay State or do not have any interest in this topic, you can scroll down to the third link if you like.) I’m not a betting man, but I’d say that the wise guys will set long odds on Republican candidate Scott P. Brown defeating Democrat Martha Coakley in the race to fill the late Edward Kennedy’s vacated senate seat. That being said, with our country’s current emphasis on change, fresh starts, ” Yes We Can” and everything else, we can now be certain of at least one constant: anything can happen. If pro wrestlers and action heros can be a governors, comedians and baseball players can be a senators, maybe republicans can be Massachusetts senators. Who knows?

Because it is important for the voting public to make informed, independent decisions, I thought it might be helpful to provide some links regarding the education positions of each of the two major party candidates.

In no particular order:

Mr. Brown : http://www.scottbrown.com/education.htm

Ms. Coakley : http://www.marthacoakley.com/about/Issues/details/25

I don’t have a comment on which position you should take; I’m just a dude doing a blog for a class. Chances are my opinion doesn’t matter to you. It shouldn’t. I will advocate two things in this space, though. 1) I think that education should be the NUMBER ONE issue in every election. Our perpetuation as a society will only be as strong as the caliber of people that our institutions build, and it is my personal opinion that education is among the most vital of institutions. 2) People should vote, and votes should be based on informed opinions. Feel free to disagree.

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Thank you for making it this far. Here is an interesting item from the New York Times. I don’t think access is members only, I apologize if I’m wrong about that. This article stirs some interesting questions about pragmatism. Is there an ethic for how universities should promote themselves? This article might take a slight lean, but it might not (depends on your point of view). Either way I think it does a brilliant job of creating some banter for the ole’ intellectual water cooler.

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WHAT”S THAT SOUND???!!!  IT’S THE BONUS LINK ALERT!!!!

Interesting tech stuff coming? Special Educators/ AAC Tech users take note. Some of these could be cool for you:

http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/12/10/5-k12-technology-trends-for-2010.aspx

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this Blog valuable and enjoyable. Happy 2010, keep teaching and keep learning.

John Moynagh