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by John Seel, Ph.D. I grew up in South Korea, the son of medical missionaries who served there for 35 years. I arrived as an infant on January 1, 1954. The Korean War had ended; nonetheless we traveled to Jeonju, the home of Jesus Hospital, by U.S. military escort across a war-ravaged countryside. Today, South…
by Steven Garber Have you seen the cartoon where the professor has written out an incredibly complex mathematical equation on the two whiteboards in the front of the classroom? Numbers and letters, plus and minus and multiplication and addition signs throughout? At the very bottom of the right hand corner there is an “equals” sign,…
Those who talk about “making culture” can sound like the chattering classes. So much yak for so little yield. The problem is fuzzy thinking about what causes cultural change. Aristotle once described what causes a table to come into existence. If he was correct about causes, most of the talk about “culture” is merely making…
The first time I received a Christmas bonus, I was elated. I expected it the next year. That’s human nature. But it’s more than that. It’s the nature of financial incentives to morph motivation. That’s a challenge for companies with a purpose beyond profitability and personal gain. But it’s not insurmountable. My favorite auto shop…
By David Greusel In November of 2009, Mick Cornett, mayor of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, gave a speech to the local Chamber of Commerce extolling the benefits of pedestrian-oriented cities, and praising sidewalk and bicycle connectivity as healthier alternatives to automobile travel. Mayor Cornett did not develop these ideas out of whole cloth. In fact, the…
The Separatists (later known as “Pilgrims”) who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620 were not known for gaiety. Roughly half of the Mayflower’s 102 passengers who survived the first few months in wintry Massachusetts took it as an article of faith that gratitude gets people through grief. Dr. Paul Brand took gratitude a step further, showing…
When the Pill hit the market in the early 60s, advocates hailed it as solving “the problem that has no name”—the cramped calculus for women forced to choose between family and career. Opponents however believed it created a firestorm, calling it a Faustian bargain. Reproductive technologies are one of America’s most incendiary issues today. Is…
President Obama has a “narrative” problem, writes New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. “He has not tied all his programs into a single narrative.” If this is confusing, let’s bump up the bewilderment—the solution is “teleological.” Teleology is Greek for purpose or ends—familiar terrain for faith communities. That’s why Harvard’s Michael Sandel says finding a…
When a handful of Phoenix hotels aimed to become more eco-friendly, they tried four approaches to get guests to reuse towels. Of the four, “do it for the environment” proved least effective. It turns out that moral appeals like “do the right thing” rarely work. It’s not the way human nature is wired. In reality,…
Grading on the Wrong Curve
Michael Metzger
January 4, 2010
Students in Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield’s courses receive two sets of grades. The first set is public and what a student feels entitled to. The second set is a reality check—the private grade a student actually earned. Reality checks for Americans are in the mail this week—IRS tax returns. They remind us that culture carries…