Mixing work and play in the (post?)modern world

As I prepare to begin another intense summer of teaching pastoral care in a hospital and Minna prepares to make the transition (ordination at Hebrew College on June 6!) from rabbinical student to full-time rabbi, we decided to take a few days to ourselves during which we got to one of Minna's favorite places near her childhood home -- the Morton Wildlife Refuge near Sag Harbor, NY. But work came with us. That's Minna above answering a synagogue-related email on her iPhone (while maybe-not-so-wild turkeys sneak up behind her!).

The challenge of making time for play while still being available, as professionals, to the people and tasks that require us is one that almost everyone seems to face, today. But it's an especially challenging issue for people who are clergy or in related forms of ministry. People -- especially those facing the crisis that is illness, injury or loss -- expect us to be able to be present for them. As Minna's teacher Art Green said in a recent talk in Rome to Catholic sisters, "this ability to be present can only come out of your own spiritual life. To live a life of giving to others, you need to be nourished by God’s presence in your own life. To hold people, in their pain as well as in their joy, you as a rabbi (or a priest, or a sister) have to manifest your own strength, which is really not your own at all, but God’s, in which you are rooted by your own faith."

That's why coming to a place like Morton is so important when we are able to get away. For Minna, Morton is not just a place to relax. It is a place to rediscover what she already knew but that she might have forgotten among all the work and stresses -- who she really is, what she really cares about. For Morton -- for her -- is a place of spiritual centering. A place that makes meaning for her. A place that has been with her as she has made the many twists and turns that have been the journey of her life and her spirit. . . . The value of this _kind_ of self-care is a big part of what I will be trying to share with my chaplain students this summer -- not just time off, but time that nurtures the soul.

The ocean at Morton:

From Morton and such (publics)

Of course Morton, while a place I am happy to be at, doesn't quite have that meaning for me, having one first discovered it (courtesy of Minna) a couple of years ago. I was reminded of that first visit this time -- when Minna fed chickadees who landed on her hand -- as she invited this one to come land on her hand:

From Morton and such (publics)

It was a good time on a too-short trip. But at least I got to ride a bicycle there (Minna snapped this pic of me in the Morton parking lot on her Dad's bike):

From Morton and such (publics)

The Rabbinical Assembly annual convention was also going on in New York during these days and I got a chance to reconnect with some old rabbinical school colleagues, etc., who were in town for the convention. It was really great to see them and my old dean, Rabbi Brad Artson. This connecting with other rabbis -- people who face similar challenges and joys -- is another important kind of self-care.

For all those who have a long (or even a short!) weekend coming up as Memorial Day approaches, may you find true restoring rest -- rest that makes it possible to do the meaningful work you have out in the world!

_____________

PS Here's another pic of Minna at Morton. I really like this one!

From Morton and such (publics)

Religious, but not coercive -- a new kind of faith for Israel

They came ready to listen, but with lots of questions: Israelis involved in trying to establish a real profession of chaplains and spiritual caregivers here met Wednesday evening with a delegation of American chaplaincy leaders -- like Teresa Snorton, above, the executive director of the Association for Clincial Pastoral Education -- to pepper them with questions about how to go about setting up professional standards. But the Israelis heard about more than just professional standards. They were also impressed with the open and diverse vision of spirituality the Americans brought. "It's very religious, but not trying to convert," said one Israeli participant. "That's something that's very rare in Israel."

The concerns and questions the Israelis had were not so different than those Americans tend to have about chaplaincy, but I was impressed by a difference in emphasis. One participant asked if "someone who does not believe in God can qualify to do [chaplaincy] training." And while there are many Americans who do not believe in God, this seems to a much more burning question for Israelis than Americans. I shared my answer -- yes, certainly, but the chaplain student would still be able to talk to others about questions of holiness, about what makes ultimate meaning for them.

A big concern was about the length of the training. The Israelis did not seem too happy to hear about it taking years to become certified as a chaplain or a chaplain supervisor. Rev. Snorton assured them that some other efforts to apply CPE outside the United States have found reasonable ways to handle this challenge.

The Israelis also had questions about whether there was a place in this kind of training for people into "New Age" kinds of spiritual expression.

Admissions criteria also seemed to be a very big concern for the Israelis. My guess is that this reflects a difference in the Israeli scene than what chaplaincy training has come to be in the States. In the States, the high standards bar doesn't come at the beginning -- it comes at "the end," when a student seeks professional certification. I don't think things will end up that way for the Israeli system.

From Israel Spiritual Care Conference, 2010

But, of course, I don't know how the Israeli standards will end up -- that is, as John DeVelder, here representing the United States' CPSP, said when he spoke yesterday, for the Israelis themselves to figure out, to figure out there own way of making an "indigenous" application of Clinical Pastoral Education that is particular to the Israeli scene. Helping Israelis to find their own way -- rather than telling them what to do -- is a main motivation for putting together the American delegation, an effort organized by the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and its executive director, Cecille Asekoff

My hope is to be, like Snorton, a part of helping with that effort -- standing beside Israelis as they find their way forward to making this important work a part of their healthcare system.

The hope – an Israel that’s more free and open (and that’s true to itself)

I started the day, today, at the annual Israel spiritual care conference – only the sixth one – and ended it listening to a group of school kids sing HaTikvah at the dedication of a new building for the Machon Schechter seminary here.

It wasn’t until I heard the words of Israel’s national anthem – HaTikvah means “the Hope” in English – that it came to me what it is that links these two seemingly disparate events: They’re both part of an effort – mostly slow and quiet in this loud and hyperactive little country – to gradually bring the best of the West, the West’s cultivation of a diverse and open society, to Israel in a way that stays true to Israel’s soul.

John DeVelder said it well at the conference: he talked about bringing the best of the well-developed American field of chaplaincy training to Israel in a way that is “indigenous”— so it’s not “American only.” DeVelder, the leader of chaplaincy and spiritual care training at the Robert Wood Johnson hospital in New Jersey, was there representing the CPSP, a smaller alternative group to the larger Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (of which I am a member and certified Associate Supervisor). Teresa Snorton was also there representing the larger group as its executive director. They were there as part of a trip from the States organized by the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and its executive director, Cecille Asekoff. “I want to thank Cecille for having the dream of doing CPE in Israel,” said DeVelder.

Cecille Asekoff From Israel Spiritual Care Conference, 2010

The dream, or hope, is to have a developed profession of chaplains and other spiritual caregivers here. It might be hard for Americans to conceive of what an infant field chaplaincy really is here. I talked to one young rabbi, today, who is pioneering a spiritual care program in a cancer unit of a large hospital here. He told me that Israelis have very little sense that a rabbi can provide any other care than facilitating rituals (like marriage, etc.). The American tradition of talking to a religiously trained person is just not part of the Israeli landscape.

My sense is that’s largely the result of the larger split between the religious and the secular societies here, a split that is much more “black and white” than in the States. Secular people see very little possible role for a rabbi in their lives. But that doesn’t mean Israelis aren’t spiritual and it doesn’t mean that they don’t need spiritual help when they’re hurting, whether it’s from illness or some other source of grief. The effort to bring serious training of spiritual caregivers – that is, Clinical Pastoral Education – here in a serious way is essential if those spiritual needs are going to be met. It’s part of an effort to break down the boundaries that sharply separate secular and religious and instead make a place for an active faith life for all Israelis.

Breaking down those barriers and making a place for an active faith life for all – even those who call themselves secular – is very much what the Schechter Institute is all about. When I was a student there about 10 years ago during my rabbinic training, the new building was just a dream – a vacant lot near the old building. When I was here a bit over a year ago, it had just barely moved up to a hole in the ground. And now a real building is clearly taking shape. The institute has many programs, but one especially close to my heart has been the efforts to train indigenous Israelis – both men and women in this country where nearly every rabbi is a man – to be rabbis who are serious about Judaism and Jewish texts, but who are also open to the reality of what modern life is for most people.

It’s such a privilege to be here right now and to have the honor of seeing leaders like Snorton giving something back – giving Israelis advice on how to create a broad vision of spiritual care training here. She ended her talk by sharing a definition of what spiritual care should be: “spiritual care is the art of meeting people at their point of need, to assist them in making meaningful connections between their current crisis, their faith and their life as a whole.”

I love this country so much and would so much like to be a part of bringing CPE to these shores. May it indeed be the will of the Holy Blessed One!

_______

Here are some more pics from the conference:

Miriam Berkowitz, author of Taking the Plunge, teaches about Mikveh as healing waters:

From Israel Spiritual Care Conference, 2010

Teresa Snorton, executive director of the ACPE, shares her counsel on setting up professional standards (it's so great that you came so far to help chaplaincy in Israel, Teresa!):

From Israel Spiritual Care Conference, 2010

Naomi Kalish -- ACPE supervisor, president-elect of the NAJC (and my classmate at NYU) -- gave a great teaching, using a text from Avot D'Rabbi Natan like it was a verbatim.

From Israel Spiritual Care Conference, 2010

And, finally, here's a picture of the new building at Schechter:

From Schechter dedication, 2010

Getting back to the Land -- care for the caregivers

That's the Mediterranean sea behind those two bleary-eyed (but happy!) faces above. Minna and I were just an hour off the plane at Ben-Gurion in Tel-Aviv. I'm here for the 6th annual Israel spiritual care conference (it's so great to see professional chaplaincy start to get established here in Israel!). Minna came along as part of a long-term ambition for our lives together -- to make coming to Israel a regular part of what we do and not something that only happens every decade or so. I was so excited over the last week or so, thinking about coming here and often found myself daydreaming about walking along the streets of Jerusalem again and hearing the language of the Hebrew Bible spoken out of the mouths of children as their first language. Coming here is a way of my caring for my own spirit.

I'm looking forward to the conference, too, tomorrow and Wednesday. There's a delegation of Clinical Pastoral Education supervisors from the States here for the conference, so this could really be a watershed event for chaplaincy training in Israel, an educational pursuit that is only in its infancy here.

It's exciting!

_______

Here's a view, by the way, of the ocean from where we drank some coffee after we dipped our toes in the sea.

From Israel Spring 2010

[x-posted t0 smamitayim]

A walk down Thompson

After class at NYU, today, I didn't feel like heading straight home and wasn't in much of a mood for studying, so I decided to take a walk south from Washington Square park down Thompson Street and West Broadway to the World Trade Center (where I worked for 10 years) to catch the PATH train there and check out what's changed and stayed the same in the 10 years or so since Lower Manhattan was a regular part of my life.

It was a wonderful walk through neighborhoods that ranged from residential to high fashion to financial district -- the incredible mix that has always made Manhattan, and cities in general, a kind of fascinating wonderland to me. I thought of my father, of blessed memory, who taught me the joy of the "nostalgia walk" where you can marvel both in how much things can stay the same from years ago and how much they can change. [Washington Square park, itself, reminds me of my father. Back before NYU came to dominate the neighborhood so and the area became so gentrified, there were many small industrial businesses in the area, including my Grandfather's machine shop on E. 11th St. As a child, my father took me to the machine shop for visits. That, too, was a child's wonderland with all its fascinating pipes and parts to see and touch!]

My walk ended at the new PATH station -- which, unlike the one of the pre-9/11 days -- can be accessed directly from the street. That's the station in the pic below. You can click on it to see a full album of my little walk.

From A walk down Thompson

Numbering my days

If you've been looking at this blog lately, you'll have seen that most of the posts have been more personal -- about biking and gardening -- than professional (about chaplaincy or education). That might make you think that I haven't been working very hard these days -- nothing could be further from the truth! I've been working really hard.

But ever since Passover -- ever since we've entered the season of the Omer -- I feel like I've been living in the wake of the חג/hag (festival), especially in the wake of command for us to joyful on our holidays (ושמחת בחגך).

That command has not always been an easy one for me. I'm not an always upbeat person by nature -- and I'm often downright grumpy and sometimes even depressed -- so sometimes this command has felt like a condemnation of who I am at my core. And it's certainly a painful thing to feel like your faith tradition -- the thing that should be guiding you to all that is good and liberating and holy in life -- is condemning who you are.

But this Passover I really felt myself coming to a place of peace with this command. And I worked hard -- prepared long and seriously -- to make it a Passover of joy, a Passover where I felt like I was living my best through all of the holidays many commands. I even took Hol Moed -- the intervening days, the days that are kind of half holidays according to the tradition -- seriously: I worked during them, but also made sure to take the time to relax and enjoy the beautiful spring weather we've been having this year. Preparing for the holiday and taking its rhythms seriously brought me much joy this Passover, and I can honestly say it's the best I've ever had.

When I first started to get serious about Jewish observance, it was the crown jewel of Judaism -- the Sabbath, or Shabbat -- that first really gripped me. Judaism commands joy and celebration -- עונג/oneg -- on Shabbat. But it doesn't command us to maintain that holy state all the time. It leaves us six days for work. That's the rhythm we're commanded to live by. It's one where most of the time is given to work, but where the most important thing happens during that shorter time one day a week.

So, I've been working -- especially on my graduate studies I've been working and thinking and growing -- but what's seemed relevant to share lately is how I've been finding joy, and how that relates to the rhythms of the Jewish calendar. So I will write here specifically about chaplaincy and education, again. But what I have been writing about lately -- well, that, too, is Torah. And I'm glad to share it.

I hope you, too, will find joy!

Night moves

Doing as much as possible by bicycle has always been a dream for me. So, when Shabbat got out last night, I was excited to start moving into our new place (only about a half mile away) by taking a few loads over via my Xtracycle.

Here's a closer view of the bike loaded

From Moving 2010

Note that the Xtracycle"Wideloaders" (see below pic) are installed on both sides, which allowed me to strap on the large plastic containers (normally I don't ride with the Wideloaders on).



And so here is me about getting ready to get the bike going . . . . . it wasn't so easy to get it started rolling with so much loaded on it (before it's moving it kind of wants to tip to the right or the left and it takes some effort to hold it upright)!

From Moving 2010

It was a fun challenge!

Dreaming of summer -- and tomatoes!

It's been such beautiful spring weather lately that we've mostly just been trying to enjoy the "now." But in one way we've been thinking ahead. We've planted some tomatoes inside from seed with hopes of transplanting them in the ground later. Some of the seeds were ones we saved from a tomato plant -- from the Mr. Stripey variety -- that we really enjoyed last year.

It was great to see the little "Mr. Stripey's" start to make their way into the world!

Putting my feet up -- Hol Moed 2010

The traditional main days of the Passover holiday come at the beginning and the end of the eight-day holiday period, but the four days in between -- the so-called intermediary days or hol moed/חול מועד -- are meant to be a time of celebration as well, a time where work is permitted under Jewish law, but where one is encouraged to take it easy. So, Minna and I were able to get lunch together in a park near the hospital, and enjoy the beautiful early spring weather.

Here's Minna on the bench we sat on.

From Hol Moed 2010

And here is the two of us:

From Hol Moed 2010

It was nice to get a bit of a rest after what were two wonderful -- but exhausting! -- seders.

Shabbat Shalom!

PS We also planted some tomato seeds inside, today. In six weeks or so I hope to plant them outside!

No bikini waxing on Passover, says feminist Talmud scholar

Ok, so that's not what the great Judy Hauptman was really saying in the fascinating talk she gave at NYU yesterday (although if the tabloid New York Daily News was covering it, that might have been the headline). What she was sharing was some of the intimate details from daily life in ancient times that she was has been uncovering as part of a new project to create a feminist commentary on the Talmud (an effort, believe it or not, that is being largely funded by the German government and is being led by professor Tal Ilan at the Free University in Berlin).

Hauptman's main points were about what was happening in the ancient kitchen. The evidence indicates, she says, that women were in charge there, not only doing the cooking, but also making sure that Jewish law was being followed, even on Passover, the Jewish holiday that, with its ban on eating leavened products, is the very most demanding when it comes to laws of food. "The women were baking the matzah," Hauptman said.

That is not to say that she thinks the ancient world was some kind of feminist paradise. Men were still very much in charge. "The men produce the laws," she said. "But the women are [in charge] in the kitchen." This implies that women knew quite a bit about halakha (Jewish law) even if they didn't learn it in the Beit Midrash (study halls), she said.

This view that many women knew halakha well extends also to how Hauptman understands the role of Beruriah, one of the most famous women in the Talmud and a figure who some think represented a most unusual thing in the ancient world of the rabbis -- a woman who was a great scholar. But Hauptman does not think Beruriah was such an anomaly. "I think she was like many other women who knew halakha [but] she's not a scholar."

That is, Hauptman thinks, Beruriah may have made it into the text of the Talmud because she was indeed exceptional among women in terms of her knowledge of halakha. But that does not mean she studied it alongside men in the Beit Midrash.

So, how did bikini waxing come into this? Hauptman was talking about the rabbinic discussion of whether תכשיטי נשים -- literally, women's ornaments (or jewelry) -- can be used on Passover. The common understanding of this term is that it refers to paste jewelry -- jewelry made of water and flour. But Hauptman says it also might refer to flour paste used as a depilatory (for the removal of hair).

It was really a treat to see how excited Hauptman -- a person who has been studying Talmud for so many years -- was about her new studies as part of the feminist Talmud commentary project. "I'm learning new things about women in the Talmud," she said. "There's so much I did not know."

________________________________________

PS The main Talmud text she brought about Beruriah is from Pesachim 62b.

' שמלאי אתא לקמיה דרבי יוחנן א"ל ניתני לי מר ספר יוחסין א"ל מהיכן את א"ל מלוד והיכן מותבך בנהרדעא א"ל אין נידונין לא ללודים ולא לנהרדעים וכל שכן דאת מלוד ומותבך בנהרדעא כפייה וארצי א"ל ניתנייה בג' ירחי שקל קלא פתק ביה א"ל ומה ברוריה דביתהו דר"מ ברתיה דר"ח בן תרדיון דתניא תלת מאה שמעתתא ביומא מג' מאה רבוותא ואפ"ה לא יצתה ידי חובתה בתלת שנין ואת אמרת בתלתא ירחי כי שקיל ואזיל א"ל רבי מה בין לשמו ושלא לשמו לאוכליו ושלא לאוכליו א"ל הואיל וצורבא מרבנן את תא ואימא לך

Christian chumetz

In case you thought -- as our Festival of the Matzah approaches -- that only the Jews have eating restrictions related to holidays, here is this reminder (courtesy of Taco Bell) that some Christians do, too!

From what I understand, some of the fast food restaurants around here in Berks County, PA, add fish sandwiches to their menus during Lent, although I've never been able to confirm this.

[I also was never able to figure out what this "Lenten Section" was that I found two years ago.]

It's crowded in here -- life at NYU

One of the images I associate with college life is that of a wealth of common space -- big, broad green spaces and, inside, usually near empty lounges full of big couches. That is _not_ what it is like at NYU here in Greenwich Village -- life here is like life in NYC as a whole, crowded (but also full of youth and energy!).

Or so's been my theory. So the one thing that stood out for me in today's York Times story about NYU's ambitious expansion plan is this data, documenting just how tight things are compared to the competition:

By 2031, the university aims to have 240 academic square feet per student; it now has 160, according to its own study, compared to Columbia University’s 326, Harvard’s 673 and Yale’s 866.

I'm still glad to be here. :)

Is he leading us out? (close calls and Feasts of Freedom)

As Pesach fast approaches, I have been taking time to reflect on the ways that I have been led out of my own personal places of bondage over the past year. One thing that has gripped me more than once over my life is the terror of not being able to get medical care when I need it. I have let this fear influence me to stay in jobs and situations that were toxic to me -- just because of terror of living without health coverage.

I do not know exactly what this new bill will mean overall, but I do know that it will mean that I -- as an American citizen -- will never again have to stay in the bondage of a terrible job, enduring the efforts of abusive supervisors trying to harass me into quitting, just because of my fear of being left without health insurance. That is real freedom.

The vote in the House was close -- 219 to 212 -- which might seem discouraging at first. But let us not forget how many _votes_ over the millennia -- votes that now seem like almost everyone must have been for them at the time -- were in fact quite close calls. The first of those close calls was the decision to follow Moses -- משה/Moshe -- out of the bondage of slavery. It might seem strange that the People Israel would turn away from Moshe's leadership, from the gift of Torah at Mt. Sinai and from the path to the Promised Land. But turn away they did -- many times, including in the incident of the Golden Calf. But in the end they followed Moses to the edge of the Promised Land and then his follower, Joshua, into the Land itself.

President Obama, may it be God's will to give you the strength of Moshe -- the strength to endure many trials and much criticism -- in your efforts to do right.

And may it be God's will that we all should be guided out of our places of bondage in the coming year -- and that we should have the strength to follow that way out.

חג כשר ושמח

Spring (and Minna) blooms in Brooklyn!

Today was a beautiful day and we started it in Perth Amboy, so we decided to sneak across the Verrazano bridge to get to the Brooklyn Botanical gardens and the early flowering trees (Magnolias). We got to Prospect Park and the zoo there, too!

From Early spring at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (2010)

Bicycling the key to reviving moribund Reading, PA, economy?

When I tell people I live in Reading, PA, the only thing most people can connect to from their own memories is a long-defunct railroad that lives now only on the Monopoly game board.

But today when I, on a whim, asked the new Google Maps bicycling route feature how to get from Newark airport to LAX, it suggested you cycle where no Interstate Highway fears to tread -- right through Reading!

I don't know if I'll ever achieve my dream of some day cycling from coast to coast, but if I do, I'll take the Thun trail on the way!

Click here for the route (part of which I've excerpted in the graphic below)

.

A late adopter learns a new trick: twittering in spring

It's taken me a long time, but I've finally found a reason to _try_ Twitter -- I want to know what's blooming at the botanical gardens (please, God, let me find the time this Spring to get to some of them and not miss the glory of Your early blooms!), and they all have Twitter feeds.

So, don't expect much in the way of "tweets" from me, yet, but I'm in there (as abayye).

"Commuting" via the High Line in spring

On my back to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Reading, PA, today, I "commuted" north for a bit where freight trains once ran and only weeds once grew -- through the wonderful High Line park built upon an old elevated freight railway that runs above the streets of Manhattan on the once industrial West Side.

If you click on the above photo to view it full size, you will see that there are crocuses blooming amid the grasses, signalling that spring is here and that Pesach quickly approaches. . . . . I hope I am able to get to one of the botanical gardens in time to see the explosion of daffodils and bulbs of all kinds!

Below is another shot from today as well as a link to some more photos.

From Early spring on the High Line, 2010

Riding in the rain

Despite the rain, today, I went out on this route with my bicycle, one of my favorite routes.

I've been doing hardly any riding at all this winter, so it was a good feeling to see that I could still handle this, fairly short (only about 15 miles round trip), but still challenging (steep!) run.

The route from the above link is something to be excited about, too -- it's made with the new bicycling directions from Google maps (my actual route was slightly different, but it's pretty close).

Fun!

The killer research (plus?) app -- Zotero

I don't like to gush about new hardware/software when I've only hardly used it . . . . . but I'm so wowed by the half-hour I just spent with Zotero -- a free and open-source on-line service for keeping track of your files and research -- that . . . well, here goes! :)

Zotero does the one thing I've been desperately wishing for ever since I started writing research papers back in September -- it not only lets you store pdf's online of the articles you're reading (which Google Docs does a great job of), but it also allows you to keep notes on all those files and organize them fifty-million some-odd ways. There is a program they like at NYU called refworks that lets you do _almost_ all of that -- everything but have easy access to the articles themselves! . . . . Which makes me feel like a well-groomed elephant who can't find his trunk. . . Or some such animal-based metaphor. :)

Zotero, on the other hand, gives you the full package. And I suspect that Zotero's utility is far beyond the graduate research area. I'm looking forward to using it more!

Rexxy is back

I got my Xtracycle out of the shop the other day just in time for the warmer weather we've been blessed with -- it's got some substantial upgrades! I had them put an Old Man Mountain rack on the front and disc brakes on the back, as well as Power Grips on the pedals. Both wheels are brand new, too.

I'm in New York City, today, so I didn't get to ride it. But I did see another Xtracycle -- a three seater (with two kiddie seats on top of the back) heading down 13th street near Union Square. I'd seen this Xtracycle around Greenwich Village before, but this was the first time I saw it in motion going through traffic, complete with the little ones on the back.

Here's another view of my Xtracycle:

I hope to ride more often!

The fired this time -- teaching or perishing in the USA

An entire school of teachers fired in Rhode Island because of low test scores. This is what seems to pass for educational reform these days -- blame the teachers. Or shut down the schools you don't think are doing well enough and start new ones. Or pay more to teachers who manage to make their kids -- by hook or by crook -- score a bit higher on a standardized test.

So, amid all this craziness, I was cheered to read this New York Times article. It's about people who are taking a different tack -- instead of blaming teachers, they're looking for ways to help them become better teachers. They're doing this by studying the one thing in education no one, if you can believe it, seems to think is worth studying anymore -- how kids actually learn (and how teachers can address that). The article gives an example about learning and teaching math:

It’s one thing to know that 307 minus 168 equals 139; it is another thing to be able understand why a third grader might think that 261 is the right answer. Mathematicians need to understand a problem only for themselves; math teachers need both to know the math and to know how 30 different minds might understand (or misunderstand) it.

The counterproductive overfocus on standardized test scores -- and the related overfocus on so-called basics like math and reading at the expense of art, history, literature and critical thinking -- is also brought to mind by the about face of education historian, and former darling of the Conservative pundits, Diane Ravitch. She now thinks the standardized testing championed by George Bush's No Child Left Behind act is counterproductive.

Maybe the times are changing!