Boston, MA

Practicing education is like practicing democracy – The Boston Globe

Published

2 years ago

June 12, 2023

Practicing education is like practicing democracy – The Boston Globe

As the school year draws to a close, it’s easy to see that teaching and learning are no simple matters these days. Questions around education have become more urgent in the face of the powerful forces of discrimination and censorship at work in our country.

Of course teaching has always faced obstacles. Throughout the modern period, theories of education have been hotly debated, and as secular governments assumed responsibility for schooling, educators focused on preparing independent thinkers who could also be free citizens. But it’s always been a paradox that one can really learn independence from another.

Today many are asking whether schools are truly helping students think for themselves or only indoctrinating them into the latest campus orthodoxies. Others have noted that while higher education can lead to inventions that benefit society as a whole, it can also create self-serving justifications for the inequalities associated with economic development. Educational thinkers in America have been responding to such questions for a long time. Real students, said Ralph Waldo Emerson, are provoked away from conformity; they think aversively. Freedom is tied to learning and neither is just an intellectual matter. They are bound together by living with an intensity opposed to convention.

W.E.B. Du Bois didn’t need Emerson to tell him that a real education involved an intense opposition to convention. As a Black intellectual, Du Bois pursued learning with a steeliness forged by the racist opposition to his talents and ambitions. As a student, he aimed for freedom through empowerment. Then, as he made his way in the world, he in turn used his education to empower others who knew they must change the world around them to have any chance at real opportunity and freedom. His contemporary, Jane Addams, who worked with poor immigrants in Chicago, also recognized that a profound education should be put in the service of the most vulnerable. She rejected facile and performative critical thinking in favor of what she called the sympathetic imagination — a faculty that led to understanding perspectives and experiences very different from one’s own. This was at the core of her rethinking of what it meant to be a student or a teacher.

Emerson, Du Bois, and Addams remind us that the most effective teachers are the ones preparing students for more than replicating the world as it is. They are empowering people to intervene to protect those who are treated unjustly and to choose with discernment those who would govern. In other words, teachers are contributing to civic life.

Strong students make better teachers, and both help create better citizens. I have had the good fortune of working with students whose seriousness and joy, playfulness and purpose have illuminated for me the very subjects I was trained to teach. Working with students has also made me more attentive to the concerns of others. By exploring the complexities of the world, students and teachers practice making connections that are intellectual and affective. And today, when parochialism is encouraged under the guise of solidarity, it’s more important than ever for schools, colleges, and universities to promote citizenship by helping students increase their powers of aversive thinking, critical feeling, and of the sympathetic imagination.

Strong teachers often provoke powerful emotions, and the best teach in ways that eliminate the need for their teaching: “Your educators cannot go beyond being your liberators,” philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche underscored in 1874. To be a good art teacher, said John Baldessari about a century later, means knowing when to get out of the way. The goal of the teacher is to help the student be more than a spectator, more than a consumer of lessons.

Teachers can help students get to a place where it is more likely that they’ll find modes of feeling and thinking with which they are at home and which they can share with others. Part of being free, part of political participation and of leaving one’s childish immaturity behind, is finding that new home. Long after official graduations, many students remain enormously grateful to the gifted educators who opened up possibilities of inquiry and appreciation that might otherwise have never been discovered — teachers who also recognized the right time to get out of the way. It’s not just that teachers know subjects that the student aspires to understand; it’s also that through their own advanced studies they have developed habits of paying attention, analysis, and openness that students want for themselves.

Teachers point students toward experiences and discoveries that become available through collaborative exploration. We must be on our guard against those who are afraid of that exploration; we must stand up against those who fear fluidity, who ban books, and who are frightened by free expression and creative transformation. Practicing education is like practicing democracy — both are collaborative, experimental paths of improvement.

I’ve been teaching for over 40 years, and I’d like to think I’ve remained a student throughout this time. In the courageous company of my fellow learners, I’m encouraged to believe that society may be able to reject the cynical status quo that mobilizes rage, that we may be able to build a politics and a culture of compassionate solidarity rather than one of fear and divisiveness. Our education, the ability to productively learn from others, should help people shape the future lest it be shaped by those for whom justice and change, generosity and equality, diversity and tolerance, are too threatening.

When we work with others, when we are open to learn from them across our differences, we will feel the power and promise of our education as it helps us tackle the enormous challenges ahead while finding joy in creating new possibilities.

Michael S. Roth is president of Wesleyan University. His new book, “The Student: A Short History,” will be published in September.

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Boston, MA

Magic Look to Bounce Back With More Energy at Celtics

Published

5 hours ago

January 17, 2025

Press Room

Magic Look to Bounce Back With More Energy at Celtics

BOSTON – Over two weeks ago, after the Orlando Magic’s latest rally fell short in a loss to the Detroit Pistons, fourth-year guard Jalen Suggs called out a worrying trend among his team in hopes of nipping it in the bud.

“We’re putting ourselves in these holes and spotting teams leads, then having to fight, scratch, claw just to get back in the game and give ourselves a chance,” Suggs said on New Year’s Day.

The Magic had developed a resilience that meant they were never out of games, no matter the score. Complimentary, energy-filled basketball helped Orlando do the fighting, scratching and clawing to get back into those games.

Did it always result in a victory? Not quite. But the relentless attitude and constant effort – especially for a team so handicapped by its shrinking list of healthy players – was commendable, and has been embedded in the Magic’s DNA.

In the rare occasions when it doesn’t show face, though, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley says it’s “glaring.” That was the case when the Milwaukee Bucks delivered a 29-point shellacking to Orlando, marking the most lopsided loss for the Magic this year.

“There was an energy and effort issue,” said Mosley postgame.

Wendell Carter Jr. would later say his team was “out-physicaled” and made life too easy for their opponent.

Then, in the locker room, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope told reporters Orlando got its “a– whooped,” and Paolo Banchero told reporters, “[A]s a group top to bottom, we’ve got to be more ready to play. We’re down a lot of bodies, but we can’t make excuses and we’ve just got to come out and play for each other.”

To Banchero’s point, the Magic’s 124 missed games from players due to injury or illness haven’t been a catch-all, safety-net excuse when the team is struggling. Instead, their aforementioned resilience built an identity that helped them generate results throughout the entire first half of the season, regardless of available contributors.

It justifies Mosley’s claims that the lackluster performance vs. the Bucks “wasn’t Orlando Magic basketball. Not even close.” Because although that was the case in Game 42, through the first 41 games, it wasn’t.

“It’s something that you can learn from, and you have to be able to bounce back, which this group has always done,” Mosley said.

With a national audience watching along, Orlando (0-4 in national TV games this season) pays its only visit to TD Garden Friday evening, squaring off with the defending champion Boston Celtics for the second of three matchups this season. The Magic host the 18-time champs once more in April to close the Kia Center’s regular season slate.

Boston has dropped three of their last five outings, including an uncharacteristic loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night in Scotiabank Arena. The Celtics were without Jayson Tatum due to a last-minute spat with an illness in the Magic’s Dec. 23 home win, but Orlando was shorthanded as well. Of their top four scorers, only Suggs was available.

“We beat them last time at home, so I’m sure they haven’t forgot that,” Paolo Banchero said in Orlando’s locker room Wednesday. “They have a hell of a home atmosphere [and] home crowd, so they’ll be ready to play in front of their fans.”

Heading into Friday’s tilt, where both teams are eager to wipe the slate clean from their mid-week malaise, Boston reports a clean bill of health. Now, only Banchero is available of the Magic’s top scorers, and other key reserves are unavailable as well.

MORE: Magic-Celtics Injury Report

Those who are available, however, say they shouldn’t have any issue getting back to their standard.

“Playing against teams like this is what hoopers get up for,” Anthony Black said. “Definitely getting up for this game. It’s always fun playing against some good hoopers, so I think we’re up and I think we’ll be ready to bring energy come game time.”

“You don’t like losing games, especially when you get your butt kicked,” Mosley said, “but you also have to know you have to bounce back, can’t hang your head, be ready to go and move on the next game.”

Follow ‘Orlando Magic on SI‘ on Facebook and like our page. Follow Magic beat reporter Mason Williams on Twitter/X @mvsonwilliams. Also, bookmark our homepage so you never miss a story.

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Boston, MA

How to Watch Orlando Magic at Boston Celtics on Friday, January 17

Published

12 hours ago

January 17, 2025

Press Room

How to Watch Orlando Magic at Boston Celtics on Friday, January 17

BOSTON – The Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics do battle for the second time this season Friday evening. Tipoff between the two Eastern Conference foes is at 7 p.m. ET from TD Garden.

Each team will be looking to bounce back after uncharacteristic losses. But, one team will be much healthier when attempting to do so.

On the front end of this chilly Northern road trip, the Magic handled by the Milwaukee Bucks by 29 points Wednesday night in Milwaukee. They’ll be without three of their top four scorers and five total rotational players in looking to wash the taste of that contest away.

Boston went north of the border to Toronto and dropped their Wednesday outing by 13 points. The Celtics report no injuries ahead of Friday’s bout.

Regarding this season’s series, Orlando (23-19) took the first matchup over Boston (28-12). Friday’s nationally televised matchup is the second of three this year between the two teams.

Who: Orlando Magic (23-19, 5th in East) at Boston Celtics (28-12, 2nd in East)
What: NBA Regular Season Game
When: Friday, January 17, 7 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
TV: ESPN, FanDuel Sports Network Florida, NBCS Boston
Radio: 96.9 The Game, Orlando Magic Audio Network, SiriusXM
Point Spread: Milwaukee -6
Last Meeting: Orlando 108, Boston 104 on 12/23/24

Orlando Magic

Boston Celtics

Jamahl Mosley, Orlando Magic: Mosley tipped off his fourth NBA season as a head coach this season, all of which having come with the Magic. He’s 126-162 in the regular season all-time. Before Mosley was named the head coach of the Magic, he was an assistant with Dallas, Cleveland, and Denver. He’s a Colorado alum, and played four years of professional basketball in Mexico, Australia, Finland and South Korea.

Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics: Mazzulla, 36 years old, mans the sidelines for his third season as the Celtics’ coach this year. In each of his first two seasons, Boston finished atop the Eastern Conference. They hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy a historic 18th time this past June after his team cruised through the playoffs in just 19 games (16-3). Prior to taking over as head coach, the former West Virginia Mountaineer was an assistant on the Celtics bench for three seasons. He’s regarded as one of the brightest, young polarizing minds in the game. today

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Boston, MA

State plans to overhaul the Arborway in Boston, remove rotary

Published

20 hours ago

January 16, 2025

Press Room

State plans to overhaul the Arborway in Boston, remove rotary

BOSTON — The Arborway is home to nature. The Arboretum along the road is no stranger to ponds and amphibians, so it’s fitting that crossing the street feels like a game of Frogger. The state has taken notice and has a proposal to overhaul the entire thoroughfare.

Neighbors hope for changes

“You are definitely taking your life in your own hands trying to cross this road. There are a lot of crashes right here because you have four lanes going into one,” said Ed Narenkivicius, a dog walker who’s lived here for 25 years. “The current model isn’t working, so hoping for anything with common sense.”

Out of the 13 intersections on the Arborway, only two are signaled, which means at 11 of them, pedestrians have to wait for the cars to stop to cross. With multiple lanes, people can be waiting a while or choose to risk it to run across.

“I don’t use a crosswalk that doesn’t have a signal, and the ones up here are just flashing yellow. I wait until cars stop,” said Narenkivicius.

“It is challenging at times. We have to dodge cars from time to time or wait,” said Heidi Blake, another neighbor out walking her dog. “As a driver, I have seen cars run into one another, and very dodgy entrances and exits.”

Blake is onto something. She’s lived here for 10 years, and studies back up her fears. Over the last five years, there have been more than 100 sideswipe crashes at both Murray and Kelley Circle.

Arborway changes — A proposal to remove a rotary on the Arborway in Jamaica Plain.

Mass. DCR

“You can see the sideswipe crashes are clustered and concentrated near the entrances and exits to the circle,” said Project Manager Teren Wong while showcasing data during a public meeting online.

Two traffic circles removed

In response, the state is working to overhaul the entire Arborway by doing away with both circles altogether. Bike and pedestrian lanes will be added, as well as reducing the number of pedestrian crossings. The ones that remain will be signaled. The proposal increases green space as well.

Many of the people we spoke with were in favor change, but skeptical of the current design. During the public meeting this week, one Pondside neighborhood resident worried the new design will make it difficult to access his street.

“You’ve got to think about this seriously, and you’ve got to resolve it because this is not going to stand,” the resident said.

The proposal is still being tweaked. They hope to have it finalized by 2026.

Mike Sullivan