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Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Askwith Education Forum, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is endowed through the generosity of Patricia Askwith Kenner and other members of the Askwith family, and acts as a galvanizing force for debate and conversation about education in its narrowest and broadest perspectives. Each year, the Forum welcomes a number of prominent people from diverse fields to speak about issues relevant to education and children. Recent topics have included immigration, values, affirmative action, education reform, and the arts. All of these events are free and open to the public.break

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/askwith

Steven Pinker: Modern Denial of Human Nature

Thu, Nov 14, 2002

Steven Pinker, the Peter de Florez Professor of Psychology at MIT and author of How the Mind Works and The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, discusses his latest book, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. Steven Pinker explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature by embracing three linked dogmas: the blank slate (the mind has no innate traits), the noble savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and the ghost in the machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology). Pinker tries to inject calm and rationality into these debates by showing that equality, progress, responsibility, and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about rich human nature. He claims that the blank slate concept denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces hardheaded analyzes of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of government, violence, parenting, and the arts.

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Privatization and the Public Good?

Wed, Dec 4, 2002

Martha Minow, Harvard Law School professor, discusses her book, *Partners, Not Rivals: Privatization and the Public Good*, and explores what happens when private companies, nonprofit agencies, and religious groups, instead of government, manage education, criminal justice, legal services, and welfare programs. She is joined by John F. Kennedy School of Government faculty member Mark Moore, director of the Hauser Center for Non-Profit Organizations, and the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice Policy and Public Management. Gary Orfield, Harvard Graduate School of Education, professor of education and social policy, introduces these distinguished guests. This event was co-sponsored by the Harvard Children's Initiative.

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Meet the Poet: Billy Collins

Thu, Dec 12, 2002

In this intimate discussion, Billy Collins shares his thoughts on poetry as well as select readings from his works.

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In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning

Mon, Oct 28, 2002

Deborah Meier discusses her new book, *In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization*, which explores how we can restore faith in our schools in an age of standardized testing and curricula. In a multi-layered exploration of ways to engender trust between parents and teachers, between teachers and students, and among diverse ethnic groups, she traces the success stories of small public schools that she and her colleagues have created in Boston and New York. How do we create a dynamic where teachers and students are trusted to use their own judgment in education? Are standardized tests ever appropriate? She probes these, and other, provocative questions in this lively discussion.

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Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet

Tue, Oct 9, 2001

The co-authors of Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet discuss how professionals can do work that is both expert and socially responsible, even in market-driven times.

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Beyond the Drama Club: Safe School Programs

Wed, Nov 7, 2001

Jeff Perrotti and Kim Westheimer discuss the issues raised in their book, *When the Drama Club is Not Enough: Lessons From the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students*, which examines schools, individuals and programs that made a positive difference in all students' lives. Other panelists include gay and lesbian students, teachers, counselors, parents, and researchers.

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Unholy War: Terror In the Name of Islam

Wed, May 8, 2002

Considered "the most influential Islamic Scholar in the United States" by the International Herald Tribune, John Esposito discusses his latest book, *Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam*, which sketches the activities and influence of Osama bin Laden, surveys the doctrines and practice of jihad throughout history, presents the major Islamist groups worldwide, and concludes by asking, "Where do we go from here?" John Esposito is Professor of Religion and International Affairs, and of Islamic Studies, at Georgetown University, and is the founding Director of Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

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Baudolino: Lying About the Future Produces History

Tue, Oct 15, 2002

Umberto Eco, author of *The Name of the Rose*, speaks about his latest book, *Baudolino*.

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Meet the Poet: Nikki Giovanni

Tue, Feb 4, 2003

Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor of English and Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black Studies at Virginia Tech, reads and discusses excerpts from her latest of 27 books, *Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems.*

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Chinese in America: A Narrative History

Thu, May 1, 2003

Iris Chang, author of *Thread of the Silkworm* and *The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II*, an account of Japanese war crimes in Nanking, China, speaks about her latest book, *The Chinese in America: A Narrative History*.

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