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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

Funding provided by:

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

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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Lessons from the Child Witness to Violence Project

Thu, Mar 14, 2002

Betsy McAlister Groves, founder of the nationally recognized Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, dramatically disproves the myth that very young children are not affected by violence. Drawing on her experiences with the project, Groves contends that many children in the US witness violence at home, in school and on television, and that adults can, and should, help these children cope with their reactions.

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Keeping Hope Alive: New Era of Youth Civic Engagement

Wed, Feb 25, 2009

Thinkers and practitioners from the worlds of research, policy, media and technology, politics, youth organizing, and schools discuss the causes and consequences of recent trends in youth civic engagement. The panel considers how youth can become further civically engaged and empowered. As we enter a new era of civic opportunity, this is the ideal time to reflect on how young people's increasing civic awareness and involvement can be further nurtured and fostered. At the same time, we must also consider how the circle of civic engagement can be expanded to include those youth who currently remain disengaged and/or disempowered. To these ends, Askwith Education Forum participants discuss such issues as who is involved (e.g. college-educated vs. other youth), how youth get involved (e.g. school vs. youth organizing vs. technology-mediated opportunities), and what the implications are for the future of youth civic empowerment. Speakers include: Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE); Joe Kahne, professor of education at Mills College; and Miriam Martinez, youth education council director for the Mikva Challenge. Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, introduces and moderates the forum. This forum is co-sponsored with the Civic and Moral Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years after 50

Thu, Mar 5, 2009

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot discusses her new book, The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years after 50. In this book she offers a strong counterpoint to the murky ambivalence that shrouds our clear view of people in their third chapters, the years between 50 and 75. In her writing, Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot, Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, challenges the still prevailing and anachronistic images of aging by documenting and revealing the ways in which the years between 50 and 75 may, in fact, be the most transformative and generative time in our lives; tracing the ways in which wisdom, experience, and new learning inspire individual growth and cultural transformation.

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Educating for Human Rights and Global Competency

Tue, Feb 10, 2009

Felisa Tibbitts, of Human Rights Education Associates, and Ed Gragert, of the International Educational Resource Network (iEARN), examine the relationship of Human Rights Education and Global Competency. Sixty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As the world has become more integrated, human rights have become increasingly helpful as a moral compass to guide global competency. The discussants address a variety of approaches to human rights education, what is known and not known about their effects, and the implementation challenges to universalizing Human Rights Education. Fernando Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor of International Education and Director International Education Policy Program provides the introduction and moderation for this forum.

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Yes We Can: Closing the Achievement Gaps

Tue, Mar 10, 2009

The authors of three recent books address how closing racial achievement gaps is indeed possible.

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Stanley Kaplan: Democratizing American Achievement

Tue, Apr 23, 2002

Stanley Kaplan discusses how the knowledge and skills to triumph in education can be taught to any and all students.

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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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Passionate Teacher, Passionate Learner

Thu, Feb 7, 2002

Robert Fried suggests that every teacher could be a passionate teacher, one who engages young people in the excitement of learning and ideas, if teaching were not being undermined by the ways we "do business" in schools. *The Passionate Teacher and Passionate Learner* draws on the voices, stories, and success of teachers in urban, suburban, and rural classrooms to provide a guide to becoming - and remaining - a passionate teacher, despite day-to-day obstacles. Following the success of *The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide*, Robert Fried's new book is an inspirational and practical guide to reclaiming students' passionate engagement in learning. All preschool children are passionate, curious learners. Somewhere along the way many, many kids become alienated from the passion for learning. Deborah Meier, principal of Mission Hill pilot school in Boston, author, and education reformer, provides commentary.

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