From Zero Tolerance to Restorative Justice in Schools

Last updated on: June 11, 2014 at 1:31 pm By Eve Tushnet

Expanding pilot programs is often dicey, for reasons which go beyond funding concerns; but this good, short overview should expand imaginations about what’s possible for troubled schools: Before 2006, when Debora Borges-Carrera became the principal at Kensington Creative & Performing Arts High School (KCAPA) in north Philadelphia, the school was the scene of pandemonium. Not a day seemed to go by without a fight in the concrete stairwell. Kids sent to the principal’s office for disrupting class roamed the hallways.... Read more

“The Secret World of Children’s Prayers”: Cari Donaldson

Last updated on: June 11, 2014 at 1:06 pm By Eve Tushnet

at Aleteia: When my oldest son was three, he had a special devotion to Our Lady of Breakfast, judging by his Hail Marys: Hail Mary, full of grace The Lord is with Thee Breakfast art Thou among women, And breakfast is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus He was so sweet and earnest when he said it, I always wrestled with correcting him, or just letting the prayer self-correct as his understanding of the words deepened. Ultimately, I just let... Read more

17th-Century Wind-Up Drinking Robot Goddess Game

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 8:32 pm By Eve Tushnet

It’s like a Mad Libs of awesome: It turns out our modern drinking games are weak sauce compared to how European aristocrats partied in the 17th century. Today it’s often about how many shots you can handle in under an hour or what word will signal a waterfall on the latest Bachelorette. Back then, it was apparently about mechanical, heavy, often pointy, and usually animated objects that carried a ton of booze. more Read more

“Stop Helicopter-Parenting Other People’s Kids”: Michael Brendan Dougherty

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 3:36 pm By Eve Tushnet

yeah: It’s an odd way to “help” a child who is unsupervised for five minutes to potentially inflict years of stress, hours of court appearances, and potential legal fees and fines on their parents. Children who experience discreet instances of suboptimal parenting aren’t always aided by threatening their parents with stiff, potentially family-jeopardizing legal penalties. The risk of five or even 10 minutes in a temperate, locked car while mom shops is still a lot better than years in group... Read more

Resources on Prisons: Help a Reader Out!

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 3:27 pm By Eve Tushnet

Hi guys. A reader wrote in asking a question I’m embarrassingly ill-equipped to answer: I have been reading both your articles and that of Roger Olson (from the Evangelical Patheos channel). You’re in different circles but both, from time to time, have written about poor conditions and unjust practices in prisons and the criminal justice system. What would you recommend for a young recent college grad to A) Read on the subject B) Do to get involved to try to... Read more

“Want to Predict the Future of Surveillance? Ask Poor Communities”: American Prospect

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 3:11 pm By Eve Tushnet

piece: Since Edward Snowden started disclosing millions of classified NSA documents in June, terms like metadata, software backdoors, and cybervulnerability have appeared regularly in headlines and sound bites. Many Americans were astonished when these stories broke. In blogs, comment sections, and op-ed pages, they expressed disbelief and outrage. But I wasn’t surprised. A decade ago, I sat talking to a young mother on welfare about her experiences with technology. When our conversation turned to Electronic Benefit Transfer cards (EBT), Dorothy*... Read more

Increasing Empathy Is a Really Weird Reason for Public Humiliation

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 3:06 pm By Eve Tushnet

But drugs have a funny effect on the brain, I guess: …It was the second such heroin sweep where authorities sought to publicize the names, hometowns, ages and photos of alleged buyers and distributors. Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said that tactic would help further educate the public. “We are working toward eliminating the notion that a heroin addict is a person that is in an alley with a needle sticking in their arm,” Valdes said. “We are so... Read more

Our Initial Goal Is Voluntary Compliance

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 3:02 pm By Eve Tushnet

Middle school edition! After Michael and Melinda May’s daughter was drug-tested five times in three years at Susquenita Middle School, they refused to sign a permission slip allowing it to happen again. Leila May was drug-tested once during her fifth grade year, once in sixth grade and three times as a seventh grader because Susquenita School District randomly tests students in grades five through 12 who participate in extracurricular activities and apply for parking permits. Without the permission slip signed,... Read more

Before #yesallwomen, There Was “The Gift of Fear”: Me at AmCon

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 9:56 am By Eve Tushnet

w/criticism, but you should read the book: I had the vertiginous experience of reading Gavin de Becker’s 1997 bestseller The Gift of Fear in the midst of the reporting and reaction to the killings at UC-Santa Barbara. I read Gift for the same reason as hundreds of other women: A close friend told me to. And there’s a reason the book gets passed along. It’s pushy, it’s overstated, it’s flawed—but it’s a powerful guide to recognizing potential violence and listening... Read more

My Summer Reading 2014 (And Also Other People’s)

Last updated on: June 4, 2014 at 5:19 pm By Eve Tushnet

at the University Bookman–although actually I just started Gilgi, by the same woman who wrote The Artificial Silk Girl: From medieval sagas to anti-Communist Japanese surrealist novels, the Civil War campaigns to contemporary fiction, our contributors and friends again provide their summer reading lists. Every year this is one of our most popular features, as the suggestions from our trusted contributors are learned, wide-ranging, and deeply engaged with the questions that face our modern age. more Read more

Which Old Testament prophet's book has the most chapters?