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Erica Jacobs
Education ExaminerErica Jacobs is the Education columnist for the DC Examiner, and has taught high school and college for 33 years. She has been around the education block! Email her at ejacob1@gmu.edu.
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Education Examiner
Is Education Wasted on the Young?
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
My education column today in the D.C. Examiner comments on a lecture a world renowned James Joyce scholar gave to my students at Oakton High School last week. I have known Coilin Owens for years--he is Professor Emeritus at George Mason University--but this lecture was not just about Joyce and Dubliners: he modeled how gratifying a lifetime passion can be, and he linked Joyce's cryptic "signs" in his works (which have generated much debate among scholars) to the "signs" we see everywhere in our lives. If we can "read" them correctly, the secrets to life will be revealed.
I thought his lecture was brilliant, and many of my students were impressed. But the majority of my seniors are not much interested in the life of the mind right now. They are generally thinking about graduation, and what a drag it is to have to go to school these last weeks. A couple even pretended to go to the lecture, and instead went elsewhere---I don't even want to know where! In other words, they were just being teenagers.
This doesn't surprise or alarm me, but Prof. Owens' words had a profound effect on me, and I wish all my students could hear him with my ears, not seniors' "deaf ears." I hold out hope that one day, in the future, they will study Joyce or someone else whose words need careful study and interpretation, and make a connection with their own lives and the necessity to look beneath the surface. They might not even know where they picked up the idea, but perhaps Coilin Owens' words reside in the back of their minds.
Topics: james joyce , george mason university
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Why Don't Schools Address Racism?
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
In my classroom today, a former student took the lead. Anna Laura came back to the classroom she had left two years ago to attend James Madison University, but the model of writing, respectful discussion, and reflection remained with... Read More
Topics: class , race
The Writing Process
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
The phenomenon of "The National Examiners" is only five weeks old, but already I have discovered something about the writing process as it has been affected by my (almost) daily posts. Twice my Monday column for the DC Examiner has grown out... Read More
Topics: blog , students , column , writing process
Shakespearean Quote of the Day
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
Today I will going to the Shakespeare Theatre's performance of Julius Caesar with a few students and several other teachers, so it's fitting that the quote below comes from that play. My column for Monday calls my current students my best ever... Read More
Topics: day , class , shakespeare , quote , julius caesar
Word of the Day
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
The word of the day comes from the very beginning of Elizabeth George's new mystery: Careless in Red. Inspector Lynley is on the forty-third day of his solitary walking tour--an effort to cope with his wife's recent death. He sees a solitary surfer and... Read More
Topics: word , day
Shakespearean Quote of the Day
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
We all can picture a politician who fits the contempt expressed in this quotation from Henry lV, Part 1:I am whipp'd and scourg'd with rods,Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hearOf this vile politician.Choose your own example!... Read More
Topics: day , shakespeare , quote , politician
The "Lasts" of High School
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
This last month of teaching at Oakton High School is the last time my students experience all sorts of events: dances, ceremonies, lunch lines, bells, early start times, nightly homework assignments. I am in the interesting position of going through... Read More
Topics: graduation , forward , last
Read Me: The Two-Minute Book Review
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, was published in 2001 , and would seem to have been influenced by September 11--except that it was written before that event. It is a study of hostages and terrorists, their differences and similarities. If your world is... Read More
Topics: book , review , patchett
Word of the Day
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
pecuniary--of or relating to moneyThe word of the day comes from the 2004 Advanced Placement literature tests where students were challenged by a Henry James passage from one of his short stories. A tutor interviews for a job because, "as yet one's... Read More
Topics: advanced placement , word , day
Shakespearean Quote of the Day
Erica Jacobs - Education Examiner
This quotation from Taming of the Shrew might come to your mind as you realize that many schools, including George Mason University where I teach, have just announced a tuition increase of close to 10% for next year:O, I am undone, I am undone!... Read More
Topics: day , shakespeare , quote , taming of the shrew , tuition
