Education

October 23, 2025

The Hollow Men by T.S.Eliot : In Memory of AJC; August 1955-September 2025

I We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning togetherHeadpiece filled with straw. Alas!Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaninglessAs wind in dry grass Or rats’ feet over broken glassIn our dry cellar Shape without form, shade… Continue reading
April 12, 2024

A few thoughts on education purpose and schooling in New Zealand

Everyone has an opinion on education and schooling. Out of all the professions (medical, legal, engineering, architecture etc.) teaching and learning is the most fought over in terms of its content, how that content is to be delivered, and how… Continue reading
August 30, 2023

The Ontology of Student Agency: Are there Elephants in the room?

“Belinksy was just like Krylov’s Inquisitive Man, who didn’t notice the elephant in the museum” Demons (Dostoevsky, 2008) Abstract: This short article discusses an ontological concept of student agency within K-12 schooling. It is argued that ontologically, student agency does… Continue reading
August 30, 2023

The Design and Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Programs: 6 Steps towards an Integrated Values Based Framework

by Lawrence Burke Abstract: This article explores the traditional concept of teacher professional development through the filters of controlled, dependent and uncontrolled variables. Controlled variables within the teaching profession determine the outcome of all teacher professional development programs. Dependent variables… Continue reading
August 29, 2023

Cursive Writing as Self‐Identity in an Age of Digital Determinism

by Lawrence Burke A 21st Century Context In the 1997 Sci‐Fic classic Gattaca key themes and ideas around reproductive and design technologies and their effects on the societies of the future are explored. The manipulation of our DNA is now… Continue reading
November 23, 2015

The end of education- as we know it?

by Lawrence Burke Education in the 21st century is a multi-billion dollar business. It wasn’t always that way. Ancient cultures provided an education based on the foundations of literacy (writing, reading & numeracy) underpinning further studies in languages, culture, religions,… Continue reading
October 10, 2014

Education, Power & Wealth

by Lawrence Burke The subsummation of 21st century education into an advanced capitalist framework reaches its Zenith in Jose Ferreira’s recent polemic on The Hollywoodization of Education. Ferreira is CEO of Knewton, a self-described ‘adaptive learning company’. It’s actually a… Continue reading
October 10, 2013

Teaching in the Shadows of Social Injustice

by Lawrence Burke Teachers in Brazil, protesting their poor working conditions and paltry wages for undertaking one of the most essential jobs in the world today-educating future generations-were brutally attacked by security forces as they protested for better pay and… Continue reading
January 7, 2013

The Uncomfortable Truth about Violence, Entertainment and Violent Crime in Society.

by Lawrence Burke Three weeks after the United States of America was overwhelmed with grief at the murderous rage of a 20 year old man who went on killing spree ending the lives of 26 people, including 20 children in… Continue reading
December 19, 2012

Questions arising from the Process of Schooling and Societal Violence

by Lawrence Burke On Tuesday 2nd October 2006, a 32 year old man held hostage a group of young students between the ages of 6 and 13 at a small rural Amish school in Pennsylvania, and later executed 3 girls… Continue reading