Everyone so often, I write a post about what I found especially interesting in the weekend papers.

Here are my latest thoughts about discussion worthy articles. Let me know what you think!

Push, Don’t Crush the Students by Matt Richtel. I definitely have a ‘whole blog post’s worth’ of thoughts on this one but frankly not the ability to wrap my mind around the whole thing enough to write it. The story is one of the Palo Alto school district where high achieving students are feeling significant stress. You could easily replace Palo Alto with many towns including Ridgewood. I know what the problems are. I sure wish instead of writing another article about the crazy stress we are putting on our kids, we could find a way to collectively change it.

The Cost of Daydreaming by Vivian Gornik.  I am taking a memoir writing class and my teacher quotes Vivian Gornki’s The Story and the Situation frequently. The book is sitting on the top of my to-be-read stack. So of course it seems appropriate that Gornik has an essay in the paper this weekend. And an essay is about… wait for it… paying attention, of course!

Are You Smarter Than an Eighth Grader? by Nicholas Kristof. Again, we are given multiple examples of how far down the United States has fallen in our mathematical abilities. I’m not sure what needs to change but it certainly seems like something must.

Owning a Bookstore Means You Always Get to Tell People What to Read by Ann Patchett. While technically not a ‘weekend read’, I loved this article so very much. I’ve often said that I want to be Ann Patchett when I grow up and now that is even more true. Her description of a great reason to own a bookstore makes me want to own one all the more!