Book Review: 50 Economics Classics by Tom Butler-Bowdon

With 50 Economics Classics, Tom Butler-Bowdon takes readers on a tour of major economic works from the time of Adam Smith up until the present day, presenting an imaginative canvas of economic thought that showcases the variety of approaches and perspectives that have shaped the discipline. This interdisciplinary and compellingly idiosyncratic book offers new avenues to explore and much to delight in for professional economics, students and general readers, writes Niall Kishtainy

What Will Matter to Me in the Coming Presidential Election

A few weeks ago I made an early morning trek to a college campus two hours from where I live. I was scheduled to facilitate a discussion about academic leadership with colleagues around the state. I set my radio to C-SPAN and was soon listening to a morning call-in show. The host asked female listeners to share the policy issues that would matter most to them in the coming presidential election

Advocating for Children is Everyone\u27s Responsibility

Florida drew national media attention in 2008 when 2-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony of Orlando was reported missing. In the months and years that followed, her mother, Casey, was charged and ultimately acquitted of Caylee’s murder

Give Someone a Break

About 20 years ago, when I was a graduate student in Tucson, Arizona, I befriended two neighbors who worked as traveling nurses taking short-term jobs at hospitals in interesting places around the country. John and Sue had met a few years earlier when they served together in a busy metropolitan hospital, an often stressful environment

Teacher Churn in Missouri’s Five Biggest Cities, 2005-2014: A Briefing

This policy brief: (1) contrasts the proportion of math and science teachers who leave STEM fields within one year, three years, five years, and ten years with the proportion of English or Social Studies teachers who turnover during these intervals (2) examines stability of the year-to-year turnover from STEM fields (3) describes how teachers who leave math or science teaching assignments move into other STEM assignments, to non-STEM assignments, or leave the public schools of Missouri entirely, and (4) describes the rates at which teachers who are still teaching in STEM fields remain in the same school and district, shift to a different school in the same district, and shift to a different school and district. 5) contrasts the instability of STEM teachers in the five largest cities of Missouri with the instability of STEM teachers in the rest of the state

Weathering the Storm Surge of Social Media

I’ve lived in Central Florida for more than 15 years, and in that time I’ve seen quite a few serious weather events affect our community. Though the hurricane season starts in the summer, around here we tend to become especially aware of the storm possibilities in the early fall, when more tropical activity spins up in the ocean and when annual milestones that have been marred by big storms in previous years come up on our calendars

Writing in Crisis: Rhetorical Considerations in Child Advocate Reports

One aspect of human rights often overlooked in and beyond professional communication involves the rights of minor children whose parents or guardians are accused of abusing, abandoning, or neglecting them. Children in the United States who enter the dependency court system, where such matters are adjudicated, have few legal protections because of their status as minors, and parents or legal guardians under investigation are seldom appropriate advocates for such children due to real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest (Litzelfelner & Petr, 1997; Minow, 1995; Reynaert, Bouverne-de-Bie, & Vandevelde, 2009). Many state and county governments have established programs designed to secure advocates for children in jeopardy. Known by names such as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Guardian ad Litem (GAL), these programs recruit, train, and appoint volunteers to represent children in court.1 These efforts are significant. According to program websites, in 2007 the national CASA/GAL movement reached a milestone of serving more than two million children in its first 30 years (CASA for Children, 2007; Piraino, 2007). In 2012 alone, the CASA/GAL network consisted of 946 local and state programs. These organizations engage more than 77,000 volunteers and serve more than 234,000 neglected and abused children annually (National CASA, 2012). Research shows that a child who is represented by a CASA/GAL advocate is more likely to find a permanent home, be adopted, and spend less time in the foster care system than one without such representation (CASA Boston, n.d.; CASA for Children, 2012; Litzerfelner & Petr, 1997; Ottmar, 2007; Piraino, 2007). Clearly child advocacy is a critical matter of human rights. In this article we examine relationships among the theory and practice of human rights, children’s rights, and rhetorical action in relation to child advocate report writing

Leave Them (Texting) Kidz Alone

By trade, I am a professor of writing and rhetoric. In layman’s terms, this makes me an English teacher. These are deeply dreaded words for many people. When I identify my profession to new acquaintances, I get a range of responses: obviously, some people don’t find it that interesting—it’s not like I’m an astronaut or plastic surgeon, and everyone has known her or his fair share of English teachers. Others, though, have very strong reactions, letting me know that they hate English or have never been “good at it.