During my drive down to Pennsylvania this week, I was listening to an interview with a sculptor. The interviewer asked if he was still teaching. “No, I’m not. Teaching sculpture is easier than doing it. I need to devote my efforts to doing it.” His comment reminded me of that old adage. “Those who can, [...]

I’ve been thinking that education is a bit like composting. You take a disparate collection of ideas and information and toss them into a student. Most of us do chop that content into pretty small pieces (something else recommended in the composting booklet), but I’m not sure with courses being as separate as they are, much of the valuable mixing occurs.

I was on the way from the Portland airport to my Dad’s place, being driven by a childhood friend who now runs a pick up and delivery business. We left the four lane and followed winding country roads on our way to Forest Grove, a small town at the base of the coast range in Oregon. We came to an intersection. There wasn’t a stop sign or a stop light but there in the middle of open fields was a beautifully landscaped round-about, two lanes wide. Down the road another half mile was another. Not the place you’d ever expect to find round-abouts. “Excuse me,” my friend said, “but that’s what people with education do.”