And then there’s the education blog…

… and Twitter, an excellent, free PR tool. If you aren’t following me on Twitter already – or using it yourself – sign up for free, check my profile and click follow. There’s always a good conversation to have or a good link to click.

That triumvirate of e-media makes it easy to do a roundup of interesting stuff I’ve read, so give a warm welcome to the world premier of the Great Links Curriculum.

The British are one baby step ahead of us in self-destruction. DailyWritingTips brings us a story from the Telegraph about banning “elitist” and “discriminatory” Latin phrases – like bona fide, vice versa and et cetera. Fancy book larnin’s a 20th century skeel, it seems.

“Why Parents Get Angry When They Learn the Truth,” from Motel Special Ed.

“Quantifying Greatness” - Greg Forster debunks an unfounded gripe about the Great Books.

Exhibit 1036a: Perfect example why normal people don’t take educrats seriously, courtesy of Salon. Really, that diagram could be drawn for just about any topic on Earth.

The Carnival of Education is up at the Core Knowledge Blog. This Carnival’s scripting took some real effort – well done.

Flypaper with some sober common sense. Want to retain great teachers? Remove the bad ones.

Obama celebrated in the World of Warcraft? Good Lord, there are so many factual errors in this testimony as to make me want to call the poor kid out. We’ll see.

Having solved every problem in New York public education, the State Education Department decided to buy a ton of fruits and vegetables.

Racial taunts in class for supporting John McCain? You betcha. This ideological intolerance happens a bit more than people realize, and sometimes – as in this case – it can get ugly.

Really, really, really, really smart to get into law school? George Leef at Phi Beta Cons drags that argument back to reality.

Head over to eMailOurMilitary and drop a quick note, even if it’s just a quick thanks.

Bill Gates?!?!? Making curriculum?!?! Relax, mouth-frothers. Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Pondiscio will calm you down.

… and another political candidate in the education world whines while laying bare her ignorance on blogs, media and technology. Advertising, too, I suppose. Well done, Ms. Gallucci of Pinellas County. Perhaps the problem isn’t your makeup or wardrobe, but the woeful inadequacy you bring to the job.

In New York State, the education budget cut spin begins. Give it a day or two, you’ll want to throw money at NYSED just to get this circus to stop.

The first edition of the GlobalScholar ‘Everything Education’ Carnival is live. They’ve got three midways – College, How-To and K-12. AdvantageEdu’s post on 100 Ivy courses you should take for fun is worth a close look and a bookmark.

The 141st Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Why Homeschool? – and if you don’t subscribe to that blog, you ought to. It’s one of the most thoughtful education blogs I read. The 141st is the super hero edition… and they aren’t heroes from comic books.

The 188th Carnival of Education is up at Core Knowledge. Matthew Needleman at Creating Lifelong Learners wonders whether classroom themes are all that necessary. Some are purposeful, others are… well, window dressing.

Joanne Jacobs is hosting this week’s Carnival of Education, and it’s one of the best in a long time. I spent 2 days de-screwing my computer just in time for the AC adapter to break, so I didn’t get a submission in – or any posts written, for that matter.

Some articles worth reading:

• Matthew Ladner [on Jay Greene's site] ushers in some common sense about inadequate schools being trusted with the physical health of students.
• Nancy Flanagan has doubts about John McCain’s ability to lead on education because he doesn’t use computers. “… if you have never participated in live web conferencing, or read the first 100 comments on just about any Daily Kos blog, your ideas about policy-making are severely limited, and one-dimensional.” Golly gee, I’m so out of touch I should probably just quit blogging.
• Darren of Right on the Left Coast is a “Predator.” Thankfully, not the Chris Hansen kind.
• Robert at Casting out Nines examines readiness in math.

And a note about next week’s Carnival:

Bellringers will host the Aug. 20 Carnival of Education. Use the carnival submission form to submit your favorite post of the week or e-mail to mybellringers (at) gmail (dot) com. The deadline is Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 6 pm Central time.

Let’s all wish him luck on Whatta Ya Think? and, in a show of educator-solidarity that would make a teachers union proud, peep my review of Mister Teacher’s Learn Me Good, an account of his trials in elementary education that is both hilarious and touching.

And speaking of those unions, take a look at the post I would have submitted to the Carnival had storms not knocked out my internet service for the last 36 hours: Say No to Child Labor!

Then check out TweenTeacher’s take on The Seventh Affliction, which is one of the less palatable facets of a teacher’s job.

Also, A Bundle of Contradictions discusses high achievers in a good read. My classroom enrichment was excellent until the 4th grade. Then it all stopped and I had to find it at home or on my own.

Thank God for that, and thank God for an autodidactic family tradition.

Having already read through the Carnival, I’ll read the copy of the NAS journal Academic Questions that came in the mail today. This issue’s theme is ‘The Military and Higher Education’ and includes what appears to be an excellent piece about historians’ interpretations of the Vietnam War.

Nancy Flanagan at Teacher in a Strange Land is hosting the 172nd Carnival of Education.

She teaches in Michigan, which I guess is a ‘strange land.’ It does look like a mitten, after all, and there’s a big part that isn’t even really connected to the mitten! Weird.

There is historical testimony that at least one couple is quite happy in Michigan – originally told by Lefty Frizzell, Ron Warner tells the tale.

Darren at Right on the Left Coast gives his take on some Washington University graduates’ decision to turn their backs on their commencement speaker.

He titled that post “Free Speech and Rudeness,” a dichotomy that plenty of young people would do well to consider this Memorial Day.

Then there’s my entry.

If you’re as busy as I’ve been for the last few days, you’ll look forward to winding down with a few education carnivals.

What It’s Like on the Inside is hosting the 169th Carnival of Education – and there are lots and lots of good entries here.

Personally, I don’t think that Carl Chew is much like John Adams, the American Revolutionaries or any other American hero, but someone does.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is over at HomeSchoolBuzz.com – I particularly liked Jacque Dixon’s post on gardening/homeschooling.

For your reading pleasure, take a peep at the 162nd Carnival of Education hosted by Mister Teacher and this last week’s Carnival of Homeschooling hosted by At Home With Kris.

There are plenty of good entries to keep you busy. I haven’t read so many from each Carnival in weeks.

It’s that time of week again… the Carnivals are up and commanding attention.

The 137th Carnival of Education is live at The Education Wonks including my entry about the Ed in ’08 campaign. You can also browse last week’s Carnival at History is Elementary.

Beverly Hernandez at About Homeschooling hosts this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling – it’s a clean, easy format with lots of solid posts.

Secondhand Thoughts has given Best Practices in Education the nod for this week’s Wednesday Website. It’s a good choice – 30plusteacher’s content is informative and engaging and I, like Eric, would love to see more of it!

The 89th edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is live at Why Homeschool. It’s the soccer edition – how our hosts managed to work so many posts into a coherent soccer theme is nothing short of a work of art.

And don’t forget to take a look at Secondhand Thoughts’ Wednesday website. This week’s edition showcases Journeys, a site that I’ve had in my RSS reader and blogroll for a while now. It’s a great selection – the perspective Diane provides from the library/media standpoint is a welcome addition to my daily reads. She’s certified in New York, so I may be biased… but I doubt it. Add her and give a read – you’ll likely agree that it’s good stuff.