Author: Robert I. Grundfest

I am a teacher, writer, voice-over artist and rationally opinionated observer of American and international society. While my job is to entertain and engage, my purpose is always to start a conversation.

College Is For Everyone… Except for Those It’s Not

Seeing as how I’m an education dinosaur, having taught for the past 32 years, I’ve seen many a fad, meme, phase and reform come and go during my career. Each of these aforesaid events was billed as the new reality and the change that would ignite the staid and conservative field into a dynamo that… Continue reading College Is For Everyone… Except for Those It’s Not

Ugliness in the Season of Beauty

I usually look forward to the December holidays because, for at least one month, people in the United States tend to he hopeful, helpful, optimistic and happy. They look backward at the year that was and take stock, and they look forward with anticipation at what the new year will bring. This year, things are… Continue reading Ugliness in the Season of Beauty

Let’s Get This Straight: Donald Trump Will Not Be President

He won’t even be the Republican nominee in 2016. Yes, I know, the New York Times just published a poll that has Trump high atop the GOP field and gaining strength as the one candidate who will keep us safe. He’s everywhere on cable and network news and is a constant topic of conversation on… Continue reading Let’s Get This Straight: Donald Trump Will Not Be President

The Swift Fall of Testing – What Comes Next?

I’ve been in the education business for 31 years and I’ve seen many a fad come and go, from Teacher-proof curricula to shared decision-making to Differentiation to Cooperative Learning, Curriculum Mapping, Goals 2000 and various reading programs that focus on inventive spelling, phonics, whole language and learning vocabulary in context. Many of my colleagues didn’t… Continue reading The Swift Fall of Testing – What Comes Next?

Refugees From Reality

Leave it to the GOP (and some uninformed Democrats) to make a frightening situation something to panic over. The Paris attacks were terrible. The threat of more terrorist attacks on Europe is very real. But if you want to stop terrorists from coming into the United States, tampering with the refugee system is exactly the… Continue reading Refugees From Reality

Does This Mean War?

I’m being a bit of a coward by posing my title as a question, but I do firmly believe that the western world is headed towards a much larger, more coordinated and, ultimately, more deadly military conflict. If it sounds like war, smells like war, destroys like war, breeds intolerance like war, then it must… Continue reading Does This Mean War?

Mrs. MacDowell 1 Exxon 0: Why I Knew in 1970 What Big Oil Still Denies

OK, let’s go back to the halcyon days of the 1969-70 school year when I was in fourth grade. My teacher was one of those cool, hip, young people who knew how to reach children, to excite them to learn, and to inject a bit of reality and responsibility into them as they began to… Continue reading Mrs. MacDowell 1 Exxon 0: Why I Knew in 1970 What Big Oil Still Denies

Education’s Dirty Little Secret

The week began with the president saying that there was too much emphasis on testing in schools.  In the middle of the week, the New York Times published a story about Success Academy Charter Schools that, among other things, noted the following: The network serves mostly black and Hispanic students and is known for exacting… Continue reading Education’s Dirty Little Secret

More Bold Predictions: This Debate Changed Everything

October 28 is a very special day in my life. It was 43 years ago that I became a man and realized the meaning of that old, old adage, “That’s the first time I stood up in front of people, bored them, and they gave me money afterwards.” Mazel tov indeed. So it was with… Continue reading More Bold Predictions: This Debate Changed Everything

The Republican Party is not just the Party of “NO”, It’s the Party of “NEVER”

Later this week the country will celebrate a milestone: the date that Marty McFly used to travel to the future in Back to the Future II, the second movie of the trilogy that represents the greatest expression of Reagan-era optimism that Hollywood has yet produced. If only the remaining GOP candidates would sit down and… Continue reading The Republican Party is not just the Party of “NO”, It’s the Party of “NEVER”

Forget Iran: The GOP Goes Nuclear

Francis comes in, John Boehner bows out. There is a certain symmetry to some world events and this is one of those moments. Here we have a Pope who is speaking forcefully and eloquently about how the issues of the day and all the right wing can do is reject his message as an ill-conceived… Continue reading Forget Iran: The GOP Goes Nuclear