Does 2+2=4? (This is not a math question)

But Bogin added courses like antimanipulation, which was intended to give children tools to decipher commercial or political messages. He taught a required class called myshleniye, which means “thinking,” as in critical thinking. It was based in part on the work of a dissident Soviet educational philosopher named Georgy Shchedrovitsky, who argued that there were three ways of thinking: abstract, verbal and representational. To comprehend the meaning of something, you had to use all three.
When I asked Bogin to explain Shchedrovitsky, he asked a question. “Does 2 + 2 = 4? No! Because two cats plus two sausages is what? Two cats. Two drops of water plus two drops of water? One drop of water.”

This is an excerpt from a thought-provoking New York Times article, My Family's Experiment in Extreme Schooling, by Clifford J. Levy. 

What Oman Can Teach Us

My favorite piece of this Nicholas Kristof essay:

The pattern seems widespread: Everybody gives lip service to education, but nobody funds it. 

For me, the lesson of Oman has to do with my next stops on this trip: Afghanistan and Pakistan. If we want to see them recast as peaceful societies, then let’s try investing less in bombs and more in schools.

Quiz Time

(picture taken from EarthSanga.org)

What do you know about Hispaniola, the island where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are? (Haiti is on the left side of the red line, the Dominican Republic is on the right side.)

If you are like me, it takes a major tragedy to realize that I don't know very much about Haiti's history.

Do you remember what the Monroe Doctrine is? Has it had an impact in Haiti?

How did Haiti get its freedom?

Who did Haiti get freedom from, and why?

Who was Baby Doc Duvalier and what terrible things did he do?

What language is spoken in Haiti, and what language is spoken in the Dominican Republic?

Has the U.S. ever occupied Haiti? When and why?

What was the name of the indigenous people of Hispaniola, and what happened to them?

What environmental issues have had a major impact on Haiti's resource base and ability to respond to hurricanes?

Who were the first documented Europeans to visit Hispaniola?

Today's Haitians are primarily descended from what population?

How did you do? I had to look a lot of these up.

UPDATED: No sooner had I posted this than I went to the New York Times and found these links to resources for teaching about Haiti.  You will find them here and here.