“Harrison Tasoff: Physics to Philosophy” plus 3 more |
- Harrison Tasoff: Physics to Philosophy
- Man becomes more cosmopolitan in globalized world: Gillespie
- What is Rand Paul's Political Philosophy?
- New courses coming at the high school
| Harrison Tasoff: Physics to Philosophy Posted: 02 Jun 2010 01:17 AM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. GraduationJune 1, 2010 Harrison Tasoff, 18 New Community Jewish High School (Going to: Swarthmore College)   Harrison Tasoff Most kids have a "why" phase, but Harrison Tasoff's was both particularly intense and long lasting. "I was constantly asking why, even to the extent of annoying people. I constantly wanted to know why things worked the way they worked, and how they worked, and science started answering those questions for me," Tasoff said. By his senior year at New Community Jewish High School, he had already passed the AP physics exam and completed the school's science curriculum. He took a geology class at Pierce College, where he learned more about his mineral collection. Tasoff's love for science and math, particularly physics, ties into his love for philosophy, because, he said, they all try to answer the same fundamental questions about existence. Tasoff is president of his school's philosophy club and plans to major in physics and minor in philosophy at Swarthmore College. He founded a chapter of the National Honor Society at his school last fall. "My academics are akin to other people's sports. I take pride in them, they are my achievements, and I thought for me and people like me it was important to have an organization that recognized academics," Tasoff said. But despite his school smarts and his quirkiness — he curses in noble gases ("Oh, Aragon!") — Tasoff said he has never felt like or been treated like a nerd. "People have always respected me. I think they see that I'm very interested and excited not only about learning things for myself, but sharing what I've learned with other people," he said. Tasoff also fences, sketches and makes wire sculpture. He volunteers with Haverim, a program for developmentally disabled adults, and puts in time with the Celiac Disease Foundation. He is also a frequent visitor to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and his communication with executives at Trader Joe's about sustainable seafood was part of an effort that led to product changes. Tasoff says that one of his most relaxing endeavors is nourishing, pruning and sculpting bonsai trees. "It's a very good way to learn patience and to learn how to project possibilities into the future — to see a tree and to be able to see what it could become, what potential it has in it," Tasoff said. Post your comment below! Advertisement COMMENTSWe welcome your feedback. Privacy PolicyYour information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details. Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Man becomes more cosmopolitan in globalized world: Gillespie Posted: 02 Jun 2010 12:40 AM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Sorry, readability was unable to parse this page for content. Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| What is Rand Paul's Political Philosophy? Posted: 01 Jun 2010 04:06 PM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Commentators have put a lot of labels on Rand Paul, Kentucky's Republican U.S. Senate nominee. Extremist. Constitutionalist. Face of the Tea Party movement. Defender of racists. And, most often, libertarian. The effort by pundits, politicos and journalists across the country to peg Paul's views ratcheted up after he won the primary May 18, then promptly threw cold water on the win with comments suggesting private business owners should have the right to discriminate against minorities. His philosophical point on property rights has continued to echo on talk shows, opinion pages and the Internet, shifting focus away from Paul's core message of limiting government spending and balancing the budget. The Bowling Green eye surgeon's stumble has raised a whole new line of questioning about his ideology -- a mix of ideas from libertarians, social conservatives and the Tea Party movement -- and how it would apply to a seemingly endless list of other government programs and mandates. Where does he draw the line on consumer-protection laws? What about Wall Street regulations and workplace-safety rules? Is the Americans with Disabilities Act too onerous? "These questions aren't going to go away," said Scott Lasley, a political science professor at Western Kentucky University. Paul hasn't talked with reporters at length since the week of his primary victory, but he's scheduled to appear on WHAS radio in Louisville on Monday. He was not available for an interview with the Herald-Leader last week, his campaign said. On May 19, Paul said on MSNBC and National Public Radio he is against discrimination, but he questioned whether the 1964 Civil Rights Act law went too far in imposing government control on private businesses. Among other things, the act outlawed racial segregation in restaurants and other public accommodations. Paul's comments about civil rights echo a letter he wrote to the Bowling Green Daily News in 2002 about the federal Fair Housing Act. In defending private-property rights, Paul said public institutions should be barred from discriminating based on a person's beliefs or attributes, but not private entities. One example he gave was that of a retirement community that didn't want to let in residents with noisy children. "Decisions concerning private property and associations should in a free society be unhindered," Paul wrote. "A free society will abide unofficial, private discrimination -- even when that means allowing hate-filled groups to exclude people based on the color of their skin." Amid the recent furor over his comments on the Civil Rights Act, Paul said he abhors racism and would have voted for the landmark law. That stance led to charges of flip-flopping. "Was (Paul) being untruthful on the occasions when he said the federal government has no authority to outlaw racial discrimination in private businesses such as restaurants?" Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote. "Or is he being untruthful now in claiming he would have voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964?" The Libertarian Party of Kentucky disavowed Paul last week, issuing a news release that was "an effort to clear our good name" after Paul's comments on civil rights. Others defended Paul, saying he was merely raising a philosophical point about the limits of federal power and is not a racist. "When one listens to him talk, one gets the sense that he comprehends that the Founders of America feared that the biggest threat to our rights was from our own government," the New York Sun said in an editorial. Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| New courses coming at the high school Posted: 01 Jun 2010 11:54 AM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Planet Contributor The Bible as literature, an introduction to philosophy, sociology… these sound like classes that would be included on the roster of an exclusive private school, even a liberal arts college. But as early as next year, Telluride High School will provide these courses to students. The only prerequisite? Enthusiasm. Amid the talks of budget cuts, Telluride High School is still doing its very best to provide the teenagers of the box canyon with exciting educational opportunities. But, does adding such extravagant sounding classes during a budget crisis even make sense? Well, sure. Superintendent Mary Rubadeau is completely supportive of the new endeavor, and the cost of new curriculum: practically free. Expanding the range of classes utilizes the extra class time given by the seven-period day, new this last academic year. Previously, the high school day only had six periods. Now, students and teachers have an extra space to fill. As Rubadeau puts it: "It provides teachers with an opportunity to teach what they are truly passionate about." These new classes are to be considered electives — students can choose to take them if additional periods are left to be filled after base requirements have been met. Though the new courses will be offered to all students, juniors and seniors will take up the bulk of them considering they have more space, and freedom, to choose electives. English teacher David Lavender will be heading up the course on the Bible as literature. He emphasizes that, "This will not be a course on religion, but rather a seminar aimed at familiarizing students with the biblical verses that so many writers have drawn on throughout the ages." The point is to teach students to catch and understand these biblical allusions, and not just miss them entirely. "Jane Eyre" — a commonly read novel in a high school literature class — contains more 170 biblical allusions. "Ideally," Lavender says, "students should emerge from this course with a much better understanding of both the Bible itself and of its pervasive influence on our culture." Glenn Wellman, teacher of the new "Introduction to Philosophy," is similarly enthusiastic about the enriching learning experience his elective will hopefully become. "It will be an inquiry based course that promotes analytical reasoning and persuasive writing," he said.
A college level class, the focus will be on the philosophical writings of authors such as Aristotle, Kant, Hume and Sarte. Though there are no previous requirements, students must be willing — and able — to read difficult texts. Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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