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Kelley Williams-Bolar and the Stolen Better School District

When I was in grade school I attended West Windsor Plainsboro Middle School based on the fact that I lived in the West Windsor area. My parents relocated in 1990 to Princeton, partly due to the fact that the public schools in the area were supposed to be a lot better. Of course, I ended up attending The Peddie School, a private school that was not at all tied to where I lived as people came to the school from all over the world.

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How is it Possible to be Overeducated?

I read an insult online the other day.  Someone called another person “overeducated” — and the angry howling in agreement from the malingering crowd that followed that contextual rasping — make me realize there is a concentrated, and vocal, segment of this country that loathes learning and defiles any sense of being “book smart” or thoughtfully, formally, trained.

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The Humanities Medical Doctor

Several years ago, I had the pleasure and the honor to teach the humanitarian side of Public Health policy at a major, East Coast, medical school.  My students were talented, trained, gifted, and unbelievably strong and well-educated.

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The Winston Clay Soap Bar

When I was, perhaps, nine-years-old or so, I was required to sculpt an art project out of clay.  Others in my class created the clay expected:  Animals, their Initials, flowers, and cars.  I, for some reason, decided to create a life-sized Winston cigarette pack — flush with a few cigs sticking up out of the top.

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Banning Sign Language on a New Jersey School Bus

When I used to take a bus to school, I remember it being a rowdy ride most of the time. The kids were always bouncing up and down in the seats, despite the bus driver always going out of his way to show us the importance of putting on a seat belt. Some kids used to play a politically incorrect game called the “Chinese Fire Drill” in which they would jump into the seat directly in front of theirs. There was, naturally, plenty of horseplay on the bus.

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The Lie of the Lie: Faking the Will Rogers Follies

When I was working on the Broadway production of — “The Will Rogers Follies” — I was contacted by a friend of mine who was teaching at a major East Coast university.

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Teaching the Native American Lie

I wasn’t too different than most children who grow up in the United States and take lessons in history — specifically, the history of the United States, and how it came to be. We learned about the pilgrims and the Native Americans, and how wonderfully everything went when the pilgrims settled the colonies in an effort to escape religious persecution. We learned about the first Thanksgiving meal and how the Pilgrims learned so much about growing new crops and making homes.

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