Portrait of William Shakespeare

Linguistic Anarchy! It’s all Pun and Games Until Somebody Loses a Sign

The pun is in an interesting bind: it is both ubiquitous and reviled. We try to understand why.
Student using a cell phone

Should Cell Phones Be Used in the Classroom?

When schools welcome the use of cell phones and other technologies in the classroom.
Grammar workbook

Dear Pedants: Your Fave Grammar Rule is Probably Fake

What constitutes ‘correct’ grammar in English seems to have a cyclical life, aided and abetted by new generations of enthusiastic grammarians.
A large classroom with students all faced towards the chalkboard at the front of the room.

Can Summer School Be More than a Punishment?

A Colorado high school teacher studies the benefits of summer school.
Students looking for books in a school library

A Brief History of Young Adult Fiction

Before there such a thing as "YA," librarians struggled not just to define a genre, but to figure out how to get books in the hands of young readers.
Education and Leisure

The Rise and Fall of “Education for Leisure”

Where did the notion of teaching people how to spend their free time come from, and why did it disappear?