WHETHER USED AS an income bracket, a collection of values and attitudes, or a state of mind, “middle class” is a pretty broad category. But at its core, middle class […]
Robert Keough
Posted inPolitics
Sociologist Theda Skocpol worries that the demise of the Odd Fellows and the rise of advocacy groups leave citizens with nothing to do
Though the title was created for sardonic effect by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam, whose use of it always drips with sarcasm, here’s one small reason Harvard might well be […]
Posted inEducation
Public higher ed deserves attentionand some respect
As viewed from the peanut gallery, the struggle over Gov. Mitt Romney’s government-reorganization plan has been a fascinating, if at times horrifying, spectacle. When the plan was outlined in the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Historian Jackson Lears reconciles the American work ethic with our attraction to every gambling scheme under the sun
It’s often said, better to be lucky than good, but in truth, most of us want to be both. Virtue may be its own reward, but who among the virtuous […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Two books explore the achievement gap between white and minority students
Bridging the Achievement GapEdited by John E. Chubb and Tom LovelessBrookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, 236 pages.Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African-American StudentsBy Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, […]
Posted inPolitics
A transition of our own
There comes a time in the life of every young organization, firm, or company when the founder moves on. It is a time of anxiety, but also a milestone of […]
Posted inPolitics
The budget and reform challenge ahead
If there were similarities between the gubernatorial campaigns of 1990 and 2002, the parallel between 1991 and 2003–new Republican governor facing fiscal crisis–is even closer. There are a handful of […]
Posted inUncategorized
A botched experiment in this laboratory of democracy
At this writing, the general election campaign for governor has just gotten underway, and it’s looking like a barn-burner. And with the first post-primary poll putting the race at a […]
Posted inPolitics
Tom Patterson on why parties campaigns and the media are driving voters away from politics
At the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Thomas E. Patterson is something of a rare breed: a political scientist. […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
In their opinion
By Robert Keough Political campaigns have their rituals, one of which is a round of meetings with newspaper editorial boards. Before the summer is out, the various candidates for governor […]
Posted inUncategorized
Whats the big idea
By any measure, the gubernatorial race of 2002 is shaping up as a watershed election. It could mark the end of the Weld-Cellucci-Swift era, a remarkable 12-year reign for the […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
The New Economys dubious dividend
As we find ourselves heading into a particularly brutal state budget-debate season, the focus, naturally enough, is on the fiscal realities ahead and how to come to terms with them. […]
Posted inPolitics
Stephen Goldsmith talks about government innovation and fiscal crisis
According to the old adage, necessity is the mother of invention. But you’d never know it, looking at the way state governments, including our own, are reacting to their current […]
Posted inEducation
Eavesdropping
For almost nine years now, ever since passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993, there has been endless discussion- ranging from earnest talk to frantic hand-wringing- over the effort […]
Posted inUncategorized
Massachusetts exceptionalism
We in Massachusetts like to think of ourselves as something special. We see ourselves setting a civic example for the nation, if not the world; how else could we justify […]
Posted inEconomy
Economists give their prognoses for recovery
Left to right: Adrienne Ortyl, Paul Harrington, and Alan Clayton-Matthews. Back in March, when economists and other observers were trying to figure out what kept consumers spending even as indicators […]
Posted inUncategorized
Bill Bratton on the new crime paradigm
In Boston and New York, Bill Bratton brought modern management to police work. We asked Bratton what he learned from combating urban crime, and the fear associated with it, that […]
Posted inUncategorized
The long morning after
One of the challenges in publishing a quarterly magazine is trying to anticipate what’s going to be on readers’ minds three to six months down the line. But the grim […]
Posted inPolitics
Lani Guinier on merit opportunity and redistricting
As much as she might wish otherwise, Lani Guinier will probably always be best known as roadkill on the Washington, DC, Beltway. Nominated in 1993 to be assistant attorney general […]
Posted inEducation
Harry Spence turns his fixit skills toward schools
Harry Spence has been reinventing government since before the term was, well, invented. Massachusetts’s pre-eminent public sector turnaround specialist, Spence has spent his adult life fixing dysfunctional public institutions. He […]
Posted inUncategorized
Paul Grogan and Alvaro Lima give Bostons inner city the business
Over its five years of publication, CommonWealth has displayed a consistent interest in city living–specifically, how cities from Boston to Pittsfield can stay or become safe, vibrant, satisfying places for […]
Posted inUncategorized
Hanging Tough
It’s not easy to take the pulse of somebody who won’t sit still. And that’s the problem with trying to take stock of the Cellucci-Swift administration at mid-term. Of course, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Revolvingdoor prisons
Urban anti-crime activists say they have two groups of people to worry about in the coming years: the large cohort of youngsters now aging into their teenage years and the […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Michael Dukakis and Jerome Grossman MD discuss competition regulation and relationship in health care
It has been said that if the health care system in this state, and in this country, is in crisis, it has been in crisis for 25 years. And during […]
