by 
I’ve been writing for magazines since the late 1990s and on occasion the publisher or Editor-in-Chief objected to the content of a column and refused to punish it. On other occasions I refused to make changes I felt would dilute my argument or insult the intelligence of the reader.
It seems like the blogosphere is a good place to share these “controversial” articles.
An Open Letter to Steve Jobs – Issue 1 – June 26, 2008
Think Different – Lose the Cart was an open letter I wrote to Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2002 imploring the company to stop selling laptop carts.
The magazine thought that Apple might be offended. I stand behind the article six years later at at time when schools are inexplicably tethering laptops to desks.
Education’s Most Dangerous Idea? Curriculum – Issue 2 – 2006
Education’s Most Dangerous Idea? Curriculum (from 2006) takes the controversial view that the notion of curriculum is at the root of many education problems.
A friend called a few months back and asked me to tell him my most dangerous idea. What a great question I thought! My answer, “Curriculum is bad.”
Allow me to make the case.
I can turn to almost any page in a textbook, article or website and find an outlandish, inaccurate or confusing idea some curriculum writer thought was brilliant. Even the most well-intentioned efforts at relevance or context stretch credulity, often in a hilarious fashion.
My 2008 column, The Children’s Machine – It’s time to turn the network upside down was inspired by thinking about the potential of the XO, aka: the “$100 Laptop.”
Emerging technology, universal wireless Internet access and best educational practices will cause increasing conflict with the job security of many I.T. employees. How will your district respond?
The Best Way to Make Enemies… Do the Impossible – Issue 4 – 2008
Two different education magazines refused to publish this article about the One Laptop Foundation’s heroic efforts to produce a low-cost, rugged, low-power personal laptop computer for some of the world’s poorest children. This rejection was a contributing factor to me ending my relationship with one magazine after more than a decade while a second magazine accused the column of being irrelevant to educators.
One editor was concerned that the article “might offend potential advertisers” and refused publication even after ample documentation was provided to support my claims.
Read The Best Way to Make Enemies… Do the Impossible and see what all of the controversy is about. Please share your thoughts here on my blog!
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.