Tuesday Night Discussion Group

The Tuesday Night Discussion Group has been meeting since the 2003-2004 school year and features a unique discussion each week about politics, art, culture, science, and more. If you’re interested in a lively conversation in a great atmosphere, feel free to join us at 7:00 each Tuesday at Scenic Brew. To review an archive of what we’ve read and discussed, check out this page.

2017-18 School Year (Ended for the Year)

February 20, 2018: JK Rowling created an army of liberals – now they are turning against her by Amelia Tait
Wednesday, February 7, 2018: #MediocrityToo by Heather MacDonald
January 9, 2018: Against the Universal Basic Income by Peter Cove
December 26, 2017: No Discussion Group Tonight
December 19, 2017: What Makes Someone a Predator? by Michelle Dean
December 12, 2017: NO DISCUSSION GROUP
December 5, 2017: LBGT Students Are Not Safe at School by Marissa Higgins
November 28, 2017: How to Tell If You’re a Jerk by Eric Schitzgebel
November 14, 2017: Does Tenure Protect Bad Teachers or Good Schools?
November 7, 2017: All the Angry Ladies by Megan Garber
Tueday, October 31, 2017: Happy Halloween. No Discussion
Tuesday, October 24, 2017: My Incredibly Simple Guide To Stoicism — Learn Wisdom You Can Practically Use by Tim Denning
Tuesday, October 17, 2017: NO DISCUSSION GROUP
Tuesday, October 10, 2017: The Purpose of Education–According to Students (at Scenic Brew)
Tuesday, October 3, 2017: Surround Yourself with People Who Hold You to a Higher Standard than You Hold Yourself by Benjamin Hardy (at Starbucks on Prospect Avenue)

2016-17 School Year

Monday, June 12, 2017: Why Moral Grandstanders Are the Worst by Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke
May 15, 2017: The Failures of Mainstream Feminism by Jessa Crispin (at Scenic Brew)
April 12, 2017: Science says parents of successful kids have these 13 things in common by Rachel Gillett
April 5, 2017: Fess Up! Round Two
March 1, 2017: On Morality by Joan Didion
February 22, 2017: Love is Like Cocaine by Helen Fisher
February 15, 2017: What’s the Use of Regret? by Gordon Marino
February 1, 2017: Are These 10 Lies Justified? by Gerald Dworkin
January 18 2017: How to Fix the Internet by Walter Isaacson (CANCELED)
21 December 2016: Powerful Women Club (at Scenic Brew)
14 December 2016: Can 35 Million Book Buyers Be Wrong? by Harold Bloom (at the Gen.Merc)
30 November 2016: The Literary Glamour of Madness by Emily Reynolds (at the General Merc)
16 November 2016: Sometimes it’s Hard to be a Man by Steven Poole (This week will happen. It will be at the General Merc)
09 November 2016: (POSTPONED BY THE FIRE)
02 November 2016: POSTPONED THIS WEEK!
26 October 2016: Polyamorous Relationships May Be the Future of Love by Melissa Hogenboom
19 October 2016: News is Bad for You by Rolf Dobelli
12 October 2016: Can a Meme Be a Hate Symbol? NYT Room for Debate (four short articles)
05 October 2016: MEETING POSTPONED UNTIL NEXT WEEK
28 September 2016: Do Trigger Warnings Work? NYT Room for Debate (three short articles)
21 September 2016: Fortress of Tedium (What I Learned as a Substitute Teacher) by Nicholson Baker
14 September 2016: Votes of No Confidence by Jedediah Purdy

2015-16 School Year

23 March 2016: Testing Students’ True Grit
16 March 2016: Why Online Gradebooks Are Changing Education by Laura McKenna
17 February 2016: How Black Lives Matter Changed Liberal Politics by Kevin Mattson
27 January 2016: Against Neutrality: On Photography by Teju Cole
13, 20 January 2016: No Discussion Group
06 January 2016: The Selfish Side of Gratitude by Barbara Ehrenreich
30 December 2015: American Cynicism and its Cure by Jess Row

2015 Summer

All of the articles will be posted here. We’ll begin meeting on June 17.

2014-15 School Year

21 May 2015: Why It Pays to be a Jerk by Jerry Useem
26 March 2015: Please Be Disturbed: Triggering Can Be Good for You, Kids by Todd Gitlin
19 March 2015: In Defense of Difficulty by Steve Wasserman
12 March 2015: Would We Be Safer if Fewer Were Jailed?, from the New York Times Room for Debate
26 February 2015: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture by Andrew Yang
19 February 2015: Are We Becoming Morally Smarter? by Michael Shermer
05 February 2015: Is Big Marijuana Inevitable? New York Times Room for Debate
07 January 2014: Automation for the People? by Christine Rosen
03 December 2014: The Persistent Myth of the Narcissistic Millennial by Brooke Lea Foster
12 November 2014: No Offense: The New Threats to Free Speech by John O’Sullivan
05 November 2014: The Truth About Evil by John Gray
29 October 2014: Poor Kids Who Do Everything Right Don’t Do Better than Rich Kids Who Do Everything Wrong by Matt O’Brien.
15 October 2014: A Lawyer Makes the Case for Chimpanzee Personhood by Roc Morin
08 October 2014: No, Hope Solo is Not Like Ray Rice by Ta-Nehisi Coates
24 September 2014: Why Nature Versus Nurture Often Doesn’t Matter by Michael White

2014 Summer

Aug 13, 2014: The War Photo No One Would Publish by Torrie Rose DeGhett
August 06 2014: Has Capitalism Become Incompatible With Christianity? (NYT Room for Debate)
30 July 2014: From Idea to Reality: A National-Service Platform by Shirley Sagawa
23 July 2014: Liberty or Equality? by Myron Magnet
09 July 2014: Will Computers Replace Teachers? by Justin Reich
18 June 2014: Is Nothing Sacred? by Nabeelah Jaffer

2013-14 School Year

12 March 2014: Pre-K Dreaming by Larry Sand
05 March 2014: Are Ugly People Oppressed? by Jonny Thakkar
26 February 2014: The Lottocracy by Alexander Guerrero
19 February 2014: The Empowerment Elite Claims Feminism by Jessica Valenti
12 February 2014: In Adoption, Does Race Matter?–Room for Debate
THURSDAY, February 6: Debate Club by Peter Berkowitz
29 January 2014: Schools and Citizens by Robin West
15 January 2014: Does the US Need Another War on Poverty? (Room for Debate articles)
08 January 2014: The Case for Nagging about Homework by Lisa Heffernan
Monday, 23 December 2013: On Smarm by Tom Scocca
18 December 2013: In Praise of Failure by Costica Bradatan
11 December 2013: The True Cost of a Higher Minimum Wage by Zachary Karabell
27 November 2013: Should High School Last Six Years?
13 November 2013: After-School Activities Make Educational Inequality Even Worse by Hilary Friedman
30 October 2013: The Real Privacy Problem by Evgeny Morozov
23 October 2013: The Truth about Violence by Sam Harris
02 October 2013: Machiavelli: Still Shocking by Stewart Patrick