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Phil's Column
Phil Power is the founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan.
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Why is this lesson so hard to learn? Education should be linked to job market
Two generations of Michigan governors have urged the teaching of job skills to match the labor market, to little effect.
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Boiled duck, angry bear and the remorseless twilight of arctic life
More than 50 years after establishing a nonprofit for Inuit artists, a frigid return to Baffin Island.
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Schools must work together in lean times
As the Marshall-Albion merger shows, collaboration offers school districts the best option to conserve money while helping students.
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Pay for roads and college now, or pay later
Election-year politics shouldn’t trump legislators’ duty to do the right thing for Michigan’s future
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John Dingell got things done
For nearly six decades, Dingell worked with colleagues across the political spectrum. His departure pounds another nail in the coffin of competent government in our representative democracy, now quivering in gridlock thoroughly mixed with political narcissism.
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Adding your voice to Michigan’s future
Participate in the Center for Michigan’s web-based community conversations. Make your views heard. And help make Michigan a better place.
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Despite efforts, little progress has been made in educating poor, vulnerable kids
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Among other things, this famous Zen riddle suggests that some problems are extremely complex – and may require more than one approach to a solution. That’s an important notion when it comes to how to get seriously better outcomes in student learning, especially for urban schools that […]
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Before election, Gov. Snyder turns eye toward college affordability
After seven years of savage budget cuts, the governor seeks a 6 percent hike in higher-ed spending, a cap on tuition and $65 million more for pre-K, moves that are politically shrewd and necessary for Michigan .
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Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures
An unprecedented collaboration among Michigan’s most trust nonprofit news organizations will help state residents understand the roots of Detroit’s crisis and provide insights relevant to all Michiganders.