CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: My Wife's Summer Vacation Ends Edition (8/23)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: My Wife's Summer Vacation Ends Edition (8/23)

My Wife's Summer Vacation Ends Edition

Teachers get back to it this week, with students returning in a week. We're holding our breaths here-- my county has a 2020 total of 69 cases and 1 death (yes, that's for the whole year so far), so local folks have not been feeling the whole pandemic as much as they've been feeling the various shutdowns. So we'll see what happens. In the meantime, here's some stuff to read from the week.

Biden, Harris, and Dr. Biden Will Send DeVos Yachting!
Come for Nancy bailey's headline, and stay for the comprehensive list of DeVosian misbehavior.

Pod Save Us: How Learning Pods are Going to Destroy Public Education. Or Not.
Nancy Flanagan takes a look at pods without hyperventilating. A good look at this current phenom.

Charles Koch Buys Into National Parents Union
Maurice Cunningham has been tracking the NPU since they first tossed their heavily astroturfed hat into the education ring. Here's the latest fun new development.

The Problems with "Show Me the Research" in Teaching Reading
Paul Thomas has been a strong, thoughtful voice in the reading wars. Here's another clear explanation of why you don't need to feel steamrolled by the Science of Reading crowd.

NC Awards Grant to Charter Schools to Increase Access
For some reason, the state has decided it needs to bribe charter schools in order to get them to do the job that public education is supposed to do by accepting all students.

Cami Anderson: ‘Police-Free Schools’ Vs. ‘Chaos’ Is a False Choice. Here’s What Districts Must Do to Implement Real Discipline Reform
Reformy Cami Anderson in the reformy the74 actually has some thoughtful ideas here about how to get police out of school and, better yet, how to reframe the debate. I'm not agreeing with all of it, and yes, she's here to plug her newest edu-business, but this is still a good conversation starter.

How white progressives undermine school integration
Eliza Shapiro at the New York Times looks at some research and hosts a panel discussion about why places like New York City can talk the talk, but adamantly refuse to walk the walk.

British Grading Debacle Shows Pitfalls of Automating Government
Also in the NYT. Britain tried some computerized grading of students. It hasn't gone well.

The Woeful Inadequacy of School Reopening Plans
Amy Davidson Sorkin says we've pretty much wasted the summer. A not-very-uplifting read from the New Yorker.

What if the NBA ran the Department of Education?
McSweeney's, but not entirely a joke.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: My Wife's Summer Vacation Ends Edition (8/23)

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AND DON'T FORGET PETER GREENE ON FORBES CLICK HERE 

Judge Rejects Betsy DeVos Plan To Send Federal Funds To Private Schools - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/08/22/judge-rejects-betsy-devos-plan-to-send-federal-funds-to-private-schools/#31c5d6282329 by @palan57 on @forbes

Here’s What Hasn’t Changed For Parents In The 2020 Back To School Season - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/08/20/heres-what-hasnt-changed-for-parents-in-the-2020-back-to-school-season/#30e5efc52090 by @palan57 on @forbes

Schools Should Scrap The Big Standardized Test This Year - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/08/14/schools-should-scrap-the-big-standardized-test-this-year/#4345f92579f5 by @palan57 on @forbes

Grammar Police, Go Home

by Peter Greene / 21h

Grammar and usage are two different things, and understanding the difference can be a huge help in untying some linguistic knots and navigating some linguistic swamps of the English kind. Because the "grammar police" are almost never policing grammar; they're enforcing something else entirely. And yes-- if you stick around for this, you'll get some of the same stuff my students did for years. Gram

"Essential" My Aunt Fanny

100+by Peter Greene / 1d

At this point, the adjective "Orwellian" has been absolutely beaten to death (with "Kafkaesque" right behind it). But this latest Orwellian bullshit just pokes my last nerve with a sharp stick. You would think that an "essential" worker would be the one that you want to take the greatest steps to protect and preserve. That person guarding the door while a fire-laced sharknado rages outside? They'r

MI: Teacher Fired Over Political Tweet. If Only There Was A Way Protect Against Such Injustice.

200+by Peter Greene / 4d

Be careful what you wish for. Conservative media made a small summer meal out of the story of Justin Kucera , a 28-year-old social studies teacher/coach at Walled Lake Western High School. The known facts of the story appear to be this: On July 6, Kucera retweeted the Trump classic, "SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL." He followed that with “I’m done being silent. @realDonaldTrump is our president … D

For Teachers, This Is All Unfortunately Familiar

56by Peter Greene / 4d

It didn’t have to be this way. I’m not the first person to make that observation, and I won’t be the last. But it bears repeating. Because, for many regular citizens this school reopening-during-a-pandemic business may seem like a brand new adventure, but for educators, this is a new arrangement of a song they’ve heard many times before. In some alternate universe, political leaders—top folks, lik

Silicon Valley and the Surveillance State

30by Peter Greene / 5d

Peter Schwartz is an American futurist, innovator, author, and co-founder of the Global Business Network , a corporate strategy firm. He's done sexy things like consult for futury movies, including WarGames (ew), Minority Report, and Sneakers (an under-appreciated gem). He's written an assortment of books; he also wrote the 2004 climate change report that predicted that England would be a frozen w

Country Club Pod School

23by Peter Greene / 6d

So you run a string of private tony country clubs, offering "unique access to sports, fitness, luxury hospitality and family-friendly amenities across multiple clubs," and the pandemic has not been very helpful for your business. But you've got all this space. What can you do to get the money stream flowing again? Open a school, of course. Let me introduce you to the Bay Club, an organization offe

ICYMI: Bloggaversary Edition (9/16)

by Peter Greene / 7d

Back on this date in 2014, I put up my first post on this blog. I took me a month or two to figure out what I was doing, but here we are, a few years, about 3750 posts, and over 9 million hits later, still plugging away. Traditional anniversary gifts are either candy or iron, so I will eat some chocolate today in honor of the occasion. In the meantime, here are some items to read. I'll repeat my s

RI: Foxes In The Governor's Mansion

33by Peter Greene / 7d

I haven't paid much attention to Rhode Island (motto: That State Nobody Pays Much Attention To), but we should all take a look, because Rhode Island has become yet another example of the many ways that privatizers and profiteers 

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