The Neo-Nazi Next DoorGwen Frisbie-Fulton writes here about her neighbors , who were white supremacists. She moved away so her son would not be exposed to their hatefulness. There were ten thousand personal reasons why I packed up that house and sold it, but there was also one troublesome thing that had been on my mind. A few years earlier the Vinlanders — a white power hate group — had set up a clubhouse only a few b
Julian Vasquez Heilig Schools Jonathan Chait about ChartersThis post was originally published on January 6. The day turned into a full-scale riot as Trump urged his devoted followers to march on the Capitol. They did, they invaded it, they vandalized it, they went looking for legislators and the Vice-President with murderous intent. We narrowly averted a coup that day, and thank God, none of our legislators were killed, though several of them feared for
Why the District of Columbia Should Gain StatehoodChris Myers Asch grew up in D.C. His mother still lives there. He now lives in Maine and he urges his senators in Maine to support statehood for D.C. In this column, published in the Maine Press Herald, he explains why the District should gain statehood and why the residents of the District should have the right to vote. Asch teaches at Colby College and is the author of Chocolate City: A History
Study: Weakening Unions Increases Gender Gap in WagesBarbara Biasi, assistant professor of economics at the Yale School of Management, recently published a study that concluded that eliminating unions increases the gender gap in wages. She looked at data from Wisconsin, before and after Scott Walker eliminated collective bargaining rights in 2011, in his Koch-funded effort to destroy unions. For every dollar earned by men in the U.S., women earn ab
Breaking News! New York State Asks Feds for Testing Waiver for This Spring!New York State education officials have agreed to request a waiver from the Secretary of Education from federally mandated testing this spring, due to the pandemic. State officials recognize that the pandemic has caused gross inequities in opportunity to learn and would serve no useful purpose. (Under normal circumstances the federally required tests serve no useful purpose, but they are a terrib
Emiliana Dore: Charter Schools Are Not the Answer!Emiliana Dore wrote a powerful article at Medium about the importance of public schools and why charter schools do not promote racial or social justice. Her article was posted by Carl J. Petersen, a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles. Dore, a public school parent and advocate, wrote in response to an article at The 74 contending that charter schools were models for teaching kindnes
Arthur Camins: Time for Democrats to Divorce the “Bipartisan” Education Policy AgendaArthur Camins calls on the Democratic Party to divorce the “bipartisan” education policy agenda that has been in place for the past four decades. This is the agenda of competition, testing, accountability, and choice. It actually was the Republican policy agenda first, and the Democrats decided to embrace it. What did the Democrats give up when they endorsed the Republican education agenda? Democ
John Thompson: A Hilarious Novel about Life in the Classroom TodayWho knew that “adequate yearly progress” and “accountability” could be the subject of a comic novel? John Thompson just read that novel and he reviews it here. Roxanna Elden’s Adequate Yearly Progress is a hilarious, satirical novel that nails the very serious truths about the real world effects of corporate school reform. Although Elden’s humor spectacularly illuminates the reformers’ often-absu
Dr. Bandy X. Lee and the “Goldwater Rule”In the past four years, we have often been warned that we must not try to decipher Trump’s mental state because it would violate the American Psychiatric Association’s “Goldwater Rule.” This is a rule that was adopted in 1973, as an ethical warning to its members that they should not attempt to define the psychiatric state of a patient that they have not personally evaluated. This rule came about
Donald Trump: America’s Liar-in-ChiefThe Washington Post fact-checkers have kept a meticulous record of Donald Trump’s lies , and there were so many of them that it became a nearly full-time job. Every time he spoke at a rally, the lies came tumbling out. Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading statements, nearly half of them in his last year in office. The biggest lie, of course, was his claim that he won the election, whic
Ann Cronin: Miguel Cardona, What Is Your Vision for American Education?Ann P. Cronin is a former Connecticut Distinguished English Teacher of the Year, a school district administrator, and creator of award-winning programs for the teaching of English in middle schools and high schools. At her blog, she asks about Miguel Cardona’s vision for the future. She writes: When I ask Connecticut teachers about Miguel Cardona, those who know him or have worked with him say th
Will Jeff Bezos Seek Control of American Education?This is the scariest article of the week or month , not counting the violent rampage of Trump allies on January 6. Dominik Dresel writes in Edsurge about Jeff Bezos’ entry into the education “market.” He begins: Bezos, more than any other tech entrepreneur, is known to play the long game, masterfully. In a now-famous 1997 interview , he candidly explained why Amazon started out by selling books.
Nancy Flanagan: Eight Reasons to Get a New National AnthemNancy Flanagan was a music teacher for many years. After teaching and singing the National Anthem thousands of times, she has come to the conclusion that we need a different one. She says that the National Anthem is a disgrace. The tune is an old British drinking song. The lyrics are archaic and almost impossible to remember. The message is warlike and not reflective of our democratic values. Tha
Join the National Town Hall to Learn About Canceling Testing This SpringThe standardized tests to which our students have been subjected for two decades have not improved American education. They have degraded it into endless months of test preparation, for tests of dubious reliability and validity. Schools have reduced or eliminated the arts, recess, civics, and other subjects because they “don’t count.” Only the tests count. Standardized tests do not reduce achieve
Jonathan Swan: Bill Barr Quit Because He Knew Trump Was Lying about the ElectionIt is late in the day for former Attorney General Bill Barr to rehabilitate his reputation, but he apparently gave journalist Jonathan Swan an inside view of why he quit in December. He knew that Trump was lying about the election. He tried to convince him that all the claims of election fraud were B.S., but Trump got angry when Barr told him the truth. Of course, when Barr resigned, he wrote an
Peter Greene: Republicans in Florida Seek to Gut Public Schools EntirelyPeter Greene here disentangles the latest move to expand vouchers in Florida and the latest attempt to demolish public schools in a state where 80 percent of students attend public schools. Florida’s voucher schools currently are not required to take state tests or to have any standards for teachers or principals or to adhere to the state curriculum. Most of the voucher schools are religious, ign
Leonie Haimson to Mayor de Blasio: Cancel the Tests for Gifted and Talented Programs NOW!Parent advocate Leonie Haimson has written an urgent plea to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza. They acknowledge that the test for the “gifted and talented” programs are flawed, they know they need to be replaced, they know that it is wrong to test children as young as 4, but they are giving the test anyway. Haimson says, STOP NOW! Haimson writes: Last week, Mayor
A Wonderful Typo! We Need Common CARE Standards!Recently Tom Ultican responded to something I posted on Twitter. His response contained a typo. He meant to write “Common Core Standards,” but mistakenly wrote “Common Care Standards.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our
