CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: So This Is 2022 Edition (1/2)
So This Is 2022 Edition
Well, here we are. It's almost as if the physical universe is not particularly impressed by our arbitrarily created markings of the passage of time. I remain optimistic, however. Here's the reading list for the week.
The Coming Troubles of Public Ed In Virginia
Nancy Bailey joins those looking at the incoming administration in Virginia and concludes that it means bad news for those who love public education and student data privacy.
Education Exodus
A news report covering an Oregon study that looks at teacher stress over the past year.
New laws and old
Gregory Sampson takes a look at how the old law of unintended consequences is about to follow a new law covering teacher personal days in North Carolina
Is McKinsey China's weapon against America?
Gordon Change contributes a Newsweek op ed about our old friends at McKinsey and one other consern about their compass-free approach to business.
How Maine is trying to take food insecurity off kids' plates
PBS takes a look at one state's attempt to deal with child hunger
The quiet effort to change Massachusetts' education policy
By now you're familiar with the attempts to gag the teaching of anything related to race--the efforts that involve screaming and noisily ramming laws through. But you may have missed some quieter, but equally scary attempts, like what's going on in Massachusetts.
Lost in the critical race theory debate: the enduring value of the free press
From the Philadelphia Inquirer (beware the limited number of free articles), a new take on CRT panic, and how it threatens the free flow of information that journalism is all about.
A truly patriotic education requires critical analysis of US history
At The Hill, Wallace Stern talks about how to teach true history and face the controversies.
End of the year compilation posts are kind of a pain, but Steve Snyder always does two, God bless him-- the posts that were most popular at his blog, and those that he thinks were most overlooked.
God keeps me and us around
Jose Luis Vilson has had quite the year, and his summation is well worth the read.
And, this week at Forbes, I pointed out that courts in North Carolina have now ruled that charter schools are not public schools--twice. Then we went to Oklahoma and Florida to look at how those states are putting more threat in their teacher gag laws. And finally, asking if we'll ever get school covid policy out of the kluge stage.
CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION
Look Back. Look Forward. Breathe.I'm not always moved to do a "look at the year" post or a "predictions for the upcoming year" post. A lot of these compilations are meant to be a way to lessen workload at a busy time, but as anyone who has done the work can tell you, it doesn't actually lessen anything. Plus, the new year is one of those things that we humans made up and then tried to imbue with great weight and importance, as i
PA: Bucks County Classroom ChillI've predicted this kind of thing for states that are leaning hard into book bans and teacher gag laws, but here's a perfectly good example of how this sort of thing works right here in Pennsylvania. The process is simple. Step One: You put some threats in place, from fines against the school district to possible lawsuits to just the fact that you have increased the likelihood that some agitated
Who Do The Leaders Follow (Twitter Edition)Warning: If you are completely unimpressed and disinterested when it comes to Twitter, this post is probably not for you. It was an offhand Tweet that I read, but it got me thinking and checking, and sure enough-- the current Secretary of Education does not follow a single working teacher. Or even, really, a person in education. Now yes--before we dig into this, I totally get that social media ac
PA: State Argues Great Education Only For A FewThere's a big court case currently unfolding in Pennsylvania court; several school districts and some parents are suing over the state's funding formula, arguably one of the worst in the nation. And one lawyer for the defense is saying the quiet parts out loud. The central issue is the question of just how much responsibility the state has to provide a quality education for every child. Many stat
ICYMI: Feast Of Stephen Edition (12/26)Yes, that's today. Sing "Good King Wenceslas," the only good Feast of Stephen carol I know of. The list is a little short this week because so many of us have been busy. Death Threats And Doxxing How all this anti-mask, anti-crt stuff is playing out at actual school districts--in this case, in Texas. The Decline of Standardized Testing Quick Axios explainer in the wake of Harvard's dumping of the
Merry ChristmasEvery year I update my youtube playlist of things that are (mostly) off the beaten Yuletide musical path, not to be contrarian, but because 1) I like them and 2) it's as good a time as any to reflect on what a wide a varied species
