Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, December 7, 2020

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY


Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)
http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/12/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile.html 


Artist Titus Kaphar on Depicting Loss and Finding Purpose
'One of the country's hottest artists, Titus Kaphar has long tackled under-representation of minorities in Western art through his plays on classic paintings. He talks with correspondent Rita Braver about his artwork, and about NXTHVN , an arts program he co-founded that aids emerging artists, curators and students.' -- CBS Sunday Morning
Pointe Black: The Uncomfortable Truth of Being a Black Ballerina
' Marie-Astrid Mence has been a member of Ballet Black since 2014—a seminal dance company formed of Black and Asian performers who astound audiences with displays of balletic beauty and power. Mence’s journey to becoming their Senior Artist, however, had a turbulent beginning in her hometown of Paris. In this documentary profile directed by Rebecca Murray , Mence narrates the uncomfortable truths
Singing on the Land featuring Rissi Palmer at Bentonville Battlefield
' Singing on the Land is a virtual music project that celebrates the stories of historic sites across North Carolina through the voices of North Carolina musicians. Developed by North Carolina State Historic Sites and Properties in partnership with the North Carolina Arts Council and Come Hear NC, each installment of the series highlights one of North Carolina’s 27 state designated historic sites
'A Most Beautiful Thing': An Unlikely Bond Between Chicago Teens from Rival Neighborhoods
'In the late 1990s, a group of teens from rival neighborhoods on Chicago’s West Side formed an unlikely bond. They became the first all-Black high school rowing team. Now, their story is at the center of new documentary called A Most Beautiful Thing . It’s based on a memoir by the same name, written by rower turned motivational speaker Arshay Cooper . Matter of Fact 's Soledad O’Brien spoke with
In Conversation: Leslie Uggams
'Singer and actress Leslie Uggams has been in show business for seven decades, since she was six. From appearances on musical variety shows and hosting her own series, to her roles in Roots , Empire , and the Deadpool movies, she talked with CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca about the responsibility she felt as one of the few African Americans regularly performing on early television, whe
Man of Change: August Wilson’s "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom" with Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Uri McMillian
'The new film adaptation of August Wilson ’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom stars the late Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis . In it, tensions and temperatures rise at a Chicago music studio in 1927 when fiery, fearless “Mother of the Blues” singer Ma Rainey joins her band for a recording session. Cast members Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, and Michael Potts explore Wilson’s work, their roles, and t
Common: "A Beautiful Revolution" (Part 1) – A Short Film
“'Beautiful Revolution' Pt. 1. is affirmation. It's recognition. It's elevation. It's music to go with a movement. Because the truth is, there is still so much work to do." -- Common Musicians: Common - vocals Robert Glasper - keys Karriem Riggins - drums Burniss Travis - bass PJ - vocals Isaiah Sharkey - guitar Alejandro Prawl - keys DJ Dummy - DJ
'Small Axe': Steve McQueen Talks 5-Part Anthology
'NPR's Michel Martin speaks with award-winning director Steve McQuee n about his latest project Small Axe , a set of five stand-alone movies exploring life in the West Indian communities of Britain.'

Sunday, December 6, 2020

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: So It's Really December Edition (12/6)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: So It's Really December Edition (12/6)




So It's Really December Edition 

Still trying to take care of all the places the cold gets into our house, because apparently the season is serious about things. Still counting down to the magical day when I can go many days at a time without asking, "Well, what has the President done today?" But there are still some good things to read from this week, so here's your list.

How DeVos May Have Started a Counter-Revolution in Education   

Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire in the New York Times explaining how Betsy DeVos has broken up an unspoken treaty between conservative and liberal ed reform folks, and how that may open the door to some actual steps forward.

Are We Compassionate Enough In School?

A hell of a question, posed by guest writer Matthew Fleming over at Ed Week. Pretty cool little piece about some of the things that create fatigue and burnout.

Behaviorism, Surveillance, and (School) Work  

Audrey Watters was a speaker at the #AgainstSurveillance teach-in, and here's what she said. As always, informative and infuriating, including enterprise software, Skinner's box for babies, and test proctoring. 

Anti-Affirmative Action Group Hopes Conservative Supreme Court Will Finally Give Them A Win  

Now that the Supreme Court has been tilted a bit further rightward, all manner of folks are getting ready to take a run at SCOTUS to get their favorite reactionary cause pumped up. So here come Students for Fair Admission, ready to stump for favored admission status for white guys. From the Root.

Rundown Schools Force More Students To Go Remote   

Hechinger Reports with a good look at how some schools were hit extra hard by the pandemic because they'd already gone years without decent maintenance. Let critical resources decay, and they can't sustain an extra hit--go figure. 

VCs Are Pouring Money Into the Wrong Education Startups

Venture capitalists, or vulture capitalists--take your pick, but they're making sure this mess doesn't go to waste. WIRED takes a look at where the money is going.

A Soccer Club and $1.2 Million for a charter school

We mentioned this here at the Institute back when the grant was first issued, but now Carol Burris at the Washington Post has even more details, and the rest of the story (which is that these amateurs didn't even get their school approved). Just our tax dollars--well, not so much "at work" as "being wasted."

Worse than Betsy DeVos: The disturbing story of 2020 school board elections

Jeff Bryant has looked downticket to discover that in many school board elections, pubic education was not the winner. From Alternet.

Online exam monitoring can invade privacy and erode trust at universities  

A Canada-centric look at the rapidly spreading ugly mess that is tecno-proctoring. Short form: it's bad.

Texas high school senior suspended for painted nails  

I'm always leery of these sorts of stories, because there is often another side of the tale that the school isn't free to tell. But I can't think of another side that would make this any less stupid. Sometimes public schools put dopes in charge, and they make dopey policies.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: So It's Really December Edition (12/6)

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION






The Jingle Bells Effect And The Canon
So, if you need a little something to jumpkick you into the season, here's a playlist challenge for you. Yes, that's roughly 76 minutes of various versions of "Jingle Bells," carefully selected, curated and ordered for your listening pleasure. "Jingle Bells" is a curious song to become a Christmas standard, mostly because it has nothing to do with Christmas but is instead the mid-19th century anc
Does Your School Suffer From Advanced Testivitis
In some quarters we seem to have cycled back around to the old argument that the Big Standardized Test provides an assortment of necessary data with no actual downside, so let's trot those puppies out here for this already-maimed year. I've spent a bunch of time talking about why the tests provide no actual benefit ( here , here and here , for example), but let me take a moment to look at the oth
Election Polling and the Big Standardized Test
From the Washington Post to the Wall Street Journal to the Atlantic and beyond, writers weeks after the election castigating the pollsters for yet another less-than-stellar year. But education writer Larry Ferlazzo moved on to another question—” Could Polling Errors in the 2020 Election Teach Us Something About The Use Of ‘Data’ In Education. ” He’s onto something there. Thinking about the Big St
Back On The No-Longer-Trailing Pandemic Education Edge: Digging A Ditch
I've been offering updates from my own small town/rural corner of the universe for just one more data point about how various school districts are dealing with pandemic education. We don't all need to write about New York City schools. My region had a decent shot. In a county of 50,000 people, we had a total of 70 cases at the beginning of September. All schools opened for face-to-face instructio
Is This How Post-pandemic Ed Tech Will Be Different
Andreesen Horowitz is a silicon valley venture capitalist investment firm looking to strike it rich in the ed tech world. That is more than enough reason to distrust them ( here's just one article laying out how vc firms --particularly tech ones--are wrecking our world). But they want to play in the ed tech sandbox, which is another reason. But they have some thoughts about how ed tech will look
The 2020 Edubook Christmas List
Time to go hunting for books for the people on your Christmas list, and I have some recommendations for you if there are people on your list who care about public education (and really, everybody should). Before we start shopping, let me also direct your attention to Bookshop.org , an online vendor set up to benefit local independent booksellers instead of, say, giving Jeff Mezos his next gazilli
Donors Choose Monday: Expanding the Library
This week's project is exactly the sort of thing that shouldn't be on donors choose. Mrs. Gibson is an elementary teacher in South Carolina, and she's looking to expand her classroom library. My students are living in a low income area where literacy is our focus in order to meet the needs they may not be receiving at home. My focus is to bring in books that we help them connect with other cultur
ICYMI: Long Weekend Edition (11/29)
Thanksgiving was not so bad at our house; the board of directors had a lovely time and I was able to talk to both grown children. So we'll call it a win. In the meantime, people keep writing stuff and I have some of it here for you to