Sunday, February 23, 2025

ICYMI: George's Birthday Edition (2/23)

Okay, George Washington's birthday was yesterday (or actually the 11th by the old calendar), but it seems like a good time to remember the guy who, for all his faults, argued that he should not be crowned king and not allowed to serve more than two terms as President. Just saying. George would be 293 today.

Here's your list for the week. Remember, you can be an amplifier. Share posts. Subscribe to folks-- even if it's a free subscription, you increase their digital footprint. 

The White House said book bans aren’t happening. Now JD Vance’s memoir is a target.

Hillbilly Elegy, besides being poverty porn, has plenty of naughty words and even recognizes that LGBTQ persons exist. Cue the Department of Defense purge.

Trump's Education Agenda is Unpopular

Jennifer Berkshire must have calluses from beating this drum so hard, but she's right-- look at conditions on the ground and you find that even the people who love Trump don't love his ideas about education.

Trump Is Not Taking the State Out of Public Schools, He Is Putting Christianity In

Anne Lutz Fernandez looks at the MAGA religious agenda for K-12. 

The SC House Debates Education and School Vouchers

Steve Nuzum reports on education debates in the South Carolina House, which include the usual unsubstantiated slander of teachers--but also people on the far right who oppose the universal voucher bill.

It Is Fun to Pretend That Hard Things Are Easy!

Dan Meyers on an online platform that promises to teach you math 4x faster. Yay, miracles!

Why Education Reformers Will Find a Home in the Trump Administration

Jeff Bryant takes a look at continued upward fail that is Penny Schwin's career. Seasoned reformster or common grifter, Schwinn shows what kind of ideas are running Dear Leader's education policy.


Thomas Ultican pulls up the background on the first-of-its-kind lawsuit meant to support the Science [sic] of Reading folks. 

Bad Words in Schools

Do you subscribe to Nancy Flanagan's blog yet? Because you should. Here's her musing about what words are or are not okay in school these days.

Automated Contempt

It is a mistake to call Audrey Watters simply the ed tech Cassandra. She has an outstanding ability to connect the dots between many different pieces of history, technology, and culture. Her posts are also full of excellent links, like this one, that mulls on how well the inhumanity of AI fits the inhumanity of the political moment.

Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts at the Department of Education are already harming North Carolina’s most vulnerable students

Justin Parmenter reports from North Carolina on some of the real effects of President Musk's chainsaw work. 

What Did We Learn from Linda McMahon’s Confirmation Hearing?

Jan Resseger provides an excellent digest of observations from Linda McMahon's confirmation hearing for the Secretary of Education post. No good news here, but forewarned and all that.

The War on Learning: How Politicians Are Dismantling Education—And How We Fight Back

Julian Vasquez Heilig on fighting for academic freedom and inclusive education.

There IS Proof Knowledge Works. And It's Overwhelming.

Yes, this is from Robert Pondiscio, a long time part of the AEI/Fordham axis of reforminess. He and I disagree on some stuff, and agree on some other stuff, and one part of the other stuff is the idea that content knowledge matters when it comes to reading (and learning). 

The Josiah Bartlett Center takes a beating.

New Hampshire libertarians have had a rough couple of weeks. Andru Volinsky explains some of what's actually going on.

Senator Simon’s SB166: Administrative Efficiency in Public Schools

Could Florida actually do something to help public schools? Anything is possible. Sue Kingery Woltanski explains what the bill could do.

Parents at Army base in Stuttgart say students grappling with new school rules

Stars and Stripes has been covering the effects of federal anti-diversity measures on Department of Defense schools. John Vandiver takes a look at Stuttgart, where nobody is sure what the rules are, but some students are pretty sure they're being erased.

Educators calculate their risks in class as states escalate anti-DEI pressure

The Southern Poverty Law Center looks at some teachers who are navigating the new racist restrictions on education. Can you teach Black history and keep your job?

Who is a cognitive scientist?

Benjamin Riley considers what cognition is, and who counts as a scientist studying it.

Boston Herald, Pioneer Institute, and Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance Push Great Replacement Theory

You know what's not great for education? Treating Those Peoples' Children as interlopers who are out to replace proper white folks. And yet here's The Boston Globe, a major newspaper, pushing the Great Replacement Theory. Maurice Cunningham has the story.

“I’m Afraid We Are Automating This Work Without Really Understanding It”

Gretchen Gravatt talks to Allison Pugh about using AI to replace human connective labor.

The Department of Government Exploitation


The current administration's rush to privatize everything is, of course, pretty familiar to folks in the education world. Conor Lynch at Truthdig explains what's up here. For instance, the federal workforce actually hasn't increased since the 1950s. The number of private subcontracts on the other hand...

If the ultra-rich want to escape from reality — good riddance

Troy Farah's Salon piece can get a little harsh for my tastes, but it does include this Douglas Rushkoff  quote--
they have succumbed to a mindset where “winning” means earning enough money to insulate themselves from the damage they are creating by earning money in that way. It’s as if they want to build a car that goes fast enough to escape from its own exhaust.

This week at Forbes.com I wrote about the Texas conservatives who hate hate hate Greg Abbott's voucher bill.

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