Sunday, May 24, 2026

ICYMI: Big Bishop Sunday Edition (5/24)

Everybody in a lofty position had to start somewhere, and the current head of the Episcopal Church in the US happened to start out as the rector at our local church. He has done a fine job of standing against the current christianist tide. He was also a valued school board member during a difficult time with a great commitment to public education (his sister is currently education chief for the state). And when he was just a lowly local bishop, he married my daughter and son-in-law in that same church. That church is celebrating its 200th birthday today, and the very reverend presiding bishop will be visiting to share a few words. So, a cool day.

Ordinarily I put the tech-related reading at the bottom of the list, but today I have two really valuable tech pieces to share, so we'll start this week's list with those.

Real signals or artificial stereotypes?

Though I referenced this item in a post this week, it bears repeating. Adam Kucharski tells us about an experiment in which Copilot was given two data sets of survey responses, one labeled US and on UK. Could Copilot discern the cultural differences between the two? It could, and did so at great length. Except that the two data sets were just two copies of the same dataset. Whoopsies.

Googlebooks are the first anti-personal computers

The next awesome tech tool is a computer that is "AI-first." It will tell you what it is you want to do next. "It is Google’s computer acting on your behalf — not your computer under your control." Ashley Biancuzzo, PCWorld associate editor, is not feeling it.

Parents explode in fury at school’s plan to constantly film their children to train AI

The crazypants folks at University of Washington just wanted preschool teachers wear body cams so that everything they said and did could be recorded to train AI. That included filming the children. And parents had to opt out to avoid it. And they were pissed, so the university gave up this time-- but you know that idea is still out there.

Koch and Walton Tied Front Buys Its Way into Maine Governor's Race

Maurice Cunningham is an expert in tracking dark money. Here he notes that DFER, the supposedly Democratic advocacy group for school privatization, is throwing plenty of money around for the Maine gubernatorial race. 

Children Are Not Property: The Case for Children’s Fundamental Rights

Bruce Lesley argues the point once again for the people in the back-- children are not chattel. And no, that doesn't mean that parents are unimportant.

Teachers: Please Take Action on the Public Policy that Affects Our Work and Our Students

A rare guest post at Jan Resseger's blog. Brand new teacher Mackenzie Morgan asks teachers to please get in the debates about education policy.

We Taught Students to Read. We Still Can’t Tell if They Understand.

Oh, look. Could it be the reading pendulum swinging back away from decoding toward comprehension. Quel surprise!

Tennessee governor signs Memphis schools takeover into law

Nobody has proven more thoroughly than Tennessee that state takeovers do not work. So, of course, Governor Lee would like to launch another state takeover of a school district.

Education Department Reallocates Minority-Serving Institution Funds Again

Just a quick take from Inside Higher Ed (so you may want to save your free clicks). It requires some more study, but it sure seems like the feds saying "Let's just put money supporting those non-white students into just getting them ready for a job."

The Last Bell Rings, But the Lessons Don’t Stop

As always, TC Weber writes about many things, but come for the explanation of the importance of a half-decent principal.

Neanderthals vs Humans vs Ants vs AI

Do we get smarter when you collect more of us? Benjamin Riley takes a look at some science.

Commencement, Continuation, Convocation

Adrian Neibauer shares some thoughts about transition and commencement and the students going through them.

Academica Enters Florida’s Voucher Gold Rush

Sue Kingery Woltanski takes a break from taking a break to look at how one charter giant is getting ready to cash in on vouchers, too.

Why Is ALA Giving a Platform to a Company Promoting “AI Librarians”?

What the heck, ALA? The AI School Librarian has some questions.

Memorial Day, 2026

Nancy Flanagan once again the personal with the bigger picture. A worthy Memorial Day meditation.

At Forbes.com this week, a look at the attempt to slash next year's education budget (which looks a lot like last year's, except for the branding).

Of all the musical appearances on Colbert as he went down to the wire, I think this was my favorite.


 You, too, can get my regular output in your email. And it's free.

No comments:

Post a Comment