Merry Christmas

 Every 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 we are, and the many ways we express that.

And if you're more of a Spotify type, here is a playlist from my family. All the aunts and uncles and cousins and etc etc contributed some music, and I attempted to arrange it in a coherent-ish order

So there's some music to add to your day. If Christmas is your thing, have a great day. And if it isn't your thing, have a great day. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all.

FL: Another Assault On Education

Florida owns the Number One spot on the Public Education Hostility Index, but Governor Ron DeSantis is not willing to rest on his laurels. You may have already heard about this, or you may have passed over the news because it's Florida, but some bad news needs to be repeated, particularly when it comes from the state that launches so many of the bad trends in education.

DeSantis has borrowed from Texas, where a new abortion ban has come up with a clever way to circumvent rules about what a state can and cannot enforce. Now upheld by SCOTUS, the law makes every citizen a bounty hunter, with the right for "anyone to sue anyone" suspected of being in any way involved in an abortion (in a rare display to restraint, Texas exempts the woman getting the abortion from the civil liability). 

The idea of insulating the state is not new to education privatization efforts. Part of the reasoning behind education savings accounts is that it let's the state say, "What? We didn't give taxpayer dollars to a private religious institution. We just gave the money to a scholarship organization (and they gave it to the private religious school). Totally not a First Amendment violation."

So here comes DeSantis with his "Stop WOKE Act" (as in "Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees"-- some staffer was up late working on that one). This is legislation he'll "push for" because of course a governor doesn't propose legislation--he just orders it up from his party in the legislature. 

The proposal comes wrapped in lots of rhetoric about the evils of "critical race theory," which DeSantis defines broadly and bluntly:

Nobody wants this crap, OK? This is an elite-driven phenomenon being driven by bureaucratic elites, elites in universities and elites in corporate America and they’re trying to shove it down the throats of the American people. You’re not doing that in the state of Florida.

Along with vague rhetoric about learning to hate America, DeSantis brought in crt panic shill Christopher Rufo for his pep rally. And of course he trotted out some highly selective Martin Luther King Jr. quotage, because, hey, he's totally not racist.

But the highlight here is creating a "private right of action" for parents, an actual alleged civil rights violation. Anyone who thinks their kid is being taught critical race theory can sue (and this will apply to workplace training as well). Parents who win even get to collect attorney's fees, meaning they can float these damn lawsuits essentially for free-- watch for Florida's version of Edgar Snyder--attorneys advertising "there's no charge unless we get money for you."

Allowing parents to file lawsuits would have the effect of making the operating definition of crt even vaguer--it's whatever Pat and Sam's mom thinks it is. You can say that using a bad definition that loses the lawsuit would limit this vaguery, but that misses the point--the school would still have to defend itself in court, costing money and time.

This is a perfectly designed plan for chilling discussion in Florida schools. The instant this bad idea becomes a law, I promise that a non-zero number of Florida school administrators will, via meeting or memo, tell their staffs "We can't afford to be sued by every crazy racist family in the district, so as of now, no teachers will discuss anything having to do with race at all, ever." This is really beyond just a chill--this law would be a deep freeze. 

Class With Dr. Deepfake

The MIT Media Lab gas something to show us.

Yikes. The video shows old pictures being brought "to life." Here's Einstein "talking" with a voice barely escaping cartoon German scientist territory, Van Gogh with a mystery accent, and Mona Lisa not actually saying, "It's a-me, Mario!"

While MIT acknowledges the potential for harm of deepfakery and AI animatronics, I'm not sure they really get it. The "technology can be used for positive purposes--to revive Albert Einstein to teach a physics class, talk through a career change with your older self, or anonymize people while preserving facial communication."

I don't really know how that second one could possibly work, and I'll give them the one about anonymizing people--basically AI-supported catfishing so you can build face-to-face trust while still hiding yourself--could have some limited useful applications (could totally reinvent the confessional).

But that first one? No. Because Albert Einstein is not going to teach a physics class. Some programmer, using an AInimated image of a face is going to teach a class. The level of non-understanding teaching here is pretty severe, the notion that it is just delivering some information through a conduit that doesn't even rise to the level of straight lecture. In this class, you won't get Einstein's actual voice, mannerisms, movement--but you'll be encouraged by the software to imagine that you are getting all those things. Can Fake Einstein respond to questions, comments, inquiries, and can he do it with the same incisive intelligence that Real Einstein would have? 

Of course not--and that reveals some of the hubris here. These guys aren't imagining using AInimated faces to fill in for a mediocre lecturer of simple material in a low-level course--no, they want us to imagine that they can use software to reproduce one of the greatest minds in human history. Really, they're further ahead with Talking Mona Lisa, who's creating a voice and mannerisms out of whole cybercloth. We're talking about plain old Making Shit Up--but with a computer, so that makes it really cool and legit. Talking paintings that explain themselves might be cute, and at least not give the impression that we are seeing a real thing.

The "product" is marked with a traceable, human-readable watermark "to help prevent its malicious use." Won't do anything to help with well-meaning but not-good use. 

I used to joke that I would never retire, but that when I died I'd have my body stuffed and mounted with added animatronics and a library of my old lessons, and I'd just stay in the classroom forever. Now it appears that my vision was too limited--just using my picture, programmers could replace me with AInimation that might not sound, think, or act like me, but would still have my face. There are probably some non-terrible applications of this, but it is still some creepy stuff.

Common Core In The Discount Bin

Every community has some kind of deep discount store, the place that is the final stop for merchandise that people just won't buy until it's marked way, way, way down. In my neck of the woods, it's Ollie's (moto: "Good stuff cheap" which--well, you have admire a store that cuts to the chase). Today the CMO (Chief Marital Officer) and I were out shopping, stopped at Ollie's. and here's what we found tucked away on a deep cuts table:

Yup-- a whole table of Common Core goodies.

This particular product came from Carson-Dellarosa, a company that publishes all sorts of useful stuff for teachers. They have a whole bunch of brands, including Disney Learning and Mark Twain Learning. 

At some point, someone in the company in the company decided to green light this product-- a box that included the various Common Core standards, one to a card, those cards including open-ended "essential questions" as well as "I can" statements for math and reading standards. These could be paired with similar sets of "Learning Target" cards, also with essential questions (presumably much like essential oils). Ollie's does not seem to carry the wall-hanging pocket thingy that would let you display all these cards. These products were apparently aimed at teachers

The grade-specific Learning Targets and Essential Questions kits are designed to make lesson preparation easier and to help teachers save time. Each kit includes sturdy two-sided cards. The essential questions are designed to help keep lessons focused and to provide students with a clear understanding of the intended outcome. The learning targets, or I Can statements, serve as assessment tools for both teachers and students. The I Can statements also allow teachers and students to evaluate progress toward learning goals.

Yes, those happy bygone days when Common Core loving amateurs (and other people who should have known better) believed that if you just kept telling students what the standards were, they would achieve them faster. 

You may have noticed that the links above lead to Amazon. That's because Carson-Dellarosa no longer appears to offer these products at all (though they still have Common Core branded worksheets out the wazoo). Each box appears to have originally retailed for $19.99. Amazon offers them from anywhere in the low to mid teens.

But Ollies will let you pick these up for a mere $2.99 per box. Because Ollie's is the last stope before you end up on the scrap heap of history.

ICYMI: Homecoming Edition (12/19)

My daughter and her family are on a plane today, returning with considerable trepidation to the area for Christmas stuff. Scary to have them navigate the current pandemic wave, but boy do I want to see my children and grandchildren. Ho ho ho, indeed. Here's some reading from the week.

College, Career, or Whatever Readiness

Jose Luis Vilson talks about the resurgence of college and career readiness, and why it misses the mark.

Pitt launches teacher prep program

This should be interesting. Here in NW PA we've seen multiple college teacher prep programs fold or down-size because of decreased enrollment, but Pitt thinks maybe it can help address the state teacher pipeline problem by opening up a new program. Let's see how this goes.

Ben Simmons and education testing

Akil Bello with a perfect analogy about how putting testing emphasis on the wrong things leads to lousy consequences.

Not getting into it: How critical race theory laws are cutting short classroom conversations

Chalkbeat looks at the chilling effect of these gag laws which encourage teachers to just not address the topics at all.

"You're not going to teach about race. You're going to go ahead and keep your job."

EdWeek takes a look at just how chilling gag laws like Oklahoma's are. Spoiler alert: Very.

Oklahoma bill seeks to alter teaching of slavery

Also in Oklahoma, legislators want to force teachers to talk about slavery in a particular way (everybody was doing it and white people weren't any more slave-holdery than anyone else).

Teachers, parents file lawsuit against New Hampshire divisive concepts law.

US News as the story as folks fight back against the NH version of the race gag law.

Businesses: Idaho education politics are hurting state

Idaho is at #9 on the Public Education Hostility Index, and that hostility to public education is turning out to be bad for business. This is an AP story.

DeSantis unveils plan to let parents sue schools

Florida will not be outdone for hostility to public ed. Now borrowing from the Texas anti-abortion model, DeSantis now wants parents to sue schools for teaching crt. 

As parents protest critical race theory, students fight racist behavior at school

NBC notes that increased attacks over any attempt at addressing equity at school are spilling over into students' lives in school, and it's not a good thing. More attacks on boards embolden more harassment of students of color.

There's a lot for conservatives to embrace in critical race theory

Gary Abernathy in the Washington Post offers that crt has some good parts, and conservatives ought to be embracing them. 

Four Memphis schools to return to local control

A while back, Tennessee decided that they would create a state-run school district to take over "failing" schools, and then magically turn them into Very Successful Schools. It has failed, repeatedly, consistently, to do that. Here it is, failing again. Marta Aldritch in Chalkbeat.

How K-12 funding has slipped

Researchers take a look at funding "effort"-- how much states are spending as a share of their economic output. Fuess what--the effort is shrinking.

Lawmakers concerned about plan to increase frequency of standardized tests

In Illinois, some legislators note that increasing standardized test might be a dumb idea. They are not wrong. 

How the viral Wayfair sex trafficking lie hurts real kids

All that QAnon baloney about pedophile sex trafficking rings is having real negative consequences for real human beings. This Washington Post piece hangs on the story of a runaway who was being reported as a Wayfair "victim" weeks and months after she had returned home.

Six gigantic problems, six wrong solutions in public ed

Nancy Flanagan with some spot on analysis

Ohio department of education concludes investigation of Bishop Sycamore; it's a scam

You may remember the story of the fake high school in Ohio that was caught after they got hammered in an ESPN high school game of the week. The department of ed has now officially announced what everyone had pretty much concluded on their own--the school is a massive scam.

Johnson county teacher's message to parents: You can be angry, but we can also leave

Mostly just watch the three minute video of a veteran teacher's address to one of the many school boards operating in the midst of angry parent firestorms. It's a masterful, emotional speech.

The endless humiliation of teachers

Steven Singer reacts to that viral image of teachers on their knees in a hockey rink, scarmbling for cash in order to entertain the crowd. 

The Great American Teacher Exodus

Noa de la Cour at The Jacobin with a pretty solid overview of the many reasons that teaching positions have been harder and harder to fill.

Also, this week in Things I Wrote Elsewhere, at Forbes I wrote about the current SCOTUS case aimed at destroying the wall between church and state

PA: Senate Wants To Block Any School COVID Vaccination Mandate

In Pennsylvania, under section 1303 of the school code, we find a requirement to vaccinate school students. Right now, some legislators are preparing to mess with that.

School directors, superintendents, principals, or other persons in charge of any public, private, parochial, or other school including kindergarten, are required to make sure that every child is immunized before being admitted to the school, according to the current list issued by the Secretary of Health. In fact, there are penalties for failing to do so. 

Any person who shall fail, neglect, or refuse to comply with, or who shall violate, any of the provisions or requirements of this section, except as hereinafter provided, shall, for every such offense, upon summary conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than five dollars ($5) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), and in default thereof, to undergo an imprisonment in the jail of the proper county for a period not exceeding sixty (60) days. All such fines shall be paid into the treasury of the school district.

All right, not a big fine. But a fine. Exemptions are available for medical or religious reasons. 

The current list of required jabs is diphtheria and tetanus, pertussis, measles-mumps-rubella, and meningococcal conjugate vaccine for high school seniors. 

But now here comes Senate Bill 937, prohibiting the requirement for COVID-19 vaccination for any student. "The bill," my senator tells me in his regular newsletter, "does not contest the efficacy" of the vaccine. But since it only has FDA "emergency use authorization," parents should be able to deny it. The bill is short enough:

Immunization exception-- No child should be required to be immunized for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 known as COVID-19, as a condition of compliance with 28 Pa. Code 28.83 (relating to immunization requirements).

You'll notice that it doesn't include any language like "as soon as the FDA gives full approval, the vaccination can be required for all students and be added to the list of all those other vaccinations that we already require. 

The bill comes from Senator Michele Brooks (R-50), chair of the Health and Human Services committee. The bill passed the Senate upon party lines. Sen. Doug Mastriano compares COVID in PA to seasonal, avian and swine flu. The Senate's passage of the bill actually attracted little attention, other than some conservative sites noting "Yay, freedom!" The bill will now go on to the House. If you're in Pennsylvania, you may want to give your representative a call.

While Gov. Wolf has already said that he will veto the bill, he's also said he has no intention of mandating vaccination. So for teachers who have family members who cannot be vaccinated against the disease that has so far killed 800,000 citizens and stuck some untold number of others with long term disability, none of this news is great. 

8 Bad Education Models

As we consider (or ignore) the opportunity to rethink and re-imagine education, all of our worst ideas about what education actually is have come bubbling to the surface like hippopotamus farts in a stagnant pond. There are many bad ways to frame education, models that are damaging for students or simply twist education into unproductive shapes. Here are some of the worst.

The Empty Vessels

Students are just empty vessels, just a collection of inert, powerless, agency-free tubs into which teachers pour education like melted butter. It's important that the empty vessels hold still and avoid interfering with the process. Just sit there quietly and let us fill you up with this stuff, like empty manikins--certainly not like actual human beings or active participants in your education. 

Meat Widget Prep

Education is for turning out useful meat widgets who will be able to meet the needs of their future employers. The measure of whether or not something should be included in schooling is a simple question--would someone someday be willing to pay you for having this skill? If the answer is no, then we're just wasting time. Your education is not about you and your life--it's making you useful to corporate bosses.

Engineering 

Students are just little machines, and teaching is just science and engineering. If you do steps A, B and C exactly as the science tells you to, every single student will learn exactly what they're supposed to learn. Variations in success are the result of teachers not following the instructions exactly; this would probably go better if we just programmed a computer to do it. Humans are just big meat machines that can be operated like any other big machine.

The Data Stream

Follow the data. Students generate it, teachers respond to it, and administrators crunch it while never leaving their offices. Do not be distracted by the human beings involved in this activity; they simply generate a bunch of noise that will distract you from the pure, clear data. Just keep tweaking the system until the data generating units (formerly known as "students") have been properly coached by the data procurement units (formerly known as "teachers"). 

Consumer Good

Like a taco or a toaster, education is just a consumer good and students and their families are just customers. The mission of schools is to produce just enough of the product of just enough quality at the lowest possible cost and the highest possible price. Public schools suck because they aren't subjected to the same kind of market forces that brought us the excellence of Big Macs and the Walmart clothing department. Tarting the concept up with terms like "deliverables" does not improve it. 

Osmotic Freedom

Put children in a rich environment and just let them, you know, be, and learn stuff. Teachers are just there to offer advice if anyone asks for it, and to help fix hardware problems should they arise. Otherwise, just let the students naturally soak up the education. Just go with the flow; students will be driven to higher levels of education just because.

Training Savages

Children are uncivilized little beasts and they have to be whipped into shape. Their every impulse must be tightly controlled, their behavior constantly monitored, and compliance regularly enforced. It's great if they learn some content stuff, but they by God better learn how to line up when told and how to keep their lips zipped until permitted to speak. Lean on them until they knuckle under and behave themselves properly--particularly the ones who really need it, the children of Those People.

Know Your Place

Look, people are destined for different stations in life. Not everyone needs to learn how to be a leader or the chef or the boss; we need followers and order-takers and people who do the grunt work they're told to do. Education is part of the process of sorting students into their rightful place, and if Those Peoples' Children could just learn to understand this, they wouldn't cause so much unnecessary commotion. 

These models of education, in large or small part, can inform the models for developing schools themselves--and not in a good way. You may well find someone using multiples of these, though probably not all of them at once. Avoid these models and strike them down whenever they rear their ugly heads.