Odds & Ends – Off Edu

Pretty much all off edu but a few random things I’ve read or listened to lately are below. Scroll down the blog and you can find a range of recent Eduwonk content from a plea to address drownings, a debate on parents v. the public for school accountability, and an Eli Broad remembrance.

Kickstarter for you to consider. 

Ben Dreyfuss:

It’s ironic that the younger generation in school now is so ill-equipped for this when it is they who will spend their entire lives in this dynamic. The kids that can’t be forced to give school presentations because it might stress them out are going to become adults and spend every day on social media being shouted at by strangers. If you really wanted to prepare teens for real life, you would have a class where once a week they all go into the school gymnasium and hundreds of strangers throw feces at them from the bleachers.

Also:

One of life’s great joys is meeting someone and clicking with them; when your personalities truly meld. You’re fucked up in the same way. You laugh at the same things. What a sad way to live if you foreclose the possibility of those friendships because they disagree with you about fracking.

When young people ask me how to be good at what you do in this sector I generally suggest having a diverse group of friends, most of whom don’t work in this sector. You’ll think more creatively and make better decisions if your whole life is not bundled up around your work.

Also, have friends who will keep you from going off the rails. This article about an insurrectionist is wild.

I don’t know what is more fun, this mischievous letter or this clarification.

Steve Rees v. AERA. Is it race or class in politics?

This article in the WSJ is a great look at some statehood history. We romanticize the past and say “unprecedented” way too much. Points out that Kentucky was, of course, once part of Virginia. That reminded me of this great Daniel Boone biography I read recently that cut through a lot of the mythology about him. A lot of interesting early Kentucky (and Ohio, Missouri, and Virginia) history.

Also while I’m shilling books, Jesse Singal’s new book on pop psychology fads covers some education ground.

And I have a copy of Karim Ani’s new book on math, hopefully will spark some thoughtful debate. Available soon.

End of an era.

The new director’s cut of this 2004 performance is engaging all over again.