Can We Talk? Especially About What We Ought To Expect From Schools?

Apparently a Freddie deBoer column about education got spiked, he published it himself on his Substack this weekend: What follows is a piece that I was commissioned to write for an education publication called The Grade. On submission they declared that the piece was, quote, “too hot” for publication. As I said to them, that response demonstrates …

Readers React On Parental Rights And Philanthropy, Big Friday Fish, Plus Education & Politics

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Today, reader reactions to two recent posts, a couple of items not by me you may have missed, and a serious fish. Some selected reactions to the recent post on funders and risk. A few funders wrote to say, ‘hey we’re doing this!’ A few shared interesting examples of different kinds …

The Real Flashpoint In Virginia’s New Transgender Guidelines For Schools? Teacher Rights. Part 1 of 2

At last, we’ve found a teacher right progressives hate, and a parent right many conservatives don’t like either. There is a lot of attention, and a lot of inaccurate attention, on Virginia’s new model guidelines for schools and transgender students. Some articles can’t get through the lede without a mischaracterization. That’s politics today. It’s a …

Is A Revolt Against Education Elitism Brewing? And What Maverick Can Teach Schools

You’re starting to hear a real debate right now about whether the movement for transgender inclusion made a strategic error in emphasizing things like trying to get everyone to say that trans women are the same as biological women or elite sports participation rather than focusing on more immediate material concerns like formal discrimination. This sort …

Let’s Not “CRT” And “Groomer” SEL. Plus, What’s Old Is New On Sloppy Poll Trends? Fake Vax Cards, Northern Reads…More!

I’m in California for the BARR Center annual conference – first time in-person in a few years. BARR does – shhhhh – SEL work for teachers. Great results from independent evaluations. And they’re a client so all the usual disclosures and disclaimers. But, if you needed a reminder that our culture wars are dumb this …

Odds & Ends…And Again, The Ed Sector’s Eliteness

What I’ve written: I have a short commentary in The 74 today about the Spencer Cox veto of a bill aimed the transgender students and sports issue. What I’ve read: A few interesting things this week, with implications for education. This survey data on special education parents is worth your time. People keep talking about pandemic …

Should President Biden Forgive Student Loans? And If So, How?

The intersection of politics and policy in education is on display in the debate over whether, and how much, President Biden should forgive federal student debt. Progressive groups are demanding robust relief. Some want total, some $50,000. The idea of $10,000 is something the President has been warmer to, but has not fully embraced. Others …

Whiplash On Masks, Pensions, People Disagree!

Whiplash anyone? Here in Virginia, just a few weeks ago, really a couple of weeks, anyone who questioned masking in schools was regarded as indifferent to public health at best, straight up racist at worst. It was a big issue! Yesterday, the legislature passed bipartisan legislation that will prohibit school districts from mandating masking. That’s …

The Last Things Progressives And Conservatives Agree On Are Snitch Culture And Censorship (& Maybe Masks?), Plus The Teacher Shortage: This Time We Mean It! Reader Feedback, More…

We’re talking about Black History Month on Bellwether’s AOTH blog. I wrote about Zora Neale Hurston as a historical hero. When Zora Neale Hurston died in 1960 at 69 she was basically broke, living in a public home, having worked most recently as a substitute teacher and a maid. Thirteen years later, Alice Walker found …