Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Two programs offered in an Evanston, Ill. school district allow for students of color to opt in to “affinity classes” for English and math subjects. In other words, classes can be “Coloreds Only.” As expected, civil rights experts have voiced concerns about what seems like a blatant Brown v. Board of Education violation. LL Cool…
Al Lord, the former chief executive of student-loan giant Sallie Mae, has a complaint about higher education: The price of college is too damn high. Paying for his grandchildren’s education in recent years, he said, left him appalled at the tuition bills that land on his desk every semester. For those who know (or in…
For many middle– and high-school students, giving an in-class presentation was a rite of passage. Teachers would call up students, one by one, to present their work in front of the class and, though it was often nerve-racking, many people claim it helped turn them into more confident public speakers. “Coming from somebody with severe anxiety,…
Politically and economically, unions are sort of an odd duck. They aren’t part of the apparatus of the state, yet they depend crucially on state protections in order to wield their power. They’re stakeholders in corporations, but often have adversarial relationships with management. Historically, unions are a big reason that the working class won many…
Photo: Mark Wilson (Getty Images) Does Betsy DeVos care more about furthering the xenophobic and racist policies of this administration than she does about educating the children of this country? The education secretary’s latest statement would lead us to believe that is indeed the case, since she basically told schools to call the police on…
Photo: Getty Donald Trump is not the only person in the administration who is obsessed with leaks. According to an internal report first flagged by the Washington Post, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos asked her department’s inspector general if she had grounds to prosecute employees who leaked information to the press. Apparently, DeVos was furious that…
Screengrab from Fox News’ The Five Laurie Rubel typically publishes her research on mathematics education in relatively obscure journals. The Brooklyn College professor’s most recent paper explored the challenges white teachers face while trying to connect with students in large urban school districts. It also contained all the right buzzwords to be swept up in…
WEST BRANCH, Mich.—When she graduated from high school, Taylor Tibbetts was a bright star in this small Northern Michigan town. She won an $18,000-a-year swimming scholarship to Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., and departed for her freshman year with high hopes. Once on campus, however, she felt overwhelmed by her courses and scared and isolated…
As Besty DeVos prepares to meet with sexual assault advocacy groups — an approach criticized for its planned meetings with those accused of rape — a top official at the Department of Education suggested “90 percent” of sexual assault allegations on college campuses, “fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk,’” in an interview. Candice E. Jackson,…
Eery year, during the run-up to Halloween, when Jim DeMint goes to Hell’s mega-mall and sits on Satan’s lap, he has a list of things he wants for the holiday. The parents of the assembled demons and imps behind him in line often get frustrated because the list is so long. On Thursday, the Trump…