“Following a public outcry from parents and teachers, the Los Angeles Unified School District has decided to make timed reading tests optional for most transitional kindergarten students.” LA Times.
Who the hell at the District came up with the idea of timed reading tests for four year olds in the first place?
Because you liked the first version so much.
Jamelle Bouie for the win, “The One Thing Trump Knows He Wants in a Running Mate”.
“[Trump] has also said that he would not rule out the possibility of political violence. ‘t always depends on the fairness of an election,’ he told Time magazine in another recent interview.
There is no need for Trump to say anything else; all the Republicans vying to stand by his side understand that they’ll lose their shot if they accept the basic democratic norm that a loss may not be overturned after the fact. When asked several times if he would accept the results of the 2024 election, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina — one of the leading contenders for Trump’s running mate — would repeat only a single, rehearsed statement. ‘At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump.’
I saw the Tim Scott video and couldn’t help but think about how loathsome he is. But upon thought, “loathsome” isn’t sufficient, dangerous is more apropos.
Is always evolving. This fall’s iteration. Would you sign up?
The Art and Science of Human Connection—Ron Byrnes, Education
In this seminar we work together to improve as readers, discussants, and writers while exploring the challenges and rewards of meaningful friendships. Our readings, discussions, and writing overlap with the University’s Wild Hope Project, which asks, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” We will be as introspective and transparent as possible as we get to know one another’s stories and draw on history and social sciences to explore what’s most important in life. Among the questions we’ll consider: What makes life most meaningful? How do we want to balance work and individual economic aspirations with recreation and close interpersonal relationships with others? What is easy about making friends and what is hard? How can we be better friends to ourselves and others? And does social media make it easier or harder to build strong interpersonal relationships?
Or anyone lacking superhuman interpersonal skills.
Jessica Winters’s story in The NewYorker titled ” The Meltdown of a Middle School in a Liberal Town” (April 3, 2024) left me wondering how a school district starts over. It’s a case study of things completely falling apart in an Amherst, Massachusetts public middle school. It features angry parents, school personnel ignoring the separation of church and state, educators wholly unprepared to work with trans students, cultural conflicts of all sorts, and many other layers of public school dysfunction.
Today there’s a similarly harrowing story in The New York Times, titled, “A Principal Confronted a Teenage Girl. Now He’s Facing Prison Time.”
The heart of the matter:
“For educators everywhere, the criminal prosecution of Mr. Sanchez for an action that schools typically handle using their own disciplinary codes opens up new levels of potential risk. Fights are part of high school life. If a school official can be not just disciplined but also jailed for intervening to break up or prevent a fight, what are teachers supposed to do?
In an interview, Mr. Sanchez mentioned a fight last year in which a teacher told the students to stop but did not physically separate them. ‘And the parent was just so upset when they saw the video, like, ‘Why isn’t this person stopping it?’’ he said. ‘And to be honest, I was a little upset, too. I didn’t say that to the parent, but I did say, ‘Well, because sometimes people are worried about liability.’”
Recently, I did a writing workshop with fifteen K-12 teachers who are seeking school principal certification. More specifically, they were applying for grants that provide them substitutes for their classrooms so they can get the required hours interning as administrators-to-be.
Impressive group, but after reflecting on these stories, I can’t help but wonder if they know what they’re committing to. The numerous simultaneous challenges they will soon face. The public’s anger and disregard for one another. The tenuousness of the public commons. The toll it will take on them and their families.
My guess is not entirely, because if they did, they’d probably choose professional paths where mere mortals stand much better odds of succeeding.
The annual income it takes to own a home.
College financial crisis edition. Same ol’ story at the local Catholic liberal arts school, declining enrollment, shit retention rates.
“. . . options are currently being discussed, such as continuing freezing staff vacant positions (currently 25 staff positions are frozen), lowering adjunct faculty course loads, decreasing the number of cross-listed and co-taught courses, and lowering or freezing the employer 403(b) contribution benefit. Please know that any budget-saving measures enacted will not impact the student experience, university officials say.”
A static, older faculty with increasingly negative attitudes towards their employer won’t have any impact on the student experience. LOL. Tell me another one!
Recently, the Good Wife told me I am a conflict avoider. I told her I didn’t want to talk about it.
I may not communicate as much as she’d like, but my hilarious, nonstop comedy routine has to compensate. Doesn’t it?
We’re learning to work though conflict by assiduously avoiding “you” statements and instead saying how we feel and what we want. What the social scientists refer to as “soft skills”.
Here’s the relationship saving formula, just in case, in the distant future, any of you ever experience conflict with someone special. I feel ____________. I want ____________.
I shocked the Gal Pal last night when I voluntarily shared some of my innermost thoughts. I asked her, “Are you up to doing some active listening?” Half in shock, she quickly said, “Yes.”
“I feel bereft. I want UCLA to play better next year so I don’t have to go through another March Madness feeling so left out.”
After she thoughtfully paraphrased what I was feeling and wanted, and showed me real empathy, I felt a lot better.
Conflict avoider my ass. I deftly wield the softest of skills.
From CBS News.
“As of mid-February 2024, Forbes estimates Trump’s net worth at $2.6 billion, putting the real estate developer at No. 1,216 on the magazine’s list of the world’s richest people.
Trump’s wealth largely stems from real estate, spanning residential buildings in New York City to golf courses and hotels around the world.
According to Bloomberg, one of his largest assets is his $500 million stake in 1290 Avenue of the Americas, an office building in Manhattan. Trump also has $600 million in liquid assets, while his Trump National Doral Miami Golf Resort is worth about $300 million, Bloomberg said.”
And yet, today he’s claiming he can’t pay his $454m judgement. I tapped out after Algebra 2/Trig, but isn’t $600m > $454m.
He should prob start charging more for the shoes.
Pressing Pause 