UCLA star freshman Aday Mara cleared by NCAA for competition. Just think of him as Wemby Jr. Go Bruins.
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Category Archives: Education
Sam Bankman Not Fried
SB(n)F gambled on a trial and his parents lost.
“Sam Bankman-Fried loved risk, and he loved to gamble. He knew that if he went to trial, there was a chance, however small, that he might walk away a free man. Pleading guilty meant guaranteed punishment, and probably prison time. And so he chose to gamble, not only with his own life, but with his parents’. . . . There is a reason most people won’t flip that coin: they aren’t selfish enough to gamble with other people’s lives.”
Meanwhile, Ten Months Later
“George Santos will be leaving Congress to spend more time with his other personalities.” —Darrin Hall for the win
Demos turn. Paging Senator Menendez.
Postscript. Never mind.
Moms For Liberty’s Truth As Only They Know It
According to the Olympian, Moms For Liberty is gaining momentum.
“Marty Lobdell, a retired Pierce College human sexuality professor, came across an MFL booth at SummerFest. ‘The women in the booth told passers-by that kindergarten children were being taught sexual positions and shown pictures of people having sex,’ he said.
Lobdell, who also taught part time in the Clover Park School District, called the group’s assertions a lie. ‘I would love to see the Moms provide one verifiable case of any grade school child being taught sexual positions or viewing pictures of people having sex,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately, once lies get out, they have a life of their own.’
Moms for Liberty says they are just trying to protect children and assert parental rights.”
Kindergarteners being taught sexual positions and being shown pictures of people having sex is MFL’s truth as only they know it.
I See You
Alternating this afternoon between reading student papers and watching college football.
And reading this email from a Somali-American student of mine. “I just saw my grade and your feedback on it. I appreciate the well thought out and thorough feedback! I’ll be sure to apply it to my next paper! It feels nice to have educators in higher Ed that actually read my work with thoughts opposed to my high school.”
The most important roles I play are all related—listener, reader, assessor. “Professing” is overrated.
I have 53 students this semester. A lot of high school teachers have 153. I teach 12 hours a week. Most high school teachers teach 25. High school students aren’t truly listened to or read closely because there’s too many of them and too little time.
The distinguishing feature of the factory model of education, where secondary students come at you in waves of thirty every hour, is that it’s impersonal.
Olympia School District’s Learning Plan
A focus on equity is laudable, but this is riddled with jargon and lacking in specificity. Given this muddled, vague language, my money is on the K-12 status quo continuing unabated.
A Wholly Different PLU
PLU is recruiting much more locally; as a result, our student body looks like Pierce County for the first time ever. The Admission Office is also zeroing in on Hawaii and Eastern Washington, specifically Yakima and Toppenish. Consequently, we have a lot more low and middle income students than in the past. I dig the economic and cultural diversity.
This paragraph from a quiet, bookish, first year writer of mine provides a little flavor flav of the changes:
“Growing up, my dad was on the road a lot. He tends to jump around to different jobs. When my sister was born, he was a volunteer firefighter. I think he was driving for “S” when I was born. A few years later he transferred to “H”. Then worked as a paraeducator for X School District. He has been a funeral director, then went back to working as a paraeducator, and now works for X School District as a janitor. As the years went by, he began to feel stable enough financially to be able to stop driving. Which means he got to be home a lot more. This is probably why I feel I could talk to him. When he was home from being on the road he made sure to create a bond. Now that he hasn’t been gone days at a time for a few years, our bond has gotten stronger. My dad has taught me how to put up and fix a fence, and how to care for the goats, cows, and pigs. My favorite things to do with him are going to the livestock auction on Saturday mornings, and when we go to run errands just us two.”
Claremont McKenna Rakes It In
The private liberal arts college in Los Angeles wanted to raise $800 million over their recently completed eight year fundraising campaign, but overshot their target and raised $1 billion. The Los Angeles Times story goes on to say “nearly 1.1 billion”. What’s an extra $80-$90 million when you’re talking billions. Just round down to lessen the chances of Congressional oversight.
How did they do it?
“More than 12,000 donors contributed to the campaign, representing about two-thirds of the college alumni. The median gift was $220, with 90% of all donations less than $5,000. But 89 supporters contributed more than $1 million. . . .”
There does not appear to be any plan to increase enrollment. So the haul equates to approximately $770,000 for every one of their 1,300 students.
There are two certain ripple effects. . . pun intended. Michelle Chamberlain, Claremont McKenna’s Vice President of Advancement and Student Opportunities, will receive several job offers and will see significant salary increases if she opts to stay. And the new aquatic center is going to be lit.
Rate Your Principal
A non-profit effort to help teachers find schools that best fit them.
Sentences to Ponder
“In Canada and Japan, public-university tuition is now about $5,000 a year. In Italy, Spain and Israel, it’s about $2,000. In France, Denmark and Germany, it’s essentially zero.”
From “Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault is That?”
Pressing Pause 