Forced woke 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

An extremist ideology behind the new standards teaches students that America is racist and oppressive, that it's their moral duty to "resist" America's evil.

Kindergartners will learn to look for unfair social situations. Sixth graders (age 12) will learn the thirteen principles guiding Black Lives Matter. Children will be trained to see injustice everywhere, inspired to lifelong bitterness.

As a mother and grandmother, I ask - what will their future be like when they've spent their childhood being trained in resentment? Consider also the whole state of Minnesota. What will it be like to live in a society of such people? 

Most of us would rather see our kids grow up in hope and faith and virtue, prepared for a satisfying life. Apparently, the rest of us prefer the vision of children being sacrificed to a political cause.

It's my hunch that most normal Minnesotans just don't know what's about to transform schools in this state.

from American Experiment

Forced woke 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

What will the implementation of these standards look like in your child's classroom?

Ethnic studies (under the social studies umbrella) lessons will teach kids to:

• Identity - know their social group and others'
• Resistance - both understand how people "fight for liberation against systemic exercises of power" and take action in this fight
• Ways of knowing - discover "contemporary systems of oppression" and what has worked in the past to fight them

This is an "intentional shift" away from "content" (like facts of history) to a "pedagogy" that tells students to "construct their own meaning."

All these standards need no further action by the legislature. They are official and carry the weight of law, since they were approved by the 2023 legislature to go into effect this school year.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Forced woke

When school starts, in just a matter of days, new state-mandated standards will apply to teachers in Minnesota. If you want to be licensed to teach in this state, you will have to demonstrate that you understand how to be "woke."

Specifically, you must, among other things, do the following:

• affirm students' identities including sex and gender
• understand white supremacy
• mitigate your own behavior in order to disrupt oppressive systems 
• empower learners to be agents of social change

These rules were set by the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) under the authority of Gov. Tim Walz.

How does it justify such a radical, politically one-sided standard? They say that:

“[A] teacher must have a foundational understanding of how race and racism are embedded in our institutions and everyday life”

If your children go to a Minnesota public school (photo), understand that this is what they will be taught. It's not optional for the school or the teachers. 

Is this what you signed up for?

 from American Experiment

Not racial

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It's easy to jump on the racism bandwagon as the explanation for the racial difference in the school's admission of new students. But the gap is not limited to Stuyvesant High School.

Educators around the country are well aware of a racial gap in student performance and have tried to fix it. "[E]fforts to close racial achievement gaps have increased over the years with varying degrees of success." Some efforts have helped; many have not. 

Perhaps the critical factor is not innately racial. There's no low achievement gap among Asian students. As a group, they achieve academically higher than either black or white students.

But there is another factor setting black students apart and hindering their achievement. Only 30% of black children live with married birth parents. For comparison, a whopping 80% of Asian students live with married birth parents.

Studies have found that "there is no meaningful difference in school grades among demographically diverse children raised in intact families."

A black student's family structure is a matter outside of the classroom. Schools are probably doing all they can -- but they can't manage that family. 

from WSJ

Racist school?

Stuyvesant is an elite public high school in New York which admits students (photo) on the basis of merit, that is, how they do on an entrance exam. Their incoming class numbers 777, but only three students are black. What could be the reason for this imbalance? Why are there not many more black kids? 

Predictable accusations come next. A New York Magazine columnist says that the "idealistic progressives and socialists" who lead the city ought to attack the "shameful, entrenched segregation of New York's public schools."  

"New Yorkers know a hustle when we see one, and the recent news that Stuyvesant offered admission to only three Black students this year is the latest example of a grotesquely obvious hijacking of public benefits, cynically disguised as a fair, merit-based outcome." They're racist. The test is unfair.

But there's a hidden factor in the racial achievement gap. 

from NYMag

(cont'd tomorrow)

HVAC at 23

Must everyone go to college after high school? It's becoming more and more clear that the answer is "No." You probably already know about famous examples of success without a degree, like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.

A young 23-year-old woman went into HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) instead of college and she sounds pretty happy about it. It's far from an office job. She's a service technician and her work is different every day. 

Trade school lasted only nine months at a cost of only $15,000--so much easier than paying tens of thousands of dollars yearly at a university. She recommends networking as a way to "get a foot in the door" toward practical experience.

This 18-year-old is a pipe fitter apprentice. He believes he's on track to make six figures in about 5 years. 

It may be best for young people to defy the prestige of college or university. There's opportunity in the trades. Celebrity Mike Rowe has been beating this drum for years.

from MSN

Regretted majors

Now that they have their degrees, are this year's college graduates happy that they spent so much effort and money on them? The answer is mixed. Many think they majored in the wrong subjects, and many more are anxious about finding work.

Almost half (46.3%) of those in political science areas wish they had chosen differently. Right behind them in second place (39.2%) on the most-regretted list is a major in "communication, media studies, or public relations."

Finding a job is as stressful as it's ever been, with more competition and fewer entry-level opportunities (AI may be responsible for this). Grads are submitting more applications and receiving fewer offers than just a year ago. 

Nursing leads the way in nearly every positive metric, including highest median pay ($70k). About a third of nursing grads have their job secured before graduation.

Job tips for students still in college: 

"Working during college more than doubles grads' odds of landing a job."
"Internships and apprenticeships are some of the clearest on-ramps into the workforce."

from Zip Recruiter

• 
  

Class pres

So far, we've had a published professor and a movie star speaking on commencement stage. With hope that you can tolerate another graduation speech, I now give you a student. 

Ty Ruddy was senior class president when he spoke at Hillsdale's (photo) commencement this month. President of the college, Larry Arnn, posted the speech on X. Ty acknowledged that learning is a lifelong project which doesn't stop with college.

Here are some quotes:

"Some of us were presumptuous and arrogant when we came on campus. I know I was. I cringe at some of the conversations I found myself tangled up in."

"As much as Hillsdale has been an education in the classics, it has been an education in humility."

"It doesn't have to be philosophy and politics all the time. It is ok to stand at your fence and talk with your neighbors about the tomatoes." (quoting a professor) 

"Remember what it was like as freshmen, confident for all the wrong reasons. We were just padawans to Dr. Arnn's Yoda."

Pay attention

If anybody understands that young people are often overwhelmed (see yesterday's post) and led 0ff-track by technology, it must be Jonathan Haidt. He wrote the influential book about it (The Anxious Generation).

This month he gave the commencement address at New York University, where he teaches. There was some opposition to his being chosen, maybe because he's known to have said that students come to college "emotionally fragile, never want to be challenged to grow, and therefore enter the rest of their lives set up to fail." Yes, some are sure to take offense at that.

But his message to these graduates was different. He told them to treasure their attention: to value it so highly that they intentionally direct their focus toward the highest value, the best outcomes--and don't squander their attention on distractions. In other words, make a good "choice of what to think about."

"Flourishing" is the title of his favorite class to teach, techniques we all can use to be smarter, emotionally stronger, and more sociable. Why does he teach these things? To "increase the odds of one's success in love and work," which is the path to flourishing. There's some wisdom here.

from After Babel

Boooo!

If we thought artificial intelligence was universally loved by Gen Z, we'll have to think again. Some speakers who mentioned the rising importance of AI at graduation ceremonies this spring were booed instead of cheered.

But, we might think, don't they all use it gladly to cheat on homework? Yes, some do. 

But aren't they all enthusiastically learning how to use it so that they won't be left behind in the job market? Yes, some are. But about one-third in a recent survey said that "the tech makes them feel angry." Almost half say that "the risks of AI in the work force outweigh the benefits."

It might be that students are tired of the pressure placed on their lives by technology in general, hoping to find a simpler, more satisfying life centered on personal relationships.

from Mind Matters

Classical ed 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

When children are young in this system, much information is absorbed because they take to it so well. In the next stage, they learn logic, how to analyze opinions and evaluate values based on their information. Finally, at the high school level, they form opinions and make reasonable arguments for them.

Standardized tests demonstrate that these students know their subjects. They perform in the upper 13% on the ACT, and the upper 17% of the nation's students on the SAT. But even better, they learn how to think deeply and how to learn. They develop respect for other people, including those who have opposing beliefs and values.

As she says, if all our citizens had such an education, we as a people would: really know our own history so as to avoid past mistakes, make our decisions on the basis of reason and knowledge rather than emotion only, and resist deceit and manipulation.

Classical ed

Something needs to be done about our education system in the US. Parents discovered that their local teachers and administrators may think their authority exceeds the parents' regarding their kids. Some discovered that their school is indoctrinating their kids in undesirable values. 

Parents look for better options. They want a school that will point their children in the right direction. Many are drawn to something called a "classical education," which seeks to address both the mind and the soul of the child.

Below is one mom's inspiring story of how they resolved their search for the right school: she and her husband actually started a new "classical" school in their area. 

(cont'd tomorrow)

AI in school 4

(cont'd from this post)

Teachers are struggling to teach and to evaluate learning these days. Students turn in assignments which were done for them by artificial intelligence. As one teacher said, she got fed up with grading essays that the students did not do. There's no point.

Some teachers have found a simple way to test what the students have learned: essays and tests can be done right there in class, where they can be monitored for integrity. Maybe this means that writing in cursive will become relevant again. Oral exams could also take on renewed importance. Maybe that will require a new focus on speaking in public.

AI is not going to go away. How to use it rightly, for the best outcomes, is the question that both teachers and even students themselves are asking.

Class pres

So far, we've heard from a published professor and a movie star on the commencement stage. With hope that you have the tolerance for one more graduation speech, I now give you a student.

Ty Ruddy was senior class president at Hillsdale College (photo) and he spoke at his commencement ceremony this month (president of the college, Larry Aarn, posted it on X). He acknowledged that learning will be a lifelong project which didn't stop with college.

Here are a few quotes: 

"Some of us were presumptuous and arrogant when we came on campus. I know I was. I cringe at some of the conversations I found myself tangled up in."

"As much as Hillsdale has been an education in the classics, it has been an education in humility."

"Remember when we were freshmen, confident for all the wrong reasons. We were just padawans to Dr. Aarn's Yoda."

"It doesn't have to be philosophy and politics all the time. It is ok to stand at your fence and talk with your neighbors about the tomatoes."

from X post

"Woke" shock

American politics have shifted toward traditional American values and away from "wokeness." But our institutions haven't all changed. This is the story of a woman (photo) who went back to school in middle age after her divorce and was shocked to find a perverse ideology solidly embedded.

Somehow, she didn't notice it years ago when academia lurched far to the left. She was busy living her life and raising her kids.  You probably noticed, though, having read stories like this, this, this, this, this. 

The Counseling Master's program at the University of Tennessee confused and frustrated her until she recognized that it was founded on an "identity-based, oppressor/oppressed worldview. . . " The twisted values they taught were not her values.

"I learned it meant that if I weren't constantly aware of and apologizing for my whiteness and general lack of LGBTQ proclivities, as far as the faculty was concerned, I would be a danger to my clients." She quit the program.

from Substack

Gen Z rebel 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It's easy to understand the frustration of many Gen Z people with their governments. Corruption abounds, even in our own country, because human beings are flawed in our very nature and every government is made of human beings. Flawless people will never run countries.

The American founders were well aware of this--it is a Christian truth--and tried to devise a government that would make corruption harder to do. Our resulting constitution and principles of governance have been the envy of the world for 250 years. 

But even many American young people today would be clueless if they had to put a governing system in place, as those in Nepal were. How many have learned from their American education just what principles made America successful? 

The answer is: few of them. 

Hillsdale College does teach the principles that created America. Their professors are available to you through their free online courses. I recommend them to you, and I just signed up for Constitution 101.

Tuition free 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

For many college graduates, the cost of their education wasn't justified by the results: 85% last year said, "I wish my college had better prepared me for the workplace." They paid the high price but didn't get the result they hoped for.

So, who loses when a college fails to deliver job-ready graduates? Everyone.

One wealthy individual is willing to try to change that dynamic by investing $100 million to make University of Austin tuition-free, with a vision as to how keep it free in the future:

"UATX will prepare students to become the next generation's leading entrepreneurs, innovators, scientists, and philanthropists. In turn, these successful graduates will financially support future generations of students . . ."

"UATX will live [or] die by the excellence of their graduates and the success they achieve in the world . . . If UATX doesn't deliver--in the eyes of its graduates and society--it will cease to exist. And it should."

"I'm Betting $100 Million on a New University"

Tuition free?

What if college were free to its students? How could that possibly happen? 

Universities and colleges are very expensive (image), usually requiring big loans that parents fervently hope will be worth it in terms of future income for their child. Often, it doesn't turn out that way. Many who borrow huge sums discover an ugly truth: the education they went into big debt for does not result in their having the ability to pay it back.

Higher education ought to build the character, skills, knowledge, judgment a student will need in order to flourish and contribute to society. But all that tuition must be paid to the school up front. 

The school gets paid before the student sees results. Some schools get money from the government. Harvard, for example, received $629 million last year from the government, while charging students $87,000 for one year of education. Does that pay off with wonderful results for the student or the taxpayers?

Something is not going right. Our higher education system is broken.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Ed tech 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Some kids are on screens at school six hours per day. It hasn't resulted in better learning scores, but rather in worse scores. 

"Thanks largely to the pandemic, an estimated 88% of school districts now issue laptops or tablets to students. While these devices make it easier for teachers to collect assignments and generate reports, they have been shown to significantly undermine student learning."

What can parents do in light of the unexpectedly poor results coming from ed tech in the classroom? This author has suggestions:

1. Families need the freedom to opt their kids out of mandatory academic screen use.
2. If your school district wants more ed tech, make them prove it will help.
3. Get a printer for your family. Reading is better on paper, and so is taking notes, writing, and practicing math problems.

from We Gave Students Laptops and Took Away Their Brains

Ed tech 1

Reading a real paper book is more fun than reading it on your phone or laptop, whether a novel or nonfiction. But did you know that it also creates a more effective learning experience? 

Turns out that memory (located in the brain's hippocampus) is linked to a physical location, like knowing where in that book you learned something. Scrolling doesn't give a physical location to a new fact, so it's missing one learning aid.

We now have decades of data on student learning associated with increasing use of education technology in classrooms. Disturbingly, it shows that kids learn less: "The more schools digitize, the worse students perform."

It was assumed that ed tech would help. But no, what disappointing results we have after all the effort and money that American school districts have spent digitizing.

from "We Gave Students Laptops and Took Away Their Brains"

(cont'd tomorrow)