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Joanne Jacobs
Jun 3, 20231 min read
Good Book or bad book? Bible is challenged in Utah
The Bible is off the shelves at elementary and middle-school libraries in a suburban Utah district, after a parent's complaint, writes...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 3, 20231 min read
The culture war matters
The "culture war"matters for public education, writes Daniel Buck. It's not a distraction, not as the National Education Association...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 3, 20231 min read
'Anything Goes'
“Good authors, too, who once knew better words now only use four-letter words writing prose," wrote Cole Porter (with help from P.G....
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 30, 20232 min read
Surrendering Concord's Minutemen
Concord High School in Northern California is under pressure to give up its "Minutemen" mascot, reports Stephanie Magallon for NBC Bay...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 9, 20232 min read
You are not enough: Love thy neighbor too
"You are enough" is a popular saying, writes Katherine Boyle on The Free Press. But it's not true. Americans have lost their sense of...
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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 8, 20232 min read
Harvard students can't handle 'The Scarlet Letter' -- but prisoners can
“The last time I taught The Scarlet Letter, I discovered that my students were really struggling to understand the sentences as sentences...
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Joanne Jacobs
Feb 20, 20232 min read
AP African American Studies: None dare call it 'systemic'
The new Advanced Placement African American studies course was revised after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called it anti-racist...
6 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Feb 3, 20232 min read
It's only Schoolhouse Rock (but I like it)
I'm so old I don't know the words to Conjunction Junction. Schoolhouse Rock, animated musical shorts on grammar, history, civics,...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jan 16, 20231 min read
'Letter from a Birmingham Jail'
"We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom," Martin Luther King Jr....
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Joanne Jacobs
Jan 8, 20232 min read
If liberal arts are dying, is it suicide?
Liberal educators aren't making the case for liberal arts education, writes John Agresto, former president of St. John's College in Santa...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 26, 20222 min read
'You could shoot your eye out'
I saw National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for the first time on Christmas Eve -- I'm always just a bit behind the culture -- and...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20223 min read
Mastering newspeak at Stanford
Will Stanford continue to award master's degrees? Will my daughter's major -- American Studies -- need a new name? Stanford's IT...
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 24, 20221 min read
Happy Thanksgiving
I remember making these in school in the 1950's. I don't think much has changed. Bion Bartning of FAIR (Foundation Against Intolerance &...
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 16, 20221 min read
Most don't want schools to 'say' LGBTQ
Most Americans don't think young children are ready for lessons about sexuality and gender, writes Morgan Polikoff, a USC education...
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Joanne Jacobs
Oct 8, 20222 min read
Raising not-so-American kids
College-educated parents want their children taught in Japanese, Mandarin, French and Spanish, writes Abigail Shrier on Substack. They...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 18, 20221 min read
Putin orders pro-war classes
Russian schools are watching war movies, taking "virtual tours" through Crimea and "celebrating Russia's 'rebirth' under President...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 5, 20222 min read
How Asians excel: It's the culture
Harini Logan, 14, of San Antonio, Texas holds the National Spelling Bee trophy with her family. Photo: Reuters Don't tell Asian-American...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 5, 20222 min read
A vote for merit in San Francisco
San Francisco Mayor London Breed replaced the recalled school-board members with three parents (clockwise from top left): Lisa...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jun 13, 20221 min read
Second wave of learning loss is coming in ’23-24
Students learned a lot less in remote classes, test scores show. “The achievement loss is far greater than most educators and parents...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 7, 20221 min read
‘Russian’ school gets a new name
A “Support Ukraine” rally in Indianapolis on April 9. Children still come for after-school classes in math, science and chess, but the...
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