Race 3/9

AP African American Studies: None dare call it 'systemic'

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

AP African American Studies purges critical race, queer theorists

Joanne Jacobs

Feb 2, 20232 min read

AP African American Studies purges critical race, queer theorists

Critical race theory, queer theory and black feminist literature are out of the core curriculum in the revised version of College Board's...

1 comment

Joanne Jacobs

Jan 29, 20232 min read

The sound of stupid

The Sound of Music is not the Nazi-glorifying Triumph of the Will, nor is it the Nazi-spoofing Springtime for Hitler. But it does have...

7 comments

School board member tweets: 'Whiteness is so evil'

Joanne Jacobs

Jan 22, 20231 min read

School board member tweets: 'Whiteness is so evil'

Tweeting "whiteness is so evil" has proven controversial for Kesha Hamilton, who's on the Jackson (Michigan) school board, reports...

11 comments

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....

1 comment

Sneetches are racist! No, they're anti-racist! Or maybe ...

Joanne Jacobs

Jan 13, 20232 min read

Sneetches are racist! No, they're anti-racist! Or maybe ...

Dr. Seuss's Sneetches learn that outward differences don't matter. There's no need to pay to get a star added or removed from their...

1 comment

A sharp right turn for Florida's New College: 'We are recapturing higher ed'

Joanne Jacobs

Jan 8, 20231 min read

A sharp right turn for Florida's New College: 'We are recapturing higher ed'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to turn the very progressive New College of Florida, the state's liberal arts honors college, into a...

3 comments

NAACP pushes for literacy reform: Teach our kids to read

Joanne Jacobs

Jan 3, 20233 min read

NAACP pushes for literacy reform: Teach our kids to read

Black leaders have transformed reading instruction in northern Virginia, reports Sarah Carr in the Washington Post. The Fairfax County...

4 comments

Minnesota's bonus for non-white teachers nets 6 teachers

Joanne Jacobs

Dec 20, 20222 min read

Minnesota's bonus for non-white teachers nets 6 teachers

Teachers of color who relocate to Minnesota can earn bonuses under a new state program: $2,500 when hired, another $2,500 for staying in...

2 comments

'Be all you can be' works for black soldiers

Joanne Jacobs

Dec 9, 20221 min read

'Be all you can be' works for black soldiers

Enlisting in the Army raises earnings for blacks, writes Jeff Murray, citing a new study. Army Service in the All-Volunteer Era by West...

3 comments

Most want more focus on academics, less on gender, sex

Joanne Jacobs

Nov 10, 20222 min read

Most want more focus on academics, less on gender, sex

The red wave turned out to be a purple haze. Moderates outperformed extremists. Democracy did not end. Trumpery lost its luster. An...

7 comments

Is SEL a 'Trojan horse' for identity politics?

Joanne Jacobs

Oct 27, 20222 min read

Is SEL a 'Trojan horse' for identity politics?

Social-emotional learning (SEL) can mean the sort of things teachers have taught for generations: Count to ten to calm down, take turns,...

1 comment

No critical race theory? No student teachers

Joanne Jacobs

Oct 24, 20221 min read

No critical race theory? No student teachers

A California ed school won’t send student teachers to a nearby school district that has banned critical race theory, reports Jill...

1 comment

Joanne Jacobs

Oct 24, 20221 min read

'Critical race theory' means ... um ...

Should schools teach critical race theory (CRT)? Fifty-one percent of Americans have never heard of it or know nothing about it,...

0 comments

Teaching controversial issues is OK for teens, but not younger students

Joanne Jacobs

Oct 17, 20222 min read

Teaching controversial issues is OK for teens, but not younger students

Most Americans want schools to teach older students about controversial issues, according to USC's Understanding America Survey, reports...

7 comments

Rebuild trust or say 'good-bye' to students

Joanne Jacobs

Sep 7, 20221 min read

Rebuild trust or say 'good-bye' to students

Public schools must rebuild trust with parents -- or continue to lose students to homeschooling, private schools, microschools and other...

8 comments

Joanne Jacobs

Sep 2, 20221 min read

What does 'we' mean?

Jay Wamsted, who is White, teaches math in an Atlanta middle school where most students are Black. Last year, before Georgia passed a law...

1 comment

'The child is not the creature of the state'

Joanne Jacobs

Aug 31, 20222 min read

'The child is not the creature of the state'

Parents aren't perfect. Some are very imperfect indeed. But they have the right to "direct the upbringing and education" of their...

2 comments

Public trusts teachers, but not so much on racism or gender

Joanne Jacobs

Aug 26, 20221 min read

Public trusts teachers, but not so much on racism or gender

Sixty-three percent of people trust local public-school teachers according to a new poll by PDK, an educators' group, reports Libby...

2 comments

Education's middle ground is 'vanishing'

Joanne Jacobs

Aug 17, 20222 min read

Education's middle ground is 'vanishing'

When schools closed in 2020, support for schools remained strong, but the public's faith in the quality of their local schools has...

5 comments