1,944 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2024
    1. Widespread caricatures of students as overly sensitive, vulnerable and entitled “snowflakes” fail to acknowledge the philosophical work that was carried out, especially in the 1980s and ’90s, to legitimate experience — especially traumatic experience

      Students as academics have learned about and fought for policy and societal change around a variety of issues. Events like the MeToo Movement and Black Lives Matter are always focused on personal experiences. But it is the shared repetition of these personal experiences that indicate an issue

  2. Sep 2023
    1. For many of our students — those who have had to be almost perfect to get accepted into a school like Smith — failure can be an unfamiliar experience. So when it happens, it can be crippling.”

      Why it is important that Smith College tries to destigmatize failure.

    2. Researchers say it’s a complicated interplay of child-rearing and culture: years of helicopter-parenting and micromanaging by anxious parents. “This is the generation that everyone gets a trophy,”

      This generation always got a participation trophy so nobody ever feels like they lose so nobody truly experienced failure

    3. “Sometimes it’s hard not to take each and every rejection letter as a failure, but I’m trying to stay positive.”

      j

    4. “It’s when we’re like, ‘I have three tests tomorrow.’ And then someone’s like, ‘I have five tests tomorrow, and all I’ve eaten is 5-hour Energy, and my dog is sick.’”

      For some reason, having the hardest time is admirable. It's competitive suffering or competitive stress.

    5. “There’s this idea that I’m not worthy if I’m not stressed and overwhelmed,” said Stacey Steinbach, a residential life coordinator at Smith. “And in some sense to not be stressed is a failing.”

      If I'm not always working hard, I'm not maximizing my time and therefore failing

    6. But here, everybody’s special. So nobody is special.”

      Students are familiar with being the best and the brightest so when grouped with a lot of people who were also the best and the brightest, they start to feel average.

    7. failure fund, a series of $150 to $1,000 grants for students who want to pursue a creative endeavo

      Davidson College is letting students simply just send whatever project they want to fail and learn from

    8. Success-Failure Project at Harvard, which features stories of rejection; the Princeton Perspective Project, encouraging conversation about setbacks and struggles; Penn Faces

      Many more attempts to destigmatize failure

    9. “It was an attempt to normalize struggle,”

      Universities attempt to make a change

    10. the lack of coping skills — and what mental health data had shown for some time, including, according to the American College Health Association, an increase in depression and anxiety, overwhelming rates of stress and more demand for counseling services than campuses can keep up with.

      The inability to accept failure is causing students so many problems

    11. We’re talking about students showing up in residential life offices distraught and inconsolable when they score less than an A-minus. Ending up in the counseling center after being rejected from a club.

      Some students are so focused on not failing that they forget that failing and growing from it is the most important part to succeed

    12. But while the idea of “failing upward” has become a badge of honor in the start-up world — with blog posts, TED talks, even industry conferences — students are still focused on conventional metrics of achievement, campus administrators say.

      There is some embracing of failure but there is still a deeply rooted focus on not failing in students

    13. “For years, I thought it would ruin me,”

      Example of a high achiever failing and being completely discombobulated by it

    14. “What we’re trying to teach is that failure is not a bug of learning, it’s the feature,” said Rachel Simmons, a leadership development specialist in Smith’s Wurtele Center for Work and Life and a kind of unofficial “failure czar” on campus

      Change the connotation that failure is bad into failure tells you what you need to work on.

    15. The presentation is part of a new initiative at Smith, “Failing Well,” that aims to “destigmatize failure.”

      Big Point - destigmatize failure

    16. So to see these failures being talked about openly, for me I sort of felt like, ‘O.K., this is O.K., everyone struggles.’”

      These setbacks gave rising junior Carrie Lee Lancaster relief by knowing that everyone struggles

    17. high test scores and perhaps a varsity letter consent to having their worst setbacks put on wide display.

      These women are high achievers and told everyone their worst setbacks

    18. the worst failures of their peers projected onto a large screen.

      Intro starts with a story about a college putting their students' worst failures on screen and some examples

  3. Aug 2023
    1. divides students

      Students become increasingly divided due to standardized tests, tracking, and ability grouping. Tracking and ability grouping resemble segregation since students of color are usually placed in lower tracks and white students in higher ones. They are often placed there because of teachers' expectations which rely heavily on personal bias.

    2. “It’s a tired cliché.

      ... White folks do oppress Latinx folks though economically, socially, politically, etc

    3. they’re falsely interpreting as racial animus

      White supremacy and comfort are being challenged by ethnic studies- white students and educators are being asked to investigate their own identities and how they place a role in racist structures. Whereas white privilege allows white folks to remain ignorant. Many white folks would prefer to live in "ignorance is bliss," but ethnic studies curriculum is a call to action that tries to get rid of ignorance.

    4. solely on the basis of course materials

      And the department's decision is also guided by personal bias. That is what's so difficult about the educational and judicial systems- when making decisions about legislation and curriculum we put it in the hands of people who have biases, as we all do. So we have to be skeptical of what's in front of us and about what we're taught in school.

    5. “promote the overthrow of the United States government,” “promote resentment toward a race or class of people,” “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

      This is a common argument against CRT and Ethnic Studies where people say that it teaches white students that they are evil. However, MAS and other Ethnic Studies courses do not teach that but instead they teach about the history of systemic issues and the histories of Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

    6. infringed on students’ First and 14th Amendment rights

      I also wonder how often students' rights are considered when it comes to school work. Students don't often have a say in the curriculum they learn and the reason they learn information is also not often conveyed.

    7. “It’s a tired cliché.”

      Or is it the truth?

    8. desire to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fears,”

      Honestly, what does this even mean? I am kind of confused why this is the reasoning regarding the MAS program.

    9. anonymous blog comments

      His true colors coming out. Living in the same neighborhood as someone of a different race doesn't make you their ally. These superficial interactions he described like playing sports and seeing Mexican-Americans at school don't necessarily lead to a greater understanding and respect between groups.

    10. teaches kids to hate

      Teaching kids the facts about histories of oppression is their educational right. The role of teachers is to present them with the truth and help them make sense of it, not guide them towards an emotional reaction of anger and hatred. Ethnic Studies proponents understand this, though superintendents seem to make accusations based on fear.

    11. This decision promotes a program that does the opposite: divides students by race and promotes ethnic chauvinism.

      I think it really depends on how the course is instructed. Sure it can foster hate if the learning content focuses on promoting hate and division between different ethnicities and races. However, if the course is constructed appropriately, it can teach students to embrace each other's identities and understand the others' struggles.

    12. capitalizing on race-based fears

      This is such a powerful way to work this.

    13. were motivated by racial animus

      It's interesting to me that the system works this way where within 2 years the program could be banned/shut down, and then reinstated. Why was it allowed to be shut down in the first place?

    14. promote the overthrow of the United States government,”

      The thing that gets me is NONE of the people that are claiming this had stepped foot in one of the classrooms. They have NO right to claim that this is what is being taught in the classrooms if they have NEVER been in them!

    15. desire to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fears,”

      In "precious knowledge" a lot of the people in charge against this bill spoke about protecting the white children. Protecting them from feeling guilty. Numerous times they spoke about "ethnic solidarity" and how it shouldn't be allowed. They also said that it was driven my teachers and their leftest views. Which was not true at all it was based on the truth. But they just like every other citizen that was against ethnic studies is choosing to ignore the truth.

    16. Arizona school officials were motivated by racial animus when they acted to shut down a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson’s public schools, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

      I was relieved when I found an article about this finally being looked into. The comments being made by mostly white higher ups made no sense. They felt like they weren't in control or included so they decided to take away something that allowed us as a community to heal. It was straight garbage in my opinion.

    17. withhold 10 percent of the Tucson Unified School District’s state funding because of the violation of the statute

      Considering the fact that Black and Latine-majority public schools are predominantly underfunded due to funding for schools being derived from property tax, this is incredibly racially motivated to cut ten percent of the school district's funding, especially because they're teaching the students the power of their culture and history.

  4. Jul 2023
    1. And if you’re going to write an angry email telling me how wrong I am, I beg you: Please proofread it before you hit “send.”

      Ends with a nasty joke. Point: students are disrespecful and sloppy writers.

    2. The real point is to stand up for the values that have made our universities the guardians of civilization

      Is this an overstated claim? Are we really defending Western Civilization with demanding formal modes of address to authority figures at the university?

    3. We should teach students traditional etiquette for the same reason most great abstract painters first mastered figurative painting. In order to abandon or riff on a form, you have to get the hang of its underlying principles.

      Etiquette is practice for one's professional life. But the writer just admitted that in the Tech world, informality rules.

    4. Yet she has noticed that the informality of the tech industry can mislead new millennial employees.

      Informality gives you a false sense of the workplace.

    5. The values of higher education are not the values of the commercial, capitalist paradigm. At a time when corporate executives populate university boards and politicians demand proof of a diploma’s immediate cash value, this distinction needs vigilant defense.

      Etiquette is a pushback against capitalist imperatives, the student as customer; the professor as employee.

    6. It undermines the message that academic titles are meant to convey: esteem for learning. The central endeavor of higher education is not the pursuit of money or fame but knowledge.

      This is the stronger argument.

    7. I reserve the right to judge if you’re a good professor.”

      Although I'm not a fan of the way this student stated this, I do think that professors cannot assume their knowledge and reputation in the classroom precedes them.

    8. a special kind of inequality.

      I'm not sure "inquality" is the right word here. How can you make the claim that etiquette equal mutual respect but then turn around and claim the student/teachers relationships should be inequal?

    9. a teacher’s job to correct sloppy prose, whether in an essay or an email.

      A teachers job is not simply to "correct sloppy prose" but teach why clear and grammatical writing can be a form of effective communication. Teachers teach content and skill related to their discipline--not behaviors. Professors are not school marms or etiquette coaches. This oversteps are role.

    10. Insisting on traditional etiquette is also simply good pedagogy.

      I don't agree: I think collobarating with students on "community norms" in class is good and equitable pedagogy.

    11. the atmosphere of mutual respect that she cultivates in her classes. These days, simply being considerate can feel like a political act

      Strong point for etiquette: The culture outside of the classroom is not showing civility but mutual respect in classrooms is important for establishing a safe space for teachers and students.

    12. But today, on the other side of the civil rights revolution, formal titles and etiquette can be tools to protect disempowered minorities and ensure that the modern university belongs to all of us. Students seem more inclined to use casual forms of address with professors who are young, nonwhite and female — some of whom have responded by becoming vocal defenders of old-fashioned propriety.Angela Jackson-Brown, a professor of English at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., told me that “most of my students will acknowledge that I’m the first and only black teacher they’ve ever had.” Insisting on her formal title is important, she said: “I feel the extra burden of having to go in from Day 1 and establish that I belong here.”

      Rebuttal to the counterargument.

    13. 33 percent

      the doubling in percentage suggests students are becoming more informal...or that students are communicating more via email with their instructors. And classroom etiquette is a broad category. Writer doesn't mention etiquette regrading communication with professors.. Etiquette could involve interactions with professors and other students in class.

      In fact, when I clicked on the link none of the etiquette issues in the survey pertained to email communications with professors:

      "While just 14 percent of syllabi in 2004 addressed classroom etiquette, 33 percent did so in 2010. Here again, anticipatory socialization was apparent: “I expect you to bring the same good manners and concern for others to this class as you would to a work or professional encounter [B10].” Some prescribed behaviors such as “going to the bathroom . . . before class” and “scheduling . . . appointments outside of class [A19],” while others proscribed behaviors like “sleeping, talking, eating . . . [doing] Sudoku puzzles [B15].” One instructor insisted on “decent normal human behavioral expectations,” explaining that “shuffling papers and preparing to leave before the end of class will be considered culturally rude and unacceptable [A9]!”

    14. When the president of the college cracked down and suspended the entire sophomore class, the juniors retaliated by hanging and burning him in effigy and setting off a rudimentary explosive in the campus chapel.Editors’ PicksWhy Did 488 Golden Retrievers Gather in Scotland?If You’re Looking for a Real Taste of Alaska, Try a Food TruckWith Just a 5 Percent Down Payment, What Would $650,000 Buy in Bed-Stuy?AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTLater in the 19th century, etiquette manuals proliferated in bookstores, and Americans began to emphasize elaborate social protocols. As colleges expanded and academic disciplines professionalized, they mimicked the hierarchical cultures of the German research universities, where students cowered before “Herr Professor Doktor.”The historian John Kasson has noted that back then, formal etiquette was not aimed at ensuring respect for all. It was, in part, a system to enforce boundaries of race, class and gender at a time when the growth of cities and mass transit forced Americans into close quarters with strangers. Codes of behavior served “as checks against a fully democratic order and in support of special interests, institutions of privilege and structures of domination,” he writes in his book “Rudeness and Civility.”

      Counterargument: A history of forcing etiquette rules on students.

    15. His webpage covers matters ranging from appropriate email addresses (if you’re still using “cutie_pie_98@hotmail.com,” then “it’s time to retire that address”) to how to be gracious when making a request (“do not make demands”).

      What is the reason for teaching students etiquette when it comes to communication? Are we teaching content or behaviors? A better argument for using more formal email addresses is that it makes it easier for the professor to know who they are communicating with.

    16. “When students started calling me by my first name, I felt that was too far, and I’ve got to say something,” he told me. “There were also the emails written like text messages. Worse than the text abbreviations was the level of informality, with no address or signoff.”

      Example of interupted quotation with signal phrase at the top of the paragraph.

    17. Over the past decade or two, college students have become far more casual in their interactions with faculty members

      How does the writer prove this claim? Is this simply anecdotal? Is there data, surveys?

    18. t the start of my teaching career, when I was fresh out of graduate school, I briefly considered trying to pass myself off as a cool professor. Luckily, I soon came to my senses and embraced my true identity as a young fogey.After one too many students called me by my first name and sent me email that resembled a drunken late-night Facebook post, I took a very fogeyish step. I began attaching a page on etiquette to every syllabus: basic rules for how to address teachers and write polite, grammatically correct emails.

      Writer begins with a personal anecdote. Ironically, this personal approach seems at odds with the formality of address she's arguing for from students. Also, intro suggests accepting informal address, being the "cool teacher," is the product of inexperience.

    19. Don’t dismiss these calls for old-fashioned courtesy as a case of fragile ivory tower egos or misplaced nostalgia. There is a strong liberal case for using formal manners and titles to ensure respect for all university professionals, regardless of age, race or gender. More important, doing so helps defend the university’s dearest values at a time when they are under continual assault.

      Thesis

    1. Judge A. Wallace Tashima concluded that the elimination of the program in 2012

      they took away this program and for what? how could we be going backwards in progress?

    2. not listening to student and teacher accounts that supported the Mexican-American studies program. Both men, he wrote, “conveyed an unfounded, yet uniform, distrust of MAS teachers’ and students’ accounts of what was taking place in MAS classrooms.”

      It is saddening to read that the voices of students and teachers were ignored. I don't understand why their accounts would be considered distrustful when they are people who are actually a part of the program and have witnessed what it's like.

  5. May 2023
  6. Mar 2023
    1. imaginative use of sticks, rocks and leaves

      When toys change into these things kids are now determined that they are more than just a stick, rock, or leaves. We as adults can learn so much from a child imagination to create and form new ideas in our brain.

    2. There might be nothing “more German” than a state-funded preschool based primarily in a forest.

      I love learning about the forest kindergartens and truly i wish their was more of these around us. I love knowing that not only do they learn school material they also learn everyday life skills.

    3. For months, they had been reminded that by not making any noise at all while eating, it is more likely that a deer might approach them, and at the very least they’ll better hear the bird calls

      This is such an amazing too that they are taught in the forest. I never thought about something like this. Teaching children tools like this can help them in many situations.

    1. she or he needs to have a very sober look at what one could do with those millions of dollars with living species

      I don't think any individual is inherently obligated to put their spare wealth towards any particular cause - even morally, though I differentiate between "absolutely morally required" and "probably should because it would be morally better / right." That being said, this is definitely an important consideration for the independent donors mentioned, the people or organizations handing out grants, and the projects that take and use this money.

      Ultimately, conservationists and de-extinction efforts have the same goals, yet they are at odds as if they are opposites. I don't think every exploration of de-extinction is a waste of time and money. But I also think that de-extinction projects could very well be spending their time and money to help bring back species that are extinct in the wild or functionally extinct - there are still living individuals or small populations, but there are too few to be able to reproduce naturally and effectively enough to sustain the species. I can't see any reason as to why a project would focus on reviving mammoths instead of growing the almost spent population of white rhinos - both "sides" would benefit and agree with such efforts.

    2. not be enough habitat left for them anyway.

      Also a reasonable argument, though for recently extinct species I don't think this would be particularly hard to find out and consider

    3. conservation is vastly underfunded and there is no guarantee that restoring extinct species will work.

      "The cost of de-extinction very well might be for nothing even if there are potential benefits, and conservation is already underfunded, so these resources should just go into conservation"

      A reasonable argument, though de-extinction technology is not exclusive to de-extinction and are many more benefits to investing in anything related to cloning and genetic engineering

    4. controversial

      Considered controversial for inciting fear about overpopulation

    5. unique symbolic value

      First, this is possibly one of the worse criteria for conservation and de-extinction alike. Protecting animals that are "cute" (the panda) or more symbolic (the cheetah) over others for those reasons alone is not particularly helpful or fair. Ecological roles are a much more important consideration - which Brand does include, to give him credit.

      Additionally, using this as an argument in favor of bringing the passenger pigeon back feels a bit contradictory, from a standpoint perhaps more literary than logical. Changing "we were not careful and ignored scientists' warnings, and as a result learned the consequences of our actions the hard way" to "there were consequences for our ignorance and reckless actions, but they didn't matter because we just reversed them (and therefore do not have to be careful or be aware of our actions)" just feels wrong.

    6. a role that other birds likely cannot fill.

      "likely cannot"? I feel like this is something that is easy to investigate + observe - before starting work on de-extinction, even, to determine whether the effort and resources spent will be worth it

    7. through its own criteria

      This page no longer exists - I'm not sure if I find this more funny or possibly concerning

    8. because their ecological roles can be approximated by another living species or because the benefits of restoring them are not great enough to warrant the costs.

      Again, reviving a species - regardless of feasibility or importance - is always going to come at a great cost. This cost can always be put towards conservation instead.

      It's interesting that the co-founder's rebuttal is that recently extinct species would never be a serious consideration because there are living species with similar (but not exactly the same, especially given a relatively short timeframe) ecological niches. Yet the mammoth - which has no current ecosystem to play a role in, and would have to pretty much single-handedly change the environment so much as to reverse and continuously work against the effects of natural and on-going, human-accelerated climate change just to have a habitat - is one of the main focuses of the project. I find this rather absurd, to put it lightly.

    9. The problem with this analysis, said Stewart Brand, co-founder of Revive & Restore, is that “these are all species that would never be considered seriously for de-extinction in the first place,”

      Is the analysis not still relevant, though? Any species brought back would still require a great amount of resources both to revive it in the first place and for conservation because it would be endangered immediately upon resurrection.

    10. noting that all of the funding for Revive & Rescue’s biotechnologies comes from private donors or institutional grants outside the realm of conservation efforts.

      (just for the sake of it) You could still argue that these funds and grants would be better put towards conservation efforts if there is money to spare on such hypotheticals.

    11. By some estimates, 20 percent of species on Earth now face extinction, and that may rise to 50 percent by the end of the century.

      This report is six years old now - I wonder if the outlook is more optimistic or pessimistic now, or about the same.

    12. bring back the passenger pigeon, woolly mammoth and heath hen

      Why these species? Is there a particular ecological benefit their resurrection would have - limiting the ecological damage caused by a recently extinct species? Is it simply easier because they have many well-preserved specimens and close living relatives?

      I can't see the benefit of bringing back a species like the mammoth except for to show off technological advancements. Their original habitat is either drastically changed or completely gone. The most recently living population of mammoths died thousands of years ago, and the majority of them went extinct even further back. The project website describes that mammoths could help restore grassland biomes where there are now barren tundras and even combat climate change - but would that not negatively impact the current ecosystem and the species that live there now? Is restoring grasslands from millennia past so critically important to warrant this level of priority?

    13. you are making an ethical decision to bring one species back and let several others go extinct

      What a powerful statement, if somewhat accusatory. I don't think this is a conscious choice every de-extinction researcher / project is making, and certainly every scientific advancement has not been made only after extensive consideration of every priority and possible consequence, but this is also not something that can be ignored or easily dismissed.

    14. the researchers concluded that the biodiversity costs and benefits almost never come out in favor of de-extinction.

      Could / Will there ever come a point where the research says otherwise? What would that take?

      In a hypothetical ideal where there are no longer any endangered or threatened species, maybe. I am not optimistic that this will ever even be possible, let alone achieved.

    15. should society devote its limited resources to reversing past wrongs, or on preventing future extinctions?

      That is the question

      I believe this comes down to the potential risks and benefits for each, as well as the costs (money, time, other resources). With these considerations, protecting current species is easily the better choice.

    16. or some version of it

      A proxy species - there is debate over whether this would be close enough to the original target species to "count" or if it would be something entirely new.

    17. 50 years

      Is there evidence for this specific timeframe?

    18. living species are endangered partly because of “the lack of an ecological partner or some link in the food web

      in some cases, sure (I would like to see specific examples) - is the argument here that reviving the ecological partner or link in question would help save the other species from extinction or at least further endangerment?

      Furthermore, Novak states that the effect of missing another species only "partly" contributes to their endangered status. How big is this part? What are the other factors, and are these more reasonable to solve or at least mitigate than attempting de-extinction?

  7. Jan 2023
    1. when the investigation began, the officials had already come to the conclusion that the program was illegal

      This is very racist in a way and also showed our political decisions are very biased。

    2. However, I grew up in a $500 house, and all my buddies and I escaped that poverty trap because we had incredibly strong values,”

      His statement falls heavily on the idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and the "American Dream." Both ideas are unattainable to the average citizen due to unrelated issues that hard work cannot overcome. His argument that his strong values are what allowed him to escape poverty, ignores other factors that may have helped him like being a white male who doesn't have to face any racial discrimination, which is a privilege that many do not have.

    3. “promote the overthrow of the United States government,”

      This is ridiculous. The idea that teaching and learning about other ethnicities encourages government insurrection is laughable.

    4. entitled to be judged by our knowledge and character, and not by what race we happen to have been born into

      I somewhat agree with this statement, everyone can have an opinion about someone or something, but it shouldn't be about someone's race.

    5. The proper role of the public schools is to bring together students of different backgrounds and teach them to treat each other as individuals.

      Yes because this has been going so well so far...

    6. when the investigation began, the officials had already come to the conclusion that the program was illegal

      This seems like an abuse of power that the conclusion was already made before the investigation

    7. The court has not yet scheduled a hearing on what to do next.

      I wonder if those who eliminated the program will face consequences or what will become of the elimination back in 2012

    8. “oppressed and oppressor.”

      I don't see how they can deny that this is how our society is considering the history we have

    9. . I love them.”

      you can't love someone and try to erase their culture and identity...

    10. The rejection of American values and embracement of the values of Mexico in La Raza classrooms is the rejection of success and embracement of failure.”

      these claims can make Latinx students feel that having pride in their community and cultural identity causes failure. (which is obviously untrue) These claims are attempting to erase a whole language, identity, and culture.

    11. when the investigation began, the officials had already come to the conclusion that the program was illegal

      I don't find it fair that individuals who already held a previous bias on the topic put themselves in the position of investigating.

    12. infringed on students’ First and 14th Amendment rights

      This conclusion reminds me of the Richard Delgado reading where he goes into detail to explain the paradox's that surrounding shutting down the MAS programs. In one of them, he elaborates on recognition and acquisition of self knowledge which I think he tied into the first amendment rights.

    13. “promote the overthrow of the United States government,” “promote resentment toward a race or class of people,” “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

      This is ridiculous. We are all humans and promoting other cultures is not a reflection of overthrow. It's important for everyone to look inward at their situation and ponder about it. In this thinking process, think of actions that can be taken to positively impact those around you. Understanding one another and each other's cultures will be the key to bringing a unified existence within our country or small communities.

    14. Arizona school officials were motivated by racial animus when they acted to shut down a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson’s public schools, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

      I have to say, it is refreshing to see that the Tucson school officials' racism was called out. Although it is 7 years too late, i appreciate the fact that the school district will hopefully be able to reinstate the MAS curricula.

    15. In May 2011, the auditor reported that the program did not, in fact, violate A.R.S. 15-112 — at which point Mr. Huppenthal and other officials at the Arizona Department of Education opened their own investigation.

      This action should have been taken before La Raza was shut down.

    16. The ruling focuses primarily on the actions of Tom Horne and John Huppenthal, two former Arizona schools superintendents who concluded that the Mexican-American studies program for middle and high schools, sometimes referred to as La Raza, violated a statute known as A.R.S. 15-112.

      Tom Horne is actually in charge of all education in the state of Arizona as of today. It seems that he still holds a lot of power over education in Arizona.

  8. Dec 2022
    1. The drawers are jammed with jokes typed on 4-by-6-inch cards — 52 drawers, stacked waist-high, like a card catalog of a certain comedian’s life’s work, a library of laughs.

      Joan Rivers had an index card catalog with 52 drawers of 4-by-6-inch index cards containing jokes she'd accumulated over her lifetime of work. She had 18 2 drawer stackable steel files that were common during the mid-1900s. Rather than using paper inserts with the label frames on the card catalogs, she used a tape-based label maker to designate her drawers.

      Scott Currie, who worked with Melissa Rivers on a book about her mother, Joan Rivers, at the comedian’s former Manhattan office. Many of her papers are stored there.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times


      Note carefully that the article says 52 drawers, but the image in the article shows a portion of what can be surmised to be 18 2-drawer cabinets for a total of 36 drawers. (14 2-drawer cabinets are pictured, but based on size and perspective, there's one row of 4 2-drawer boxes not shown.)

  9. Oct 2022
    1. Mostly male video-game players began to publish personal information — including home address and phone numbers

      This sounds about right the new online bullying. Which is probably illegal but not sure.

    2. doxxing a person if he or she is marching on a public street,

      I thought doxing was an online action of releasing information about the person online and supposedly frighten them?

    3. “At least then there was shame.”

      Shouldn't there be shame still?, But I guess that most can bare the fact they are seen without a mask.

  10. Sep 2022
    1. Is it possible that she kept two separate versions? One at home in 3x5 and another at the office in 4x6? This NYTimes source conflicts with the GQ article from 2010: https://hypothes.is/a/jj5SdNqkEeufEFOWifCRjg

    2. But Ms. Rivers did do some arranging. She arranged the 52 drawers alphabetically by subject, from “Annoying habits” to “Zoo.” In the T’s, one drawer starts with “Elizabeth Taylor” and goes as far as “teenagers.” The next drawer picks up with “teeth” and runs to “trains.” A drawer in the G’s begins with “growing older” and ends with “guns.” It takes the next drawer to hold all the cards filed under “guys I dated.” Inevitably — this was Joan Rivers, after all — there are categories with the word “sex,” including “My sex life,” “No sex life,” “No sex appeal.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyImage
    3. Here it is probably necessary to explain that lots of things were once typed — on machines called typewriters — during a period of human history after stone tablets and before laptops and cellphones. It is probably also necessary to explain that reference to a card catalog in the first paragraph. A card catalog was an inventory of what was in a library before all the holdings were listed, and maybe available, online.

      A bit tongue-in-cheek, the New York Times describes for the technically inadept what a typewriter and a card catalog are.

    4. Images of Joan Rivers files and index cards:

  11. Aug 2022
    1. That is no longer so

      Boomers must love this "back in my day" expression, but to a younger audience it can be perceived as annoying and condescending

    2. who might cut off his own ear,

      Author just compared himself to Van Gogh? Then that makes me Birger Sandzén. I am irritable for sure, but I feel like this would make anyone's eyes roll.

    3. is still engraved in my mind

      Introspection / Insight into the mind of someone with anxiety allows the writer to showcase personality

    4. physiological

      This graph= Logos... It explores the reasons and means of enjoyment for the experience described above

    5. Chewing

      This essay was so annoying. It rambles of someone who took an edible and then popped a piece of watermelon Hubba-Bubba. The author presents the topic to the audience as if gum was just invented... Felt like listening to someone who JUST caught up on a trend that already made the rounds.

    6. Karl Ove Knausgaard is the author of the six-volume autobiographical novel

      there is no way anyone's autobiographical novel should be SIX VOLUMES

    7. artist, whose spirit rebels against conformity.

      Is this supposed to be comedic?

    8. failing

      What failing?

    9. Recently

      Ted Talk-esque structure... After establishing the experience, grounding it in reality with logical reasons supporting the topic of the piece, the author transitions into a personal story. To me, this is the nucleus of the entire article. I am assuming this experience is what inspired this article.

    10. fully grown adults

      Redundant. Adults are already fully grown. In. other writing, I wouldn't annotate this, but this piece annoys me so I am nitpicking

    11. gum

      This graph = Ethos. Engaging opening.

    12. infantile

      This succinctly replies to the premise of the opening sentence of this graph in a neat (clear train of thought) and concise manner.

    13. obvious

      ...It is. So why not get ride of this entire tangent?

    14. I let it lie on one side of my tongue and tried hard not to chew on it while he showed me around. The house was beautifully renovated and furnished in the modernist style; not a single object lay awry. I kept looking for a place to throw the gum away, but there was none. We sat down, the editor served coffee and I discreetly removed the gum from my mouth and hid it in the palm of my hand

      This except could be found in a novella. The attention to specific and peculiar details become tangible... Like we are sharing the experience, But this piece of writing still annoys me...

    15. cigarette

      I like this comparison. Like I said above, the constant comparisons between something as harmless as gum to cigarettes is striking. Although she admits they are not the same, there are similarities.

    16. pointless

      How can it be pointless when it's oh-so tasty?! Her comparisons between gum and other, far more harmful vices throughout the piece explore the idea that everyone has a vice. Different vices are harmful in different ways to varying degrees.

    17. porridgelike mass

      This assimilation allows the writing to reach an expanded audience. The sensual prose resonates within readers who are both familiar and unfamiliar with the specific experience of chewing gum.

    18. I’m in town, where the streets and sidewalks outside the places where people gather are full of white spots, distributed as randomly as the stars in the sky, and in the dark, lit up by street lamps and shimmering faintly against the black asphalt, what the gum-flecked pavement most resembles is indeed a starry sky.Editors’ PicksIn Sarah Nurse, a Found Voice for HockeyE. Bryant Crutchfield, 85, Dies; Gave the World the Trapper KeeperWhen Los Angeles Slipped Out of Her Budget, She Looked East for More Space. Which Home Did She Choose?AdvertisementContinue reading the main story

      She finds a commonality between herself and those in her community. One of the things I'm interested in my own storytelling is finding commonalities between myself and others. Sometimes I have a hard time describing this interest, people seem to think it's too vague. I think this article is a great example of taking something simple in our everyday lives and finding a story within it. I love stories like this!!!

    19. In all the places I have lived and written, in Volda and Bergen, in Stockholm and Malmo, I have known which shops stocked Juicy Fruit.

      Juicy Fruit: The one universal truth

    20. But chewing gum was only transgressive when we were 7 or 8, when chewing a small piece of gum with your mouth open was cool and having your mouth full provided a certain status.

      I love this line. There really is no cooler feeling than being in third grade and making that fat smacking sound when you're chewing your gum

    21. He tore off a piece of paper and handed it to me.

      Finally! Somewhere to stick the gum

    22. The gum at first adhered only lightly to my skin, but as the protective layer of saliva dried, it became clear that the gum would require some visible effort to remove.

      OMG SO GROSS! Her comparison of her spit to glue to her hand is icky... but gripping

    23. glob

      I love all of these descriptors in reference to the gum. It really paints a picture and brings the reader inside this familiar experience

    24. a kind of shell that makes a crunching sound when the teeth are pressed through it, and a softer center that releases its strong taste as soon as the teeth reach it

      I love the details in the opening paragraph! It makes me feel like I can almost taste it

  12. Jul 2022
    1. and then claim they had ‘dox’ on them,

      Reading more about where this term originate versus how it is being applied now was very interesting.

    2. “doxxing” — originally a slang term among hackers for obtaining and posting private documents about an individual, usually a rival or enemy.

      "Doxxing" is an unfamiliar term to me, so reading about it and learning its definition was very interesting.

    3. The ethics — and even the definition — of doxxing is murky. It is the dissemination of often publicly available information. And, some at the protest as

      I believe that since information is available online somehow doesn't give us the right to target someone. the information can be used to protect people. Doxxing someone you know online who is planning to shoot up a school to protect those they may harm at the school should be legal. Doxxing someone you don't know, on the other hand, may result in misidentification and negative consequences for the misidentified person.

    4. participating in the neo-Nazi march. And some worry

      This is sickening, and it demonstrates the dangers of the internet and doxxing. Imagine being misclassified and having your entire reputation tarnished. How does one go about repairing this? You are not safe any longer.

    5. While doxxing has become mainstream, these examples show how this act can lead to danger. What are the ethical rules around it? What about the right to privacy?

  13. Jun 2022
    1. “No Spanish radio stations, no Spanish billboards, no Spanish TV stations, no Spanish newspapers. This is America, speak English.

      This rhetoric makes me think about preservation of cultures and hegemonic systems through language planning. Language, in and outside of schools, continues to be used as a tool for assimilation and acculturation. Schools in the US tend to view the English language as more advanced and efficient, thereby positioning other languages lower on the social and linguistic hierarchy.

    2. The proper role of the public schools is to bring together students of different backgrounds and teach them to treat each other as individuals.

      Really?

    3. “oppressed and oppressor.”

      well....

    4. “I wrestled with them,” he said. “I ran cross-country with them. I played football with them. I love them.”

      "Some of my best friends are Mexican American"

    5. “No Spanish radio stations, no Spanish billboards, no Spanish TV stations, no Spanish newspapers. This is America, speak English.” On another, he wrote of the Tucson program: “The rejection of American values and embracement of the values of Mexico in La Raza classrooms is the rejection of success and embracement of failure.”

      hmmmmm. wasn't Arizona once Mexico?

    6. withhold 10 percent of the Tucson Unified School District’s state funding because of the violation of the statute, and the district decided to end the Mexican-American studies program as a result.

      booo

    7. “promote the overthrow of the United States government,” “promote resentment toward a race or class of people,” “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

      theme in history: anytime it looks like a group is trying to scratch their way out of an artificial social status, those in power fight with tooth and nail to maintain status quo. Why? It works for them. They know that if we banned together, they would be in trouble. They are so scared of loosing!

    8. desire to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fears,”

      yup

    9. speaking to any teachers.

      Personal assumption, fear, and biases hinder the progress of ethnic studies and students. Without stepping foot in the classroom or speaking with educators personal biases and fears will be hard to navigate. How are teachers and students protected from this? Are there any systems in place for individuals to access the resources necessary to be successful?

    10. infringed on students’ First and 14th Amendment rights

      This is really interesting. How may we take into consideration students' rights when in this area of study. Do students know their rights and is that a priority for schools?

  14. May 2022
    1. Ms. Jones, who had previously edited translations of the French philosophers Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, the Child book opened a new career path, editing culinary writers: James Beard and Marion Cunningham on American fare, Madhur Jaffrey (Indian food), Claudia Roden (Middle Eastern), Edna Lewis (Southern), Lidia Bastianich and Marcella Hazan (Italian), and many others.
    2. in 1950, when as a young editorial assistant at Doubleday in Paris she rescued the diary of Anne Frank from a pile of rejects and persuaded her superiors to publish it in the United States — a stroke of fortune that gave the English-speaking world the intimate portrait of a forgotten girl, the child everyone had lost in World War II.

      As an editorial assistant at Doubleday in Paris, Judith Jones rescued the diary of Anne Frank from a pile of rejects in 1950. She proceeded to persuade a superior to publish the diary in the United States.

    1. A paternalistic figure who once said that “women can’t write symphonies,”

      As playing devils advocate, I would point to the fact that there were very little woman composers proving the point that women cant write symphonies.

  15. Mar 2022
    1. After the conservation group’s report was issued, the Snow Leopard Trust said the “vulnerable” classification still meant there was a high risk of extinction.

      even though the were out of endangered seen under vulnerable still meant they had a high risk of extinction.

    2. Snow leopards range across 12 countries in Central Asia

      thats there so hard to reaserch

    3. Peter Zahler, coordinator of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Snow Leopard Program and a member of the assessment team, said the team followed “strict and rigorous” scientific protocols. “The assessment used the lowest acceptable population figure – 4,000 – in its calculations, and still came up with vulnerable status for the snow leopard,” he said in an emailed statement.

      they are trying to figure out and get the right population of snow leopards since their so hard to research on.

    4. Their skins are thick and whitish, patterned with dark rosettes and spots. Their bones and other body parts are used in traditional Asian medicine.

      this is what they are used for when the get hunted and poached there fur is used for coats and fashion and there bones used for medicine

    5. at risk because of poaching and habitat loss, conservationists said this week.

      the two things being talked about in this article

  16. Feb 2022
    1. The ideal reader of an op-ed is the ordinary subscriber — a person of normal intelligence who will be happy to learn something from you, provided he can readily understand what you’re saying. It is for a broad community of people that you must write, not the handful of fellow experts you seek to impress with high-flown jargon, the intellectual rival you want to put down with a devastating aside or the V.I.P. you aim to flatter with an oleaginous adjective.

      stuff people can understand

    1. “Google established itself as a fact

      That's some ed-tech imaginary rhetoric there.

    2. “They no longer just turn stuff on,” she said. “They come to us first.”

      This feels like a false sense of agency.

    3. Teachers there later vetted other Google products, effectively becoming a test lab for the company. “We have said to Google many times, ‘If it works in Chicago, it will work anywhere,’” Ms. Hahn said

      Google uses teachers/classrooms as free subjects/lab

    4. They said they envisioned the app as a kind of “mission control” dashboard where teachers could more efficiently manage tasks like assigning and correcting homework, freeing teachers to spend more time with students.

      Original vision of Google Classroom

    5. Google Classroom, its new app to help teachers take attendance, assign homework and do other tasks

      How much of this vision of teachers and teaching narrows what it means to be a teacher? To teach? And to learn?

    6. student-protection rules to uphold.

      Oh, just those pesky rules!

    7. And Mr. Markey now occasionally works as a paid speaker for EdTechTeam, a company that holds Google boot camps for teachers

      This whole ecosystem isn't great.

    8. Some critics, though, contend that the equity argument for technology is itself a gimmick that promotes a self-serving Silicon Valley agenda: playing on educators’ altruism to get schools to buy into laptops and apps.

      YES

    9. thought leaders

    10. They could lock Chromebooks remotely so that students could not search the web during tests, or disable missing ones

      Ah: surveillance and control were features from the start.

    11. Mr. Casap didn’t talk tech specs. Instead, he held the audience spellbound as he described the challenges he had faced as a Latino student growing up on welfare in a tough Manhattan neighborhood.His message: Education is the great equalizer, and technology breaks down barriers between rich and poor students.

      Ugh, these tactics feel so exploitative to me.

    12. she came up with the idea of having Chicago Public Schools hold a free conference — called Googlepalooza — to train teachers on Google’s tools.

      Curious to see how individuals leverage the brand, and how these practices occurred with the rise of edupreneurs/eduinfluencers.

    13. terms that the company could change at any time

      Still a problem five years later

    14. “We help to amplify the stories and voices of educators who have lessons learned,” he said, “because it can be challenging for educators to find ways to share with each other.”

      I'm seeing theme around collaboration and connectivity emerge, and I'm wondering: to what ends?

    15. the pedagogical side,”

      But what is the pedagogy encoded into the platform?

    16. Google was developing a growth strategy aimed at teachers — the gatekeepers to the classroom — who could influence the administrators who make technology decisions

      Teachers as a means to an end.

    17. But by habituating students to its offerings at a young age, Google obtains something much more valuable.

      True of teachers too, as they learn the suite of tools.

    18. Schools may be giving Google more than they are getting: generations of future customers.

      Bingo.

    19. know why they are learning it

      This feels like a pedagogical challenge for a teacher, not an answer to be shifted to a tech company's search engine.

    20. enlisted teachers and administrators to promote Google’s products to other schools

      I see this tactic in other edtech, such as Top Hat.

    21. Googlification of the classroom.

      Which raises a question, "Should We Use Google in Schools?"

    22. “Back then, they had wooden tablets and they had to take all of their notes on it,” she said. “Nowadays, we can just do it in Google Docs.”

      I'm wondering about the implicit technodeterminism assumed by the student. No knock on her, obviously, but it's interesting to me how Google's digital technology is framed here as the preferred outcome (perhaps pinnacle?) of human invention.

  17. Jan 2022
    1. Then, he found, the department conducted its inquiry solely on the basis of course materials, without attending any classes or speaking to any teachers.

      So was everything just based on their own assumptions and beliefs rather than to actually how the classes were structured and what occurred in a classroom? For me, even if you oppose something you still have to attempt your best to understand the other person's point of view and acknowledge it, this was not done when the program was banned nor was there an attempt to seek the truth on what ethnic studies classes actually were since they wouldn't step into one.

    2. Mr. Huppenthal called the idea that he bore animus toward Mexican-Americans “ridiculous,” noting that he grew up in a predominantly Mexican-American area of Tucson.

      I expected him to want schools teaching about different cultures. Instead, he called learning about others' backgrounds ridiculous when so many other believe the opposite.

    3. “No Spanish radio stations, no Spanish billboards, no Spanish TV stations, no Spanish newspapers. This is America, speak English.” On another, he wrote of the Tucson program: “The rejection of American values and embracement of the values of Mexico in La Raza classrooms is the rejection of success and embracement of failure.”

      these statements are so blatantly racist, it is shocking. I want to know what happened to Mr. Huppenthal, did he lose his position?

    1. The phrase comes from a common online rebuke directed at sportswriters and pundits and players and coaches and anyone in the world of sports, really, who takes a political stance on anything that doesn’t occur on a field or a court or in a locker room or front office

      This statement alone references that because these people are products of an entertainment world they should only focus or discuss problems within that world.

    2. Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty, who earlier in the season raised fists in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s national-anthem protest

      this is yet another example of athletes expressing how they feel about what is going on in their environment and how can they create change

    3. If they want a model, they should look toward the W.N.B.A., whose players have been exemplifying thoughtful political expression. Last summer, the W.N.B.A. fined several players for wearing black T-shirts in support of Black Lives Matter at pregame practices; following the next game after the fine was announced, some players refused to discuss basketball, instead using the postgame news conference to talk about police shootings.

      on the other hand you have athletes who do not mind talking about politics and the media some of these athletes want to use their voice to promote a cause such as the BLM movement

    4. Brady had been ignoring these questions for almost a year and a half now, ever since reporters saw a red “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker, but he finally gave in. All he could muster was: “What’s going on in the world? I haven’t paid much attention. I’m just a positive person.”

      it seems as if most athletes like Tom Brady attempt to avoid or ignore responding to reporters who talk about politics to revert attention away from them so that they are not personally involved in those things

    5. Reporters ask questions before and after every game, and when the only thing anyone wants to talk about is Trump, some of those questions will be about the president.

      The type of questions reporters are asking most athletes today have something to do with things in politics or in the media they are focusing more on how the athlete feels about what is going on in there environment which tends to affect their dynamic and behavior

  18. Oct 2021
    1. The ethics — and even the definition — of doxxing is murky.

      Though I'm just now learning about doxxing, I can already tell that it is a very negative term. It's wrong to post such confidential things about someone on the internet for everyone to see just to see them hurt. That's just another way of saying cyberbullying.

    2. including a professor from Arkansas who was wrongly accused of participating in the neo-Nazi march.

      So, I'm assuming, with doxxing, it doesn't always give out the correct information.

    3. So has “doxxing” — originally a slang term among hackers for obtaining and posting private documents about an individual, usually a rival or enemy.

      I never knew about the term 'doxxing' but now I do.

    4. “You’re a Nazi and you’re fired, it’s your fault,” she sang. “You were spotted in a mob, now you lost your freaking job. You’re a Nazi and you’re fired, it’s your fault.”

      This opening quote really caught my attention

    5. So has “doxxing” — originally a slang term among hackers for obtaining and posting private documents about an individual, usually a rival or enemy.

      Have not really heard of this term before. Very interesting. #LS121FA

    6. Now the online hunt to reveal extremists has raised concerns about unintended consequences, or even collateral damage.

      I wonder how often this happens? #LS121FA

    7. Online vigilantism has been around since the early days of the internet. So has “doxxing” — originally a slang term among hackers for obtaining and posting private documents about an individual, usually a rival or enemy. To hackers, who prized their anonymity, it was considered a cruel attack.

      Interesting ! I never knew where the term doxxing came from neverthelessi found this very interesting.

    1. It’s funny watching Milos Forman — who directed “Man on the Moon” — refer to Mr. Carrey as Andy, but when Mr. Carrey turns into Tony Clifton something more sinister and menacing comes through.

      Begs the question, did Milos Forman do this to appease Carrey or did he actually accept his transformation into Andy Kaufman?

    2. And, every so often, Kaufman’s notorious alter ego Tony Clifton, an obnoxious lounge lizard, muscles in to upend the entire thing.

      Tony Clifton's random and sometimes jarring appearances reflect his overall demeanor and personality

    3. smartly set his focus on Mr. Carrey.

      Dargis likes the major focus Smith puts on Carrey rather than other artists involved in the production

    4. Is Mr. Carrey smiling at his words or his memories (or at us)?

      interesting perspective on this opening scene

    5. hardly get at the strangeness that materialized (and lingers).

      Dargis views Carrey's method acting as not just being a dick, but creating an aura of strangeness and curiosity that demands to be investigated

    6. Jim only came to work two days during the filming.

      Reveals that DeVito viewed Jim Carrey and "Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman" as two separate individuals

    7. Mr. Carrey found the character in big and little ways: in Kaufman’s many voices, his fixed stare and in the walks, stances and gestures he used to play characters or when he was just being (or playing) Andy.

      Dargis believes Carrey mastered the mannerisms and behavior of Kaufman, portraying him effectively and realistically

    8. fantastically entertaining account of its two strange, twinned and messy geniuses.

      Dargis views the film as messy, but messy in an entertaining and fascinating way; a look into the mind of someone who thinks he's a genius

    9. It’s an amusing pileup that in its excess hints at the rich weirdness that emerged when Mr. Carrey nearly went off the rails playing Kaufman in the biopic “Man on the Moon.”

      okay this is definitely a much more positive take on the film