Archive for July 2023
The Myth of Lost Learning
This week yet another New York Times piece by Harvard and Stanford “experts” warned of the devastating learning loses sustained by American kids due to the pandemic. Read the piece if you love arcane, statistical analyses and nearly impenetrable pseudo-scientific prose. Or if you need a sleep aid. The educational establishment is rife with this…
Read MoreHow to talk when we talk about hate
As parents, we all struggle sometimes with how to explain things we hear to our kids. We want our kids to understand what they are hearing and seeing. More importantly, sometimes we need them to understand so that we can protect them. As a parent of four, I am no different. Of late, however, I…
Read MoreRigor Mortis: Let’s Redefine Rigor to Meet Student Needs
In a country where self-serve businesses seem a fitting symbol for a pervasive approach to life, I’m not surprised that I get a lot of criticism for promoting schools that make room for the self of the student: “Kids today already seem over-indulged, narcissistic, and entitled,” say my critics. “They need to learn about the…
Read MorePutting the Brakes on Accelerating in Mathematics
“My child is bored in 6th-grade math and I would like them to take Algebra I over the summer.” This is a request that I have heard dozens of times over the past decade, which is dozens more times than I ever heard this request thirty years ago. I am a recovering math department chair…
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