Hello Dystopia

We are witnessing a potentially cataclysmic shift in education, that is already having disastrous effects on learners, from babies all the way up to teacher educators. In college I played the role of Cassandra in a Hasty Pudding rejected musical production at Harvard based on the Trojan War called “Hold Your Horses” and I have an embodied memory of what it feels like to stand on a public platform forecasting doom and gloom to the masses who simply won’t listen.

Let me try to elevate your sense of pressing concern and worry for our future.

TRUMP

If elected president, Donald Trump would essentially bleed our public schools to death. By the way, If you need good reasons to support Hillary Clinton, read this by Daniel Katz.

TECH

Silicon Valley and the tech industry have plans for your children. Goodbye privacy. Know your rights. 

THE FUTURE

Some people are provoking us to envision the future, where ten years from now, "learning is earning." And what’s really scary is the technology is already in place, the funding is in place, this is not science fiction, it's real. 

SCREEN TIME

The psychological, neurological, and physical fallout of technology on developing brains and bodies is more than troubling, yet we are in denial. Take the time to listen to author and expert Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair. 

DISCIPLINE

For too many children living in poverty, school is not providing preparation for life, but for prison. Suspension rates are disproportionately high in some charter chain schools such as KIPP and Achievement First. 

INFRASTRUCTURE

Above and beyond contaminated water problems over half of our public schools are in need of repair and modernization, at an estimated cost of almost $200 billion. 

TEACHER PREP

The coalition of “teacher prep” academies and programs is out to disrupt and replace teacher education in institutions of higher education. So far the verdict is they contribute to the use of punitive measures in schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty and to the inequitable distribution of professionally prepared teachers.

TEACHER TURNOVER
Schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty suffer from high rates of teacher turnover and attrition. Those preparation programs that provide pedagogy, adequate practice opportunities, and feedback to teachers lead to less attrition than those with little content and substance.

TEACHER LICENSURE

It's turning out to be very expensive and messy to evaluate teachers in terms of their readiness to teach and their "core competencies" so virtual reality and digital badging are on the horizon. Only problem: avatars are not humans, online modules are not courses or workshops.