Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has pulled a lot of shady stuff in her time in President Trump’s Cabinet. But her latest action may take the cake for brazen, underhanded political malfeasance. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is using the $2 trillion coronavirus stabilization law to throw a lifeline to education sectors she has long championed, directing millions of federal dollars […]

A recent article in New York Magazine predicting the demise of higher education is causing a great deal of anxiety in the professoriate, and for good reason. The author is making some pretty audacious prognostications, and none of them bode well for our profession… enrollments will crater hundreds of colleges will go out of business only a few “elite cyborg […]

A friend asked me how I was doing during this pandemic, and I thought I’d share my perspective as a teacher who has struggled to find my footing in our new reality… How am I doing, you ask? To be honest, not well. I’ve been a teacher for 40 years now, and I really love teaching. I love the interactions […]

Watching today’s Corona Virus Task Force press briefing, I experienced flashbacks to so many faculty meetings I’ve attended during my career as a teacher… The meeting begins with opening remarks from the “big boss” (think: Trump), alternating between attempts at morale building (“We are doing so great! Better than ever before!”), paranoid defenses of the boss’ policies when challenged (“I’d […]

In a time when our national leadership is glaringly, terrifyingly absent–and in fact, has made a horrific situation even worse, if that’s possible–I’ve been most impressed with the abundance of natural leaders emerging all around us… Chefs like Cleveland’s Michael Symon, who is offering free cooking lessons on the Food Network’s Facebook feed every day at 5pm. He’s focusing on […]

Amid all the murky and dramatic national conversations about the disaster that is our current healthcare system, one sometimes stumbles upon a moment of potential clarity. This is one of those moments… At a social event the other night, I met a person who worked for a large regional health insurance company. The conversation, naturally, came around to the topic […]

According to a breaking story in USA Today, a Betsy DeVos-sanctioned accreditation agency gave approval to operate for Reagan National University in South Dakota, a “university” with no students, faculty, administration, or facilities–things which one might think an “accreditation agency” might notice. DeVos’ Department of Education saved this accreditor from being removed from the DoE’s list of approved accreditation agencies, […]

Amy’s a mean boss. Elizabeth checked Native American on an application. Pete’s got problems with African Americans. Joe voted for a war. Bernie’s a socialist. No candidate is perfect. And each of the “problems” listed above is far more complicated and nuanced than it appears. For example… If Sen. Klobuchar was a man, her management style would be common, expected…and […]

Amidst the overnight announcement of John Bolton’s upcoming tell-all memoir, based on his front-row seat for this administration’s extortion of Ukraine in order to cheat in the 2020 elections, other members of Trump’s inner circle are now drooling over the prospects of 7-figure book deals of their own. Although none of these books have been announced as of this date, […]

While I absolutely agree that Adam Schiff did a wonderful job presenting the impeachment case against the president, I must confess that I’m a little surprised at how amazed so many seem to be at how smoothly he delivered his information, the quality of his argument, and his use of audio/visual materials. Because if you were impressed with Mr. Schiff’s […]

I received a phone call from a music teacher last night whose principal had recently marked her down on an unannounced, “drive-by” observation…because the students “weren’t engaged.” When she asked how the principal had come up with that rating, she was told the “evidence” upon which the comment was made was based on the principal’s observation that “only 10% of […]