geralt / Pixabay

 

I thought readers might, or might not, find this new regular post useful.

Each week, I highlight several sentences, with links to their sources, that I find interesting/concerning/useful.  And they may, or may not, be directly connected to education.  I may also include my own comments or related links.

This regular post will join my other regular ones on teaching ELLs, education policy, Artificial Intelligence, infographics, and Pinterest highlights, not to mention sharing of my regular Education Week posts.

Here are this week’s sentences:

And finally, as we’re witnessing not just in education technology but in every single goddamn piece of software we use in every aspect of our lives, companies are responding to this failed revolution (that is, to the lack of interest, lack of demand) by ramming the “AI” down our throats whether we like it or not.

The IB approach embraces inquiry-based, transdisciplinary learning that allows students to go deep into a specific topic across classes, connecting global issues to their own experiences.  I taught IB classes for nearly twenty years, and have written many posts on the program.

The study builds on a growing body of research that shows kids who participate in clubs or extracurricular activities and feel a sense of belonging at school are more likely to show up consistently. See THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING HOW TO PROMOTE A SENSE OF “BELONGING” AT SCHOOL

The researchers I spoke with agreed that the focus on process during phonics instruction has happened to the detriment of one skill above all: actual reading.

As Jones writes, “Fury pulls the mind away from reason (ratio), Arnaud reflected, and losing yourself in anger is like letting a puppeteer take control of your brain as well as your limbs.”

Research shows that social-emotional well-being among young people is negatively affected by exposure to immigration enforcement, or even the mere threat of it.

There’s no doubt that Sal Khan gives good TED talk, but his history of failure relative to his stated intentions is both instructive and encouraging.

Indeed, given that Sal Khan has tried unsuccessfully for nearly two decades to abstract humans away from human systems—first with human explanation, then with human evaluation, and most recently with human tutoring—it seems unlikely that he is the right person now to pivot edtech towards humanity.

Across California, enrollment dropped by 1.3% — about 75,000 students — over the last year, a percentage decline that is about average compared with 39 states that have so far released enrollment figures for the current school year.

“Public school teachers feel [the need] to be more censored, tiptoe and be delicate because society is picking apart public education,” she said.  See The Best Posts & Articles On How To Teach “Controversial” Topics

But I talked about in Chain of Ideas what’s known as positive-sum theory, which is the notion that as that other group gains, my group gains.  Check out The Dangers Of “Zero Sum Thinking” In The World, Including In Schools

Trump is running an interesting experiment in how many self-identified Christian Americans have actual religious commitments and how many are just into it because it provides a means for the socially defensible expression of bigotry bsky.app/profile/bria…

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— Adam Serwer (@adamserwer.bsky.social) April 13, 2026 at 3:50 AM

This weekend I gave a presentation to a group of mostly college-aged folks and had a little line at the beginning of my slides that described it as an “AI-free presentation made by a human, for humans” and I had to pause for clapping at that part

you love to see it

— Andrea Grimes (@andreagrimes.com) April 13, 2026 at 5:06 PM

Pope Leo XIV condemns the Trump administration in new speech:

"Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth."

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— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) April 16, 2026 at 2:07 PM