judithkafka.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

I cannot overstate the amount of hateful, ugly campaign material that has arrived in my mail daily for the past few weeks. My city council rep was targeted by terrible forces and I’m so glad to see that she prevailed. Things are looking up for mayor too.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Again, as this article notes, Biden never actually reinstated the Obama-era guidelines that Trump is supposedly undoing here.

submitted 64 days ago • 1 comment

I mean this definitely makes getting rid of the DOE seem like a good idea...

submitted 133 days ago • 0 comments

Just subscribed to my first substack.

submitted 143 days ago • 1 comment

Gentle reminder, naked preference for loyal mediocre white dudes is NOT “affirmative action for white people” Affirmative Action rewards those who excel under harsh conditions. The shit Trump is doing rewards Twitter trolls who lick his boots.

submitted 143 days ago • 1 comment

Has congress passed a law superseding or eliminating the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961? Has the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional? Then why are journalists reporting that Trump and Musk are "shutting down" USAID. They are not authorized to do so.

submitted 144 days ago • 165 comments

Any university that voluntarily shutters a DEI program, office or personnel “Because of Trumps Executive Order” is making a PR decision. Not a legal one. Trumps EO does not change anti discrimination law. If anything, the EO is unlawful. Universities should treat it that way.

submitted 147 days ago • 25 comments

I honestly don't know how those of you who are staying up to the moment on all of this stuff do it. I appreciate you, and rely on you when I pop in here once or twice a day, which is all I can handle. I want to be more active but right now I just can't.

submitted 144 days ago • 0 comments

I was led to believe by R.E.M. that I would feel a lot better about this.

submitted 145 days ago • 309 comments

I want to spell out the basic reason it’s so dangerous for Elon to have control of the U.S. payments system. It may seem like a technical matter, but the dynamics are simple. 1/x

submitted 145 days ago • 163 comments

To review, a very short and over simplified thread. 1. The US does not have a national education system. Public schools exist because of state constitutions, local school policy changes because of state and district action.

submitted 148 days ago • 1 comment

@dominiquejl.bsky.social I’m listening to you sounding super smart on the radio right now. Great job! And hooray to @wnyc.org for giving this exhibition at the Center for Brooklyn History so much air time. Can’t wait to check it out.

submitted 148 days ago • 1 comment

This is it. Trump doesn't have the authority to do most of what he lays out in his order, but it won't matter if schools and teachers think they can't teach social history, or acknowledge the humanity of all types of people. Or if states and local school boards follow suit.

submitted 148 days ago • 2 comments

With all the yuckiness, taking my time to carefully read this pre-pub by @kallienebenjamin.bsky.social was a high point of my week. Highly recommend. It will re-periodize the way most of us think about urban development and racial zoning. And it centers schools. uncpress.org/book/9781469...

submitted 165 days ago • 1 comment

I’m not usually a “this is a terrible headline” type person, but this was on the front page of my newspaper this morning. What the what? www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/a...

submitted 167 days ago • 0 comments

Going to bed not long after I posted this was definitely the right call. Tbc, I was of course rooting for my hometown team, but anyone following football who doesn't at least partly want to see the Lions finally make it to a Superbowl is missing a piece of their sports-fan heart.

submitted 172 days ago • 0 comments

Globes were so awkward I agreed to change the channel to my first NFL watch of the season, but this Vikes-Lions game has given me a headache. I forgot how stressful it is to watch a football game when you care even a bit about the outcome.

submitted 172 days ago • 0 comments

For the record I think this has been the most depressing syllabus planning I've ever experienced. Way worse than 2016. I always try to plant at least a seed of hope each week, but that's been tough to pull off this time.

submitted 189 days ago • 0 comments

I've been working on my school reform syllabus and for the first time in my decades of teaching it, the course will not have a stand-alone unit on "school choice." Choice has become so widespread, it's not really a reform anymore, and it's discussed in many of the foundational readings.

submitted 190 days ago • 0 comments

One man’s liberty is another man’s school closure. West Virginia’s voucher program sent 10,000 students to private school last year. One school community lost $1 million. Now the state is closing 24 schools. www.the74million.org/article/west...

submitted 193 days ago • 2 comments

For 15 years I have hard core competed with Christmas by making Hanukkah as fun as possible for my kids and their friends. And it worked! Currently hosting a pre-Hanukkah party at their request. Our apartment is full of teens of all backgrounds eating latkes and playing dreidel.

submitted 195 days ago • 1 comment

Could he win the Republican primary, though? I don't get the sense they care for him much either.

submitted 203 days ago • 1 comment

"“Everything that is spelled out — that we now have permission to do — is just general good practice,” said the school leader." Just a reminder that much of what affects children's day-to-day school experiences is locally-determined. www.nydailynews.com/2024/12/05/n...

submitted 203 days ago • 0 comments

A year ago AI could not adequately answer my essay prompts. Now it does a pretty nice job, although it writes the same essay every time. Has anyone on here used an AI-generated response to the prompt as a starting point for undergraduate students? And if so what do you then ask them to do?

submitted 204 days ago • 0 comments

This is scarily accurate.

submitted 204 days ago • 0 comments

I’ve waited days now for someone else to bring this up, but I haven’t seen anything posted about the new hallmark movie where a house is being prepped for a “needy” family, headed by the town’s (possibly retired) school principal.

submitted 205 days ago • 1 comment