President Biden will soon detail his promise of free access to preschool for all young children, and the idea polls high among the nation’s parents. But research shows that poor children benefit the most from pre-K. Shouldn’t we focus aid on their families?
education
Crisis and creativity are reinventing American classrooms
As relieved educators return to school, will old habits snap back? Hopefully not, for this is a poignant moment that should not be wasted. Many teachers are not only weathering the pandemic, they are crafting novel ways of motivating kids and tailoring instruction, even partnering with parents in potent ways. They just might reinvent classrooms.
For most parents, returning to work requires affordable child care
Parents can’t return to jobs without fresh child care financing — and unlikely political bedfellows are enthused over child care vouchers. Conservatives celebrate the choice-empowering fungibility of these portable chits. Anti-poverty advocates view them as efficient cash transfers to parents, bringing additional income to close kin and caring neighbors.
How to build a caring economy for post-pandemic California
The pandemic offers a teachable moment in which we can evaluate the moral underpinnings of our economy — and give more value to low-income workers who provide essential human care.
The smartest people in the room? What Silicon Valley’s supposed obsession with tech-free private schools really tells us
Sure, technologists can be smart. But to assume that expertise in software engineering converts to expertise in child development, public health, or the moral implications of technology more broadly — and that technologists thus need not consult expertise in other areas — has led to the ethical crises raging across the technology world today. Note: … Continue reading »
A small reach for gender parity at tech conferences can produce big gains
I was part of the second class of undergraduate women at Williams College, which became co-educational in 1970 after nearly 200 years of being an all-male enclave – and for many of those years, all-white as well. I became accustomed to being one of the only women in a classroom. I didn’t have a single … Continue reading »
Vilified by Trump, DACA youth getting an ICEy reception across the country
This commentary is cross-posted from Education Week’s Commentary section, where Fuller regularly exchanges views with Lance Izumi. America’s high schools rarely offer a warm cocoon for our youths, secluded from pressing social ills. Neighborhood disparities deepen wide gaps in learning. The cowardice of pro-gun politicians leads to bloodshed inside classrooms. President Donald Trump chose Easter … Continue reading »
Nationalism and the future of higher education
(These remarks were delivered at the opening of a Nov. 16-17 conference observing the 60th anniversary of UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education, held in partnership with University World News, and exploring the influence of nationalism on major national universities around the world.) With varying levels of intensity, university are extensions of the … Continue reading »
On sexism in economics
An undergraduate honors thesis written by UC Berkeley economics major Alice Wu exposes the rampant misogyny cluttering Economics Job Market Rumors, an anonymous forum.
The impact of advisers of color in the UC
At UC Berkeley, the overall population of staff of color has remained flat over the past 10 years. The more senior the position, the less likely a person of color will occupy it. In Sid Reel’s Wisdom Cafe article (http://wisdomcafe.berkeley.edu/2015/11/how-campus-staff-play-a-role-in-advancing-equity-diversity-and-inclusion/), “The 2013 campus climate survey identified that staff members experience a higher level of exclusionary … Continue reading »
Insights from Standing Rock: as school begins
In January this year I moved to Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to take a position at Sitting Bull College teaching Native American Studies, including the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ language. Standing Rock is where I wanted to be because of its incredible work with indigenous language revitalization, particularly its growing PK-2nd grade immersion school. The Sacred Stone … Continue reading »
Open letter to the class of 2020
The original version of this letter was posted in late 2010 on the Reality-Based Community blog). In the last several weeks, I’ve been asked by a variety of friends and colleagues to post it again; here it is, with some revisions and updating. I wish I could report that it’s out of date, but things … Continue reading »
America’s school buildings — like California’s — need fixing
Our country’s K-12 infrastructure is in crisis. Far too often, these learning environments are rundown and in disrepair, discourage and sicken children and teachers, waste energy, and fail to support a 21st century education. A new national study by the 21st Century School Fund, the National Council on School Facilities, and the Center for Green Schools sheds much-needed light … Continue reading »
How should California fund its K-12 school facility needs?
With the Brown Administration and the State Legislature returning from the holiday break and looking at options for new K-12 school construction and modernization funding, the word “need” is frequently used…but little understood. They ask, “How do we fund based on ‘need’”? It appears Governor Brown is also interested in this question. His new 2016-17 … Continue reading »
What is CNR (College of Natural Resources)?
Especially at the start of the semester, I am frequently asked by students, parents, sponsors, and otherwise curious people, what is the College of Natural Resources. I actually asked it myself; and over the years I think that I got the answer. The college embodies all the contradictions, practical deliberations, and social debate relating to … Continue reading »
To ensure access and excellence in our public research universities, we need a 21st century Morrill Act
At the present time, Congress and the Obama administration are addressing two important issues, the progressive deterioration of the nation’s physical infrastructure and the enormous sums of money that are being held offshore by U.S. corporations unwilling to pay federal taxes on these funds. Any repatriation of these offshore funds will inevitably involve some compromise … Continue reading »
No longer useless: Liberal arts education in a digital age
Last week, two on-line articles published on the same day, July 29th, in Forbes Magazine caught my attention. The first, entitled “America’s Top Colleges Ranking 2015,” by Forbes staff writer Caroline Howard, opened with the following: “The No. 1 FORBES Top College 2015 is Pomona College, followed by Williams College and Stanford University.”* The second Forbes article … Continue reading »
Higher education: Should college be free for all?
Should college be free for all? Bernie Sanders thinks so. So did John Adams. “The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people, and must be willing to bear the expense of it,” Adams argued. That belief motivated the establishment of land grant colleges, in the 1862 Morrill Act, “to promote … Continue reading »
Common Sense About the Common Core
Is the Common Core the best thing since sliced bread, or the work of the devil? Is it brand new, or a rehash of old ideas? Is it anything more than a brand name, or is there substance? Can it work, given the implementation challenges in our political and school systems? Opinions about the Common … Continue reading »
How social-emotional learning transforms classrooms
Research clearly demonstrates that integrating social-emotional learning (SEL) into the classroom is good for both students and the adults who work with them. But there’s a story that the research hasn’t captured — the one of powerful transformation that can result from the practice of SEL. I recently spoke to a number of educators about … Continue reading »