Canceling School for COVID-19 Cheats California’s Kids

When This Epidemic Ends, Schools Should Make Up the 50 Days of Instruction Our Kids Are Missing Now

Not one day.

Our kids should not lose one day of school, not a single day of instruction, to the coronavirus.

Let me be clear: I’m not arguing against closing schools right now, in the midst of the pandemic. Flattening the curve of infections comes first.

But the coronavirus must not be an excuse for permanently losing critical days of actual instruction.

Here’s the principle we need: California must guarantee that our schools will make up every single day of instruction now being missed. Those days could be made up with …

by Joe Mathews | March 31, 2020

Foster Youth Need More Than Education to Build a Stable Life

Schools Don’t Nurture Long-Term Relationships—and May Even Discourage Them

by Mike Stajura | August 19, 2019

For the last three years, I have been working on public policy related to foster youth. But at a recent monthly foster care policy meeting in Sacramento, where experts were …

How Idealistic High-Tech Schools Often Fail to Help Poor Kids Get Ahead

The Benefits of Computers and Special Instruction Are Eclipsed by Economic Disadvantage

by Christo Sims | June 13, 2019

About a decade ago, as the global economy shuddered, an 11-year-old boy sat at a desk with a laptop computer in the hallway of an experimental school in New York …

The Small California Farm Town That Puts Kids First

Against All Odds, Gonzales—Population 9,000—Offers Services That Touch the Lives of All Its Young People

by Joe Mathews | January 14, 2019

What if California actually decided to put the needs of its poor kids first? What would that look like?

Here’s one answer: it might look like Gonzales, a small city of …

The Pioneering Cornell Anatomist Who Sought to Bring ‘Honor’ and ‘Duty’ to College Life

At the Turn of the 20th Century, Burton Green Wilder Railed Against Frivolous Activities and Thought Privileged Students Should Hold Each Other to Higher Standards

by Richard M. Reid | November 8, 2018

In 1901, Cornell University students created a new holiday on campus, called “Spring Day.”

Many faculty members objected to the holiday, but few were as visible and vocal as professor Burt …

When Baltimore Medical Students Were Free to Rob the City’s Graves

In 19th-Century Maryland, Stealing Corpses Wasn’t a Crime. And a Half-Dozen Medical Schools Needed Cadavers.

by Antero Pietila | October 25, 2018

Railroads changed everything. The formation in 1828 of the nation’s first common carrier, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, revolutionized transportation, altered people’s sense of time and place, and knitted America …

education

Canceling School for COVID-19 Cheats California’s Kids

When This Epidemic Ends, Schools Should Make Up the 50 Days of Instruction Our Kids Are Missing Now

Foster Youth Need More Than Education to Build a Stable Life

Schools Don’t Nurture Long-Term Relationships—and May Even Discourage Them

How Idealistic High-Tech Schools Often Fail to Help Poor Kids Get Ahead

The Benefits of Computers and Special Instruction Are Eclipsed by Economic Disadvantage

The Small California Farm Town That Puts Kids First

Against All Odds, Gonzales—Population 9,000—Offers Services That Touch the Lives of All Its Young People

The Pioneering Cornell Anatomist Who Sought to Bring ‘Honor’ and ‘Duty’ to College Life

At the Turn of the 20th Century, Burton Green Wilder Railed Against Frivolous Activities and Thought Privileged Students Should Hold Each Other to Higher Standards

When Baltimore Medical Students Were Free to Rob the City’s Graves

In 19th-Century Maryland, Stealing Corpses Wasn’t a Crime. And a Half-Dozen Medical Schools Needed Cadavers.

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Californians, Let’s Talk About Ditching School This Fall

Instead of Weighing Bad Options, Put Educational Resources and Personnel Toward Fighting the Pandemic

California Needs a 3/13 Commission to Investigate School Closures

Why Did Our Kids Lose a Year of Education—And How Can We Prevent This From Happening Again?

California Sticks Its Schoolkids’ Futures in a Vise

Even with Record Education Funding, Escalating Retirement Costs and Expensive New Demands Have Brought School Districts to the Brink

Give California’s Kids Barstools for Christmas

It’s Clear That the Next Generation Doesn’t Matter in a State That Prioritizes Bars and Restaurants Over Schools

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