Links, Pix, and More - September 10, 2024
They're eating the DOGS!
Election 2024
I am still laughing at the line, “In Springfield, they are eating the dogs.” He pauses dramatically after “Springfield” and then draws out the word “dogs” for three beats. Great stuff. But that wasn’t the only zinger of the night.
“And I told Abdul, ‘Don’t do it anymore. You do it anymore, you’re going to have problems.’ And he said, ‘Why do you send me a picture of my house?’ I said, ‘You’re going to have to figure that out, Abdul,’” Trump said.
Jonah wants to know why his high school teachers wouldn’t let him quote wikipedia on class papers, but Trump can just make up shit.
I wrote about the debate here.
Quick Hits on Education Policy
Harvard’s Black Student enrollment dips from 18 to 14 percent, after the end of Affirmative Action. No impact on Asian admissions. Not a huge difference at Harvard, but bigger impact in other schools. I wrote about Harvard and Affirmative Action last year.
It's not surprising that there's a tight correlation between income and reading levels. But here's a great interactive article from The 74 with a breakdown of all the numbers by towns in the US. I love interactive articles. My town is near the top of the chart with 80 percent reading on grade level. Some schools in my state should be shutdown with only 3 percent of kids reading on grade level.
Jeff Selingo has a great X thread about the growing trend of out-of-state state colleges, like the University of Alabama. This trend has been going on for many years. I wrote about how the in-state students were getting pushed out of their flagship state colleges for the Atlantic in 2015.
Jeff also has a must-read post in LinkedIn “Is This Peak Higher Ed?” He includes a nice chart on the upcoming “enrollment cliff.” Fewer kids in public schools and colleges is going to have a massive impact on the entire education industry.
Check out Andy Rotherham’s critique of Freddie deBoer’s article about NCLB.
Where Am I?
During one of the miserable Covid summers, we started a project of taking family selfies in front of various state capitals. We got four under our belt, and then the 50-state quest was put on hold because of other priorities. This summer, we started our quest again. In August, we did Providence. In October, we’ll do Concord. Today, we were in Trenton. Jersey had, lamentably, the worst building. Covered in scaffolding, we could only get a photo about a block away. More pictures here.
The largest Hindu temple outside of India is in Windsor, NJ. (Get free timed tickets ahead of time. No shorts or tank tops.) So beautiful. Totally worth a visit. We couldn’t take pictures inside the main temple. Every inch of the building is covered in carved marble. Stay for food and the supermarket for a two-hour event. More pictures here.
What am I doing?
Reading: Scott Galloway, The Algebra of Wealth
Cooking: Roman Broccoli Pasta (video here), Lentil, Brown Rice, and Caramelized Onions
ICYMI
I was on a college/employment death spiral this week. I wrote about it here, and I wrote about it with an angle for neurodiverse young people in my autism newsletter.
I wrote about the Harris/Trump debate:
