ZingerLearns @ZingerLearns@social.cleverlibre.org

Each year, #USNews & World Reports rank colleges and universities, as follows: they try a bunch of different ranking algorithms, see which generates the results they like, and then choose which to deploy.

I mean we all knew that the #USNews & World Report rankings were absolute crap, but the fact that anyone would out and admit this in public—while not under oath–is truly remarkable.

These #climate #graphics highlight that net-zero targets are helpful,

but it's the total CO2 emitted until then which determines our planetary future.

Developed with talented MSc student Kasia Kruk, feel free to reuse!

https://zenodo.org/record/7767084

It's so strange, reading NYT smugness pieces bewailing how Trump supporters have decided they can ignore fact, now.

At a time when the NYT just helped lead the COVID minimization push and declare the pandemic over despite the science.

Certainly, the Trump crowd is more anti-fact by orders of magnitude.

But, the irony remains.

State policy makers often raise or lower cut scores on their standardized tests to get whatever results are politically useful (to prove either that they've made progress or that more "accountability" is needed). It's like shooting an arrow, then drawing target around it.

Well, it turns out this same con game defines US News's higher ed. rankings: https://is.gd/GtTxnV. One more reason (as if they needed it) for all institutions - undergrad, not just top law schools - to refuse to participate

1. After January 6, hundreds of corps announced they were cutting off support for members of Congress who voted to overturn the election

They didn't want to support members who helped set the stage for violence

Two years later, Trump is back at it and nothing has changed

🧵

No, Bill Maher, Student Debt Cancellation Is Not a “Giveaway” https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/student-loan-cancellation-maher-sanders/

Our friend, Zoe Bee, tackles the Cult of Efficiency in her new video: "Our continued focus on grades and test scores means that school is often a constant source of stress. And while many of these sources of stress are effective, they aren’t good." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-_rK0KkB6k&ab_channel=ZoeBee #edchat

Amazing how many brilliant scientists will look at an LLM "passing" a standardized test and think, "wow, this computer is very smart" and not "standardized tests are very bad at measuring intelligence"

Remember the "Don't Say Gay" law that only applied to 3rd grade and younger? Guess what?

DeSantis moves to expand 'Don't Say Gay' law to Florida high schools

The proposed expansion, which does not require legislative approval, would ban lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4 to 12, with limited exceptions.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/desantis-moves-expand-dont-say-gay-law-high-schools-rcna76195

#DeSantis #Florida #Fascist

Big news: a judge just blocked Wyoming's abortion ban.

Why? Because of language that *conservatives* put in the WY constitution last decade to enshrine health care choice... as their way to attack Obamacare.

We explained that legal twist, & why you should see it coming, last week in @bolts! https://boltsmag.org/abortion-access-and-measures-against-obamacare-ohio-wyoming/

Testing mandates narrow instruction, leading us to devalue critical areas like arts, music, civics, & more. Unlocking the diverse brilliance of our kids requires us to offer opportunities across many subjects to spark their curiosity & passions. #MoreTeachingLessTesting

"Whiteness is the eradication of culture in exchange for privelege."

Is a quote that I heard today on Cool Peope Who Do Cool Stuff that explains 3 separate things that I haven't been able to square in my mind.

1. People of color, like Enrique Torres, in the Proud Boys.

2. Why I was raised as a poor Southern white male and not an Irish/Scottish American. My ancestors gave up their culture, in exchange for whiteness.

3. The existential angst that many white males experience.

#Whiteness #TTJ #ChristianNationalism is just #WhiteSupremacy in bible drag.

This is why the DeSantis administration had to falsify their complaints against venues that hosts these shows.

The reality is benign.

https://popular.info/p/the-war-on-drag-shows

No, no, no, God damnit, Washington Post, this is not a "new normal." The point you should be making is just how abnormal this is. But instead you quite literally normalize the criminal running for president.
Trump campaign prepares for ‘new normal’: Running under indictment https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/21/trump-2024-ny-case-republicans/

1. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is reportedly closing in on an indictment of Trump.

In response, Trump and his allies have coalesced around a narrative: Bragg should forget about Trump and focus on "record crime" in NYC

These claims about crime in NYC are irrelevant and FALSE

🧵

The late James Moffett suggested this slogan for elite, selective schools: "Send us winners and we'll make winners out of them!"

Everyone with student debt right now.

"I'm something of a failed venture capital bank myself"

#StudentLoan #VC #WealthTransfer

Joe Tacopino, Trump’s lawyer:

A Trump indictment will cause “an all out war”

When there are no consequences for inciting violence against the government - it will only get worse

Excited to share a sneak peek at our #AERA poster