In which the Watertown School Board continues learning about the Streisand Effect. Watertown Wind Symphony to Play Banned Song at the Minocqua Brewing Company open.substack.com/pub/minocqua...

Yes, AFC, Federal Vouchers Are Vouchers open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

Another win for the “free speech” crowd www.knoxnews.com/story/news/e...

Future historians will try to explain how these corporations managed to convinced millions that dystopian developments were actually utopian.

What the hell are we even doing? www.pcworld.com/article/3139...

ICYMI: Springtime Whiplash Edition (5/17) open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

The media has jumped on the phrase "learning recession" to dramatize what's going on with academic achievement in K-12. This is language--the language of economics and business-- the rest of us should avoid like the plague. Here's why:

I wrote a post based on this report and my thread from earlier in the week:

I talked to Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth for a story about screen-time limits in schools. Short version: we need to think about the social and academic trade-offs when we allow private edtech to become primary infrastructures for classroom teaching and learning. www.fox4news.com/news/richard....

We're years into "'AI' will absolutely positively make up shit, never use it for anything even vaguely important" being common knowledge and yet this keeps happening, at a certain point you just have to accept some people just plain like being found out and humiliated www.ft.com/content/a61c...

OH: A New Definition of School Choice (Moving the Goalposts Again) open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

The Future of Vouchers open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

Here, I use a Fancy Professor Word, "loosey goosey," to describe AZ ESAs. 3 points are: ➡️"Risk-based" auditing is "risk-ish," inconsistently followed ➡️COIs ignored [cue sexy adult novel storyline - staff w COI allows purchase] ➡️Handed 571K potential prob transactions by vendor, ADE ignored them.

Nashua Passed Its Segregation Plan. open.substack.com/pub/patricia...

"The state refashioned its argument to say, well, everyone has equal access to apply for admission." But even that isn’t true. Many private schools require families to visit, tour, or jump through other hoops before they are even allowed to apply.

Suppose a state mandated that signs be posted in every public school classroom declaring “Jesus is Lord.” Wouldn’t that violate the First Amendment’s ban on establishments of religion? Until last month, the answer was clearly yes. thehill.com/opinion/cong...

Ohio’s school voucher house of cards is collapsing in court. The state’s defense is embarrassing www.cleveland.com/news/2026/05...

The Culture Panic Disrespect for Parents and Children open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

All too often, politicians use the public schools as a punching bag, but know nothing of their work or their accomplishments. #Amen @janresseger.bsky.social dianeravitch.net/2026/05/13/j...

Side point on this chart: Where were all the articles in the mid-teens about the Massachusetts Miracle or the New England Nonpareil?

BURGUM: When the sun goes down, solar produces zero electricity HUFFMAN: I want to enter into the record this amazing new technology that apparently the secretary is unaware of -- it's a battery

“Here we show through six studies that government control of the media across the world already influences the output of LLMs via their training data.” This is, hands down, the best paper I’ve read about AI. Kudos to this rockstar team!

round up of recent links: who-cester.blogspot.com/2026/05/tech...

A data center is a warehouse full of computers that swallows millions of gallons of fresh water a day, burns thru electricity at the rate of mid-sized city, and dumps heat, noise, and diesel exhaust onto whatever neighborhood happens to sit next door. cmarmitage.substack.com/p/the-laws-t...

Why We Need 'AI for the People', with Congressman Ro Khanna | “I believe if we just give the AI revolution to tech billionaires we’re going to have political unrest in this country,” @khanna.house.gov told me. (Transcript & Audio)

Them: Kids love technology! They think it's fun! Kids: “all hate it — it’s so boring and so monotonous" Them: Tech is the best way to engage kids! Kids: "punched the screen of his Chromebook" Them: It helps kids learn at their own pace! Kids: "I’m losing brain cells every time I do a lesson"

Cutting-edge research shows language is not the same as intelligence. The entire AI bubble is built on ignoring it.

Wisconsin School Board May Silence High School Band Performance Of Trans-Linked Piece -- the board meeting about this issue happens tonight www.forbes.com/sites/peterg...

"Staying human is our defiant refusal to be ground down by systems based on cruelty, domination, and extraction — and the commitment to build and protect our shared spaces where dignity, solidarity, and care can take root." paultshattuck.substack.com/p/staying-hu...

Retractions never get proportional attention. This one should.

this graduation speech moment is notable, and her amazed shock at having failed to read the room feels instructive. when you're inside the bubble, you think everybody else is. but everybody isn't.

Cashing in on Federal Vouchers open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

important thing to note here is dr oz cites a current american replacement rate of 1.5, which is not true. the american replacement level in 2025 was 1.79. interestingly, the white replacement rate is in fact at 1.5 though

It's amazing how quickly tech changes. A task on my Mac Book that would've taken at least 4-5 seconds a few years ago now takes maybe a minute, or sometimes it just doesn't work at all. Thanks for the improvements, guys!

AI goes Office Space open.substack.com/pub/buildcog...

"The LMS isn’t necessary. It never has been." - Audrey Watters. Speaking from my experience, it became clear over my 20 years of use that the LMS was an active detriment to my pedagogical goals and my students' learning. Disempowering for all. 2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ed-tech-depe...

Seems like a good time to trot out Wilhoit's Law: "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

'Students may have stressed out the teachers, rather than the other way around. Or, more likely, school conditions were stressing out both teachers and students alike, and the teachers were being blamed.' www.edweek.org/teaching-lea...

CO: Polis Says Legal Discrimination Is Okee Dokee open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

Ask America's Moms, "What kind of public schools do you want, still?" nancyebailey.com/2020/05/10/a...

To be honest, I think even without bringing religion into it, you can question the idea of building a gold statue of someone. I greatly admire many, many people; I cannot think of one I think it would be un-weird to honor with a gold statue.

My mother never bailed me out, but she never made me feel like a failure, either. Instead, she was… steadfast. And kind of low-key and snarky. Fun to hang with, someone who took life as it came. teacherinastrangeland.blog/2026/05/09/w...

We have created miraculous and amazing technology, and we insist on using it for just the dumbest shit.

ICYMI: Mothers' Day 2026 Edition (5/10) open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

Polis attended a voucher party thrown by Invest in Education, a advocacy group led by a bunch of out of state hedge fund guys (so you know education is their top priority), and explained that this was totally legal and okay. curmudgucation.substack.com/p/co-polis-s...

CO: Polis Says Legal Discrimination Is Okee Dokee open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu...

Wisconsin School Board May Silence High School Band Performance Of Trans-Linked Piece www.forbes.com/sites/peterg...

Looks like @governor.ny.gov is ready to go ahead and join the push to subsidize discrimination with the federal voucher program. Very disappointing.