Blurts

You may have noted that Google intends to update the Chrome browser in a way that prevents ad blocking add ons. Google is largely ad driven so this business decision is understandable. Google and perhaps FireFox propose to offer premium levels as an alternative revenue generating opportunity – pay for play. This offers income for the companies providing the browsers, but blocks revenue for companies and individuals providing the content and services.

I like the Brave model (when fully implemented) better. All parties concerned share in costs and benefits.

NPR has just released an interesting article on teacher salaries. The article begins noting that this is the campaign season and focusing on Democratic candidates lists several campaign promises related to teacher salaries. Bernie Sanders proposes raising the starting salary to $60,000.

The article continues using this $60,000 mark as a starting point. At present the average teacher salary is $62,000 and the average starting salary is closer to $40,000. The average teacher makes about $10,000 more than that average working citizen, but nearly 20% less than those with comparable education. If you visit the NPR site for this article you will have to use the link within the article for the comparison among professions.

I have been responsible for hiring new PhDs in my administrative role before retirement from a mid-level university and what Bernie proposes was about what we were hiring new PhDs at. The topic of what is a comparable profession is complicated and even though the NPR article suggested that the Economic Policy article provided data on comparable professions equating on years of college is overly simplistic. I am not certain what I consider comparable. I used to think Nursing and K12 Education were comparable, but I don’t think this is still the case.

What is a fair salary is a very difficult issue to determine. So many factors are different across occupations and even salaries can be misleading without the consideration of benefit packages that come with jobs. There is also the 9 month contract which as a college professor I also know is very misleading. Salary increases in most universities are competitive so you may have the summer off from teaching and a regular pay check, but if you have a research expectation you pretty much have to work on grants and writing if you want to compete. K12 teachers can spend time and money taking additional college courses to move up the pay scale. There are things the general public do not see (or more dangerously see in a local case or two) that are necessary to understand the actual circumstances of a profession.

SYNC is a free summer audiobook program for teens 13+. SYNC will give away two complete audiobook downloads a week based on weekly themes.   In 2018, 26 titles were given away over 13 weeks.

Your state may or may not have a commitment to prepare students to learn in a world where fake news is published without apology and politicians even at the highest level endorse false narratives. As preparation for responsible citizenship, preparing graduates to identify and rely on accurate information would seem among the most important goals educators must address. Exactly how this can be done in a climate where educators can be expected to keep politics out of their classroom even when politicians take positions on some issues (e.g., climate change) that are not in keeping with the best information available from experts and considered beyond dispute is clearly a challenge. What is the point of studying the facts of science and history, if some adults purposefully ignore such findings as inconvenient and then dispute challenges to their motives when called out on purposeful falsehoods (lies)?

Some states (e.g., California) have recognized this issue and passed legislation to make this an educational priority. However, upon closer scrutiny, what states have actually committed to do are pretty weak commitments in contrast to the level of the problem. See following paragraph describing the California law.

Last week California Governor Jerry Brown signed into state law a bill that mandates the California Department of Education provide media literacy resources on its website, to help teachers and students navigate the maze of information on the internet.

On the national level, Democratic Senators have also outlined legislation issues related to online content they would like to see considered. In this political climate, I am not holding my breath as party affiliation seems to determine what issues will be considered in the Senate.

Issues must compete for classroom time in K12. Coding for all seems to have achieved a level of acceptance based on the perception that technology plays an important role in the economy. Elementary educators are urged to find ways to embed coding activities in the curriculum and secondary administrators are encouraged to offer coding courses and find the means to hire staff with the appropriate background to teach such courses.

Among the issues with digital information literacy is where does it fit and how can it be taught while avoiding the overlap with political perspectives. Consider that coding when positioned as an occupational opportunity has few dissenting voices, but climate change while clearly an issue of science is frequently considered politicized. The scientists don’t think so, but the parents of students might. Legislation at the national and state levels would go a long way to giving educators political cover for taking on important topics.

Education Week offers this perspective on the preparation of students for a world in which fake news is a growing part of the confusion that citizens must navigate.

If you are an Instagram user and have a desire to move some of your online activity away from the Facebook company, I recommend PixelFed. You will find this service similar to Instagram (images and comments) and it does not display ads or collect your personal information. If you want to exchange images with a small group the members of which you might convince to move their activity or just want to follow others who post interesting images, give PixelFed a try. Your images can be shared publicly or can be designated as private.