No April Fool's

By Mary Grabar, Posted April 1, 2014

This appeared here and I wish to thank Mary for allowing me to publish her work.  RK

Sadly, what's going on in education is not a joke. Here in Georgia, we're recovering from a nasty session at the Capitol where all kinds of tricks were used to defeat legislation to withdraw Georgia from Common Core and to protect student privacy. The first of my reporting appeared in PJ Media, "The 'Show' of Support for Common Core in Georgia." It was picked up in Stop Common Core, North Carolina, where they are experiencing similar strategies. It earned a mention in the Morning Reads at the pro-Common Core website, Peach Pundit.

At the Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research, I discuss how Common Core redistributes grades. The article was posted also at the Locker Room blog of the John Locke Foundation.

My article on food studies (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing) was published at the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Reform, and mentioned at the National Association of Scholars blog, Capitalism Magazine, then Family Security Matters, and by Daniel Greenfield.

A review by Bruce Bawer of Exiled appears in the current issue of Academic Questions. A subscription to the journal comes with a membership to the National Association of Scholars...well worth the price!

Enough about me!

Spring is here! In Georgia, it was 80 degrees today. That means it's almost time for graduation and political posturing over commencement speakers. Here's the state of affairs: Faculty members at Rutgers University disapproved of the choice of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Fortunately, they did not prevail. Back in 2012 faculty members at Emory University disapproved of Ben Carson. Most commencement speakers are liberal, often controversial.

Faculty members apparently had no problems with Jon Favreau, former Obama speechwriter at College of the Holy Cross, Van Jones at Pitzer College, or Janet Napolitano at Northeastern University. The former Secretary of Homeland Security is now president of the University of California, an appointment questioned by Peter Wood, President of the National Association of Scholars, at Minding the Campus.

Faculty and students, however, did have a problem with the appointment of Glenn McConnell, described by Inside Higher Ed as a "controversial choice" and a "career politician," as president at College of Charleston. They question the lieutenant governor's "lack of a background working in academe."

At American University, students walked out on a speech by 'war criminal' Dick Cheney. Were they influenced by their professors?

No doubt composition teachers had to relieve the stress of enlightening students. Perhaps that's why they needed a "Sparklepony" quest at the recent annual meeting of the Conference on College and Communication. This was reported in all seriousness at the Chronicle of Higher Education. Many of us would rather they engaged in Sparklepony quests throughout the three days rather than listen to the keynote address by Angela Davis, or panel discussions on "The Politics of Pedagogy in Composition and Rhetoric: Perspectives on Space, Race, and Embedded Hierarchies" or "Barack Obama's Signficance for Composition and Communication."

Sorry I missed the panel discussions... I learned much in 2011, but did not have the benefit of a "Sparklepony" quest. Perhaps I should ask to be assigned to write about it next year. Who knows what fun games await?