All opinions expressed in Paul's blogs are solely his own. They do not represent the opinions of his employers and/or associates.

"Bad and Better"

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"Bad and Better"

To borrow a quote from a 2016 op-ed by Dennis Prager, “I cannot imagine any thinking person who does not believe the world is getting worse.”…I suspect the quote above resonates with you, at least on some level. I mean to suggest that an anxiety disorder is similar to that Prager quote, but often on a smaller scale. I by no means have an antidote for this problem, but I feel there are two important steps we can take: having (and spreading) more accurate information about the world and being more open with our own struggles, so those facing the same challenges won’t feel so alone or defective. 

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A Defense of Public Schools

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A Defense of Public Schools

I strongly believe we should focus our investment, financially and otherwise, on supporting and reforming traditional public schools when needed. DeVos, if confirmed, threatens the survival of traditional public schools, but she is far from the only threat. A national obsession with charter schools, while not always misguided, is a more immediate and long-lived challenge. Both issues must be confronted in the defense of public schools.

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Facing Fake News

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Facing Fake News

The internet has always given voice to every imaginable belief, and allowed people to connect to a community of like-minded people. I feel that does more good than evil, on average, but the potential harm cannot be ignored, particularly when our national discourse actively privileges conspiracy theories, disrespect for intelligence professionals, and a disinterest in (or even hostility towards) notions of the “truth” as something other than personal desire or ideology.

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Waking Up in Donald Trump's America

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Waking Up in Donald Trump's America

Trump’s election shifts more responsibility onto each of us to build the sort of social discourse that will likely be challenged in the years to come....We must hold ourselves and others to a higher standard in our social discourse. We must strive to have even greater empathy, including for those we resent. We have a more exigent obligation to promote and enact social justice....Our future as a sane and functional society may well depend on our ability to enact decency in the face of dissolution.

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Strange New Worlds

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Strange New Worlds

It is troubling to think that students don’t see their skills as transferable from one class to another, but how often do we give students reason to believe otherwise? Our education system long ago drew borders between the disciplines....Students cross a literal, physical threshold as they move between classes. That threshold tells them that when they enter their math class, it is now time for math, and it is no longer time for English. It makes sense, then, that they would dump their English literacy skills at the door.

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Activism of Convenience

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Activism of Convenience

Language and icons are powerful, and flag are among the most pervasive and powerful symbols. We need to confront these symbols, particularly when they are embraced as part of such a high-profile act of violence. However, we cannot let this discussion end there; we cannot practice only activism of convenience. The popularity of the Confederate flag is a symptom of a larger system and we must treat it as such.

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Dominant and Marginalized Media

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Dominant and Marginalized Media

It has been suggested that people like Michael Brown and Eric Garner wouldn’t be dead if they didn’t break the law, which not-so-subtly implies that robbing a store or selling loose cigarettes merit an immediate death penalty.  If that is even remotely justified, then choking an unarmed man to death must merit a full trial if we’re going to pretend to have a fair criminal justice system.

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Ageism and Erasure in Colorado Curriculum Conflicts

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Ageism and Erasure in Colorado Curriculum Conflicts

The chairman may disapprove of students being civilly disobedient, but it seems he thinks students would only do so at the command of some outside influence. That attitude demeans students' autonomy by suggesting that they could never have the idea or drive to speak out on matters that affect them. Instead, they must be puppets for some group of adults set on corrupting our youths. "Ageism" is a clunky word, but it seems to fit here; these students' protests are being diminished by the chairman (among others) seemingly based on their age. Give them a few years and Witt may be able to more comfortably write them off as misguided adults, responsible for their own ignorance. Until then, he has to resign himself to writing them off as incapable of having an interest in education and social justice in their own right.

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Pragmatism v. Idealism in Education

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Pragmatism v. Idealism in Education

While I appreciate being prepared for more than just the bright side, the "real" world I will be entering into after I graduate often seems demoralizing or worse. I'm bound for the world of Senate Bill 191, a world where I can be fired for any reason whatsoever in my first three years, a world ruled by non-experts, a world where the moment by the Common Core reigns (funded and designed largely by people with no classroom teaching experience), and a world that is only a stone's throw from a district whose board seems to think teachers are the primary problem with our education system. In such a world, I can understand the temptation of settling for old fashioned, comfortable answers.

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Out of this World

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Out of this World

Science fiction is one of the best tools we have for empowering our students' identities and freeing their imaginations, while also encouraging critical thought with logical rationalization....There are plenty of obstacles in our way, but we have the power to ensure that we are not one of them. We can be allies in empowering students' imaginations in the sciences and the arts, whether they have down to earth dreams or ones that carry them out of this world.

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Down to Earth

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Down to Earth

Children often dream of growing up to be superheroes, and astronauts still qualified as superheroes when I was young. Now, NASA’s budget is a shadow of what it once was, the United States has to hitch a ride with other countries in order to get people into space, and there are few exciting prospects for human space travel in the near future. Appreciation for space exploration and its impact on our culture have faded as I’ve grown up. The superheroes have fallen back to earth.

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"I Could Be Magical"

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"I Could Be Magical"

"Thinking that I could be magical in some way helped, too. You know, magic is where you make the impossible possible. I think a lot of people in lower income families and in poverty don’t have that as a view; they don’t get to see that any other way. These things that are impossible can’t be possible. I guess it’s just a different way of looking at life."

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