#441: School, Three Ways
Articles on sextortion, technology, and “anti-wokeness” in schools
I love my school, and I love working in a school. But this week has been a tough one. I won’t go into details, but I got that feeling that educators get sometimes: Is this public school thing really possible? Am I making a difference? What’s this all for?
Thankfully, a kind colleague got me out of my momentary funk, and I’m pushing strong into the weekend. But if you’re a teacher or a parent, you know: With everything we’re dealing with right now, educating our children is not easy.
This week’s issue offers three perspectives on schools and the challenges they’re facing. At first glance, the headlines seem click-baity, and possibly sensational. But rest assured, the typical Article Club-level writing quality is there.
Here are the topics of this week’s pieces. Hope you appreciate them, even if they might be difficult to read.
📚 All right, it’s time to get to the articles.
1️⃣ The Sextortion Of Boys
First, a warning: This article is sad and disturbing. It discusses the suicide of Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old senior at Marquette Senior High School in Michigan. Jordan played football and basketball and was the school’s homecoming king.
One Instagram message: That was all it took for scammers in Nigeria to convince Jordan DeMay that they were a sexy, innocent girl named Dani who liked to flirt and play “sexy games.” After sending a naked photo, Dani asked for one in return. Jordan’s decision to reciprocate cost him his life.
Even though this is a harrowing story, I found myself riveted and could not put my phone down before finishing the article. Professor Olivia Carville does an outstanding job reporting on the latest horrible technology trend: the sextortion of boys. She also follows Jordan’s family’s response to the tragedy, as well as puts the blame on Meta, other social media companies, and Congress for allowing these horrors to continue.
By Olivia Carville • Bloomberg • 26 min • Gift Link
2️⃣ Unplug The Classroom. Or Reboot It.
Back in the day, when I was a teacher, I used to love using technology in the classroom. The iPhone was new. Google Docs was new. It was a delightful endeavor to set up a classroom blog where your students could publish their thoughts.
Then came the pandemic. Since then, my opinion of technology has shifted. I’m not as severe as Jonathan Haidt, whose The Anxious Generation has called for schools to ban phones entirely. But I maintain that one of the saddest scenes in education is a classroom with a talented teacher and brilliant young people ignoring each other and instead hunching over their Chromebooks, squinting at their tiny screens.
This well-written essay by Antón Barba-Kay exhorts educators to be bold and do something about the role of technology in their schools. You can’t be wishy-washy with technology, Prof. Barba-Kay writes. You have to embrace it, or you have to fight it. Otherwise, our young people are doomed.
By Antón Barba-Kay • The New Republic • 24 mins • Gift Link
3️⃣ Quitting Public Schools, Teaching Kids To Be Anti-Woke
Kali and Joshua Fontanilla grew up in left-leaning households and used to teach middle and high school students in Salinas, California. But then the Covid shutdowns and Black Lives Matter protests disgusted them. The adoption of a new ethnic studies course was the last straw. So they packed their bags, moved to Florida, and founded The Exodus Institute, an online Christian school that promises to teach students the “Com-plete History of Slavery in America.”
I’ve read a ton of these stories. You have, too. They’re usually boring to me. But this one was different. Reporter Hannah Natanson criticizes the Fontanillas without shaming them. She also subtlely makes the point that teachers should urge kids to think, rather than do the thinking for them.
By Hannah Natanson • The Washington Post • 13 min • Gift Link
4️⃣ It’s time for a poll! 🙋🏽
You may have noticed a newish feature at Article Club: gift links. The point is to make sure you never hit a paywall when reading an article in this newsletter. They’re made possible by paid subscribers (thank you!). What do you think of gift links?
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Interesting article. Very relevant as I teach too. Technology has a lot to answer for.
Wow, this was a thought-provoking selection, and each one a little bit heartbreaking in its own way, the first one obviously way more so, my goodness!
Thank you for the gift links, Mark!