#504: Rigor and Exclusion

Articles on honors programs, millennial dads, the Texas flood, and men’s flip-flops

Happy Thursday, Loyal Readers. Thank you for being here.

Before launching into today’s issue, I want to share three Article Club highlights:

1. We had a great NYT By The Lake last Sunday. Six of us gathered in person, ate pastries, read the newspaper in print, and engaged in conversation about the state of reading and the world. Thank you to Rebecca, Molly, Donna, Peter, and Debra (who traveled two hours to join us)!

2. Issue #502’s lead article, “Nobody Has a Personality Anymore,” elicited a ton of responses, ranging the spectrum. I still don’t know what I really think about the piece, and maybe that’s the point. Most importantly, I loved hearing from you.

3. Today’s the last day to sign up for our discussion of “The End of Children,” which is coming up this Sunday at 2 pm PT. Click here if you want to join us.

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All right, let’s get to today’s issue. Many of you are educators, and given that this is a newsletter promising outstanding articles on race, education, and culture, you might expect there to be more education-related pieces contained herein. The problem: Most recent articles on education are bad. Lately, they all seem to be about:

• The current administration’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education, higher education, and K-12 education

• The effects of artificial intelligence in schools and how educators need to adapt because the advance of technology is inevitable

• Rich and powerful businesspeople who graduated from elite colleges complaining that schools are antiquated and that young people should seek technical careers rather than going to college

• Educators fighting over “the best way” to teach kids how to read, while ignoring the continuing trend that we’re doing a horrible job teaching kids how to read

To address this problem, this week I went way back in time — to 2017 — in order to find you a great article on education. Written by Joyce Tsai, “The Wrong Path?” explores a high school in Oakland and its once-celebrated honors program, Paideia. The piece how Paideia’s success led to the crowding out of Black and Latinx students as more white and Asian families become interested in the program. As its popularity rose, Paideia instituted admission requirements. Not a good move. The message got sent that academic rigor was reserved for certain types of students, excluding others. Then soon after, the charges of racism followed.

If reading about a high school in the Bay Area doesn’t interest you, never fear. I have three other outstanding pieces ready for your attention and reflection. They include:

• a report outlining the struggles of millennial dads trying to do good

• a harrowing firsthand account of a family caught in the Texas flood

• an unapologetic ode to men’s summer flip-flops, plus a buying guide

Hope you enjoy this week’s issue. As always, thank you for your readership and your support of Article Club. If you appreciate the newsletter, I’d be honored if you shared it with a friend or colleague. Have a great weekend ahead!

1️⃣ The Wrong Path?

I live two blocks away from Oakland Technical High School, home of the Bulldogs, which many residents consider the flagship public high school in The Town. When my partner and I moved into the neighborhood six years ago, our neighbors asked me, “Are you going to teach in Paideia?” They were referring to Oakland Tech’s acclaimed Humanities honors program, which many say turned the school around beginning in the 1980s and prepared its students to succeed at elite universities.

Everything seemed to be going well until about 10 years ago, when administrators and some teachers raised concerns that the once-heralded program no longer equitably served the school’s diverse student body. In short, Paideia classes were now filled disproportionately with white and Asian students.

This 2017 article by Joyce Tsai reports on how Oakland Tech’s school community reacted to this controversy. I especially appreciated reading the aggrieved perspectives of the program’s founding teacher, Maryann Wolfe (not the reading professor Maryann Wolf), alongside the viewpoints of students emphasizing both the benefits and the drawbacks of Paideia.

By Joyce Tsai • East Bay Express • 20 min • Gift Link

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2️⃣ Can Millennial Dads Have It All?

All we hear about lately is how (white) men are lazy and angry. But what about the men who are trying to do the right thing? This article — which focuses on millennial men struggling to balance career goals and family obligations — might feel tiresome. After all, why the sudden spotlight on men? Haven’t women been dealing with this for decades? This is true, but the statistics and experts in this piece present a compelling case that (1) the struggle is real, (2) thinking about men doesn’t need to mean forgetting about women. Writer Josie Cox does a good job curating the testimonials of well-intentioned men who acknowledge that complaining about their plight might come across selfish. One father said, “The last thing I’d want is for anyone to think I'm ‘mansplaining’ what women have been dealing with forever.”

By Josie Cox • Business Insider • 10 min • Gift Link

Sid, who belongs to loyal reader Abby, is back to grace us with his glory and wisdom. He enjoys walking. Nominate your pet to appear here!

3️⃣ The River House Broke

It hasn’t been easy to read articles about the horrific flooding earlier this month in the Texas Hill Country, which killed at least 135 people, including many children. The stories are abundantly sad. But despite the tragedy, I could not stop reading this piece, a firsthand account of a man and his family whose Guadalupe River home ripped apart in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July. What they went through is unbelievable. How they fought to stay alive is incredible. The loss they suffered is unfathomable. Somehow, writer Aaron Parsley summons the courage to record this narrative, then write a love letter to his niece, for the future. He writes:

Rosemary, I also want you to know that we had so much fun the day before the flood. We swam in the river until you wanted to jump from the rope swing. That came as no surprise, because ever since you took your first steps on your first birthday, you’ve been a fearless, observant, determined little girl. You’d been riding your bike—without training wheels—since Christmas. At the playground, you’d already climbed across jungle gyms and up ropes and rock walls, higher than your protective parents were sometimes comfortable with and well before I ever thought possible. At the swimming pool, you’d quickly learned to hold your breath and go underwater, and you’d raced across the diving board and cannonballed into the deep end while older, bigger kids watched with awe and envy.

By Aaron Parsley • Texas Monthly • 17 min • Gift Link
Content warning: death of a 20-month-old child

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4️⃣ Summer Joy For Men? Flip-Flops

A few loyal readers reached out last week to offer kind feedback. It went like this:
”Mark, it’s summertime. The world is horrible right now. Please, can we have some lighter articles for a change?” Then I remembered: I used to sprinkle in some levity from time to time. For example, longtime readers will remember my series on the deleterious health effects of drinking fruit smoothies. We need more of this hard-hitting content. Therefore I bring you this week’s offering, an ode to the men’s flip-flop, “the unofficial shoe of the summer.” Are you a fan? If you are, this buying guide will remind you to look for the best materials, construction, and comfort, plus offer several options, from $14 to $865. (Let me know if you buy a pair of the Dune Grosgrain Flatform Thongs.)

By Gerald Ortiz • GQ • 10 min • Gift Link

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 13 new subscribers — including Bobby, David, Vasu, Karen, Mea, Adrija, Marni, Sally, Eden, H, Dan, Zoé, and Sema — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

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