Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Do Holidays Belong in Public Schools? It’s a Controversial Question in December That’s because contentious debates and confusion over how and even if the December holiday season should be celebrated or taught in public schools is brewing in districts nationwide. The polarizing discussions about race, gender, and culture in some states and local communities have…

Celebrating Holidays at School: Legal Guidance for Administrators Extensive planning goes into public schools’ holiday preparations this time of year—from which decorations should adorn classrooms to what music selections will make it into the holiday concert. But despite the seemingly lighthearted nature of these tasks, there’s one serious factor to consider that, if overlooked, could…

School Librarians’ Top Picks for Holiday Books While every school employee deserves a break this holiday season, perhaps none are in greater-than-usual need of respite than school librarians. Caught in the politically charged crossfires of book censorship that has ratcheted up significantly this year, librarians in some public schools have been facing bans—with more than…

4 Ways to Make Your School Better for Black and Brown Teachers Sharif El-Mekki, a former principal and teacher, is the founder of the Center for Black Educator Development. We need Black teachers. We need brown teachers. We need Indigenous teachers. We need more teachers of color across the board. More than half of public…

ChatGPT: Teachers Weigh In on How to Manage the New AI Chatbot Larry Ferlazzo is an English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif. How do you think artificial intelligence-powered tools like ChatGPT are going to affect K-12 schools, and what are practical strategies teachers can use to respond to…

Most LGBTQ Youth Can’t Access Mental Health Care. How Schools Can Help People wave pride flags and hold signs during a rally in support of LGBTQ students at Ridgeline High School, April 14, 2021, in Millville, Utah.  People wave pride flags and hold signs during a rally in support of LGBTQ students in the spring…

  Searching for Common Ground: Rick and Pedro Go to the Movies Again Pedro Noguera, the dean of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, and I have a podcast (Common Ground: Conversations on Schooling) in which we dig into our disagreements and seek to identify common ground on some of the thorniest questions…

  4 Tips for Organizing a School-Based Voter Registration Drive As the midterm elections draw closer, many teenagers are nearing a milestone: The first time they’ll be eligible to vote. Young people, though, are traditionally less likely to turn out to the polls than older Americans—a fact that civics education advocates say schools can help…

   Ed Dept expands 2nd risk Pell application for third time The U.S. branch of training will extend the second one danger Pell software for the third time in four years, it announced Tuesday because the Biden administration rolled out initiatives to strengthen training, job training and reentry plans for humans in jail. The Ed…