James A. Furey

I am political on here. I am not in the classroom. My students have no idea whether I’m liberal, conservative, communist, libertarian, or anything else. This is the way.

In my opinion, the primary reason public schools exist is to ensure a literate population. (Calm down, Math people. You’re important too.) I just don’t know how one can justify compulsory attendance, funded by taxpayer dollars, to institutions that garner these abysmal results.

I was on a zoom w otherwise smart panelists but this one CA prof just monopolized the time on a long tirade that NAEP is too high a bar and unfair. It was bonkers. I was a NAEP admin. The 4th grade passage was listed almost word for word from this kids book…

Parents, especially parents of struggling or special needs students, have enough to worry about without being shamed for not turning their whole lives upside down to homeschool. If you can do that, then that is great for you. Not everyone can.

I find it infuriating. "Homeschool your kids." Actually, my kids all love big school settings. "Send them to a private school, then." We can't afford that, and there's no private school within 50 miles of our home. "Homeschool your--"

OUR (Outdoor Unstructured Recess) > SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Since the education industry loves acronyms so much, I figured I’d fight fire with fire.

If your *only* contribution to ongoing discussions about education is to say "homeschool your kids," then you should not be taken seriously. Not everyone can homeschool. Public schools should be better. People should have a choice.

Christian: I believe God exists. Atheist: I believe God doesn’t exist. Christian: But look around you; can’t you see His presence everywhere? Atheist: That does not prove God exists. Christian: Well, how can you prove He doesn’t exist? Atheist: Ah! That’s where you’re…

Today I had an experience I've not had in 10 years -- or more, all things considered. I was chatting with an old friend of ours outside her apartment, on the lawn. A boy across the street was fooling around with a soccer ball. He's 16, and built like a middle linebacker. She…

I’m Hispanic. I passed all my credentialing exams with no problems. The literacy test, specifically, was basic. The removal of competency exams is straight up racist. Under such a system, if your kid walked into my classroom, you’d have good reason to suspect me to be…

I would have a lot more to say about the happenings of yesterday, but I think there is enough out there for any discerning individual who cares to figure out what was really going on. Apologies to all I annoyed with the issue, but if online discourse is to improve in any way,…

Not that I have any special interest into arguing with people who have already chosen Montessori, but… …Maria Montessori would be rolling in her grave at the notion that learning facts doesn’t matter.

“Compulsory school isn’t un-American; other things are mandatory too.” Oh, are you referring to the much loved and wildly popular military draft, jury duty, and income tax? Pretty great company we keep, eh?

It should concern everyone that the tech bros who are busily constructing artificial minds seemingly have no interest in or understanding of human brains.

education fights are old fights C.S. Lewis in "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" (1959) outlines a plan for the destruction of excellence in schools h/t @tastem_pacper

Ask yourself: Why would someone who’s been smearing me for months send this DM to another attendee of a conference I went to? Now, I might be stupid, but I think there’s good reason to see malicious intent behind a move like that.