Big Tech Has Transformed the Classroom – and Parents Are Right to Be Worried

Big Tech Has Transformed the Classroom – and Parents Are Right to Be Worried by Velislava Hillman at The Guardian. A quiet transformation is unfolding in schools: commercial technology is rapidly reshaping how children learn, often without much public debate or inquiry. From the near-ubiquity of Google and Microsoft to speculative AI products such as Century Tech, big and ed tech alike promise “personalised learning” while harvesting vast amounts of data and turning education to monetisable widgets and digital badges. The so-called digitalisation of education is far less revolutionary in reality. Children sit at screens making PowerPoint slides or clicking through apps such as Dr Frost or Quizlet. Read

The AI Cheating Epidemic by Jeremy S. Adams at First Things. Last spring, some of my graduating seniors felt obligated to take me aside before graduation, as if I were a naive child, and pronounce a dark truth in the era of widely available AI technology: You teachers can’t win. We will find a way to take the easy path. Every time. Read

Seeking Excellence in Teaching? Mentor! by Andrew J. Zwerneman at Cana Academy. An academy should want to be as excellent as possible in delivering its mission. The key to this is excellent teaching, a great responsibility that requires an academy to develop its teachers with its deepest source of practice and wisdom: its veteran teachers. When the academy organizes them to mentor newer teachers, it ensures a vital means for fulfilling its responsibility. Read

Learning from Maria Montessori by John Homan at Plough. One of the first female physicians in Rome, Dr. Maria Montessori chose to work with disabled children, and later with the impoverished. After launching a career in the medical field, she was offered the position of kindergarten director for a newly established housing project for poor families…Montessori presents many remedies to the challenges and limitations I witnessed at the schools I taught in. She made me want to be a part of her kind of education. Read

Parents Find Way to Get Kids with Disabilities a Catholic Education by Caitlin Bootsma at Aleteia. Almost $800,000. That’s how much the FIRE Foundation of Denver gave in grants for the school year that is getting under way. Grants for what? To support Catholic school students with disabilities in the Archdiocese of Denver. Because of FIRE support, many students who may not otherwise have received a Catholic education will be welcomed into Catholic school communities and provided with the assistance they may need to receive a full Catholic education. Read

'With God on My Side': 8th-Grader Says Prayer Led Him to Protect Classmates in School Shooting by Harumi Suzuki at ChurchPOP. At just 13 years old, Javen Willis has become a hero. In the midst of chaos, he didn’t hesitate to help his classmates and lead them to safety during the tragic school shooting in Minneapolis. Where did such courage come from? From prayer, and the firm belief that with God by his side, everything would be all right. Read

Pittsburgh Catholic Schools Up Security After Minneapolis Shooting by Ross Guidotti at CBS News. Forty-five schools in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh are upping their security level after a shooting at a school in Minneapolis killed two young children and injured 17 others. When he first got word of the tragedy at Annunciation Catholic Church, Wendell D. Hissrich, the man who heads up the Diocese of Pittsburgh's security and safety, got on the phone. "We immediately reached out to all of our officers within the diocese, which we currently have 24 officers, and asked them to exhibit extra vigilance throughout the school system." Read

Gymnastics of the Mind Review by Joshua Kinlaw at ClassicalEd Review. What is the best metaphor for education? The one from which this book takes its title –gymnastics of the mind–is surely a strong candidate. In this excellent analysis of ancient education, Rafiella Cribiorri credits Isocrates with the phrase. On the very first page, she also cites the Roman imperial satirist, Lucian, who suggests another image that will become a theme across this work: the hill of learning. Read

Christian Books for Kids Who Love Superheroes by Rose Church at Refine. It’s no surprise that devout Christians love the hero archetype found in superhero stories. Good vs Evil is the timeless conflict that is always packed with unexpected adventure – in fiction as in real life! Here are several suggestions for Christian superhero stories that point your readers back to the ultimate hero: Christ Himself. Read

Airplane Food and Academic Standards by Jonathan Butcher at The Heritage Foundation. No one likes airplane food—which almost inevitably means small portions, limited options, and the unavoidable presence of chicken. Despite bland offerings, passengers are usually just hungry enough—or just bored enough—to eat anyway. In K-12 (primary and secondary) schools in the U.S., academic standards are the equivalent of airline food. Read

The Achilles’ Heel of Classical Education by Annika Hernandez, Riley Fletcher, and Robert Pondiscio at AEI. As new classical schools sprout nationwide, fueling a revival of liberal arts and virtues-based education, there is no reliable pipeline of trained teachers from which to recruit. Jason Edwards, who leads the capstone seminar of Grove City College’s classical education minor, observes, “We have way more schools reach out to us for candidates than we have candidates to give them.” Read

New Catholic Trade School Opens Doors to First Freshman Class by Theresa Civantos Barber at Aleteia. San Damiano College for the Trades welcomed its inaugural class of 24 students this August. These young men will study great books and the Catholic intellectual tradition alongside technical instruction and on-the-job training in a trade. Read

Catholic University of America Professor Receives $3.89 Million for Study on Beauty by Madalaine Elhabbal at Catholic News Agency. Brandon Vaidyanathan, a professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America, has received a $3.89 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a “first-of-its-kind, large-scale international study of beauty,” the university announced. “The project will serve as a powerful catalyst to spur scholars, practitioners, and communities to take beauty seriously as a force for good in the world,” Vaidyanathan said. Read

College Students Have Already Changed Forever by Ian Bogost at The Atlantic. A college senior returning to classes this fall has spent nearly their entire undergraduate career under the shadow—or in the embrace—of generative AI. ChatGPT first launched in November 2022, when that student was a freshman. As a department chair at Washington University in St. Louis, I witnessed the chaos it unleashed on campus. Students weren’t sure what AI could do, or which uses were appropriate. Faculty were blindsided by how effectively ChatGPT could write papers and do homework. College, it seemed to those of us who teach it, was about to be transformed. Read

Featured: The M.A. in Catholic Education at the Augustine Institute. The M.A. in Catholic Education at the Augustine Institute provides an unparalleled formation for current and aspiring Catholic educators. Grounded in Catholic theology, the program offers students an in-depth exploration of the encounter between God and mankind in salvation history; the rule of faith as embodied in the creeds, councils, and Catechism of the Catholic Church; the presence of the Church throughout history, focusing on evangelism and the spread of the Catholic faith; and the centrality of Our Lord as manifest in the Gospels. Students then complete four core courses in Catholic education, with marked emphasis on Christ the Teacher as the foundation; the liberal arts as the tried-and-true beginning of education; the cultivation of moral, intellectual, and theological virtues; and the integration of all learning under the light of the Catholic faith. To complete the program, students may choose from several concentrations, enabling them to prepare for the particular, practical context within which they will serve as teachers and/or administrators. Learn More

Throwback Thursday

Restoring the Catholic in Catholic Schools by Gary Houchens at Catholic Education Resource Center on October 24, 2022. It’s time for Catholic education to rediscover its core purpose. And it’s time for Catholic parents to claim their rights and duties as the primary educators of their children. Whether you choose homeschooling, a Catholic school, or a government school, Catholic parents need to make sure their own children are being educated for their eternal destiny. Read