Steven Singer
Steven Singer is a husband, father, teacher, blogger and education advocate. He often writes at his own blog here.
Articles by this author
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Views Friday, July 10, 2020 Do Not Play Russian Roulette With the Lives of Our Children and Teachers Are you responsible for gambling with another person’s life? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court says “yes.” Back in 1947, James Malone, 17, and William Long, 13, played a version of Russian Roulette during a sleepover. Malone stole a revolver from his uncle and Long sneaked into his father’s room and... Read more |
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Views Sunday, March 15, 2020 Public Schools Can Recover from the COVID-19 Quarantine by Skipping High Stakes Tests There is one plus from being sick during a global pandemic. You get perspective. While all the schools in Pennsylvania are closed for at least the next two weeks to help stop the spread of COVID-19 (colloquially known as the Coronavirus), I self-quarantined a day early. No, I don’t think I have the... Read more |
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Views Friday, February 21, 2020 Don't Extend Kids' School Day; Shorten Parents' Work Week It’s rough being the parent of an American school student. You often leave for work before your kids have even made it to school yet—and you get home long after they’ve returned. When exactly are you supposed to parent ? Your kids have to get themselves to school. They have to get themselves home... Read more |
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Views Saturday, January 25, 2020 Who Will Protect My Right NOT to Pay for Your Child’s Religious Education? When I was a kid back in middle school, I had a crush on this girl, let’s call her Patty. She wasn’t the most popular or beautiful girl in class, but I kinda’ liked her. Of course, she had no idea I was alive. Or so I thought, until one day she walked straight up to my desk and started rubbing my... Read more |
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Views Thursday, September 19, 2019 Charter Schools Were Never a Good Idea. They Were a Corporate Plot All Along America has been fooled by the charter school industry for too long. The popular myth that charter schools were invented by unions to empower teachers and communities so that students would have better options is as phony as a three dollar bill. The concept always was about privatizing schools to... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, September 03, 2019 Inside Bill Gates’ Hubris: Propaganda to Make America Neoliberal Again Once upon a time, the world was run by rich men. And all was good. But then the world was conquered by other rich men. And that is something the first group of rich men could not allow. That is the reason behind Netflix's new film "Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates." The three-part... Read more |
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Views Sunday, August 25, 2019 Blaming Schools for Student Absences Is Like Denouncing Doctors for Disease If something is wrong with children, it must be the school’s fault. Right? If kids can’t read, write and do ‘rithmetic, the teachers must not have taught ’em right . It couldn’t have anything to do with home life, generational poverty, economic inequality and systemic racism . Except that it almost... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, July 24, 2019 America’s New School Lunch Policy: Punishing Hungry Students for Their Parents’ Poverty There are few things as bad as a hungry child. Hunched over an aching stomach as the school day creeps toward its end, one in six children go hungry in America today. It’s harder to learn when you’re malnourished and in pain—especially for children. It should be harder for adults to let them go... Read more |
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Views Friday, May 03, 2019 The Best School Innovation Would Be More People Public schools thrive on innovation. In nearly every classroom around the country you’ll find teachers discovering new ways to reach students and foster skills, understanding and creativity. But if you pan out to the macro level, the overwhelming majority of innovations aren’t organic. They’re... Read more |
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Views Saturday, April 06, 2019 Standardized Testing is a Tool of White Supremacy Let’s say you punched me in the face. I wouldn’t like it. I’d protest. I’d complain. And then you might apologize and say it was just an accident. Maybe I’d believe you. Until the next time when we met and you punched me again. That’s the problem we, as a society, have with standardized tests. We... Read more |