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 Sunday, April 18, 2021 Let the Children Play—My Prescription for Covid 'Learning Loss' Things are different in school these days. Learning is not quantifiable in the way they pretend it is and teaching is not the hard science they want it to be. The classes are smaller. The kids are more subdued. The teachers are exhausted . But that's life as we try to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic... Read more |
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Views Saturday, January 09, 2021 What I Told My Students About Wednesday’s Attempted Trump Coup The moment I had been dreading happened. Student names started popping up on my screen waiting to be admitted into this morning’s first Zoom meeting. What was I going to say to them? Wednesday in Washington, DC, thousands of Trump supporters charged into the Capitol Building at his urging in an... Read more |
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Views Thursday, December 24, 2020 Kids Are NOT Falling Behind. They Are Surviving a Pandemic. Everyone is worried about how the Coronavirus pandemic is affecting children. And it IS affecting them. But so much worry is being wasted on the wrong things. Instead of agonizing about kids being put in danger of infection at in-person schools where the virus is out of control, we’re told to worry... Read more |
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Views Sunday, October 18, 2020 An Originalist Reading of Public Schools and the Absurdity of Amy Coney Barrett Let’s say you went to a restaurant and ordered a big ol’ meat sandwich only to find nothing but straw between two pieces of bread. “Waiter!” You say, calling over a server. “What’s wrong, Sir?” “There’s no meat in my sandwich.” “Oh, Sir?” He says smiling, examining your plate. “Here at Scalia’s Bar... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, September 08, 2020 Why Does Trump Hate COVID Testing But Love Standardized Testing? When it comes to COVID-19, Donald Trump sure hates testing. But when it comes to public schools, his administration simply adores standardized testing. Why the discrepancy? Why is testing for a virus during a global pandemic bad, but giving students a multiple choice test during the chaos caused by... Read more |
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Views Monday, August 03, 2020 We're Talking About Human Life Here. Unsafely Reopening Schools Is No Solution at All Opening schools unsafely will not solve any of our problems. In every case, it will make them worse. Students don’t learn a lot when their teachers are in quarantine. Children generally receive less socialization when their parents are hospitalized. Kids with special needs will receive few... Read more |
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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 |