As @garrettbucks.bsky.social put it, men need to worry less about "how to be a good man" and more about "how to be a good neighbor."

Nicole Bedera@nbedera.bsky.social · 2w ago

In many ways, the only thing boys need to learn are the lessons we already teach girls. They need to learn to be part of a community. And if they understand that, then the lessons on consent and sexual violence come naturally.

In many ways, the only thing boys need to learn are the lessons we already teach girls. They need to learn to be part of a community. And if they understand that, then the lessons on consent and sexual violence come naturally.

I got so many smart questions from @garrettbucks.bsky.social about my journey as an accidental organizer. It turns out you CAN fight city hall—or, in my case, the school board.

Schools Beyond Screens@schoolsbeyond.bsky.social · last wk.

"I was livid, and feeling so hopeless about everything else in the world, and so I decided, 'I’m just going to start by yelling at the school board'." thewhitepages.net/p/i-didnt-wa...

Proud to be a designated spokesperson for the anti-AI humanist movement in this excellent @newyorker.com piece. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Overheard a high schooler explaining that he'd always dreamed of becoming a pilot, but AI is going to take all the pilot jobs, so now he's going to study business administration instead????

New, from me, with thanks to @lbyock.bsky.social and @andyliddell.bsky.social on what we should take away from the AI moratoria in NYC, LA, and suburban TX schools.

The Backlash Against Too Much Tech in Schools is Good for Democracy

And the parent-led movement behind it should inspire resisters

nobody-wants-this.ghost.io

This is like something you'd hear about from a Netflix true crime docuseries. But it's happening right now, out in the open, at Alpha School.

Benjamin Riley@benjaminjriley.bsky.social · last mo.

SPECIAL REPORT Last month, Alpha School invited people to follow student social media accounts "if curious about life in our high schools." I accepted their offer. What I've found shocks me. Forget the AI and ask instead: Is Alpha Schools a cult? Follow along for a summary of my findings.

Yes, this:

Charles Logan@charleswlogan.bsky.social · last mo.

Wins against GenAI are “win[s] for democracy - for all the teachers and parents and students who said to district leaders that moving fast with ‘AI’ was going to break things, break people; who asked that their needs be met, their voices be heard over the needs and voices of vendors” Audrey Watters

LA clearly kicked this off -- in terms of schools districts taking an about face -- but it's really been due to parents mobilizing in each city

"These changes “prove that the people have the power to reclaim public schools from corporate influence,” said Lila Byock @lbyock.bsky.social , co-founder of the parent activist group Schools Beyond Screens"

Tyler Kingkade@tktk.bsky.social · last mo.

NEW: While everyone focused on NYC's ban on AI in schools, LA also quietly banned AI tools for all students, and DC public schools laid out new restrictions on screen time It's all b/c parents organizing and pushing them to do it. And more cities are going to follow www.nbcnews.com/news/educati...

oh ok so you're telling us that there's one big switch to turn all this shit off at once, interesting

Pop Base@popbase.tv · last mo.

ChatGPT, Claude & Grok are currently down, according to users.

For the night crowd: the wins you’re seeing in NYC and LA this week did not fall from the sky. They are the result of literally thousands of hours of organizing by parents, teachers, advocates in both communities. These wins belong to them - and the millions of kids in both cities who will benefit.

Huge shout-out to everybody organizing in NYC and LA public schools - and beyond! - to fight Big Tech and defend publication education. You truly love to see it.

Today, members of @schoolsbeyond.bsky.social showed up at the first meeting of the LAUSD AI Ad Hoc Committee to reiterate our demands for an immediate moratorium on student AI use. But District staff stunned us by announcing that all standalone AI products are now blocked on student devices TK-12!

LOS ANGELES: If you have any thoughts about AI companies using public school kids as guinea pigs for their products, please join @schoolsbeyond.bsky.social Wednesday at the first meeting of LAUSD’s AI Ad Hoc Committee. RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

RSVP for the AI Ad Hoc Committee

The meeting will take place at 10am on: Wednesday, September 2nd at 333 S Beaudry Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90017. A big turnout would be wonderful! Let us know if we can count on you to show up!

docs.google.com

Lila Byock@lbyock.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is who helped write the current AI framework in LA schools: Microsoft, Open AI, and Amazon Web Services.

COYOTE V ACME is about the Meta trial… how did they do that?

LOS ANGELES: If you have any thoughts about AI companies using public school kids as guinea pigs for their products, please join @schoolsbeyond.bsky.social Wednesday at the first meeting of LAUSD’s AI Ad Hoc Committee. RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

RSVP for the AI Ad Hoc Committee

The meeting will take place at 10am on: Wednesday, September 2nd at 333 S Beaudry Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90017. A big turnout would be wonderful! Let us know if we can count on you to show up!

docs.google.com

Lila Byock@lbyock.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is who helped write the current AI framework in LA schools: Microsoft, Open AI, and Amazon Web Services.

Hey, @mayor.nyc.gov, did you see the study of 26,000 kids that showed "A.i." use causing a DECREASE in exam scores of up to 24 POINTS? Don't leave our kids behind by pushing "A.i." on them! Please declare a 2 year moratorium on "A.i." in the public schools NOW! cc @aimoratoriumnyc.bsky.social

At jury duty in SF, one woman was making small talk with another, saying “My school starts soon. But I’m not technically a teacher; we’re called ‘guides,’ because the students do all their learning on AI modules.” And the other said, “Well you’re certainly not a teacher.”

“If you are a parent with a child in junior high or high school who uses generative AI, this data should terrify you.” Duly terrified 🫡

Benjamin Riley@benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"Kids are told AI is 'inevitable' and acting accordingly. This is harming their cognitive development and foreclosing their life opportunities. Generative AI is cognitive cancer and we are doing next to nothing to stop it from spreading."

Who’s to say it isn’t? As a longtime organizer around issues of edtech accountability, I assure you that my fellow movement leaders have a nuanced understanding of the problem. But because my compadres are almost all moms and women, they’re often assumed to be unsophisticated moral panickers.

Jon Becker@jonbecker.bsky.social · 2mo ago

*THIS* should be the driving force behind the parental backlash to ed tech, not "screen time." I am really eager to read @natashanyt.bsky.social 's book.

Kinda chic to be a class traitor.

I think the class of school administrators (not just in higher ed) who act fast to insulate core pedagogical functions from AI will reap major rewards for their trouble. In a few years, there will be an extremely stark difference between people who used AI in school and people who are competent

Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · 2mo ago

cognitive sabotage, you can ban it extra credit to U Chicago for bans on professional AND undergrad programs; smart SLACs are going to market AI free campuses soon chicagomaroon.com/53262/news/s...

If you’re in NYC, come join us this Wednesday! We’ll even buy you pizza. If you’re outside of NYC, SBS will find you your people! actionnetwork.org/events/pizza...

Pizza Party at the PEP

Join us at the August PEP meeting to tell the chancellor and the members of PEP that you want a two-year moratorium on AI BEFORE school starts.

actionnetwork.org

Lila Byock@lbyock.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I don’t care if you’re a parent or not. We need everyone showing up at school board meetings to make noise about AI contracts in the same way they’re doing about data centers. This is a five-alarm fire for our democracy.

I don’t care if you’re a parent or not. We need everyone showing up at school board meetings to make noise about AI contracts in the same way they’re doing about data centers. This is a five-alarm fire for our democracy.

Anne Lutz Fernandez@lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Autocrats like tech-based curriculum like this even better than censored textbooks because the tech rather than a human will provide context, ask them questions about it, and discuss it with them. Tech based curriculum goes hand-in-hand with book bans and other classroom and library censorship.

In the fight against AI in schools, I’m sometimes asked why we don’t want to prepare economically disadvantaged students for the future. My response: You think the tech companies are trying to fix inequality?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo ago

BASH: One of the things that's happening is there's a push to start students down a trade school track as early as elementary school. Is that too early? LINDA McMAHON: I don't think so BASH: But elementary school? McMAHON: I think you can have some introduction of skilled trades in elementary

"But something different is happening this time in schools: pushback. A groundswell of teachers, parents, researchers and local government leaders say they aren’t buying the idea of new, and educationally unproven, A.I. tools as the next fulcrum for learning,” writes @natashanyt.bsky.social.

How Big Tech Captured American Schools

Companies like Google and Microsoft have used their money, their might and their massive reach to influence nearly every step of the education supply chain.

nytimes.com

Autocrats like tech-based curriculum like this even better than censored textbooks because the tech rather than a human will provide context, ask them questions about it, and discuss it with them. Tech based curriculum goes hand-in-hand with book bans and other classroom and library censorship.

saying the quiet part out loud: they want material “fed to” children

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo ago

Linda McMahon on successful uses of AI in classrooms: "The first couple hours every day students really have on headphones, they're in front of their computers, they're getting their subjects fed to them...the beauty of that is the student almost has a one-on-one tutor...I have seen it work so well"

Anybody who’s still advocating putting these tools anywhere near a school is not doing so despite the cognitive collapse they cause, but because of it. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...