There is good news and bad news for North Carolina’s public schools.
• The General Assembly’s new law, starting January 1st, banning most cell phone use by students during classroom time, appears to be a positive move. Educators in Charlotte told Governor Stein when he visited earlier this month that even in such a short time, they can already see improved student connections, socialization, and critical thinking. No longer can students whip out cell phones—ie, handheld computers- to find easy answers to teachers’ questions. Now they must ask questions to figure out answers on their own and in discussion with other students and teachers. This process requires connecting with other people, both students and teachers, and requires social skills. A computer does not. And, they actually have to think.
As Bob Dylan and other musicians sing, “it’s all good.”
• In other aspects of public education, things are not so good.
The year has barely begun, and public education supporters are already rallying at the North Carolina General Assembly and rightly so. They want more school funding—North Carolina is close to the bottom in most rankings and at the bottom in at least one, and significant restrictions on funding for charter schools and private institutions. Again, rightly so.
Public Schools First NC has 6 legislative priorities for the coming session, all addressing the downward slide since the General Assembly began its attempts to dismantle public education 15 years ago. Its priorities include getting North Carolina back up to the national average in school funding, stop diverting public money to barely-regulated charter schools and private institutions, including religious ones, attracting more teachers by increasing base pay, promoting student well-being at safety at school to enhance learning, providing universal pre-K and school meals, and reversing policies that negatively and unfairly target public schools.
What’s not to love there? Families all across North Carolina are cheering!
• President Trump, or DJT as he signs himself on social media, does not just love to see his name in lights. He loves to see his name everywhere. He loves it so much, in fact, that he is naming all sorts of things TRUMP at lightning speed. Never mind that most US Presidents from George Washington going forward had their names attached to something only after they met their makers.
President Trump, however, is special. Very special.
The New York Times reports that in just the last year, the American people have been gifted with the DJT and JFK Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, the DJT US Institute of Peace, the Trump-class USS Defiant, the Trump Gold Card, Trump Accounts, a proposed $1 Trump coin, and Trump RX. I can hardly even think about the possibilities of a DJT White House Ballroom or a DJT remodel of Mount Rushmore. (I used initials here as I have a word limit at Up & Coming Weekly.)
All of this is very unusual, actually unprecedented, for a sitting President. Jeffrey Engel, a historian at Southern Methodist University, told the Times, “Throughout Western history, the idea of commemorating and adulating yourself has been considered gauche.”
Clearly, that is neither a problem nor a deterrent for DJT.
None of us, from the most fire-on-hair liberals to the most ardent MAGA cultists, should be surprised by any of this. We have been forewarned numerous times.
Remember Trump University. Trump Vodka. Trump Steaks. Trump Tower. Trump Water. Trump Taj Mahal. Trump Model Management, just to name a few.
This is what one might call high self-esteem.
Very high self-esteem.