Today: Classrooms are led by master sergeants, the Biden administration is trying to end policies targeting Chinese researchers, and after a hiatus from the pandemic, Modern Love is back with a college essay competition.
Substitutes in camouflage
Troops of the National Guard state classes in new mexico help with severe staffing shortages associated with the pandemic. While there, they use their informal motto “Semper Gumby” – “Always Flexible”.
In one class in Estancia, about an hour from Albuquerque, my colleague Erica L. Green watched a member of the guard use his uniform in a vocabulary lesson. The students worked on their pronunciation of “boss R” as in -er, -ir-, -ur.
“My deputy wears gear,” one of the students replied.
“Yes,” answered the teacher, Lieutenant Colonel Susana Corona, beaming. “The Superintendent gives me permission to wear the uniform. I wear a pair of boots.”
Other states have also turned to the military to help schools deal with the situation. In Massachusetts, members of the National Guard drove school buses. in Oklahoma police officers served as substitutes. Some critics are concerned that the increase in the number of uniformed officers in schools could cause anxiety for students who have historically had hostile experiences with law enforcement.
But in New Mexico, schools have mostly adopted the state militias as difficult but an important step towards recovery.
“You always have to be ready when there is a need, when there is a call to duty,” said Colonel Corona, who last year watched her own fourth grader try to study remotely.
Some teachers expressed gratitude for what one of them called “extra bodies.” Others see the rollout as a way to avoid solving long-standing problems at the heart of staffing shortages, although state legislators have just passed legislation that increase the basic salary of teachers by by an average of 20 percent starting this summer.
Erica reported that most of the students didn’t care, but one third grader told her that she knew “it’s not normal.”
First graders can talk too. They called their new teacher, a staff sergeant. Rayna Myers-Garcia, Ms. Soldier”.
One day, when the teacher was unexpectedly absent, Sgt. Myers-Garcia used a Google search to teach a fraction lesson. The next day, she had worksheets her mother printed out for the morning icebreaker, a bag of prizes she bought at Walmart, and two lesson plans she borrowed from other teachers.
“In their defense, I will say that their teacher is not here, and instead of a teacher they have a soldier,” she said.
But despite the Guards’ hiccups and flexible approach, superintendents and school leaders said the shortage was too great to manage without outside help.
“The image that comes to mind is when you walk into a grocery store and see bare shelves,” said Roysenne Lafayette, a school counselor in a farming community about a half hour south of Albuquerque.
This fall, her school was missing about half a dozen teachers. Aviator First Class Jennifer Marquez joined us last month, covering several topics.
“We will use her every day until she receives an order to return,” said school principal Eliseo Aguirre, “which I hope will not happen before the end of the year.”
End of the “Chinese Initiative”
The US Department of Justice will announce soon changes in the China Initiative, a Trump-era effort to combat threats to China’s national security. The changes will likely focus on efforts to root out scientists who have lied or concealed their Chinese affiliation.
Critics pressured the Biden administration to shut down the program, saying it unfairly targeted Asian professors, froze scientific research, and fueled anti-Asian sentiment.
They also said the program combined financial disclosures with more serious crimes such as espionage and theft of trade secrets, which erroneously gave the impression that anyone hiding ties to China were spies.
And although the program did lead to numerous prayers as well as beliefsseveral cases against academics ended the acquittal or dismissal.
In one loud failure, the prosecutor’s office dropped the charges against Gan Chen, a mechanical engineering professor at MIT, after the Department of Energy said his undisclosed connection to China would not affect his grant application.
“You work hard, you get good results, you build a reputation,” Dr. Chen. said my colleague Ellen Barry Earlier this year. “The government gets what it wants, right? But in the end, you are treated like a spy. It just breaks your heart. It undermines your confidence.”
News about viruses
New Virginia law actually mask ban at local school giving parents the right to release their children without giving reasons. The law signed into law by Gov. Glenn Youngkin last week also restricts distance learning.
The Maryland State Board of Education voted in favor of cancel school mask mandate on Tuesday. The State Assembly will make the final choice.
A school district in Jackson, New Jersey is raising the pay of bus drivers to $30 an hour from $22.67 an houran attempt to eliminate the deficit.
Masks will optional in Anchorage Public Schools from Feb. 28.
New Hampshire will no longer allow schools are moving to fully remote or hybrid learning due to outbreaks.
Good article from The Atlantic: Olga Khazan researched the issue: “Should parents themselves decide what children learn and how they live, or should government agencies also play a role?”
And a good read from the Associated Press: Remote school made life easier junior olympians combine training, competition and classwork.
What else do we read
Colleges and universities
Head of the California State University System resigned amid allegations that he had previously mishandled complaints of sexual harassment.
UC Berkeley said it might have to accept thousands fewer students than planned. A state appeals court ruled that it should have restricted reception at the pandemic level after a legal battle with a group of residents.
For many years, the State University of New York system has applied inflexible debt collection practices For former students with unpaid tuition bills. Now officials are promising change.
New Mexico is expected expand your free college program this autumn is already one of the most generous in the country.
University of Alabama employee resigns after police arrest him on charges of extortion of prostitution.
The private investor was sentenced to 15 months in jaillongest sentence in a nationwide college admissions bribery case.
Howard University received $2 million donation digitize a large collection of black newspaper archives.
Just weird: Brigham Young University student tried to make rocket fuel in his campus kitchen. He forced out 22 students after he released a fireball.
San Francisco review
Chinese American voters and volunteers were critical to victory the student council remembers an election in which three members lost by a landslide.
“This year, a lot of parents tell me, ‘We’re done with being scapegoats,’ one of the campaign organizers told my colleague Thomas Fuller, the San Francisco bureau chief. “We are still looked upon as foreigners. We are Americans. You must respect us.”
From opinion: Jay Caspian Kahn looked at the way the organizers capitalized on anger about changes in the admissions process to Lowell, an elite public high school. (For more see last episode newsletter and podcast Time to Say Goodbye, co-hosted by Jay. The conversation starts at about 54 minutes.)
And the rest…
Modern Love College Competition
The last time Modern Love hosted college essay competition was in 2019. The world was… a different place, especially for college students.
The competition is finally back. And we want to hear from you. What was love like for you during these unusual times? Have you experienced amazing opportunities, unexpected challenges, new ways of communicating, or making the best of difficult circumstances?
Students, submit your personal essay between 1,500 and 1,700 words no later than March 27 at 11:59 pm ET. By early May, the Times will announce one winner and four finalists. The winner will receive a $1,000 prize and all five essays may be published in Modern Love.
Click here for more information how to apply, selection past winners and finalists as well as regulations for this year. Good luck and see you next week!
That’s all for this week’s briefing. If you have questions for our education journalists, please contact us. using this form. We will regularly answer questions in the newsletter.