am not saying our most vulnerable are not still our most vulnerable, just that it’s important to pay attention to the paradigm as it is, not as it was
February 13, 2026 at 9:01 PM
am not saying our most vulnerable are not still our most vulnerable, just that it’s important to pay attention to the paradigm as it is, not as it was
I think some people are even giving up on the notion that the elite should have access to the liberal arts, there are ways in which the ideology transcends class
This elitist view that only rich/Ivy/private school kids should study/have access the liberal arts is so deeply ingrained in so many highly educated Democrats’ views (including tons who majored in the lib arts themselves) that they don’t even realize they hold it, let alone how ugly & elitist it is
(3) But the Democrat view is also bad: while it's fine for people at Princeton and Harvard to study Latin and Sanskrit, public higher education is about job training and $ ROI. There is no room for the idea that curiosity-driven inquiry is a good that should be supported by the public.
February 13, 2026 at 8:20 PM
I think some people are even giving up on the notion that the elite should have access to the liberal arts, there are ways in which the ideology transcends class
am lucky to have the ability to make such choices
February 13, 2026 at 7:43 PM
am lucky to have the ability to make such choices
talked about this op-ed with students today, always good to check in about what it is we're trying to accomplish together
February 13, 2026 at 7:43 PM
talked about this op-ed with students today, always good to check in about what it is we're trying to accomplish together
Reposted by Annie Abrams
As some of you may know, I’m writing a book on the history of high school English in the United States, and I’m excited to share a new article from that project—“High School English and the Making of American Readers”—out today in American Literary History! 🧵
academic.oup.com/alh/article/...
academic.oup.com/alh/article/...
High School English and the Making of American Readers
Abstract. The high school English classroom is the most influential literary institution in the United States, and the most overlooked by literary scholars
academic.oup.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:21 PM
As some of you may know, I’m writing a book on the history of high school English in the United States, and I’m excited to share a new article from that project—“High School English and the Making of American Readers”—out today in American Literary History! 🧵
academic.oup.com/alh/article/...
academic.oup.com/alh/article/...
I’ve hated Brave New World, didn’t get the appeal, have come around.
February 13, 2026 at 3:29 AM
I’ve hated Brave New World, didn’t get the appeal, have come around.
am recently obsessed with Huxley’s Paris Review interview, where he talks about giving a set of ideas real constraints in a specific situation
February 13, 2026 at 3:25 AM
am recently obsessed with Huxley’s Paris Review interview, where he talks about giving a set of ideas real constraints in a specific situation
big world out there
February 13, 2026 at 3:16 AM
big world out there
have been thinking recently that I’ve only been writing on education for a few years, I used to write about other stuff and still could, why not
February 13, 2026 at 3:16 AM
have been thinking recently that I’ve only been writing on education for a few years, I used to write about other stuff and still could, why not
I keep swearing off writing and then doing it again because it’s fun
In the early months of a research project. Reading chaotically, joyfully. Scrawling ranty paragraphs, most of which will never get past my notebook. It’s the ecstatic scholastic.
Even if this phase could be compressed or automated, why would you want it to be?
Even if this phase could be compressed or automated, why would you want it to be?
February 13, 2026 at 3:04 AM
I keep swearing off writing and then doing it again because it’s fun
BOOOOOOOOKS
Glad to see a Columbia administrator speaking the plain sense about AI so many college leaders refuse to contend with. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
Opinion | A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 1:07 AM
BOOOOOOOOKS
just kidding we all know that the best and highest use of literacy is taking standardized tests
February 13, 2026 at 1:01 AM
just kidding we all know that the best and highest use of literacy is taking standardized tests
what's literacy for?
February 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM
what's literacy for?
sitting here staring at a draft on HQIM, thinking about how words still have power
February 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM
sitting here staring at a draft on HQIM, thinking about how words still have power
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Yeah—and being just a teacher is dignified. A lot of people I know who’ve left the classroom to Have Influence do it out of a status anxiety that I wish we could persuade more people to ignore. It’s bad for the profession.
February 13, 2026 at 12:06 AM
Yeah—and being just a teacher is dignified. A lot of people I know who’ve left the classroom to Have Influence do it out of a status anxiety that I wish we could persuade more people to ignore. It’s bad for the profession.
people can be good
Obviously bad teachers exist, and it’s okay to direct them—total autonomy is a bad idea—but in 12 years I’ve learned pretty much exclusively from experienced educators.
February 13, 2026 at 12:03 AM
people can be good
an education agenda that’s just “workforce training” can’t meet the moment
Trump nominated a legit white nationalist to a top post at the State Department. I asked him some basic questions about his belief in the “erasure of white culture”. Watch this embarrassing, fumbling answer. Like he has never before been asked to explain his views.
February 12, 2026 at 11:02 PM
an education agenda that’s just “workforce training” can’t meet the moment
Batman isn’t the root of the problem
February 12, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Batman isn’t the root of the problem
rising illiteracy is, indeed, a crisis, but further standardization can’t be the only way forward
February 12, 2026 at 10:41 PM
rising illiteracy is, indeed, a crisis, but further standardization can’t be the only way forward
Reposted by Annie Abrams
Most sources aren’t digitized.
Sources that get digitized aren’t by that fact alone accessible or permanent.
What is digitized is itself a deliberate sample not only of the archive as a whole but also of the digitized source.
Understanding is a social process and takes shape over time and space.
Sources that get digitized aren’t by that fact alone accessible or permanent.
What is digitized is itself a deliberate sample not only of the archive as a whole but also of the digitized source.
Understanding is a social process and takes shape over time and space.
Right, another key thing that historians do is working with important records that have not been digitized.
And the vast majority of the world’s records *have not been digitized* and thus do not exist in any format that LLMs/AI can work with.
And the vast majority of the world’s records *have not been digitized* and thus do not exist in any format that LLMs/AI can work with.
it's literally impossible for an LLM to do a historian's job
it's not even LLMs sucking it's that they need data input to do anything and where's that data supposed to be coming from without historians
never met a computer that can dig through a thousand year old book in a library
it's not even LLMs sucking it's that they need data input to do anything and where's that data supposed to be coming from without historians
never met a computer that can dig through a thousand year old book in a library
February 12, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Most sources aren’t digitized.
Sources that get digitized aren’t by that fact alone accessible or permanent.
What is digitized is itself a deliberate sample not only of the archive as a whole but also of the digitized source.
Understanding is a social process and takes shape over time and space.
Sources that get digitized aren’t by that fact alone accessible or permanent.
What is digitized is itself a deliberate sample not only of the archive as a whole but also of the digitized source.
Understanding is a social process and takes shape over time and space.
high school humanities teachers too, as they're able
I think the greatest gift college professors in the humanities can give to students right now is a seminar room where, for 80 minutes twice a week, nothing that happens to them is a sales pitch for an AI product.
February 12, 2026 at 9:53 PM
high school humanities teachers too, as they're able
the mckinsey mindset is a disease
February 12, 2026 at 9:53 PM
the mckinsey mindset is a disease
high stakes, no fun game
February 12, 2026 at 8:16 PM
high stakes, no fun game
no one assigned him this task
February 12, 2026 at 3:24 AM
no one assigned him this task