Classroom

Mrs. Spencer's Fourth Grade Classroom, where's Ann? PS 148 Jackson Heights, Queens. Why didn't Mrs. Spencer (I remember her as ancient, but ...

We should be no more prejudiced than Google Maps in helping learners find the right classroom and credentials and resources. College IS worth it —- but at too many institutions, it is failing to meet the needs of today’s students. The teacher didn’t see me, and my mother was rich with empathy but not with teaching expertise. Or look at the decreasing number of Americans who think that a degree is worth the cost, down from 50% last year to 32% this year, according to Strada Education. Or join the 5M subscribers on the delightful [MinutePhysics](https://www.youtube.com/c/minutephysics/videos). College enrollments are falling and the number of high school students who plan to go to college is down from 70% in 2016 to 63%. Employers and parents dare to ask the question aloud, “is college worth it?” Although the pandemic gave that question more urgency, it is hardly a new one. Higher education faces a more immediate existential threat, and higher education is also where we have the greatest opportunity for improvement. While the last names of my classmates suggest that I was not the only child of immigrant parents, there were no students of color in my class or in my apartment building. This requires more teachers and a reinvigorated, reimagined profession and at the university level, rethinking the professoriate. Every generation has its pedagogical pets and priorities but at the distance of decades, you can see them for what they are: well-intentioned attempts at relevance that reflect historical, cultural, and political biases. There I was, my hand painfully imitating the graceful shapes tossed off effortlessly by one classmate on my right and another on my left.