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#ucsd — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #ucsd, aggregated by home.social.

  1. I trained on and became among the earliest users of #WebCT in 2000, teaching fully online in 2001 and 2002. It is now called #Canvas, which is one of the largest and most notable hacks of all time, effected by #shinyhunters. #UCSD uses it, and I presume classes will resume, say by email and in person. In recent years I had dumped Canvas except for one huge lecture with TAs where the gradebook was really useful. Not using it this quarter at all, lucky me. Returning to a printed syllabus in future

  2. I trained on and became among the earliest users of #WebCT in 2000, teaching fully online in 2001 and 2002. It is now called #Canvas, which is one of the largest and most notable hacks of all time, effected by #shinyhunters. #UCSD uses it, and I presume classes will resume, say by email and in person. In recent years I had dumped Canvas except for one huge lecture with TAs where the gradebook was really useful. Not using it this quarter at all, lucky me. Returning to a printed syllabus in future

  3. I trained on and became among the earliest users of #WebCT in 2000, teaching fully online in 2001 and 2002. It is now called #Canvas, which is one of the largest and most notable hacks of all time, effected by #shinyhunters. #UCSD uses it, and I presume classes will resume, say by email and in person. In recent years I had dumped Canvas except for one huge lecture with TAs where the gradebook was really useful. Not using it this quarter at all, lucky me. Returning to a printed syllabus in future

  4. I trained on and became among the earliest users of #WebCT in 2000, teaching fully online in 2001 and 2002. It is now called #Canvas, which is one of the largest and most notable hacks of all time, effected by #shinyhunters. #UCSD uses it, and I presume classes will resume, say by email and in person. In recent years I had dumped Canvas except for one huge lecture with TAs where the gradebook was really useful. Not using it this quarter at all, lucky me. Returning to a printed syllabus in future

  5. I trained on and became among the earliest users of #WebCT in 2000, teaching fully online in 2001 and 2002. It is now called #Canvas, which is one of the largest and most notable hacks of all time, effected by #shinyhunters. #UCSD uses it, and I presume classes will resume, say by email and in person. In recent years I had dumped Canvas except for one huge lecture with TAs where the gradebook was really useful. Not using it this quarter at all, lucky me. Returning to a printed syllabus in future

  6. Local scientists are using DNA to track evolution’s race against climate change

    Evolution works over millennia. Climate change is moving far faster. That mismatch is killing some of the planet’s most vital…
    #UnitedStates #US #USA #america #climatechange #DNA #eelgrass #Salkinstitute #science #ScrippsInstitutionofOceanography #technology #UCSD #unitedstatesofamerica
    europesays.com/2914775/

  7. Families left in the dark: #UCSD, #USC quietly sell donors’ bodies to #Navy for #Israel military training

    https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2026/04/06/families-left-in-the-dark-ucsd-usc-quietly-sell-donors-bodies-to-navy-for-israeli-military-training/

    The U.S. Navy has taken the first steps to extend the program that relies on anatomical donations from USC and the UC system until 2029.

  8. Families left in the dark: #UCSD, #USC quietly sell donors’ bodies to #Navy for #Israel military training

    https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2026/04/06/families-left-in-the-dark-ucsd-usc-quietly-sell-donors-bodies-to-navy-for-israeli-military-training/

    The U.S. Navy has taken the first steps to extend the program that relies on anatomical donations from USC and the UC system until 2029.

  9. Families left in the dark: #UCSD, #USC quietly sell donors’ bodies to #Navy for #Israel military training

    https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2026/04/06/families-left-in-the-dark-ucsd-usc-quietly-sell-donors-bodies-to-navy-for-israeli-military-training/

    The U.S. Navy has taken the first steps to extend the program that relies on anatomical donations from USC and the UC system until 2029.

  10. Families left in the dark: #UCSD, #USC quietly sell donors’ bodies to #Navy for #Israel military training

    https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2026/04/06/families-left-in-the-dark-ucsd-usc-quietly-sell-donors-bodies-to-navy-for-israeli-military-training/

    The U.S. Navy has taken the first steps to extend the program that relies on anatomical donations from USC and the UC system until 2029.

  11. Families left in the dark: #UCSD, #USC quietly sell donors’ bodies to #Navy for #Israel military training

    https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2026/04/06/families-left-in-the-dark-ucsd-usc-quietly-sell-donors-bodies-to-navy-for-israeli-military-training/

    The U.S. Navy has taken the first steps to extend the program that relies on anatomical donations from USC and the UC system until 2029.

  12. #BlueskyArtShow #Openings #Abstractia #Architecture UCSD Geisel Library in La Jolla, California. I love the brutalist architecture of this library and took this photo while I was a student there. #ECK #Architecture #UCSD #GeiselLibrary #LightAndShadow #ClassicMono

  13. #BlueskyArtShow #Openings #Abstractia #Architecture UCSD Geisel Library in La Jolla, California. I love the brutalist architecture of this library and took this photo while I was a student there. #ECK #Architecture #UCSD #GeiselLibrary #LightAndShadow #ClassicMono

  14. #BlueskyArtShow #Openings #Abstractia #Architecture UCSD Geisel Library in La Jolla, California. I love the brutalist architecture of this library and took this photo while I was a student there. #ECK #Architecture #UCSD #GeiselLibrary #LightAndShadow #ClassicMono

  15. #BlueskyArtShow #Openings #Abstractia #Architecture UCSD Geisel Library in La Jolla, California. I love the brutalist architecture of this library and took this photo while I was a student there. #ECK #Architecture #UCSD #GeiselLibrary #LightAndShadow #ClassicMono

  16. #BlueskyArtShow #Openings #Abstractia #Architecture UCSD Geisel Library in La Jolla, California. I love the brutalist architecture of this library and took this photo while I was a student there. #ECK #Architecture #UCSD #GeiselLibrary #LightAndShadow #ClassicMono

  17. UCSD part of team granted $15.8M to study Latino brain health – NBC 7 San Diego

    UC San Diego and UC Davis have received a $15.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health…
    #Conflict #Conflicts #War #health #Latinamerica #mentalhealth #UCSD
    europesays.com/2894416/

  18. The #Trump admin has opened investigations into #admissions policies at 3 major #MedicalSchools, expanding the #federal govt’s pressure campaign beyond campus #culture & taking aim at the heart of #ScientificAuthority in the #US.

    The #DOJ on Wednesday informed #Stanford, #OhioState & #UCSD, about the investigations & demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of #data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal #funding….

    #law #AcademicFreedom #education #privacy #medicine

  19. The #Trump admin has opened investigations into #admissions policies at 3 major #MedicalSchools, expanding the #federal govt’s pressure campaign beyond campus #culture & taking aim at the heart of #ScientificAuthority in the #US.

    The #DOJ on Wednesday informed #Stanford, #OhioState & #UCSD, about the investigations & demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of #data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal #funding….

    #law #AcademicFreedom #education #privacy #medicine

  20. The #Trump admin has opened investigations into #admissions policies at 3 major #MedicalSchools, expanding the #federal govt’s pressure campaign beyond campus #culture & taking aim at the heart of #ScientificAuthority in the #US.

    The #DOJ on Wednesday informed #Stanford, #OhioState & #UCSD, about the investigations & demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of #data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal #funding….

    #law #AcademicFreedom #education #privacy #medicine

  21. The #Trump admin has opened investigations into #admissions policies at 3 major #MedicalSchools, expanding the #federal govt’s pressure campaign beyond campus #culture & taking aim at the heart of #ScientificAuthority in the #US.

    The #DOJ on Wednesday informed #Stanford, #OhioState & #UCSD, about the investigations & demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of #data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal #funding….

    #law #AcademicFreedom #education #privacy #medicine

  22. The #Trump admin has opened investigations into #admissions policies at 3 major #MedicalSchools, expanding the #federal govt’s pressure campaign beyond campus #culture & taking aim at the heart of #ScientificAuthority in the #US.

    The #DOJ on Wednesday informed #Stanford, #OhioState & #UCSD, about the investigations & demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of #data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal #funding….

    #law #AcademicFreedom #education #privacy #medicine

  23. New #openaccess publication #SciPost #Physics

    Chirality, magic, and quantum correlations in multipartite quantum states

    Shreya Vardhan, Bowen Shi, Isaac H. Kim, Yijian Zou
    SciPost Phys. 20, 066 (2026)
    scipost.org/SciPostPhys.20.3.0

    #SU #UIUC #UCD #UCSD #PI
    #NSERC #MCU

  24. New #openaccess publication #SciPost #Physics

    Chirality, magic, and quantum correlations in multipartite quantum states

    Shreya Vardhan, Bowen Shi, Isaac H. Kim, Yijian Zou
    SciPost Phys. 20, 066 (2026)
    scipost.org/SciPostPhys.20.3.0

    #SU #UIUC #UCD #UCSD #PI
    #NSERC #MCU

  25. New #openaccess publication #SciPost #Physics

    Chirality, magic, and quantum correlations in multipartite quantum states

    Shreya Vardhan, Bowen Shi, Isaac H. Kim, Yijian Zou
    SciPost Phys. 20, 066 (2026)
    scipost.org/SciPostPhys.20.3.0

    #SU #UIUC #UCD #UCSD #PI
    #NSERC #MCU

  26. New #openaccess publication #SciPost #Physics

    Chirality, magic, and quantum correlations in multipartite quantum states

    Shreya Vardhan, Bowen Shi, Isaac H. Kim, Yijian Zou
    SciPost Phys. 20, 066 (2026)
    scipost.org/SciPostPhys.20.3.0

    #SU #UIUC #UCD #UCSD #PI
    #NSERC #MCU

  27. New #openaccess publication #SciPost #Physics

    Chirality, magic, and quantum correlations in multipartite quantum states

    Shreya Vardhan, Bowen Shi, Isaac H. Kim, Yijian Zou
    SciPost Phys. 20, 066 (2026)
    scipost.org/SciPostPhys.20.3.0

    #SU #UIUC #UCD #UCSD #PI
    #NSERC #MCU

  28. A thing I am noticing at our humble State University in this time of #USA decline: The wireless, once fast, often shuts down requiring me to switch to my paid #CricketWireless for work. Cricket btw is a low cost carrier where customers get shuffled onto lower tier QOS packets on the regular! And it still often beats #UCSD wireless. #enshitification is a constant now.

  29. A thing I am noticing at our humble State University in this time of #USA decline: The wireless, once fast, often shuts down requiring me to switch to my paid #CricketWireless for work. Cricket btw is a low cost carrier where customers get shuffled onto lower tier QOS packets on the regular! And it still often beats #UCSD wireless. #enshitification is a constant now.

  30. A thing I am noticing at our humble State University in this time of #USA decline: The wireless, once fast, often shuts down requiring me to switch to my paid #CricketWireless for work. Cricket btw is a low cost carrier where customers get shuffled onto lower tier QOS packets on the regular! And it still often beats #UCSD wireless. #enshitification is a constant now.

  31. A thing I am noticing at our humble State University in this time of #USA decline: The wireless, once fast, often shuts down requiring me to switch to my paid #CricketWireless for work. Cricket btw is a low cost carrier where customers get shuffled onto lower tier QOS packets on the regular! And it still often beats #UCSD wireless. #enshitification is a constant now.

  32. A thing I am noticing at our humble State University in this time of #USA decline: The wireless, once fast, often shuts down requiring me to switch to my paid #CricketWireless for work. Cricket btw is a low cost carrier where customers get shuffled onto lower tier QOS packets on the regular! And it still often beats #UCSD wireless. #enshitification is a constant now.

  33. "wellness" advice guru #DeepakChopra mentioned 4,104 times in the #EpsteinFiles, documenting a close friendship, including exchanges that referenced Chopra, a onetime #UCSD faculty member, closing in on “prey".

    In one February 2017 exchange, Chopra invited Epstein to join him in #Israel, offering to help the convicted sex offender travel under an assumed identity and explicitly requested him to "bring your girls," . Epstein asked Deepak to find him a “cute Israeli blonde.” Chopra responds he would, but warned they were “militant aggressive and v=sexy.”

    Chopra accepts Epstein's offer to send “two girls” to one of Chopra’s events. In another, Chopra quipped that “only sinners are invited,” to an elite #Vatican event he was attending.

    Defending his friendship, Chopra claims that any contact he had with #JeffreyEpstein was “limited and unrelated to abusive activity.”

    voiceofsandiego.org/2026/02/05

    instagram.com/reel/DUXcq-kDkMn/

    yahoo.com/entertainment/celebr

  34. "wellness" advice guru #DeepakChopra mentioned 4,104 times in the #EpsteinFiles, documenting a close friendship, including exchanges that referenced Chopra, a onetime #UCSD faculty member, closing in on “prey".

    In one February 2017 exchange, Chopra invited Epstein to join him in #Israel, offering to help the convicted sex offender travel under an assumed identity and explicitly requested him to "bring your girls," . Epstein asked Deepak to find him a “cute Israeli blonde.” Chopra responds he would, but warned they were “militant aggressive and v=sexy.”

    Chopra accepts Epstein's offer to send “two girls” to one of Chopra’s events. In another, Chopra quipped that “only sinners are invited,” to an elite #Vatican event he was attending.

    Defending his friendship, Chopra claims that any contact he had with #JeffreyEpstein was “limited and unrelated to abusive activity.”

    voiceofsandiego.org/2026/02/05

    instagram.com/reel/DUXcq-kDkMn/

    yahoo.com/entertainment/celebr

  35. "wellness" advice guru #DeepakChopra mentioned 4,104 times in the #EpsteinFiles, documenting a close friendship, including exchanges that referenced Chopra, a onetime #UCSD faculty member, closing in on “prey".

    In one February 2017 exchange, Chopra invited Epstein to join him in #Israel, offering to help the convicted sex offender travel under an assumed identity and explicitly requested him to "bring your girls," . Epstein asked Deepak to find him a “cute Israeli blonde.” Chopra responds he would, but warned they were “militant aggressive and v=sexy.”

    Chopra accepts Epstein's offer to send “two girls” to one of Chopra’s events. In another, Chopra quipped that “only sinners are invited,” to an elite #Vatican event he was attending.

    Defending his friendship, Chopra claims that any contact he had with #JeffreyEpstein was “limited and unrelated to abusive activity.”

    voiceofsandiego.org/2026/02/05

    instagram.com/reel/DUXcq-kDkMn/

    yahoo.com/entertainment/celebr

  36. "wellness" advice guru #DeepakChopra mentioned 4,104 times in the #EpsteinFiles, documenting a close friendship, including exchanges that referenced Chopra, a onetime #UCSD faculty member, closing in on “prey".

    In one February 2017 exchange, Chopra invited Epstein to join him in #Israel, offering to help the convicted sex offender travel under an assumed identity and explicitly requested him to "bring your girls," . Epstein asked Deepak to find him a “cute Israeli blonde.” Chopra responds he would, but warned they were “militant aggressive and v=sexy.”

    Chopra accepts Epstein's offer to send “two girls” to one of Chopra’s events. In another, Chopra quipped that “only sinners are invited,” to an elite #Vatican event he was attending.

    Defending his friendship, Chopra claims that any contact he had with #JeffreyEpstein was “limited and unrelated to abusive activity.”

    voiceofsandiego.org/2026/02/05

    instagram.com/reel/DUXcq-kDkMn/

    yahoo.com/entertainment/celebr

  37. "wellness" advice guru #DeepakChopra mentioned 4,104 times in the #EpsteinFiles, documenting a close friendship, including exchanges that referenced Chopra, a onetime #UCSD faculty member, closing in on “prey".

    In one February 2017 exchange, Chopra invited Epstein to join him in #Israel, offering to help the convicted sex offender travel under an assumed identity and explicitly requested him to "bring your girls," . Epstein asked Deepak to find him a “cute Israeli blonde.” Chopra responds he would, but warned they were “militant aggressive and v=sexy.”

    Chopra accepts Epstein's offer to send “two girls” to one of Chopra’s events. In another, Chopra quipped that “only sinners are invited,” to an elite #Vatican event he was attending.

    Defending his friendship, Chopra claims that any contact he had with #JeffreyEpstein was “limited and unrelated to abusive activity.”

    voiceofsandiego.org/2026/02/05

    instagram.com/reel/DUXcq-kDkMn/

    yahoo.com/entertainment/celebr

  38. Pharmacists and pharmacy techs more likely to commit suicide, UCSD study finds – NBC 7 San Diego

    Pharmacists and female pharmacy technicians are significantly more likely than the general population to take their own lives,…
    #NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Healthcare #Health #health-wellness #Mentalhealth #UCSD
    newsbeep.com/us/399793/

  39. Pharmacists and pharmacy techs more likely to commit suicide, UCSD study finds – NBC 7 San Diego

    Pharmacists and female pharmacy technicians are significantly more likely than the general population to take their own lives,…
    #NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Healthcare #Health #health-wellness #Mentalhealth #UCSD
    newsbeep.com/us/399793/

  40. UCSD Health appoints Alexander Khalessi as chief innovation officer

    Dr. Alexander Khalessi. (File photo courtesy UCSD) UC San Diego Health has appointed Dr. Alexander Khalessi as its…
    #UnitedStates #US #USA #AI #america #Dr.AlexanderKhalessi #Entertainment #health #sports #UCSanDiego #UCSD #UCSDHEALTH #unitedstatesofamerica
    europesays.com/2621478/

  41. Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

    Opinion

    Megan McArdle

    The signs of educational decline are now impossible to ignore

    UC San Diego report shows students are not prepared for college, especially in math.

    November 23, 2025, 5 min

    Some years ago, during a dinner party, our smoke detector started beeping while we were broiling steaks. I dashed into the hallway and poked at the detector with a broom, which paused, as if surprised, then resumed wailing. My husband came out of the kitchen and had a go. His more muscular attention bought us perhaps 30 seconds of relief, but the machine recovered and more aggressively assaulted our ears. Eventually we pulled the cursed thing out of its frame and ripped the batteries out.

    The best of The Post’s opinions and commentary, in your inbox every morning

    That’s when one of our guests said, “Guys, that’s really a lot of smoke.” It sure was, because as it turned out, our bathroom was on fire (thanks to a candle).

    Life is full of these messy signals. Prices are a signal. They tell us how much people want stuff, how much that stuff costs to produce and how much of it we have available. Standardized test scores are signs, telling us whether kids have mastered certain skills. Those warnings are, like my smoke alarm, highly imperfect. (We’ve had many alerts and exactly one fire.) But they contain vital information, and we ignore them at our peril.

    Unfortunately, because these signals are messy, we are often tempted to ignore them, especially when the information they contain is bad news, like “your bathroom is on fire,” or “your schools are failing to close persistent racial and income gaps,” or “regulations have made it too hard to build new housing.” Ideally you’d extinguish the fire or fix your failing schools or amend the regulations before the problem worsens. But solving problems is hard, and in politics, it often involves taking on well-organized constituencies that will wave away the smoke and insist that everything is just fine. So institutions often choose to disregard the underlying issues and simply whack the alarm with a hammer until it stops beeping.

    🎤

    Follow Opinions on the news

    There has been a lot of that going on recently, most notably in education. Instead of rectifying disparities in preparation and achievement, people decided it would be simpler to adjust the measurements. Parents opposed standardized testing, got their kids disability diagnoses that allowed them extra time on tests and lobbied teachers to change bad grades. Exhausted teachers responded with grade inflation, which also helped conceal that low-income and minority kids weren’t doing as well as their richer and White peers. Progressive educators watered down curriculums, gutted gifted and talented programs, and weakened admissions standards for honors classes and magnet schools. Colleges dropped standardized testing requirements, in part because that made it easier to diversify their student body. None of these things happened everywhere, but they happened in many places, and all of them made it harder to see — or rectify — pandemic-era learning loss.

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

    Tags: Educational Decline, Incoming Students, Institutions, Mathematics, Megan McArdle, Messy Signals, Not Ready for College, Opinion, Pandemic-Era Learning Loss Math, Standardized Testing, The Washington Post, UC San Diego, UCSD

    #educationalDecline #incomingStudents #institutions #mathematics #meganMcardle #messySignals #notReadyForCollege #opinion #pandemicEraLearningLossMath #standardizedTesting #theWashingtonPost #ucSanDiego #ucsd

  42. Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

    Opinion

    Megan McArdle

    The signs of educational decline are now impossible to ignore

    UC San Diego report shows students are not prepared for college, especially in math.

    November 23, 2025, 5 min

    Some years ago, during a dinner party, our smoke detector started beeping while we were broiling steaks. I dashed into the hallway and poked at the detector with a broom, which paused, as if surprised, then resumed wailing. My husband came out of the kitchen and had a go. His more muscular attention bought us perhaps 30 seconds of relief, but the machine recovered and more aggressively assaulted our ears. Eventually we pulled the cursed thing out of its frame and ripped the batteries out.

    The best of The Post’s opinions and commentary, in your inbox every morning

    That’s when one of our guests said, “Guys, that’s really a lot of smoke.” It sure was, because as it turned out, our bathroom was on fire (thanks to a candle).

    Life is full of these messy signals. Prices are a signal. They tell us how much people want stuff, how much that stuff costs to produce and how much of it we have available. Standardized test scores are signs, telling us whether kids have mastered certain skills. Those warnings are, like my smoke alarm, highly imperfect. (We’ve had many alerts and exactly one fire.) But they contain vital information, and we ignore them at our peril.

    Unfortunately, because these signals are messy, we are often tempted to ignore them, especially when the information they contain is bad news, like “your bathroom is on fire,” or “your schools are failing to close persistent racial and income gaps,” or “regulations have made it too hard to build new housing.” Ideally you’d extinguish the fire or fix your failing schools or amend the regulations before the problem worsens. But solving problems is hard, and in politics, it often involves taking on well-organized constituencies that will wave away the smoke and insist that everything is just fine. So institutions often choose to disregard the underlying issues and simply whack the alarm with a hammer until it stops beeping.

    🎤

    Follow Opinions on the news

    There has been a lot of that going on recently, most notably in education. Instead of rectifying disparities in preparation and achievement, people decided it would be simpler to adjust the measurements. Parents opposed standardized testing, got their kids disability diagnoses that allowed them extra time on tests and lobbied teachers to change bad grades. Exhausted teachers responded with grade inflation, which also helped conceal that low-income and minority kids weren’t doing as well as their richer and White peers. Progressive educators watered down curriculums, gutted gifted and talented programs, and weakened admissions standards for honors classes and magnet schools. Colleges dropped standardized testing requirements, in part because that made it easier to diversify their student body. None of these things happened everywhere, but they happened in many places, and all of them made it harder to see — or rectify — pandemic-era learning loss.

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

    Tags: Educational Decline, Incoming Students, Institutions, Mathematics, Megan McArdle, Messy Signals, Not Ready for College, Opinion, Pandemic-Era Learning Loss Math, Standardized Testing, The Washington Post, UC San Diego, UCSD

    #educationalDecline #incomingStudents #institutions #mathematics #meganMcardle #messySignals #notReadyForCollege #opinion #pandemicEraLearningLossMath #standardizedTesting #theWashingtonPost #ucSanDiego #ucsd

  43. Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

    Opinion

    Megan McArdle

    The signs of educational decline are now impossible to ignore

    UC San Diego report shows students are not prepared for college, especially in math.

    November 23, 2025, 5 min

    Some years ago, during a dinner party, our smoke detector started beeping while we were broiling steaks. I dashed into the hallway and poked at the detector with a broom, which paused, as if surprised, then resumed wailing. My husband came out of the kitchen and had a go. His more muscular attention bought us perhaps 30 seconds of relief, but the machine recovered and more aggressively assaulted our ears. Eventually we pulled the cursed thing out of its frame and ripped the batteries out.

    The best of The Post’s opinions and commentary, in your inbox every morning

    That’s when one of our guests said, “Guys, that’s really a lot of smoke.” It sure was, because as it turned out, our bathroom was on fire (thanks to a candle).

    Life is full of these messy signals. Prices are a signal. They tell us how much people want stuff, how much that stuff costs to produce and how much of it we have available. Standardized test scores are signs, telling us whether kids have mastered certain skills. Those warnings are, like my smoke alarm, highly imperfect. (We’ve had many alerts and exactly one fire.) But they contain vital information, and we ignore them at our peril.

    Unfortunately, because these signals are messy, we are often tempted to ignore them, especially when the information they contain is bad news, like “your bathroom is on fire,” or “your schools are failing to close persistent racial and income gaps,” or “regulations have made it too hard to build new housing.” Ideally you’d extinguish the fire or fix your failing schools or amend the regulations before the problem worsens. But solving problems is hard, and in politics, it often involves taking on well-organized constituencies that will wave away the smoke and insist that everything is just fine. So institutions often choose to disregard the underlying issues and simply whack the alarm with a hammer until it stops beeping.

    🎤

    Follow Opinions on the news

    There has been a lot of that going on recently, most notably in education. Instead of rectifying disparities in preparation and achievement, people decided it would be simpler to adjust the measurements. Parents opposed standardized testing, got their kids disability diagnoses that allowed them extra time on tests and lobbied teachers to change bad grades. Exhausted teachers responded with grade inflation, which also helped conceal that low-income and minority kids weren’t doing as well as their richer and White peers. Progressive educators watered down curriculums, gutted gifted and talented programs, and weakened admissions standards for honors classes and magnet schools. Colleges dropped standardized testing requirements, in part because that made it easier to diversify their student body. None of these things happened everywhere, but they happened in many places, and all of them made it harder to see — or rectify — pandemic-era learning loss.

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

    Tags: Educational Decline, Incoming Students, Institutions, Mathematics, Megan McArdle, Messy Signals, Not Ready for College, Opinion, Pandemic-Era Learning Loss Math, Standardized Testing, The Washington Post, UC San Diego, UCSD

    #educationalDecline #incomingStudents #institutions #mathematics #meganMcardle #messySignals #notReadyForCollege #opinion #pandemicEraLearningLossMath #standardizedTesting #theWashingtonPost #ucSanDiego #ucsd

  44. Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

    Opinion

    Megan McArdle

    The signs of educational decline are now impossible to ignore

    UC San Diego report shows students are not prepared for college, especially in math.

    November 23, 2025, 5 min

    Some years ago, during a dinner party, our smoke detector started beeping while we were broiling steaks. I dashed into the hallway and poked at the detector with a broom, which paused, as if surprised, then resumed wailing. My husband came out of the kitchen and had a go. His more muscular attention bought us perhaps 30 seconds of relief, but the machine recovered and more aggressively assaulted our ears. Eventually we pulled the cursed thing out of its frame and ripped the batteries out.

    The best of The Post’s opinions and commentary, in your inbox every morning

    That’s when one of our guests said, “Guys, that’s really a lot of smoke.” It sure was, because as it turned out, our bathroom was on fire (thanks to a candle).

    Life is full of these messy signals. Prices are a signal. They tell us how much people want stuff, how much that stuff costs to produce and how much of it we have available. Standardized test scores are signs, telling us whether kids have mastered certain skills. Those warnings are, like my smoke alarm, highly imperfect. (We’ve had many alerts and exactly one fire.) But they contain vital information, and we ignore them at our peril.

    Unfortunately, because these signals are messy, we are often tempted to ignore them, especially when the information they contain is bad news, like “your bathroom is on fire,” or “your schools are failing to close persistent racial and income gaps,” or “regulations have made it too hard to build new housing.” Ideally you’d extinguish the fire or fix your failing schools or amend the regulations before the problem worsens. But solving problems is hard, and in politics, it often involves taking on well-organized constituencies that will wave away the smoke and insist that everything is just fine. So institutions often choose to disregard the underlying issues and simply whack the alarm with a hammer until it stops beeping.

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    There has been a lot of that going on recently, most notably in education. Instead of rectifying disparities in preparation and achievement, people decided it would be simpler to adjust the measurements. Parents opposed standardized testing, got their kids disability diagnoses that allowed them extra time on tests and lobbied teachers to change bad grades. Exhausted teachers responded with grade inflation, which also helped conceal that low-income and minority kids weren’t doing as well as their richer and White peers. Progressive educators watered down curriculums, gutted gifted and talented programs, and weakened admissions standards for honors classes and magnet schools. Colleges dropped standardized testing requirements, in part because that made it easier to diversify their student body. None of these things happened everywhere, but they happened in many places, and all of them made it harder to see — or rectify — pandemic-era learning loss.

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion | UC San Diego report: Incoming students are not ready for college – The Washington Post

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