BC EDUCATION
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

2020 has been filled with many challenges and our community has had to adapt in unprecedented ways.

We invite you to take a moment to look back with us at what has been an unforgettable year, and what YOU made possible. (Thread)
https://t.co/epK3yfJWZB

 At the onset of the year, the coalition convened in January to plan the strategy for Secular America Votes - 2020, which was headed up this year by @SecularStudents who did an amazing job turning out the the vote of secular students this Nov!
https://t.co/RZBNhQUvfM
In February (*way back* when we could be together in person) we hosted our annual Member's Meeting with key staff from our 19 member orgs. Attendees lobbied Congress and attend a meeting of the Congressional Freethought Caucus (CFC) where they present their priorities.
When the pandemic lockdown began, Director of Policy & Gov Affairs @CaseyBrinck pivoted to virtual lobbying, contacting not only Congressional leaders, but @SBAgov, @HUDgov, and the @US_FDA as well. Making sure your leaders were held accountable.

https://t.co/vHDk7307D8
This year was dark for so many. We saw many atheists and humanists around the world persecuted for their views including Nigerian Humanist leader Mubarak Bala. Our coalition continues to stand in solidarity, demanding his freedom #FreeMubarakBala

https://t.co/SRW2f5TZEf
These inhumane blasphemy laws finally got the Congressional condemnation they deserve with this year's passage of #HRes512 and #SRes458. We thank @RepRaskin, @SenatorLankford, and @SenCoonsOffice for their leadership helping these resolutions pass.
This year was also wake up call to the continued persecution in our own country. While racism has long been aided by Christian Nationalism, we continue to improve the intersectionality of our work.

Our movement benefits from the many Black atheists and humanist voices #BLM
Our coalition is full of diversity and that was shown & celebrated this year in various ways with @BNonbelievers' billboard campaign, @LGBTQHumanists' 'Centering the Margins' Conference & @FreethoughtScty's Secular Day of the Dead. SCA is proud to have supported these efforts!
Our movement saw many of our annual traditions and gatherings moved virtually but that did not deter us!

One highlight for us was facilitating & conducting interviews with CFC members @RepRaskin and @RepHuffman for @SecularStudents' virtual Lobby Day. https://t.co/8cFCBMd1oB
Speaking of which, the CFC has grown significantly this year with the additions of @RepRashida and @RepDonBeyer!

The increased visibility and inclusion of nontheists in politics is something we do not undervalue. This year was historic in that regard.
https://t.co/7vkGzYxkBG
This year was filled with loss and grief for many. Many in our coalition have lost friends and loved ones, as well as influential figures who championed secularism and skepticism like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg & James Randi.

We honor them in our memories and actions
2020 was the year the Secular Vote made its voice heard. With President-elect Biden's inauguration around the corner, we are optimistic about adoption of our priorities laid out in our in our Secular Agenda for the 117th Congress and Biden Admin: https://t.co/ByxLE3aPal
We can only do this work because of your support. If you appreciate the work we are doing, and want to be a part of our efforts, we hope you will consider giving today: https://t.co/Wq71AeLuC7
Today is not only the last day of 2020, it is the LAST DAY to have your donation doubled! Our 2021 lobbying efforts begin Tuesday, and with a lot of damage done to the wall of separation over the last four years, there is a great deal of work to be done: https://t.co/Wq71AeLuC7
#Secularism Big thanks to all our member organizations @AmericanAtheist @EthicalUnion @americnhumanist @BNonbelievers @CampQuest @center4inquiry @ExmuslimsOrg @FFRF @FreethoughtScty @FoundBB @hafreeusa @HumanistsInt @militaryatheist @RFRorg @SecularStudents @humanisticjews
Thread unrolled: https://t.co/WIf354RRwG

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1) 🚨BREAKING: Parents file lawsuit against Villa Duchesne High School for "intentional racial discrimination" against white students, and using "coercion, intimidation, and threats" to indoctrinate students into Critical Race Theory.


2) Students were told that all white people are racist because they're white, and that black students should "be free from discipline regardless of their behavior."


3) Plaintiff's daughter was subjected to "verbal attacks, and physical threats, social ostracism, false imprisonment, permanent damage to her reputation, and severe and continuing emotional and psychiatric injury."


4) In October a student claimed that the Plaintiff's daughter had stood up in class, pointed to a black student and said "Black Lives Do NOT Matter!"

However, the class where this vent allegedly took place was videotaped, and upon review no such event had occurred.


5) Following the accusations, the plaintiff's daughter was "subject to enormous social ridicule and threats of personal violence."

During a meeting, the principal and a faculty member allowed a black student to aggressively verbally berate the daughter, without intervention.
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Yael Niv
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On teaching without grades.
A long-ish (20-tweet) 🧵. Here goes.

So, you know how you write lots of comments on an essay/exam, and the student looks at the grade and never reads the comments? That's because when grades enter the picture, the learning stops. /1

Instead of focusing on learning, there is a lot of negotiation: can we find one or two points on the midterm as the student is just on the verge of A-?

Everyone is just on the verge of the next grade.

And all the evals are not about the class but about the grading. Really? /2


Is the grade at all informative? If you are just below the A- or just above that, is that giving the student any information about how to improve their knowledge or skills? No. t is just a useless, demoralizing & stressful smoke screen /3


Students' abilities, challenges, and learning are multidimensional. Providing feedback on these many dimensions is much more useful for promoting growth and learning than are quantized unidimensional grades. /3.5

There is an alternative: do away with grades. Keep the feedback -- lots of it (this is not less work for us teachers) but never summarize it in a unidimensional uninformative number (unless you absolutely have to). /4
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Sarah Allen
Sarah Allen
@Mssarahmssarah
For months, but especially after the new CDC school recs came out, supporters of reopening all schools now have been peddling the idea that schools across the country have been open all year successfully. This argument is used to push for ALL schools to be opened now.

A long 🧵

Though some schools in the U.S. are open & doing well with safety protocols, many places used as examples of opening success have profoundly unsafe schools & are neglecting covid safety. Some have been lucky not to have outbreaks and other issues--it's not that they're safe.

In the last few weeks, I've been in touch with teachers in Ohio, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Utah, and Pennsylvania.

(Thanks to @eduwonkette_jen @GeoRebekah and @saribethrose for the threads and forums that have helped me meet SO MANY teachers this year).

I collected the accounts of dozens of teachers. Obviously, this isn't an exhaustive list and it isn't a study! It's what teachers on the ground in some states are experiencing. And it's easy to see why so many in our profession are so frightened this year.

Here's the list:

There are currently open schools in the US that are being hailed as "successful" that have:

▪️no safety protocols at all besides contact cleaning, in some districts
▪️some districts with no mask mandate
▪️classes in windowless rooms, some with full classes of 20-30
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zev handel
zev handel
@ZevHandel
Last month I presented seven sentences in seven different languages, all written in a form of the Chinese-character script. The challenge was to identify the languages and, if possible, provide a


Here again are those seven sentences:

1) 他的剑从船上掉到河里去
2) 於世𡗉番𧡊哭唭𢆥尼歲㐌外四𨑮
3) 入良沙寢矣見昆腳烏伊四是良羅
4) 佢而家喺邊喥呀
5) 夜久毛多都伊豆毛夜幣賀岐都麻碁微爾夜幣賀岐都久流曾能夜幣賀岐袁
6) 其劍自舟中墜於水
7) 今天愛晚特語兔吃二魚佛午飯

Six of those seven sentences are historically attested. One is not: I invented #7. I’m going to dive into an exploration of that seventh sentence in today’s thread.

Sentence #7 is an English-language sentence written sinographically — that is, using graphs that originate in the Chinese script. I didn’t do this for fun (even though it is fun), or as a proposal for a new way to write


I did it as a thought experiment. Why? Because thinking about how the modern Chinese script might be adapted to write modern English can give us valuable insights into historical instances of script borrowing, like those that took place centuries ago in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
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Simcha Gross
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@Simcha_Gross
As a grad student, I heard stories about Jewish candidates facing antisemitism on the job market. 

This was ancient history I thought, a sign of how far things had come.

Then I was a finalist for an ancient Judaism job at a Christian denominational university.

Strap in.

🧵

I was picked up at the airport by a professor I knew who was a visiting scholar at the university.

As he drove me to campus, he explained that he had volunteered to pick me up so as to warn me that there was no way I was getting the job... because I am Jewish. 

2

He explained that the "old guard" on campus would oppose my hire no matter what I did.

I was picked up by a new member of the faculty, who gave me a tour of the campus.

As we set off, she asked me: "so...did the professor who picked you up tell you anything about the job...?"
3

I said cryptically: "he warned me that I might face a hostile audience here for reasons outside of my control..."

She responded with visible relief and sadness: "Phew. I wasn't sure how to warn you. It's terrible, I'm really sorry."

4

I called my beloved advisor that evening to commiserate. She gave me typically wise advice:

1st, this was a small taste of what women & BIPOC face on the market all the time.

2nd, I would not get the position, so I should view the campus visit as an opportunity to practice.

5
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Buddha is Ashtavinayak and "Ganapati Bappa Morya" is "Chandragupta Morya".

In the era of democracy, the head of state is the President. But in ancient India, there was a Gana culture in the monarchy and the head of that Gana was called Ganapati
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In ancient India, a prince named Siddharth Gautam was born in royalty. He later became the king of Shakya Gana in this Gana culture. In time, Siddhartha attained enlightenment.

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Some clever Brahmin manuvadis made the real Ganapati the imaginary Ganapati.

Buddha was the king of the Shakya Gana, so people called him Ganaraja. He founded Buddhism and became the head of the Shakyas. As the head of Gana, people used to call Buddha as Ganapati.
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But the Brahmins Brahmanized Ganapati and created a false Ganapati. When Buddha used to give the message of Dharma to the people, two words would come out of his message. Chitta and Malla.

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Jaya_Upadhyaya
@Jayalko1
KANAKA DURGAMMA, VIJAYWADA (AP)
#bharatmandir

Ma Kanakadurgeswari is the supreme Goddess of Andhra Pradesh, seated atop the Indrakilaparvatha at Vijayawada.
This area is called Bezawada as Shiva made a bejjam (hole) in the rocks so that Krishna river could flow freely.


Once, a Rishi Indra Keela prayed to Devi and asked her to reside on his head forever. Devi told him to wait in the form of a mountain in the holy plains of River Krishna.
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In this place, Arjuna performed penance and fought with Shiva, who had appeared in the guise of Kiratha to win Pasupathastra, the most powerful weapon. So this place is also called phalguna theertha and Vijaywada on account of Arjun’s victory.


Adi Sankaracharya visited this shrine and worshipped the Devi. He installed SRICHAKRAM at the feet of Sri Kanaka Durga.

Adjacent to the Kanakadurga shrine is the shrine of the divine consort-Sri Malleswara Swamy on the Indrakeeladri.
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