Blockchain, Self-Sovereign Identity, and Selling Off Humanity

Wrench in the Gears

It’s time activists began to develop a working knowledge of Blockchain and self-sovereign digital identity, because these are the mechanisms that will drive the transition to IoT monitoring for the purposes of Pay for Success deal evaluation. I created a slide share about Blockchain as part of a “Smart Cities” post I wrote last year, which can be accessed here if it helps to have visuals.

The technology became public in 2008 when Santoshi Nakamoto published the whitepaper “Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System.” No one knows who Nakamoto actually is. Over the past decade Bitcoin digital currency has generated significant buzz, yet many believe Blockchain will be even more transformative, as big as or bigger than the rise of the Internet.

MIT is heavily involved in Blockchain research and development through its Digital Currency Initiative, housed within the MIT Media Lab. The program is led…

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House Democrats Send Letter to Sen. Coons and Carper Urging Them to Oppose Betsy DeVos

DelawareFirstState

The House Democrats sent a letter to Sen. Coons and Carper urging them to oppose Betsy DeVos as the next U.S. Secretary of Education.

Specifically, we are concerned about Ms. DeVos’ lack of knowledge of basic education policy, her advocacy for private school vouchers, her views on guns in schools and her positions on civil rights.

Teachers, students and parents deserve a Secretary of Education who will push for the improvements to strengthen our public education system, not weaken it.

Below is the letter that was sent to the Senators.

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How Far We Have Come Fighting Against the Testocracy: Network for Public Education Conference Ramblings

gadflyonthewallblog

Kelly Ann Braun said it best.

“Do you remember three years ago when I said this would all be over in 6 months?”

And we all laughed. Me the loudest, because back then I had thought the same darn thing.

Corporate education reform is on its last legs. Once we tell people about the terrible mistakes of standardized testing and Common Core, it will all be over in an election cycle or two.

Kelly, that incredibly dedicated member of the Badass Teachers Association (BATs) from Ohio, hadn’t been the only one.

It seemed so reasonable back then. Once it became common knowledge, our leaders couldn’t keep perpetuating policies that harm our children, we thought.

No one would actually continue to stomp on the futures of our little kids once we’d pointed out that that was what they were actually doing! Right?

Now the Network for Public Education is having its…

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Don’t Trust Charters More than a Sweaty Used Car Salesman (A Citizen Research Template)

Comparing charters to sweaty salesmen! Classic! I think more and more people are starting to wake up to the failed promise of charter schools. It won’t happen overnight, but damn, they’ve gotten a lot of bad press this year.

Cloaking Inequity

Recently I have noticed a new snare from charter cheerleaders. Their approach is for them to ask you to tell them which charters school you love/like. This is a clever trap. My response is, “Why don’t you tell me the worst offenders on the issues of equity and access and tell me which ones we should close?” Then wait for the pregnant silence.

How do you evaluate a charter school? Should the only consideration be test scores?… or a school’s marketing brochures?… self-reported college application and acceptance rate? Or maybe we should be okay with a particular corporate charter they are just the “it” school in the media and for foundations this year. In most states there is data readily available to assess charter schools. In fact, this blog was created two years ago to respond to KIPP press release about a peer reviewed study that took issue with African…

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