Tootfinder

I’m fond of quipping that arts education is •the• foundational form of education, and that education in any field should never stray too far from being arts education.
It’s little wonder that the forces that push investment bubbles and wealth concentration are so hostile to both the arts and education. And we need to recognize that hostility, which is so often cloaked as support:
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Judge blocks Trump admin from mass firing Education Department civil rights employees, says students could face 'irreparable harm' if allowed
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/judge-blocks-trump-admin-from-mass-firing-education-department-civil-rights-employees-says-students-could-face-irreparable-harm-if-allowed/

Crazy Taxi on my phone. What a world 😍

How a Duke Student Became Part of China's PR Campaign #China

How I Accidentally Became Part of China’s PR Campaign
Dozens of Duke University students signed up for a free trip to China. Even the university was surprised by what happened when they got there.

Similarly, hostility to education cloaks itself as support by saying that education should be useful, should be practical, should be focused only on what students need, should be narrowed to what students need, should narrow students, should narrow students into being only what capitalism needs.
I wrote extensively about this dangerous line of thought here:
https://innig.net/teaching/liberal-arts-manifesto
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Don't have a bachelor's? Work the fields, boys...
'[I]t's an opening for people in the U.S. looking for work. I think that this is good news particularly for less-educated Americans who are likely to see a rise in wages," Camarota told the news outlet. "Maybe it'll even be helpful in dragging some of these noncollege-educated men who are working age back into the labor force.'
Study: 'Trump Effect' Sent 600K Immigrants From Labor Force | Newsmax.com
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/immigration-trump-labor-force/2025/06/19/id/1215651/

The arts and education — when they are at their best, anyway — have in common this deep root: they ask us to see and to think and to feel, to see with fresh eyes, to be aware of our own seeing, to be •active• in our seeing.
In that way, both the arts and education are antidotes to the AI hype cycle, and similar endeavors of capitalism run amok.
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How a Duke Student Became Part of China's PR Campaign #China

How I Accidentally Became Part of China’s PR Campaign
Dozens of Duke University students signed up for a free trip to China. Even the university was surprised by what happened when they got there.

More Montessori:
❝Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.❞
And here’s a kicker:
❝Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.❞
Put that last thought in the context of arts and education being deeply intertwined, and oligarchy seeking to dismantle both, and…well….
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❝I’d mostly discount the idea that this is largely about AI displacing educated workers.❞
YES. THANK YOU.
“AI is here doooom!! doooom!!” is such a common knee-jerk excuse for the miserable college grad job market right now, and…I don’t see it. In terms of real, actual, yes-it-worked, yes-you-can-clearly-replace-whole-highly-skilled-jobs successes inside of real actual businesses…I   just   don’t   see   it.
Whatever’s going on, the AIpocalypse is an •excuse•, not a •cause• here.