SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

GREAT WAY FOR A NATION TO STAY GREAT (CHOKE) – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  The Boston Public Schools will be suspending an advanced learning program for its fourth, fifth and sixth graders because too many white and Asian students are participating.  According to WGBH, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius recommended a one-year enrollment suspension for what’s known as the Advanced Work Class due to COVID-19 worries and “concerns about equity.”  According to the district website, the Advanced Work Class “provides an accelerated academic curriculum” for students in the grades noted. Those enrolled study “in greater depth” [with] more schoolwork and more home study than the traditional curriculum. ”Over 70 percent of students in the AWC are white and Asian, despite the district being 80 percent black and Hispanic. Acceptance to the program is (was) decided via third-grade test scores on the popular TerraNova standardized test. Those who obtain the necessary scores are then put into a lottery for admission.  Maybe there's a better way to run things, with more emphasis on preparing the students for exams.  But suspending an advanced program is not the way to do it.  What a message that sends.  The Chinese must be laughing their heads off.

ANOTHER CULTURAL BREAKTHROUGH – FROM DAILY MAIL:   Mr. Potato Head is no longer a mister.  Hasbro, the company that makes the potato-shaped plastic toy, is giving the spud a gender neutral new name: Potato Head. The change will appear on boxes this year.  Toy makers have been updating their classic brands to appeal to kids today. Barbie has shed its blonde image and now comes in multiple skin tones and body shapes. Thomas the Tank Engine added more girl characters. And American Girl is now selling a boy doll.  Hasbro said Mr. Potato Head, which has been around for about 70 years, needed a modern makeover.  I've been saying for years that Mr. Potato Head needed an upgrade if this nation was to survive.

February 28, 2021