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Jan 27 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Some thoughts on David Leonhardt's shallow, decidedly un-objective analysis that substitutes narrative for depth of consideration. #realcollege insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
There's lots of good reasons for some people to be worried about contracting Covid that aren't about their own possible demise. Leonhardt writes from the perspective for someone who assumes a week-long illness is a mere inconvenience. insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
There is data available the the survey that the Times commissioned that would shed more light on the nuances of what people are worried about, but they chose not to share it. insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis… Image
It is really tiresome to be lectured to about what I'm supposed to be doing by high profile public voices that cannot actually analyze data like someone who understands what data can and an't do. insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
That Leonhardt's piece was not only published, but featured on The Daily suggests a larger editorial problem at the Times because it is truly lousy analysis. How did no one along the line catch it?

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John Warner Profile picture
Jan 27
Upshot of this piece for me is that Harvard is going to Harvard and we should invest much more time and resources into the schools the non-rich are already attending.
Elite institutions are never going to be a gateway to economic mobility. For one, they admit mostly rich people. Two, there aren't that many slots. Ohio St. is about the same size as the Ivy League in terms of # of undergraduate students.
As @jaycaspiankang's piece shows, Harvard is in the business of perpetuating an elite status quo. He calls their approach to diversity "flimsy" which is exactly right. It will never be anything but because if Harvard lets in a different class of people, it's not Harvard.
Read 8 tweets
John Warner Profile picture
Jan 25
Not at all irrational to make sweeping claims from a single question on a single survey. I say it's a sign of our national irrationality that so much weight is given to pundits who are uncareful about the conclusions they draw from limited data.
Obviously there's some psychological stuff going on around covid and risk, but like all things, it's complicated. The thirst of pundits like Leonhardt to drive a narrative based on limited data is unhelpful in the extreme.
Declaring that you yourself are able to look at things rationally is not actually evidence that you are looking at things rationally.
Read 11 tweets
John Warner Profile picture
Jan 24
Call me a pessimist, but I think a Supreme Court that's not going to bat an eye in overturning Roe isn't going to worry about the consequences of ending affirmative action entirely in college admissions.
It'll do nothing to change the composition of who goes to elite institutions, Harvard and Yale will find a way to admit who they wish, but it is a huge encroachment on the rights of academic institutions to operate according to their purported values.
Ending affirmative action will open the door to an endless stream of litigation over every aspect and operation of educational institutions.
Read 8 tweets
John Warner Profile picture
Jan 21
When teaching was the central focus of my work, I got to regularly experience a feeling of progress and accomplishment. It's a big motivator. But I wonder if that sense is much harder to come by even for those who are still teaching. insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
I started drafting my post last week before I read this piece from @kevinrmcclure and Alisa Hicklin Fryar, which makes clear that even those who remain engaged in the work are feeling alienated and lost. Institutions better wake up. chronicle.com/article/the-gr…
The pandemic was (still is) and opportunity for a reset. We could have a higher education system that doesn't require people to be used up and spit out. My vision is here: beltpublishing.com/products/susta…
Read 4 tweets
John Warner Profile picture
Jan 20
Always fascinated about this particular genre of op-ed. Want to explore why I don't think it's doing what the authors would like to claim they're trying to do. Image
The surface-level positioning here is an intention to highlight the superior threat of the Magaverse on our democratic processes as compared to the progressive left. The authors would claim they're trying to convince conservatives to reject Maga. they are not achieving this, tho.
First, if the goal is to highlight the disproportionate authoritarian threat of the right Magaverse, spending over 1/3 of your piece to trot out the case for left/liberal authoritarian tendencies is not an effective rhetorical choice.
Read 13 tweets
John Warner Profile picture
Jan 13
A couple of days ago I did a thread on the difference between "debaters" and "illuminators" in public writing, using @tressiemcphd as an example of an illuminator. Today I have an object example of a debater.👇🧵
As I tried to show in the earlier thread, an illuminator is interested in shining a light on a phenomenon in order to increase the sum total of our collective understanding of that phenomenon.
A debater wants to "win" an argument, winning being gauged by moving people toward your position, or receiving approval or what have you. Winning may require obscuring as much or more than illuminating.
Read 22 tweets

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