Alfie Kohn

Akil Bello has some interesting thoughts about this same report: https://akilbello.com/2026/03/01/test-scores-tell-you-who-your-child-beat-not-what-your-child-knows/. I'd note, though, that the devastating insight captured in his headline can't be fixed by better reporting of scores; it's […]

RE: https://universeodon.com/@jaykuo/116201109601399589

Well, in fairness, they have a long way to go to catch up to Israel

‪Am I the only one who feels a little guilty for reacting with relief that the stock market is recovering its early losses today? A dented portfolio seems like a small price to pay if it leads the Sociopath-in-Chief to stop killing Iranians.

Democratic opponents of the Iran attacks are not advocating for war crimes or boasting about how little they care about the rules of war. But even they tend to avoid discussing the effects of US assaults on the people being assaulted. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's statement after the first strikes, for example, urged Trump to provide a clear rationale for the war and insisted that “the American people do not want another endless and costly war in the Middle East when there are so many problems at home.” Which is certainly true. But there is nothing in the statement about the Iranian people, who will suffer the most from American bombs.

Worth reading:
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/iran-elementary-school-bombing

Private companies can and do downplay the safety risks of their products in order to sell them more effectively: Ironically, chis sort of dishonesty is the origin of the modern anti-vax movement. The disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield was working on a different kind of vaccine when he published the fabricated and since-retracted scudy that sparked the original claims that MMR vaccines cause autism. He later tried to defend himself by accusing the CDC of falsifying data to hide the connection—which, characteristic of so many conspiracists these days, is what he actually did. To be an anti-vaxxer, one must be simultaneously credulous and distrustful —credulous of hucksters, and distrustful about empiricism. A gullicist.

Adam Serwer - always worth reading - argues that MAGA is fueled by a paradoxical combination of cynicism (toward science & expertise) and gullibility (in uncritically accepting miracle cures & conspiracy theories) […]

[Original post on sciences.social]

Trump Executive Order Protected Weedkiller Roundup and a Munition, White Phosphorus Citing national security, an unusual executive order gave protection to the herbicide Roundup. It also protected the U.S.’s only supply of a controversial, highly flammable munition.

On the one hand, sure, it's a threat to our health, but on the other hand it lets us kill people who live in other countries: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/climate/bayer-white-phosphate-glyphosate-roundup-trump-executive-order-munition.html

Lots of research (which I reviewed in my book "No Contest") shows that participating in competition - any activity where one person or group must fail in order for another to succeed - undermines moral development and generosity.
But one study really stands out. It found that merely growing up […]

You know those idiots who use the current weather to deny the reality of long-term global warming? I once looked forward to hearing a scientist set them straight, but now I just find the whole encounter anti-climatic.

Post quotes Rubio as saying "Let me explain to you guys, Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics" -- and accompanying photo shows Trump kneeling in a position that he was apparently informed simulated piety while MAGA cultists surround him and, in some cases, touch him as if he were sacred totem.

1st poster: Have you ever met someone truly evil? 2nd poster: My cousin is Stephen Miller. Mary Trump: Actually....

Point and match

A key parenting distinction: teaching kids that hitting (or hurting, lying, etc.) is wrong ... vs. teaching them WHY it's wrong. The latter is about reasons and values; the former is just about behavior, and the default reason to avoid a prohibited behavior is self-interest.

Psychologist: Time for schools to address test anxiety Research estimates that between 40% and 60% of students experience moderate to severe test anxiety, creating a gap between classroom performance and high-stakes exam results that can skew district data and mask students’ true abilities. Clinical psychologist Tram Huynh says that districts should move beyond basic relaxation techniques and integrate performance-based self-regulation tools into existing multi-tiered support systems to ensure assessments measure knowledge rather than stress responses. Full Story: District Administration (3/5)

Remember -- it's always the kids who need to be fixed, not the structure (in this case, the tests) that should be questioned.

A careful look at academic cheating won't just ask what systemic features lead students to cheat, but what actions have come to be defined as "cheating" in the first place (and what that says about our values and priorities.) That's on the latest episode of Kohn's Zone: "Who's Cheating Whom?" […]

Poster: "So apparently the Iranian frigate was unarmed per requirements of the Milan 2026 naval exercises, and we knew the ship was unarmed and defenseless. I really cannot understand the decision to fire on her [except] as performative sadism. Headline: Iranian warship hit by US torpedo did not carry ammunition, say Indian sources -- The ship was reported to be taking part in naval exercises hosted by New Delhi and was ‘defenceless'

Performative sadism (fueled by religious zealotry) is Hegseth's brand

https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3mgbydabftc2

[NYT headline] An Emboldened Israel Is Seizing Opportunities to Remake Region With the war against Iran underway, and the U.S. military as a powerful ally, the Israeli government is seizing its chance to move against other adversaries.

My go-to illustration of the concept of unfalsifiability - where a claim grounded in ideology such that no facts can ever dislodge it - is the belief that Israel, which, beyond its continuing slaughter of Palestinians, has lately attacked Lebanon, Syria […]

[Original post on sciences.social]

Even people who aren't anti-AI are sickened by OpenAI's active role in supporting MAGA authoritarianism at home and its atrocities abroad. There's now an active movement to urge people to stop using its chatbot. Do you have friends or colleagues who need to see this? […]

[from Senate hearings] DURBIN: Is DHS required to follow federal court orders? NOEM: Yes sir, and we do DURBIN: How do you explain that your agency has repeatedly violated them, as your own administration has admitted? NOEM: We follow them when they apply DURBIN: Im sorry

And here's another excellent working definition of authoritarianism, also from the execrable Noem:

"Teacher shortage" (e.g., in AK, AZ, FL MI) is shorthand for "shortage of teachers willing to work under crappy conditions and/or for insufficient pay."

More generally, as author Garret Keizer reminds us, "Our entire economic system rests on the principle of paying people less than their labor […]

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

Religion is integral to every aspect of this regime, including its wars
https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for

Hey, Democrats and mainstream U.S. media: What if Trump had sought Congress's authorization first (as Bush did before invading Iraq)? What if he had a single, focused rationale for the attack and a clear plan for what to do after conquering Iran? What if no American soldiers died? Would this […]

Vanguard confirmed a $29.5 million settlement on Thursday with a coalition of Republican-led states that had accused the financial giant of conspiring with BlackRock and State Street to drive the coal industry out of business. The agreement blocks Vanguard from supporting efforts to fight climate change. Vanguard agreed not to advocate that any company it invests in “take any particular course of conduct to reduce carbon emissions.” It also vowed not to join climate-action networks, such as Principles for Responsible Investment, which is supported by the United Nations and bills itself as “the world’s catalyst of responsible investment.”

Unbelievable. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/climate/vanguard-texas-coal-lawsuit-settlement.html

ChatGPT as a therapist? New study reveals serious ethical risks As millions turn to ChatGPT and other AI chatbots for therapy-style advice, new research from Brown University raises a serious red flag: even when instructed to act like trained therapists, these systems routinely break core ethical standards of mental health care. In side-by-side evaluations with peer counselors and licensed psychologists, researchers uncovered 15 distinct ethical risks — from mishandling crisis situations and reinforcing harmful beliefs to showing biased responses and offering “deceptive empathy” that mimics care without real understanding.

A new study finds that, "even when instructed to use established psychotherapy approaches, AI chatbots] consistently fail to meet professional ethics standards" for providing mental health advice: [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260302030642.htm

[New Yorker headline] Can AL Be Pro-Worker? As fears of mass unemployment grow, three leading economists advocate some policies to shift the focus from job displacement to job enhancement. By John Cassidy

Paging Ian Betteridge...

RE: https://fediscience.org/@petergleick/116156279017463758

Same applies to authoritarian cults like MAGA

RE: https://mastodon.world/@verdantsquare/116155089551614099

The only people who died defending their country were Iranian.

Some critics of the Trump regime's unprovoked attack on another country are focusing only on the risks to American soldiers - i.e., those carrying out this illegal act of aggression. At such times it's worth reiterating a foundational moral axiom: A human life there is worth no less than a human […]

New episode of my podcast (Kohn's Zone): Whether students cheat is less a function of their character than of what and how they're being taught. (Cheating is much rarer in progressive schools, even after other variables are held constant.) Also relevant: what we count as cheating - i.e., how we […]

RE: https://journa.host/@anneapplebaum/116149793114866864

Isn't this just the reductio ad absurdum of "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody..."?

NY Times headline: "U.S. AND ISRAEL ATTACK IRAN -- Trump Calls for Overthrow of Government," with subhed edited to read "World Calls for Overthrow of U.S. Government"