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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

What's striking about this list is that they are all internal to schools - basically none of them deal with the broader context in which education happens: inequalities in wealth, time, housing security, food security, books and internet access... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...

nytimes.com

30 Ideas for Fixing U.S. Schools, Ranked by Experts

Math and reading scores are in a decade-long slump. We asked three dozen experts: What could turn things around?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Iced coffee discourse feels like a psy-op. How is this something that anyone cares about?

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Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"Mama, we made posters about voting at school. Can I make a sign for your office on campus for your students?"

A hand-drawn poster exhorting students to vote and "choose good leaders."

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

My thoughts on the inclusion of Smith's Wealth of Nations as a "Foundational Text" of US Government and Politics in @liberalcurrents.com

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Yes, Smith is an interesting and provocative thinker. But does he belong in a high school government course? Is he in any comparable undergraduate syllabi? And importantly - why have we let a private corporation or a couple of state governments decide what is "foundational"?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Curious why a bunch of high school seniors are reading Adam Smith? College Board made "core concepts from Smith's Wealth of Nations" a "Required Foundational Document" for the AP US Gov/Pol Exam. In @liberalcurrents.com I explore why & why it matters: www.liberalcurrents.com/jefferson-ma...

liberalcurrents.com

Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and Smith: The College Board Adds a New Founding Father

On the politics of canonization in academia.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 18/09/2026

i am genuinely bewildered by people who say that the rise of white nationalism in the republican party is a response to the "woke left." like, did the woke left cause pat buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign? is the woke left why steve king had a long career in congress?

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John Downes-Angus @johndownesangus.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Has there ever been a more obvious/timely moment for a left/progressive case for publicly-financed, broadly accessible liberal arts ed

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I read Tegmark's Life 3.0 years ago, and was struck then at his effusive praise of Musk, which should be as much of an indictment of someone's judgment as you need.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

This has always confused me as someone who hasn't had my reading skills rotted by a formal legal education: the clause literally says "take care that the laws are faithfully executed." How could one ever read that as an expansion of executive authority independent of Congress?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Nothing says "masculinity" like your bum smelling like cinnamon and cloves

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

This: the argument against APs should be that they are robbing students of valuable intellectual and growth experiences by getting to skip actual college classes.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 03/09/2026

the literal position of the trump administration is that any school that has any more than a smattering of black students is engaged in illegal racial discrimination against whites www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/b...

nytimes.com

Trump Moves to Strip Tax Exemption From Schools That Aid Minority Students (Gift Article)

The Treasury Department released rules that would prevent schools with race-based programs from qualifying for tax-exempt status, a threat to both higher education and other private schools.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Hey at least it's under $20

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A whole new type of guy just dropped - someone in his 50s+ with absolutely no familiarity with the basic archetypes of the Trojan War. Maybe those classical learning people have a point... </sarcasm>

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Sam Ulmschneider @samulmschneider.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Few things reinforce my strong determination to avoid AI generated materials for my students like the disrespected, riled-up feeling I get when those meant to be in charge of or training/teaching me generate slick-but-empty AI slop to do so. I don’t want my students to feel disrespected like that.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

This really tracks what I see with high school students (even quite bright ones). Their first instinct is to go to the llm. They've lost the ability to think they can do it themselves.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Please don't give ed-tech any more bad ideas.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Is it still a unitary executive if the EO has to be explained by the White House deputy chief of staff for policy while the president sits there silently gazing off into space?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

For those of you following the College Board's decision to include "core principles" from Adam Smith, and were wondering what exactly they decided were "core principles", the updated "Course and Exam Description" mentions Smith a total of 3 times, with no actual guidance:

Screenshot from the AP USgov CED that lists the required foundational documents.

Screenshot from the AP US Gov CED that indicates that "The writings of Adam Smith, including a study of the principles written in The Wealth of Nations" be taught in Unit 4

A screenshot from the AP US Government CED that lists "Free enterprise (pursuit of self-interest, competition, efficient allocation of resources, and limited government regulation of the market, as espoused by Adam Smith in writings such as The Wealth of Nations)" as a "core value" of the US

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

@clppng.bsky.social absolutely killed it tonight. I can't think of any other group that would reference William S. Gibson, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Stokley Carmichael in the same set.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Hey @clppng.bsky.social are there going to be any tiny robots on stage tonight?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I've been making this argument for years - nearly all of our present moment can be rooted in our inability to fully reckon with the covid pandemic and the real costs that both the pandemic itself and our policy responses caused.

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Jessica Smith @thedaybooks.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

It’s nice to see everyone’s textual analysis of The Odyssey It’s almost like the humanities give you entertainment, feelings, pleasure, and fun/interesting stuff to talk about, as well as lenses into both past and current society

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Hey #PoliSky, Does anyone have a good accessible article (for AP high school students) on unitary executive theory, especially in light of *Slaughter*?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Hey #PoliSky, Does anyone have a good accessible article (for AP high school students) on unitary executive theory, especially in light of *Slaughter*?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

We actually don't need a film on Scrooge's backstory, it's literally all covered by the Ghost of Christmas Past.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Our children are going to be insufferable

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Will the popularists get on board?

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

5 living writers that you've read 5 books by each: Marilynne Robinson Neal Stephenson N. K. Jemisin China Miéville Alastair Reynolds

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Alex @purplechrain.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

He could very easily say that a movement that addresses people’s needs and defeating Collins are more important than himself and that what matters most is maintaining that energy to unite and win in November.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I've been on the "more parties AND stronger parties" bus for a long time.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

I know it's old-fashioned, but I do sincerely believe in the Platonic idea that quality of your soul matters when you pursue public office. You aren't just a vehicle for policy positions and ideological visions; you are empowered to make judgments that have real life and death effects.

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Abe Lincoln vs. the "heritage American" crowd, 1858: It doesn't matter where your ancestors were in 1776. Americans who read the Declaration and affirm its creed "have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote [it] ...and so they are."

We have besides these men—descended by blood from our ancestors—among us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men, they are men who have come from Europe—German, Irish, French and Scandinavian—men that have come from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration, (loud and long continued applause) and so they are.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

This is the only correct take - 4 justices don't believe in a multi-racial democracy and the 5th vote doesn't believe that an expansive conception of citizenship is in the Constitution, just in federal law.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

That this case was even granted cert was a travesty - every lower Court ruling was against the administration; there was no circuit split. This was a blatant attempt by 4 on the Court to undue the constitutional revolution of Reconstruction.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The vote spread in Barbara is really fucking terrifying. Only 5 justices voted on the plain text of the Constitution.

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The supermajority's decision in NRSC allows wealthy donors to circumvent limits on contributions to individual candidates by donating much larger sums to political parties, which can now spend the money in direct coordination with specific candidates. An open invitation for quid pro quo corruption.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

I think a lot of this is the way that most civics curriculum focus on the Warren Court's rulings in the 50s and 60s and more generally on civil rights and civil liberties pretty much only, and don't ever discuss administrative law...

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

This year over 400,000 high school seniors will be required by College Board to learn "the core concepts of the writings of Adam Smith" in their AP US Gov class. They will not be required to learn about Trump vs. Slaughter, Loper Bright vs. Raimondo, Louisiana v. Callais, or Shelby County v. Holder.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Truly cursed set of predictions I made in October when my students looked at some of the important cases that SCOTUS would hear this year (Barbara wasn't on the docket yet, hence why it wasn't included)

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

There's no sugar-coating Slaughter. It's an enormously important ruling (far more important than the other three decisions #SCOTUS handed down today). It's a huge win for Trump/the executive. And it's going to have massive ramifications for the functioning of the government long after Trump is gone.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

This is my biggest challenge teaching AP US Gov - teaching the way institutions are "supposed" to work vs. how they actually work and the historical reasons as to why there's a difference. College Board, and curricula generally, really only want us to teach the former.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

The talking point should be: the war was a strategic failure, a political failure, and most importantly, a moral failure.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Part of the reason why CA takes so long to count ballots (beyond sheer size) are a series of rules in place to protect against fraud. Of course, they know this, they're just planting seeds of doubt and intentionally undermining social trust.

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Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Hey #poliscisky, given the upcoming changes to the AP US Gov/Pol exam, how many of you teach any of the following texts in your Introduction to American Government and Politics classes? Federalist 39 Emancipation Proclamation Gettysburg Address "Core concepts" from Adam Smith (whatever that means)

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