Tucson
Education
'Something shifted' since COVID: High school teacher shares the reason why he's quitting
The kids in high school in 2024 have always lived in a world where smartphones exist. Many were raised on iPads and given smartphones by the time they started middle school. During this time, research has begun to reveal the dangerous effects smartphones have on young people; now, teachers and students are forced to cope with the harmful effects of this social experiment.A recent Speak Up survey found that 80% of teachers think phones distract students and 70% of administrators say it is difficult for students to manage their smartphones responsibly. Mitchell Rutherford, 35, a high school biology teacher at Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona, is quitting his job of 11 years because his students’ addiction to their phones is making it nearly impossible for him to teach. Rutherford told The Wall Street Journal that something “shifted” in high school kids after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vexing drawback to tribal online colleges: Cultural & social isolation
Enrollment in the fall semester was just under 1,200, according to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, nearly triple what it was in fall 2019. But the desert campus on an isolated patch of the sprawling Tohono O’odham Nation was nearly empty on a weekday afternoon. Instructors sat alone in front of computers in classrooms and offices teaching their courses online, which is where nearly all the students are learning these days.
La cultura cura: New student mural celebrates colorful Latino identity
Three large canvases depicting Chicano themes and culture now grace the walls of Envision High School on Tucson’s north side. The colorful and portable mural is the product of a collaboration between Chicanos Por La Causa’s Nahui Ollin Wellness Program and Envision High students. The triptych includes depictions of a rainbow over a desert scene, a modern day “cruiser” walking along a red carpet and an otherworldly coyote howling below an alien spacecraft.
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