#education lead generation agency

[buddhwani]

Why Personalization Matters in Education Marketing

In today’s competitive education sector, marketing needs to go beyond generic messages to truly connect with prospective students and their families. Personalization, the art of tailoring marketing strategies to individual needs, has become a cornerstone of success for educational institutions. By focusing on creating personalized experiences, schools, colleges, and edTech platforms can stand out and build lasting relationships.

This article explores what personalization means in education marketing, why it matters, and how institutions can implement it to boost enrollments and retention rates.

Understanding Personalization in Education Marketing

Personalization in education marketing is about crafting messages and experiences that resonate with individuals rather than addressing a general audience. This can include offering course recommendations based on a student’s interests, sending targeted emails about application deadlines, or displaying tailored website content for different visitors.

In essence, personalization makes prospective students feel seen and understood. For example, if a student is browsing a website for MBA programs, showcasing faculty profiles, career opportunities, and alumni success stories related to that program can significantly increase their interest.

Many institutions work with a top higher education marketing agency to adopt personalization strategies effectively. These agencies use tools like data analytics and AI to understand audiences and deliver customized marketing campaigns.

Why Personalization Matters in Education Marketing

Personalization is no longer just an option—it’s an expectation. Students today are accustomed to personalized experiences in other areas of their lives, from streaming services suggesting shows to online stores recommending products. They expect the same level of relevance when interacting with educational institutions.

By personalizing messages, institutions can:

Stand Out in a Crowded Market: With so many options available, personalized marketing helps create a unique connection with prospective students.

Increase Engagement: Tailored content, such as emails addressing specific interests, is more likely to capture attention.

Build Trust: When institutions show they understand individual needs, they foster trust and credibility.

Working with an education lead generation agency can help institutions identify and target the right audiences, ensuring marketing efforts reach the most relevant prospects.

Key Strategies for Personalization in Education Marketing

Implementing personalization requires thoughtful planning and the right tools. Here are some key strategies educational institutions can use:

Collect and Analyze Data:Use surveys, website analytics, and CRM tools to gather information about prospective students’ preferences, demographics, and behaviors. This data forms the foundation for effective personalization.

Personalized Email Campaigns:Instead of sending generic newsletters, segment your audience and create emails that address their specific interests. For instance, students exploring STEM fields might receive updates about research projects and related scholarships.

Dynamic Website Content:A personalized website experience can leave a lasting impression. For example, when a user visits an institution’s website multiple times, showcasing programs they previously viewed can increase engagement.

Social Media Targeting:Platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn allow institutions to run targeted ads based on user behavior. Highlighting unique offerings, such as online learning options or campus events, can attract specific student groups.

AI-Powered Chatbots:Chatbots can provide instant, personalized responses to inquiries, guiding students toward the information they need.

Collaborating with the best education marketing agency in India ensures institutions have access to advanced tools and expertise, making personalization seamless and impactful.

How Personalization Boosts Enrollment and Retention Rates

The benefits of personalization extend beyond attracting prospective students—it also plays a crucial role in keeping them engaged throughout their educational journey.

Boosting Enrollment:Personalized marketing makes prospective students feel valued and understood, which increases the likelihood of them choosing your institution. For example, a personalized follow-up email after a campus visit can reinforce interest. Similarly, ads that highlight a student’s preferred programs can nudge them toward completing their application.

Improving Retention Rates:Once students enroll, personalization doesn’t stop. Institutions can continue to engage them with tailored support, such as academic resources aligned with their interests or mentorship programs based on career goals.

Retention also improves when students feel connected to their institution. Regularly checking in with personalized surveys or offering exclusive opportunities, like internships or workshops, can keep them engaged. A top higher education marketing agency can help institutions create comprehensive strategies to enhance both enrollment and retention.

Conclusion

Personalization is no longer just a trend in education marketing—it’s a necessity. With students and parents expecting tailored experiences, institutions must embrace strategies that resonate on an individual level. From data-driven insights to customized campaigns, personalization can help build meaningful connections, boost enrollments, and improve retention rates.

For institutions looking to excel, partnering with experts like the best education marketing agency in India ensures access to cutting-edge tools and proven strategies. By focusing on personalization, educational institutions can not only meet the expectations of today’s students but also secure long-term success.

FAQs

What is personalization in education marketing?Personalization in education marketing involves tailoring content, communication, and experiences to meet the specific needs, preferences, and behaviors of prospective students and their families. It includes strategies like targeted emails, personalized website content, and customized ad campaigns.

Why is personalization important for educational institutions?Personalization helps institutions stand out in a competitive market, build trust with prospective students, and improve engagement. It demonstrates that the institution understands and values the unique needs of each individual, leading to higher enrollments and stronger retention rates.

How can educational institutions implement personalization in their marketing efforts?Institutions can use tools like data analytics, CRM systems, and AI-powered chatbots to gather insights and create tailored campaigns. Strategies include segmenting audiences, personalizing email campaigns, and using dynamic website content to showcase relevant information.

What are the benefits of personalization in student retention?Personalization ensures that students feel supported throughout their academic journey. Tailored onboarding experiences, mentorship opportunities, and personalized academic resources help improve satisfaction and reduce dropout rates.

How can a higher education marketing agency help with personalization?A top higher education marketing agency brings expertise, tools, and experience to execute personalized marketing campaigns. They use advanced technologies like AI, data analytics, and targeted advertising to help institutions attract, engage, and retain students effectively.

[idreamkraft]

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[promilo]

Understanding the B2B Buyer's Journey: How to Guide Prospects to Conversion

The B2B buyer's journey is the process that businesses go through when they are researching and purchasing products or services from other businesses. It is essential to understand this process if you want to guide prospects to conversion successfully. In this article, we will go over the different stages of the B2B buyer's journey and provide tips on how to guide prospects through each stage.

Awareness Stage

The awareness stage is the first stage of the B2B buyer's journey. At this stage, the buyer becomes aware that they have a problem or a need that they want to solve. They may not know what the solution is or who can provide it, but they are starting to research potential options.

To guide prospects through this stage, you need to make sure that your business is visible and easily discoverable online. This can include optimizing your website for search engines, creating informative blog posts, and building a social media presence.

You also need to make sure that your content is relevant and targeted to your potential buyers' needs. This can include creating educational content that helps your prospects understand their problem and the potential solutions available to them.

Consideration Stage

Once a prospect has identified their problem or need, they move on to the consideration stage. At this stage, they start to research different solutions to their problem and evaluate potential providers. They may also start to compare different providers and consider factors such as price, quality, and customer service.

To guide prospects through this stage, you need to make sure that your business is seen as a credible and trustworthy provider. This can include creating case studies and customer testimonials that demonstrate your ability to deliver results.

You also need to make sure that your sales and marketing teams are aligned and working together to provide a seamless experience for prospects. This can include providing personalized content and messaging that speaks to their specific needs and concerns.

Decision Stage

The decision stage is where prospects make their final decision on which provider to choose. At this stage, they may request a proposal or quote, negotiate terms, and finalize the deal.

To guide prospects through this stage, you need to make sure that you provide a smooth and efficient buying experience. This can include simplifying your buying process, providing clear pricing and terms, and responding to inquiries and questions in a timely manner.

You also need to make sure that you continue to build trust and credibility with your prospects throughout the buying process. This can include providing excellent customer service and support after the sale is made.

In conclusion, understanding the B2B buyer's journey is essential if you want to guide prospects to conversion successfully. By providing relevant and targeted content, building trust and credibility, and providing a seamless buying experience, you can increase your chances of converting prospects into customers.

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

How would you describe Chang's relationship with his adoptive parents in your wonderful au?

Chang is adopted pretty quickly, so it's likely they didn't get much time to get to know each other as well as most adopted families nowadays. My thoughts on Chang and his adopted family are below!

Chang's heroism in The Blue Lotus was impressive, which leads to lofty expectations Chang himself feels incapable of meeting. He struggles to adapt to life in Shanghai, the Wangs' upper middle class culture and has problems at school, having missed out on a few years of education and a lot of unresolved trauma.

He's frustrated at his own inability to fit in, and guilty about flubbing this opportunity at life they gave him. Part of him feels like he's tearing their family apart. The Wangs are desperately trying to give Chang a good life, but feel completely out of their depth.

He also can't help but compare himself to Didi, his much older adopted brother and their biological son, who is scarily competent and a clear favourite of their mother.

Didi is aware that his father may have expectations for Chang to join the Sons of the Dragon. Having experienced the pressure and danger first-hand he takes it upon himself to foster a sense of agency in Chang so he will be capable of choosing for himself when the time comes. Didi trains Chang in martial arts and is tough on him in general, but encourages Chang to travel when he expresses an interest in it. Chang on the other hand encourages Didi to have fun and let loose!

Mr Wang has high expectations for Chang because he believes in him. He and Mrs Wang genuinely care for him and only want the best possible life for him, but this sometimes comes across as them expecting Chang to be somebody else. They first thought Chang was much like Didi, disciplined and quiet, but Chang's rebellious streak catches them off guard. Mrs Wang is particularly shaken.

It struck me how gentle the Wangs were with Didi while he was under the influence of madness poison, and as they are good friends with a mental health specialist, they would absolutely take Chang's mental health seriously. Whether or not they fully understand each other is another thing. As Chang slips into a deep depression they decide to send him off to London to meet his uncle, hoping a change in scenery will help him. On his way through Tibet however, his plane crashes into the mountains...

[philosopherking1887]

More good things the Biden administration is doing: OSHA heat safety rules for workers

Remember when Texas and Florida passed laws preventing local and municipal governments from implementing their own heat safety rules and said that if heat is such a big problem, OSHA should make rules that apply to everyone? If not, NPR can remind you. OSHA has now accepted the challenge, moving much faster than they usually do:

OSHA National News Release U.S. Department of Labor July 2, 2024 Biden-Harris administration announces proposed rule to protect indoor, outdoor workers from extreme heat WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has released a proposed rule with the goal of protecting millions of workers from the significant health risks of extreme heat. If finalized, the proposed rule would help protect approximately 36 million workers in indoor and outdoor work settings and substantially reduce heat injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the workplace. Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S. Excessive workplace heat can lead to heat stroke and even death. While heat hazards impact workers in many industries, workers of color have a higher likelihood of working in jobs with hazardous heat exposure. “Every worker should come home safe and healthy at the end of the day, which is why the Biden-Harris administration is taking this significant step to protect workers from the dangers posed by extreme heat,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “As the most pro-worker administration in history, we are committed to ensuring that those doing difficult work in some of our economy’s most critical sectors are valued and kept safe in the workplace.” The proposed rule would require employers to develop an injury and illness prevention plan to control heat hazards in workplaces affected by excessive heat. Among other things, the plan would require employers to evaluate heat risks and — when heat increases risks to workers — implement requirements for drinking water, rest breaks and control of indoor heat. It would also require a plan to protect new or returning workers unaccustomed to working in high heat conditions. “Workers all over the country are passing out, suffering heat stroke and dying from heat exposure from just doing their jobs, and something must be done to protect them,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas L. Parker. “Today’s proposal is an important next step in the process to receive public input to craft a ‘win-win’ final rule that protects workers while being practical and workable for employers.” Employers would also be required to provide training, have procedures to respond if a worker is experiencing signs and symptoms of a heat-related illness, and take immediate action to help a worker experiencing signs and symptoms of a heat emergency. The public is encouraged to submit written comments on the rule once it is published in the Federal Register. The agency also anticipates a public hearing after the close of the written comment period. More information will be available on submitting comments when the rule is published. In the interim, OSHA continues to direct significant existing outreach and enforcement resources to educate employers and workers and hold businesses accountable for violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s general duty clause, 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1) and other applicable regulations. Record-breaking temperatures across the nation have increased the risks people face on-the-job, especially in summer months. Every year, dozens of workers die and thousands more suffer illnesses related to hazardous heat exposure that, sadly, are most often preventable. The agency continues to conduct heat-related inspections under its National Emphasis Program – Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards, launched in 2022. The program inspects workplaces with the highest exposures to heat-related hazards proactively to prevent workers from suffering injury, illness or death needlessly. Since the launch, OSHA has conducted more than 5,000 federal heat-related inspections. In addition, the agency is prioritizing programmed inspections in agricultural industries that employ temporary, nonimmigrant H-2A workers for seasonal labor. These workers face unique vulnerabilities, including potential language barriers, less control over their living and working conditions, and possible lack of acclimatization, and are at high risk of hazardous heat exposure.

[hyperlexichypatia]

I think the way nonprofits and public agencies are funded leads us to adopt some of the worst aspects of a capitalist mindset towards our service users.

In a business, the goal is clear: Generate profit. Sell more product, to generate more profit. Recruit more customers, to generate more profit. Upsell customers to a more expensive product, to generate more profit. Convince customers to keep coming back and buying more things, to generate more profit.

Manipulation is built into the process, and it's understood by all parties. When a business does something "for you," it's in the hopes that you'll buy (or keep buying, or buy more of, or persuade other people to buy) their product. When a company offers free ice cream with your insurance quote, it's not because they like you and and want you to have ice cream; it's because they want you to come for the ice cream, stay for the insurance quote, and buy their insurance policy before you leave, so they can get your money. Everybody knows this.

Nonprofits and public agencies theoretically don't have this motive. Theoretically, the services we offer are for you, the service user. Theoretically, there is no profit motive, and thus no motive for manipulation. Theoretically, whether or not people choose to use the services we offer has no effect on us, so our only goal in promoting or raising awareness of our services is so that potential users can know about them and decide whether or not to use them.

Theoretically.

But in reality, public agencies and nonprofits are funded by governments, foundations, and donors. They demand "data" to justify their funding, and a major source of "data" is the number of service users. Markers of success have to be measurable and numerical, even if that metric doesn't really make sense. So even if there's not directly a profit motive for recruiting service users as "paying customers," there can still be a financial incentive for recruiting as many service users as possible, including using "sales" techniques like giveaways and gimmicks.

Now, this isn't inherently a bad thing -- after all, people in the nonprofit sector want people to use our services, so we want to get the word out about what we have to offer. I'm not saying it's inherently wrong for a nonprofit to use a raffle or a giveaway or a pizza party or whatever to get the word out and recruit new service users.

But since the services we offer are supposed to be for the service users' own benefit, sometimes the attitude around promoting them slips into the idea that the people we're ostensibly trying to serve have to be manipulated or bribed or tricked into accepting services for their own good, because they don't know or care what's good for them.

This can get into some really unfortunate implications territory in the context of the demographics of people who tend to work at nonprofits and public agencies, compared to the demographics of people those agencies tend to serve.

Attitudes can quickly morph into "Those People don't care about their children's health/education/etc., so we have to trick and manipulate and bribe them with food and prizes."

There's a difference between "Giveaways are a fun way to get the word out about our services" and "Those People don't care about their children's diabetes risk unless we make them sit through a lecture before we give them food." And way too many public agency and nonprofit workers, in private, in what they think is a sympathetic audience, are way too open about saying the latter.

[mydaddywiki]

William Barr

Physique: Average Build Height: 6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the United States attorney general in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993 and again in the administration of President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2020. Barr was the second person in U.S. history to serve twice as attorney general (the first was John J. Crittenden).

Bill looks like a human Droopy. Then I see him smile and I go aww… want some dick? What? I’m not voting for or marrying him. I’m just using him as a cum dumpster then kicking him to the streets. And something tells me, he would be good in bed.

Born and raised in New York City, Barr was educated at the Horace Mann School, Columbia University, and George Washington University Law School. From 1971 to 1977, Barr was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency. He then served as a law clerk to judge Malcolm Richard Wilkey of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before becoming attorney general in 1991, Barr held numerous other posts within the Department of Justice, including leading the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) and serving as deputy attorney general.

Barr has been married to Christine Moynihan Barr since 1973, and together they have three daughters. Lets see what else I can find out about him. Hmm… Barr is an avid bagpiper having played competitively in Scotland with a major American pipe band.

OK that one is WAY too easy.

[morimakesfanart]

Sindria's Prophet #41

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [Intermission] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

[AO3] [wattpad]

Sinbad x OC

*Mori goes to horny mecha *More sex ed things *Emotional/tonal whiplash ~POV Sinbad~ Mori couldn't keep their eyes off of him for days, but they turned away every time Sinbad returned their gaze. He was definitely getting under their skin. It was only a matter of time before they fully became his, but he wasn't certain he could make it happen before he left for the Kou Empire. It was only after he sat at his desk and couldn't seem to finish a single document that he couldn't deny Mori was under his skin too. Even the waves were pointing him away from his desk.

However, the King couldn't exactly leave when he had just started working -that was what Zepar was for. The bird circled the Black Libra Tower, and when it entered through an open window of Mori's office it wasn't his Beautiful Prophet inside. That was definitely Ja'far leaving the room holding a bunch of scrolls. And when he entered the court yard, the General was headed towards the White Capricorn Tower. Something told Sinbad that Ja'far was heading his way without the waves. He dropped control of the bird.

Sure enough, Ja'far entered his office with the scrolls and put them on his desk. "Sin, is what Mori wrote in these true?" Just glancing at the labels he knew, "I haven't read those ones yet, but I'm sure they are." "Read them now." Ja'far had not looked this upset with him in years. "I'll wait."

--- ~POV Sharrkan~ Mori was ranting and it was far worse than anything Yam had ever said. "Yeah, no! I don't care how pretty these are or how much of a tourist attraction they are! You have to stop selling and supplying quartz and wooden dildos!" The Prophet pointed one such facile at the group before her. "These materials are porous. They can't be properly sterilized, so they will eventually lead to infections no matter what orifice they're shoved into!" Sindria's best swordsman was stuck between covering his face or ears while Mori 'educated' him and the staff of the Red Light District. This was a mistake. 'Can the King just show up and kill me right now????' She sighed. "You can make a similar-ish affect to quartz with glass right? That's actually safe to use, easy to sterilize, and they can handle a wide range of temperatures so you can even use them for temperature play." The Prophet twirled the crystalline dick while talking. "I was surprised when I saw how advanced this country's glass is so there shouldn't be a problem making dildos out of safe materials with the glass work here." Sharrkan had thought she would just take notes or something and leave, not try to fix everything right then and there!!! What materials were safe, what practices were dangerous; 'didn't matter that she was also teaching them things they could do/use instead that would work better. Wasn't Mori supposed to be a huge virgin nerd like Yam??? Why did she know so much about all of this? There's no way this was just from her visions. The staff were the ones taking notes instead of the Prophet. 'At least they seem to be enjoying themselves.'

--- ~POV Sinbad~ Ja'far brought the remaining Fate scrolls Sinbad had yet to read, but only really wanted him to read parts of 2 of them for the conversation. The contents were telling, both in his mistakes of the past, and Ja'far's current glare. When his Beautiful Prophet first told him that he ran away from responsibility using 'Fate,' he thought he had found the true answer in the waves. But that was a contradiction. The waves were caused by people's decisions, so even if they guide people to opportunities it doesn't remove their agency. Without realizing it, Sinbad had fallen into another phantasm to protect himself from guilt. Some of the comments Mori made since they met had hinted at the real reason but it was clear she had no intention of telling him directly. All of the scrolls had signs of being edited here and there, but not these two. They were still in process. And so there was the truth written directly in the paragraphs after his release from slavery.

...He had long forgotten how to ask for emotional support ... Those feelings would fester every time he made another mistake until he was able to fully replace his guilt with the acceptance of 'Fate' as inevitable. He wouldn't be able to acknowledge his own potential for evil for another 15~ years...

That last line held the answer. 'His own potential for evil.' That was the point Mori was really talking around all this time. In her visions he hadn't been able to accept that side of himself until it was too late. He knew he was capable of such things on a factual level considering how he viewed some of his Kingly actions as 'necessary evils,' but that wasn't the same as acknowledging that truth in his Heart. The reason he had longed for the ways of his youth was because back then he hadn't done anything that would haunt the rest his life; he had yet to gamble in desperation only to hurt those around him. But even that wasn't really the truth. When Sinbad had read about when he left home after capturing the Dungeon all he could think of was how that action damned everyone in his village just as was revealed in the scrolls in front of him. He had been making this mistake since the start. 'Just what have I been doing all this time?'

Ja'far's darkened stare waited until he got through the 2nd scroll. "This is so much worse than how you made it sound. This is more than some kid thinking he's the chosen one." A hand went to his head as he tried to wrap his mind around everything. "Sin, why do you think we all swore our lives to help you achieve your dream?"

Sinbad couldn't look away from the scrolls. Doing so would only mean seeing the disappointment in his friend's eyes. He had spent so long keeping what happened in Parthevia a secret. There was nothing he could do about it now.

"I know you don't like sharing your plans, but I thought... Did you ever trust us to help you?! What was the point of gathering all of us then??"

The King opened his mouth, and the realization that he couldn't say the 'right' answer and believe his own words hit him much harder than Ja'far's accusations. His heart started racing to match the flow of the waves. The General may have only read those 2 scrolls but Sinbad had read everything leading up to them, so more of his past was fresh in his mind. Sure, he reached out to people to teach him things periodically, but any time he ran into a real problem he always took on that burden alone. Sinbad had expected 'support' from his Household Members and citizens, but never 'help.'

Sinbad lost control over his expression. "That's part of why I decided to change this path I'm on. Mori made it clear that I will repeat the mistakes of my past if I don't start relying on you all even when I..." He was unable to find the right words to finish his sentence.

"Sin." Ja'far practically hissed his name. "If you don't fix this bad habit of yours then I'll kill you myself, just like I promised all those years ago, before you can cause the 2nd Calamity."

"I'll count on that." He would rather that than be the one that almost destroyed the world. Taking a deep breath didn't help nearly as much as he hoped. "I think we've humored Mori long enough. I need to know for sure how I'm connected to the 2nd Calamity." ---

~POV Mori~ To be honest, I wasn't expecting the management of the Red Light District to believe me right away. But apparently, being officially announced as the Prophet was really good PR because they were very excited to receive some of my 'prophecies for the betterment of Sindria.' The waves had grown dangerously high during my info dumping. If I didn't know how much of a change a sexual revolution could cause from reading history I might have been concerned. Instead, it made my heart swell with pride.

Returning to my room empty handed was a bit disappointing, but it did make it easier to sneak back without being noticed. It also gave me time to make a space the bunch of the new glass dildos I preordered. I was definitely looking forward to the future.

"Finally!" Sharrkan groaned as we exited the district. "If I knew you were going to take so long figuring out-" Both of us froze in the gold gilded doorway.

'Why is Sinbad entering the Red Light District in the middle of the day???' That thought was immediately counter when I noticed Ja'far standing next to him. That meant he was here for official business, not pleasure. 'Why am I only now realizing I could have waited for him to leave the country before attempting this????' At least I wasn't carrying a bag of dicks. That would have been the most damning evidence. --- ~POV Sinbad~ When the guards had revealed that Mori was escorted to the Red Light District by Sharrkan, Sinbad was unwilling to wait for their return. However, something wasn't quite adding up to his expectations. Mori was happily walking out of the Red Light District, and Sharrkan was drained and depressed besides her.

Before the King could say anything, Mori greeted them. "Hello, you're Majesty, Ja'far! I was originally going to tell you after writing up a report first, but since you're here I'll let you know now: I realized I could share medical information for reproductive health here." She gestured behind her, "I just finished my first trip to see what is the current common knowledge, so I could better understand how I can help."

'Does that means Sharrkan didn't drag Mori here?' Even so she was talking a bit too quickly. She was definitely nervous about something.

Ja'far responded before the King could gather his thoughts. "Mori. You do remember that you promised not to invent anything, don't you?" His smile was not the nice one.

"Yes," she admitted without skipping a beat. "However I don't need to invent anything that we aren't already working on to help here." Mori's smile was unwavering.

Sinbad sought direct confirmation. "You really came here to figure out ways to improve this place?" ---

~POV Mori~ "Of course! Who do you think I am?" I said, you know, like a liar. I placed one hand on my hip, and the other over my heart for added flare. "The whole reason I came here was because the rubber experiments are coming along, and the same material can be used to make comfortable condoms you can actually feel through. That way no one has an excuse to not use them." The King and estranged prince coughed at my words. Ja'far's eyes widened. I took his lack of comment as a sign to continue. "We are already working towards rubber gloves. And what are the fingers on gloves other than tubes? We can make condoms by just making bigger tubes." I gave a perfect customer service smile to the man in charge of finances. "From my visions, I know how much trouble 'people' get into when they can't deny their desires, so I thought I could at least help with this part of the problem." "Mx. Prophet," Ja'far took a few steps forward and grabbed my hands. "You should have told me sooner! Something like is invaluable with a King like Sinbad." 'Fish, meet hook.' I softened my expression to lean into this pity angle. "I understand. I know how many complaints you've had to deal with because of him."

((Blatant Rose of Versailles reference ;3)) --- ~POV Sinbad~ This was a dilemma. Even though Sinbad had stopped taking partners, his Beautiful Prophet was none the wiser. This was a good opportunity to enlightened her, but there was something else he had to take care of first. Ja'far might have disliked Mori when they first met, but ever since the rebellion in Balbadd was stopped things started to change. They had started having periodic moments like this when their thoughts aligned. Sin didn't like it. He gently separated their hands and received their attention at the same time. "Hey now, I stopped asking for call girls weeks ago." On one hand, if Mori wanted something, Sinbad wanted to make sure she got it -if that was the assistance of one of his Generals so be it. But on the other hand, he didn't want anyone else catching Mori's eye. When he had heard that Sharrkan brought her to the Red Light District he had thought that one of his Household Members had betrayed him. From the look of things it was starting to seem like, instead of Sharrkan, it was Ja'far he should have been worried about. Ja'far took a few steps back. His eyes and brow scrunched in great disappointment and complete lack of fucks for the topic. "I think we will all feel better with this added protection considering your track record." "Yes, well..." There was no denying that. Sinbad cleared his throat into a fist to buy time as he listed the facts in his head: '-Mori has already admitted to her feelings for me before so clearly she wants to be with me. '-Mori is also aware of my own feelings even though she hasn't fully accept it yet. '-Mori has started working on condoms that are comfortable. 'She is clearly working towards our future, so we can have a long honeymoon before growing our family!!' Mori's expression was only marginally better than Ja'far's. "Are.... you sick?" The Prophet still trusted her visions far more than anything he could say. "I'm fine. I promise." This was a failure of a conversation. Sharrkan's snickering rubbed salt in the wound. There was nothing the Womanizer of the Seven Seas could say to clear his name. "...Okay." She clearly didn't believe him. Mori lightly clapped their hands together with a smile. "Well, on that bombshell, we'll let you go do whatever you were gonna do in the Red Light District." Regret. Humiliation. Was how he spent his life really such a bad thing for a future spouse? Wouldn't his experience and expertise mean that he would be guaranteed to satisfy them? Ja'far brought the topic around to their true purpose. "Actually Mori, we came to get you. We have some questions about the future you saw in your visions."

--- ~POV Mori~ The room they brought me to was the same one that lead to the balcony where I had dinner with Sinbad more than a month ago. As soon as we entered, the King started taking off his rings. Confusion spiked my anxiety. Sinbad gave me a reassuring smile. "I noticed during our meetings about Fate that you keep looking at my rings. When I remembered you know my Djinn's abilities it was obvious what you were worried about." He took off his remaining metal vessels and placed them on a coffee table. "I know I'll never use any of these on you, but actions speak louder than words at times like these." Ja'far followed his King's example and placed his metal vessels on the the table as well. I knew I looked at Zepar's ring a few times when talking about Fate, but I thought I made it seem like my eyes were wandering. I couldn't respond. My brain was still catching up and accepting what was happening. 'This isn't going to be about his trip to the Kou Empire...' I had already explained what visions I had of that trip during a meeting about preparing for it, but it was still the most likely topic I could think of. It wasn't until they settled in amongst the plush seating that I realized I should sit down too. Sinbad's expression went serious but he didn't feel angry. After a moment's hesitation he looked me in the eye. "The person who causes the 2nd Calamity is me, isn't it?" . . . . . . 'How????' The thought was immediately followed by the realization that since I hadn't responded right away there was no way they would believe anything other than admittance. I couldn't even consider the option. ((So that emotional whiplash of a cliffhanger, amiright? The chapter took so long to come out because- Surprised! That eye infection I had came back and being on the medication this time really messed me up. It's a stronger antibiotic since the last apparently didn't fully knock it out of me. I couldn't go outside without catching on fire and passing out, and I had to hyper monitor my diet. The doctor said I'm past the next stage so the dosage was cut in half. I feel more like a person again :D I'll be on it for at least another month. Wish me luck!! This chapter was also delayed because I ended up deciding to do Artober daily this year. It was my first year making a piece every day since Jake Parker ruined Inktober by trademarking it and doing a plagiarism. Anyway, I really enjoyed the challenge :D Inspired me to work on more of my original work and things. On that note, the next chapter is going to be delayed because I want to get a lucid dream one shot out by December 7th. I definitely chose that date for no reason in particular. It absolutely has nothing to do with it being a Jujutsu Kaisen dream. Promise UwU I also have an original piece I'm nearly done writing, but I'll wait to finalize it until I have the next chapter of Sindria's Prophet posted :3 The world and this country is on fire but that doesn't mean it's the end. We have survived every day up to this one, we can survive another. We will preserve.))

[starlostlix]

Bungo Stray Dogs and the separateness of Childhood - a sociological view

[So a large portion of this is left over from when I was revising sociology for my alevels, which were done over a month ago now (wow). So I hope there's people out there who find this interesting, it's nice to post this since it goes back to my roots of what started me on tumblr in the first place (sociological analysis, but of MTP). Also this has Stormbringer spoilers.]

Sociologists agree that childhood is a social construct (a concept in society with no fixed definition). The definition of childhood changes depending on culture and time, so it is not universal or 'natural'. Bungo Stray Dogs portrays a definition of childhood much different to many of our own cultures, and part of its presentation is something I want to look into.

The main idea to look at is Jane Pilcher's idea of 'separateness' - childhood as a clear and distinct stage of life in which children are considered physically and psychologically incompetent and unable to run their own lives. This idea of separateness often leads to childhood being considered a 'golden age' of play and having a lack of responsibility. In BSD, the idea of childhood as a separate stage is not as clear - many children 16 or under are seen working in (or looking for) employment much like adults would do. For example, in Stormbringer Shirase (who is 16) works in a car factory, Yosano at age 11 is said to work in a confectionery store (we don't know if this was family owned or not though), and Ranpo in Untold Origins (aged 14) looking for a job when he meets Fukuzawa. With this information we can gather that children have to take the responsibility of work from a younger age than many cultures (for instance where I lived children have to be in education until 18) and that from as young as 11 they are able to employment.

Consider the other children present - the Akutagawa siblings living on the streets for many years without parents or financial support, Kyouka and Q (as well as teenagers like Dazai and Chuuya) being part of the mafia from a young age, Kenji in his village, Chuuya and Mary Wollstonecraft in Stormbringer, and Atsushi living in the orphanage. All of these have different notions of childhood attached to them.

The Akutagawa siblings learnt to support themselves from a young age. Their group of fellow homeless children act as proof of a wide child poverty issue, one which represent the effects of a lack of child welfare support by the government or the effects of the many casualties in the Great War (leaving many without parents). The lack of child welfare support may show a general lack of the idea of separateness, since specialist support for children is not available.

The abundance of children in the mafia, especially those who reach the higher ranks of executives like Dazai and Chuuya by the age of 16, show a distinct lack of recognition of childhood as a separate stage. Those who are children don't seem to be treated much differently to the adults, which is especially apparent in Q and Kyouka's missions (where Kyouka in her first mission we see being considered disposable by the mafia).

Kenji's childhood on paper seems the closest to many farming cultures in our world. He works on a farm from a young age, as many people in his village and in real life farming families do. The recruitment of him to the detective agency however, suggests that (despite his youth) his ability makes him fit for the job. This somewhat leads on to the idea that children with abilities are seen as more mature and subjected to more adult activities and topics from a younger age, with their allowance of separateness smaller than that of non-ability user children.

A few other Stormbringer examples - Mary Wollstonecraft is only 10 years old as of Stormbringer, and yet she is working for the European governments and making robot agents for them. Young children working for governments is a clear example of a lack of separation between child and adult. Another, and arguably much worse example, is Chuuya and Verlaine - both experimented on by scientists/the government and infused with singularities via force. Chuuya is also canonically cloned. Verlaine and Chuuya, in their experimentation, are not treated much differently, despite Verlaine being an adult and Chuuya being around 5 at the time of his kidnapping/start of experimentation. This suggests a lack of seperateness yet again. There is a lot more that could be said about the whole 'cloning/made into a weapon' part of their story, but this is not the post for that.

A more recent one - Teruko. Because of her unique ability to change her age means that within the first few months of her life she was forced to fight in war. She's actually forced to bypass her own childhood for the war effort, and therefore her childlike demeanour during the Decay of Angels arc may be to try and harness what she missed out on. Her ability in itself could also play into the 'old age is a social construct' argument too maybe but again, not the post.

Atsushi's childhood in an orphanage at first seems to match the ideas of childhood as a separate stage dependent on others. The purpose of orphanages is to raise children without parents and help them prepare for the world, but Atsushi's experiences of abuse shows that his ability, to the orphanage director, makes him undeserving of this separate stage. Instead he is abused and eventually kicked out with no real support. This being able to go on unchecked alongside the other examples brings me to my conclusion about the definition of childhood in Yokohama/the surrrounding villages/possibly the world are not being considered a separate 'golden age' to the same standards as our world.

As mentioned earlier, children who are ability users are less likely to have this construct of seperateness include them. In sociology, labels and constructs are assigned by people and society, and so in this universe there are many adults who have removed this construct from ability users' lives in their childhood. Yosano is the clearest example of this - Mori takes her away from her experience of childhood and places her in a war zone, where she, despite being 11 years of age, is treated like an adult and (because of her ability) is placed on a pedestal by the solders. She's stripped of her childhood through not only the standards placed upon her, but the trauma she endures in the war zone - leaving her to spend what remained of her childhood in a psych ward until Fukuzawa is able to take her in.

Ability user children, via circumstances or adult intervention, do not get to experience childhood in the way other children do because that label is stripped away from them. This is most usually because they pose some asset to an organisation or campaign - and this can include the ADA too. Just because the ADA offers a more healthy and safer environment for the children than other organisations, it is still putting children into work and treating them the same as adults. How ethical this is, is in itself another question that I don't think I can give an answer to. But I could honestly talk about how ability user children are treated differently in a whole other essay.

[I do not have much else to say now about this specific area but it's probably better to post than just to let sit in the drafts as it has done for a while. So no proper conclusion sorry.]

[eretzyisrael]

Brown University students call for divestment from their pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus' Main Green in Providence, Rhode Island, April 24, 2024. (Anibal Martel/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Brown University rejects pro-Palestinian protesters’ demand to divest from Israel

BY ANDREW LAPIN OCTOBER 9, 2024 5:16 PM

Brown University’s board of governors has rejected a closely scrutinized, student-led proposal to divest from companies with business in Israel.

The rejection allays concerns expressed by some pro-Israel groups that the divestment movement was gaining momentum after the pro-Palestinian student encampments at universities across the country last spring.

“Baruch Hashem,” Rabbi Josh Bolton, executive director of Brown/RISD Hillel, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, using a Hebrew term akin to “Thank God.”

Bolton said the vote “is a definitive and powerful rejection of divestment on every level.” Coming so soon after the first anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel was also significant, he said: “After a year of insanity, antisemitic sloganeering, maligning of Jewish students, this is a day that we can be proud of our institutions.”

The vote was in the works and debated for months before taking place on Tuesday, months before it was expected, by secret ballot. The Brown Corporation agreed with an internal committee that had voted 8-2, with one abstention, to recommend rejecting divestment.

“The Corporation reaffirmed that Brown’s mission is to discover, communicate and preserve knowledge. It is not to adjudicate or resolve global conflicts,” the board wrote in a lengthy statement Wednesday explaining its vote. 

The Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island was among the first this past spring to agree to hold a vote on divestment in exchange for a peaceful end to its student encampment. The encampments often pushed for divestment, while Jewish students reported being antagonized by the pro-Palestinian activists. Protesters at Brown were motivated by, among other factors, a Palestinian student who was shot in Vermont in November in an apparent hate crime.

After dismantling their encampment, Brown student activist leaders were permitted to make their formal case for divestment to the board; similar deals were also struck at Northwestern University, the University of Minnesota and elsewhere. An internal committee then considered the case but kept its report private until Wednesday, after the formal vote was announced. Leading up to the vote, Brown would only confirm that it was scheduled for October but provided no other details on timing.

Among its chief rationales for rejecting divestment, the committee determined that Brown was not heavily nor directly invested in the 10 companies included in the proposal “and that any indirect exposure for Brown in these companies is so small that it could not be directly responsible for social harm.” Those 10 companies included Boeing, General Electric, Motorola, Volvo and Northrop Grumman, all of which the divestment proposal said “facilitate the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.”

The school’s leadership declared it was satisfied with the process and the results of the divestment vote.

“Brown’s mission doesn’t encompass influencing or adjudicating global conflict,” Christina Paxson, the school’s Jewish president, and chancellor Brian Moynihan said in a joint statement shared with the school, alumni and press. “Our greatest contribution to the cause of peace for which so many members of the community have advocated is to continue to educate future leaders and produce scholarship that informs and supports their work. A decision to divest would greatly jeopardize our ability to continue to make this contribution.” 

Paxson and Moynihan continued, “If the Corporation were to divest, it would signal to our students and scholars that there are ‘approved’ points of view to which members of the community are expected to conform. This would be wholly inconsistent with the principles of academic freedom and free inquiry, and would undermine our mission of serving the community, the nation and the world.”

Some Jews had been angry that the vote was happening at all. One Jewish member of the Brown Corporation resigned in protest over it, saying the school had capitulated to extremists. He was rebuked by Paxson, who has long argued that the vote was happening in accordance with Brown’s usual procedures for considering divestment-related proposals. 

At least 100 Brown faculty members publicly supported divestment, while the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups have ardently argued against college Israel divestments in general. Dozens of Republican state attorneys general had warned Brown that any move toward divestment could result in pushback from their states.

The Rhode Island chapter of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, which had advocated for divestment alongside other pro-Palestinian groups, did not immediately return a request for comment. The Brown Divest Coalition, together with the national Students for Justice in Palestine movement, posted a profane message on Instagram directed at the Corporation and Paxson, concluding with “Free Palestine” and, in all caps, “All settler colonial institutions will fail.”

Paxson and Moynihan concluded their communication on the vote with a plea that the university community maintain civility even in disagreement.

“Whether you support, oppose or have no opinion on the decision of the Corporation, we hope you will do so with a commitment to sustaining, nurturing and strengthening the principles that have long been at the core of our teaching and learning community,” they said.

[buddhwani]

Top 10 Successful Education Marketing Campaigns

In today’s competitive education industry, effective marketing can significantly impact enrollment numbers, brand awareness, and student engagement. Many educational institutions have successfully used digital marketing campaigns to drive results. Let’s explore the top 10 education marketing campaigns that achieved impressive outcomes, and understand why they worked so well.

How Top Education Campaigns Achieved Outstanding Results

Top education campaigns thrive on a clear strategy that speaks directly to the needs of prospective students. For example, Coursera, an online learning platform, used personalized email marketing to recommend courses based on user activity. This approach led to a 32% increase in course enrollments.

Another great example is Duke University, which introduced 360-degree virtual campus tours. These virtual tours allowed prospective students to experience the campus remotely, leading to a significant boost in interest, especially among international students.

Similarly, Harvard Business School ran a campaign focusing on success stories of its alumni. This storytelling approach increased student inquiries by 25%, showing how powerful real-life success stories can be when connecting with potential students.

Lessons Learned from Successful Education Marketing Strategies

Successful education campaigns provide valuable insights for institutions to enhance their own marketing strategies. One key lesson is the power of personalization. Coursera’s success with personalized course recommendations demonstrated that students are more likely to engage with content that speaks directly to their needs and interests.

Another important lesson is the impact of storytelling. Harvard Business School’s use of alumni success stories demonstrated that when institutions share real-life experiences, they can build trust and emotional connections with prospective students. This fosters a deeper sense of loyalty and interest in their programs.

Moreover, multi-channel marketing was critical to the success of campaigns. Unacademy, an online learning platform, used interactive ads across social media platforms to engage students. This approach, which combined different marketing channels, helped them reach a wider audience and generate better leads.

Proven Digital Marketing Tactics for Educational Institutions

To achieve results, educational institutions must adopt digital marketing tactics that resonate with their target audience. One proven method is search engine optimization (SEO). Institutions like Stanford University have successfully used SEO by creating content hubs filled with informative blogs, podcasts, and videos to answer prospective students' questions. This approach helped Stanford improve its organic search traffic and position itself as a leader in higher education.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is another effective tactic. Schools can use PPC campaigns to target specific keywords, locations, and demographics, ensuring that their ads are seen by the right students. Amity University used PPC ads to promote their MBA programs, resulting in a 40% increase in inquiries. This demonstrates how targeted advertising can drive high-quality leads for colleges.

Social media marketing is also crucial. Udemy used social media platforms to offer free courses for a limited time, attracting thousands of new users. After experiencing the value of Udemy’s content, many users converted to paid courses, driving both brand awareness and revenue.

Working with an education lead generation agency can also be a game-changer. These agencies specialize in attracting quality leads, helping institutions build targeted campaigns that convert prospective students into enrolled ones. By working with professionals who understand the education market, institutions can maximize the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

Why These Education Campaigns Set the Standard for Success

What makes these campaigns stand out is their ability to combine creativity, data, and digital tools in ways that connect with students on a personal level. Byju’s, for example, worked with influencers to help expand their reach and build trust. By partnering with well-known figures in the education space, Byju’s was able to boost app downloads and gain a larger user base.

The University of Melbourne used video storytelling to share the stories of international students who had benefited from their scholarships. This emotional and engaging content led to a 15% increase in international applications, highlighting the power of video and storytelling in marketing.

A critical factor in the success of these campaigns is continuous optimization. Institutions must constantly assess the performance of their campaigns and make necessary adjustments. Whether it's refining the messaging, testing different ad creatives, or updating content, staying adaptable is key to sustained success.

Moreover, these campaigns prove that digital marketing is now an essential part of the education sector. With the rise of online learning and digital tools, educational institutions must embrace digital marketing for educational institutions to stay competitive. Whether through SEO, PPC, social media, or email marketing, institutions need to adopt a multi-faceted approach to engage and attract prospective students.

Conclusion

The success of these education marketing campaigns shows the importance of data-driven strategies and creative execution. From personalized messaging and success storytelling to leveraging digital tools like SEO and PPC, these campaigns demonstrate what works in today’s digital-first world. Educational institutions that want to replicate these results should consider partnering with a top ed marketing company or an education lead generation agency to fine-tune their efforts. By adopting these best practices and using digital marketing strategies, educational institutions can reach and engage a wider audience, driving more inquiries and enrollments.

FAQs

1. What are the key elements of a successful education marketing campaign?A successful education marketing campaign includes audience research, clear objectives, engaging content, multi-channel promotion (SEO, social media, email), and performance analytics to optimize results.

2. How does storytelling help in education marketing?Storytelling builds emotional connections with audiences, enhances trust, and makes your institution more relatable. Sharing success stories of students or alumni can inspire prospective students to engage with your brand.

3. Why is digital marketing important for educational institutions?Digital marketing helps educational institutions increase visibility, reach their target audience, and attract quality leads. It also provides measurable results, making it easier to refine strategies for better outcomes.

4. What role does a lead generation agency play in education marketing?A lead generation agency identifies and attracts prospective students interested in specific courses or programs. They use tactics like SEO, PPC, and targeted ads to generate high-quality admission leads for colleges and universities.

5. How can institutions measure the success of their marketing campaigns?Institutions can measure campaign success by tracking metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, enrollment inquiries, social media engagement, and return on investment (ROI) through analytics tools.

[reasoningdaily]

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article278582149.html

Tallahassee

When Florida rejected a new Advanced Placement course on African American Studies, state officials said they objected to the study of several concepts — like reparations, the Black Lives Matter movement and “queer theory.”

But the state did not say that in many instances, its reviewers also made objections in the state’s attempt to sanitize aspects of slavery and the plight of African Americans throughout history, according to a Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times review of internal state comments.

For example, a lesson in the Advanced Placement course focused on how Europeans benefited from trading enslaved people and the materials enslaved laborers produced. The state objected to the content, saying the instructional approach “may lead to a viewpoint of an ‘oppressor vs. oppressed’ based solely on race or ethnicity.”

In another lesson about the beginnings of slavery, the course delved into how tens of thousands of enslaved Africans had been “removed from the continent to work on Portuguese-colonized Atlantic islands and in Europe” and how those “plantations became a model for slave-based economy in the Americans.”

READ MORE: DeSantis says AP African-American studies class was ‘pushing an agenda’

In response, the state raised concerns that the unit “may not address the internal slave trade/system within Africa” and that it “may only present one side of this issue and may not offer any opposing viewpoints or other perspectives on the subject.”

“There is no other perspective on slavery other than it was brutal,” said Mary Pattillo, a sociology professor and the department chair of Black Studies at Northwestern University. Pattillo is one of several scholars the Herald/Times interviewed during its review of the state’s comments about the AP African American Studies curriculum.

“It was exploitative, it dehumanized Black people, it expropriated their labor and wealth for generations to come. There is no other side to that in African American studies. If there’s another side, it may be in some other field. I don’t know what field that is because I would argue there is no other side to that in higher education,” Pattillo said.

Alexander Weheliye, African American studies professor at Brown University, said the evaluators’ comments on the units about slavery were a “complete distortion” and “whitewashing” of what happened historically.

“It’s really trying to go back to an earlier historical moment, where slavery was mainly depicted by white historians through a white perspective. So to say that the enslaved and the sister African nations and kingdoms and white colonizers and enslavers were the same really misrecognizes the fundamentals of the situation,” Weheliye said.

DeSantis’ efforts to transform education in Florida

The commentary is also an example of how Gov. Ron DeSantis has transformed the state’s education system in his quest to end what he calls “wokeism” and “liberal indoctrination” in schools — a fight that began in the aftermath of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement that followed the high-profile murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota.

“It’s not really about the course right? It’s kind of about putting down Black struggles for equality and freedom that have been going on for centuries at this point in time and making them into something that they are not through this kind of distorted rightist lens,” Weheliye said.

When asked about the findings of the previously unreported internal reviews, the Florida Department of Education said the course was rejected after state officials “found that several parts of the course were unsuitable for Florida students.”

Cailey Myers, a spokesperson for the agency, cited the work of many Black writers and scholars associated with the academic concepts of critical race theory, queerness and intersectionality — a term that she said “ranks people based on their race, wealth, gender and sexual orientation.” The term, however, refers to the way different social categorizations can interact with discrimination.

Brandi Waters, the executive director of the AP African American Studies course, said it is hard to understand the Florida Department of Education’s critiques on the content because state officials have not directly shared their internal reviews with the College Board. The state and the College Board, however, were in communication about the course for several months before it was rejected.

Waters maintains the coursework submitted to the state was the most holistic introduction to African American Studies.

A deeper look at Florida’s objections

The course materials provided by the College Board were reviewed by Florida Department of Education’s Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support and the decision to reject the course was made by “FDOE senior leadership,” records show.

John Duebel, the director of the state agency’s social studies department, and Kevin Hoeft, a former state agency official who now works at the New College of Florida in Sarasota, were identified as the two evaluators in the review. Hoeft is listed as an “expert consultant” to the Civics Alliance, a national conservative group that aims to focus social studies instruction in the Western canon and eliminate “woke” standards. His wife is a member of the conservative group Moms for Liberty.

Duebel declined to comment on the story and referred questions to the Department of Education, which did not respond. Hoeft did not respond to a request seeking comment. While the documents say that Duebel and Hoeft led the state reviews, much of the comments included in the state review are not attributed, making it hard to tell who said what.

The documents reviewed were provided to the Herald/Times by American Oversight, a left-leaning research organization that sued the state Department of Education for the records.

“We sued the Florida Department of Education to shed light on the DeSantis administration’s efforts to whitewash American history and turn classrooms into political battlegrounds,” American Oversight Deputy Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said in a statement. “The records obtained by American Oversight from Florida’s internal review of the AP African American Studies course expose the dangers of Gov. DeSantis’ sweeping changes to public education in Florida, including preventing students from learning history free from partisan spin.”

READ MORE: How a small, conservative Michigan college is helping DeSantis reshape education in Florida

The documents offer more detail into the state’s reasoning for rejecting the pilot course from being offered to high school students in Florida — and how topics related to racism, identity and gender were continually flagged out of concern that lessons were biased, misleading or “inappropriate” for students.

And, in cases where state officials did not find a violation of a state law or rule, concerns were often raised about how educators would teach the content, underscoring the growing distrust between state officials and educators as disputes over social issues engulf local school politics.

For example, the state worried educators teaching about how the 1960s Black is Beautiful movement helped lay a foundation for multicultural and ethnic studies movements, could “possibly teach that rejecting cultural assimilation, and promoting multiculturalism and ethnic studies are current worthy objectives for African Americans today.”

“This type of instruction tends to divide Americans rather than unify Americans around the universal principles in the Declaration of Independence,”the state officials wrote about a lesson in the course.

Records also show how some of the comments made by the state evaluators contained contradictions, such as advocating for primary sources and then later writing that certain primary sources contained “factual misrepresentations.” Many comments from the state pushed for the material to include perspectives from “the other side” but failed to elaborate whose perspective they wanted to be added.

Slavery

One of the lessons in the course, for example, set out to teach students how slavery set back Black people’s ability to build wealth.

“Enslaved African Americans had no wages to pass down to descendants, no legal right to accumulate property, and individual exceptions depended on their enslavers’ whims,” the College Board’s lesson plan said.

When reviewing the content, however, state reviewers said the lesson plan might violate state laws and rules because it “supposes that no slaves or their descendants accumulated any wealth.”

“This is not true and may be promoting the critical race theory idea of reparations,” state officials wrote in documents reviewed by the Herald/Times. “This topic presents one side of this issue and does not offer any opposing viewpoints or other perspectives on the subject.”

While there were scattered instances where enslaved people were given the chance to earn money to pay for their freedom, the wealth they accumulated still did not belong to them, said Paul Finkelman, the editor-in-chief of Oxford University Press’ “Encyclopedia of African American History 1619-1895.”

“Under the law of every slave state, including Florida, no slave could own anything. That is, slaves did not own the clothes on their back. They did not own the shoes on their feet,” said Finkelman. “So for the Florida Education Department to question whether slaves accumulated property is to not understand that slaves owned no property. In fact, they were property belonging to slave owners.”

Even in cases where slaves were allowed to make money, Finkelman argued, it would be a stretch to say they were able to accumulate wealth.

Black middle class

Evaluators also objected to a lesson plan that taught how Black Americans, even after slavery, continue to experience wealth disparities due to ongoing discrimination.

The coursework included the following statement: “Despite the growth of the Black middle class, substantial disparities in wealth along racial lines remain. Discrimination and racial disparities in housing and employment stemming from the early 20th century limited Black communities accumulation of generational wealth in the second half of the 20th century.”

State reviewers, however, said the unit could potentially violate state rules because it failed to offer other reasons outside of systemic racism and discrimination for the wealth disparity between Black Americans and other racial groups.

“The only required resource in this topic cites ‘systemic racism,’ ‘discrimination,’ ‘systemic barriers,’ ‘structural barriers,’ and ‘structural racism’ as a primary or significant causative factor explaining this disparity of wealth,” wrote one evaluator. “This topic appears to be one-sided as non-critical perspectives or competing opinions are cited to explain this wealth disparity.”

Pattillo said that while many of the comments made by the state in the review claimed that they wanted to see more balance of perspectives in the course materials, she felt state officials largely tried to minimize the topics of discrimination.

Abolitionist Movement

When it came to teaching students about the movement to end slavery, the College Board highlighted some of the prominent activists who led that abolitionist movement and the ways the government tried to stop those who resisted slavery.

“Due to the high number of African Americans who fled enslavement, Congress enacted the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, authorizing local governments to legally kidnap and return escaped refugees to their enslavers,” the lesson plan stated.

Primary sources were scrutinized

When the College Board addressed the resistance to slavery, it wanted to teach students how to “describe the features of 19th-century radical resistance strategies promoted by Black activists to demand change.” In that unit, the state objected to two primary sources: “The Appeal” by David Walker and “An Address to the Slaves of the United States” by Henry Highland Garnet.

State reviewers said that “The Appeal” included “content prohibited under Florida law,” but does not offer more details; and that “An Address to the Slaves of the United States” contains “factual mis-representations” and potential violations of state rules.

“They complain that this primary source is not historically accurate. Well, of course it’s not historically accurate because it’s a political speech. It is not a piece of history, but it’s a perfectly historically accurate primary source to understand the anger of a Black abolitionist,” Finkelman said.

However, earlier in the review, the evaluators applauded the College Board for stating that “anchoring the AP course in primary sources fosters an evidence-based learning environment” and that the course will be focused on the works and documents of African American studies rather than “extraneous political opinions or perspectives.”

“This is exactly how all courses are to be taught in the state of Florida and we commend [the] College Board on this position,” wrote the state reviewer .

Scholars’ political leanings questioned

In one review, one of the state evaluators questioned the balance of the content because of the individuals the College Board picked to develop the coursework.

But one of the evaluators had a gripe: they claimed that there were no conservative Black scholars. This was a concern because, as the state evaluator put it, there may not be an “adequate level of intellectual balance.”

“Conservative and traditional liberal members may need to be added to the committees to bring balance and ensure compliance with Florida statutes, rules, and policies,” the state evaluator wrote.

Waters said the College Board is focused on having scholars on their committees who are the leaders in the field of African American studies and that their political background isn’t something they take into consideration.

“In terms of the scholars, we never really asked them ‘what is your political background?’,” Waters said. “I don’t assume that is a characteristic that remains static in a person’s life over time.”

“What we do is look for scholars who represent the expertise needed for the course. So who is leading the field in how we understand the origins of the African diaspora? Who is leading the field in cutting edge research on unearthing new perspectives of the civil rights movement? We look for their expertise and also the different backgrounds that they represent,” she added.

How did we get to this point?

While Florida law requires the study of African American history, the state reviews of the AP course show how the DeSantis administration and Republican policymakers are implementing changes to how schools can teach about race, slavery and other aspects of Black history.

In 2021, Florida barred lessons that deal with critical race theory, a 1980s legal concept that holds that racial disparities are systemic in the United States and not just a collection of individual prejudices. Critical race theory was not being taught in Florida schools. The state also barred lessons about “The 1619 Project,” a New York Times project that reexamines U.S. history by placing the consequences of slavery and contributions of Black Americans at the center.

A year later, the Republican-led Legislature approved a new law, known as the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” which prohibited instruction that could prompt students to feel discomfort about a historical event because of their race, ethnicity, sex or national origin.

To DeSantis, the restrictions are a necessary effort to protect students from what he sees as a cultural threat that, as he puts it, teaches “kids to hate this country.” But the policies have been widely criticized by Democrats, educators, historians and even a few Republican lawmakers who see the laws as an attempt to distort historic events.

State officials’ interpretation of these policies collided with many of the learning objectives outlined in the A.P. courses. This collision, some scholars say, is emblematic of the chilling effect the state’s vague laws can foster in academia.

“I think this is the point that many people have been saying,” Pattillo said. “That the misguided blanket use of this term critical race theory, and in the absence of some definition of what that means or what they think it means, makes any teaching of racism questionable per that vagueness...”

Based on the state reviews the Herald/Times provided to him, Finkelman said it appeared the state was “hunting for bias.”

“And if you hunt long enough, you can find bias anywhere,” Finkelman said, noting that “anyone can find faults, and even small mistakes with any scholarly enterprise.”

To do the job right, Finkelman said, the state should ensure the course is reviewed by historians, with expertise in the specific subject area — not political scientists or state bureaucrats. He questioned whether the state prioritized reviewers’ credentials after seeing the state’s comments on the topics of slavery, or subjects that took into account the issue of racism and identity.

Based on Finkelman’s review of the content, he said, the state reviewers were more interested in correcting content based on their reading of the material over “scholarly accuracy.”

Read more: Only 3 reviewers said Florida math textbooks violated CRT rules. Yet state rejected dozens

Since Florida rejected the pilot course in January, students in other parts of the country have been taking part in the pilot program. Education officials in only one other state — Arkansas — are disputing whether to make the AP course eligible for credit. The Arkansas Department of Education — led by Florida’s former K-12 Chancellor Jacob Oliva — recently removed the class from its course code listing.

In November, the College Board plans to submit the final version of the course’s curriculum for approval. But with Florida’s laws still in place, the fate of the course remains in limbo — and the outcome could potentially make Florida students in public high schools less likely to have access to the course. If approved, parents and students can choose to enroll in the course.

College Board officials are aware of this possibility, but remain hopeful.

“We certainly hope that Florida students will have the opportunity to take this course,” said Holly Stepp, a spokesperson with the College Board.

Myers, the Florida Department of Education spokesperson, said the College Board is welcome to resubmit the course for review in November.

But, Myers said, “at this point, it is inappropriate to comment on what the future could hold – it is just speculation.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2023, 5:30 AM.

[deadpresidents]

"It is said Gen. Garfield will restore wine and liquor to the White House. I hope this is a mistake. I am no fanatic on the subject. I do not sympathise with the methods of the ultra temperance people. I believe that the cause of temperance will be most surely promoted by moral, religious, and educational influences and by the influence of example. I would not use the force of law as an agency for temperance reform. If laws on the subject are enacted let them be for the security of the community -- to protect the public from nuisances and crime. Let the temperance reformer keep to the text influence, argument, persuasion example.

When we came here we banished liquor from the house: 1. Because it was right, wise and necessary 2. Because it was due to the large support given me by the sincere friends of the Temperance reform. 3. Because I believed that it would strengthen the Republican party by detaching from the political temperance party many good people who would join the Republican party, and would save to the Republican party many who would otherwise leave it to join the Temperance party.

If Gen. Garfield rejects the practice I have inaugurated, he will offend thousands, and drive them into the hands of the Temperance demagogues. He will lose the confidence of thousands of good citizens and gain no strength in any quarter. His course will be taken as evidence that he lacks the grit to face fashionable ridicule. Nothing hurts a man more than a general belief that he lacks the 'courage of his convictions.'"

-- President Rutherford B. Hayes, who had (in)famously banned liquor from the White House during his Administration, leading to his wife and First Lady earning the nickname of "Lemonade Lucy", on reports that his successor, President-elect James Garfield would serve alcohol in the Executive Mansion after his Inauguration, personal diary entry, January 16, 1881.

President Garfield only served 199 days as President -- and 79 of those days were spent desperately battling for his life after being shot. But Garfield did lift the ban of alcoholic beverages during his brief tenure in the White House, likely making meetings and parties a lot less "dry" than those of the Hayes Administration.

[gravesung-moving]

DRAKARTH CONSERVATORY for Arcane Excellence and the Drakarth Archival Preservation Society (called the Archive for short) are technically one and the same. The Archive came first, with the Conservatory built next to it by arcane researchers who wanted to mold from each generation an upper echelon of societal perfection: soldiers, politicians, researchers to lead the charge into every new era. Drakarth, crowned by its star arete student and its globally-recognized faculty, stands as an institution to strength that, if you can survive it, guarantees a successful life.

Key phrase: if you can survive it. Not all is well here, and the people who uphold Drakarth's ideals would do just about anything to keep their secrets buried.

Be careful, now, and don't follow the moths.

STRUCTURE & EDUCATION.

Honor, virtue, reason and might are the four tenets of what Drakarth sees as excellence. Each class attends three years of school: the honing year, the building year, and the trial year. The honing year is spent on basic training, though its true purpose is weeding out those with outstanding potential from the crowd. During finals at the end of the year, all of the freshmen are pulled solo, in pairs, or in threes for individualized Surprise Tests made to test their weaknesses and push them to their limits. These can be anything: 1v1 tournaments, grueling survival challenges, written exams, dungeon delves... the list goes on.

By the end of year one, less than ten percent (80-100) of the students pass their trials and continue on. The rest are shunted into Drakarth's sister schools and outer universities for lower-intensity studies. The ones who pass are called CENTURIONS, and even if they don't graduate top of their class, the title in itself is incredibly prestigious.

Year two, the building year, is spent exploring what makes each student special. Their advisors craft and constantly adjust custom curriculums that balance the student's strengths and weaknesses within the four tenets.

It's supposed to be individualized, that is. The academic system fails so many young people, and Drakarth is not only no exception to this, but a stunningly cruel example of it. (hiii jupiter.) Some of the students who are rejected, or who drop out mid-year, are literally never seen again by their peers. No clue where they went, no contact, nothing. No one seems to think this is weird. They just couldn't cut it, you know.

Third year: tournament arc! Students spend their time fine-tuning the skills they have built over the last two years and training for a schoolwide capstone tournament after finals. These serve as a display of Drakarth's newest exceptional stock to interested parties: military, government, scientific agencies, like sports recruiters coming to games.

Being top of the class each year is a high enough honor in itself. At least, from an outside point of view. Those in the school, the faculty and staff, and the attached families know the truth: there is one particular honor that everyone is chasing.

There is an opportunity every year for someone to be awarded the title of ARETE. For the last two decades, that opportunity has come and gone: the Conservatory and Archive staff simply haven't seen a student who exemplifies the four tenets at an outstanding, better-than-perfect level.

That doesn't stop every student from shooting for it, though.

Drakarth's arete is treated somewhere between a political hero and a messiah. They become the face of the Conservatory and, to an extent, the country it resides in. They attend conferences and war meetings, make speeches to young hopefuls, fight in wars — essentially, they go where the society needs someone to look up to.

LAYOUT.

The Conservatory itself is built from a set of old stone buildings, their architecture Gothic with a twist of occasional surrealism and a focus on open space. At the entryway, flags bear the school crest: two eagles locked in combat in front of a crossed pen and sword, framed by the area's native wild roses. The eagles represent might, the pen represents reason, the sword represents honor, and the roses represent virtue. 

The ballroom, where public-facing functions and schoolwide formals take place, resembles a modified cathedral without pews. Along the back wall, where altars may sit, the leftmost refreshment table bears stacks of wine glasses filled with red, white and bubbly varieties. The center table is adorned with savory hors d'oeuvres, and the rightmost table shows off sweets and pastries of many types: tiny cakes, croissants and canele and cups of custard, spiced honey cake and filled buns, and more. The food and drink items seem to replenish themselves. 

The Archive, directly adjacent to the ballroom, is two floors high and three floors deep. The ground floor acts as a public library for basic arcane knowledge. The second floor acts as the Conservatory’s private library and study space. Underground levels are for artifact storage and Archive property that is only accessible with a research permit and an approved written request detailing what exactly will be used or studied. 

There is definitely not an ancienty secret society involved. There is no eldritch deity of forbidden knowledge sealed under the Archive. Don't follow the moths.

The school training grounds take up about a football field's worth of outdoor space, different sections of the field set up for different types of training. A large dirt square provides space for hand-to-hand combat; dummies of different materials provide resistance to elemental damage for spellthrowing; one entire half of the field is for sports rather than combat. Things do get mixed up sometimes. 

This field is also cleared out when it comes time for end-of-year trials, challenges that test the might, honor and knowledge of each year's students. Most don't make it out of them alive. That's just how things are. The trials with the most fanfare are Tournaments, which are the capstone of Drakarth's graduating class. The students are placed in small groups and pitted against what is essentially a public dungeon crawl. Those who succeed receive a magical artifact and graduate from the Conservatory, some with honors and some simply good at surviving. 

And, of course, there's the college town. Drakarth is out in the countryside, but establishments, homes and businesses have been built around it over the centuries as many alumni and their families end up teaching after they graduate. Favored by Conservatory students is CODA, a lounge that transitions from a cafe to a classy bar in the evenings.

Questions?

graphic template credit

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

Feminists are constantly telling women that they have absolutely no agency in this world. That the entire half of humanity will always rape, beat, harass, hate and oppress them, no matter what. That being female is nothing but absolute and utter suffering and there are ZERO positive things about being a woman. Then they wonder why a lot of women do not wanna be women at all and why a lot of women feel like absolute crap. They think it's this "sex-based" oppression (which is nothing but a bunch of crap) that is leading women to be this way, but it's them and their manipulative, despicable, bully behinds that are majorly responsible for it. Modern feminism is a horrible ideology that thrives on actual hatred of women and prays on their fears and insecurities but covers it with "care" for women to hide what they really are and takes full emotional advantage of vulnerable women. It disgusts me. Your url is 100% correct. It is a hate movement. They depend on the hatred of life, beauty and happiness to thrive.

Yep.

If you look back through historical photographs, you won't find endless pictures of women and girls with arms like these

until the turn of the 1990s, which is when the first generation of little girls raised by the so-called "second wave" of feminists in the 1970s came of age.

The 'Second Wave' is the point that 1960s student Marxists seeking to destroy the west from within successfully infiltrated and took over all women's rights movements and began applying Marxist class theory to gender. So, instead of all human history being explained away as a "class war", the feminists taught each other all human history could be best explained as a "gender war". That's the point the feminist concept of "Patriarchy" was invented and propagated, and so those little girls being indoctrinated into that at every turn, through the media, entertainment and education system, were relentlessly being told the comfortable, safe lives they were living were a torturous, abusive hell, in which all the big scary men hated them and wanted to hurt them. Life was made to seem a trap they could never escape, and so they took to cutting themselves as an act of release and protest.

And then of course - as with the 'trans' epidemic amongst young girls today - social contagion kicked in and girls began copying each other, reinforcing this idea they were being "oppressed" in every part of life, instead of being cared for and protected much more than the boys around them.

This all led to the stereotypical "tumblrite" of today: wildly neurotic and perpetually terrified girls celebrating, inventing and enthusiastically seeking out every mental illness under the sun, demanding "trigger warnings" be put on everything they encounter to protect them from any glimpse of reality outside of their echo chamber of insanity, incapable of living in, or even understanding, the actual, real-life world.

It's only feminism that made them like this. Feminism is the wound, not the bandage.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Hi, following up again:

If they've already found me...

why haven't they done anything yet?...

I know they want this one under control more than any other renegade. To the point where I know for a fact I wouldn't be the first human to be used to get them. Because at this point, if they haven't come to get me to use as bait...

what in Omega's eternally disorganised sock drawer is going on?

How long would it take the Celestial Intervention Agency to find someone?

So, if the CIA already knows where you are but hasn’t made a move, you’re probably feeling a bit like a mouse waiting for the cat to pounce, right? Let’s break down what might be happening, and why you’re not in a Gallifreyan holding cell right now.

🕵️‍♂️ The CIA’s Strategy

Surveillance and Data Gathering: The CIA might be watching you closely, gathering intel on your activities, interactions, and any potential leads you could provide. They’re generally meticulous and patient, preferring to have a comprehensive understanding before making a move.

Bigger Picture: There could be a larger operation in play. Your Time Lord renegade might be part of a bigger network or involved in activities that the CIA is monitoring. Moving on you too soon could tip off other targets or jeopardise larger plans.

Bait and Trap: You might indeed be seen as bait, but they’re likely waiting for the perfect moment. The CIA love a bit of strategic patience. They could be waiting for your Time Lord to make a move or reveal something crucial.

Internal Politics: Gallifreyan politics are complex. There might be internal debates, power struggles, or other bureaucratic reasons delaying action. Even within the CIA, there can be conflicts and differing opinions on how to handle this.

Resource Allocation: They might be stretched thin dealing with other crises or missions. Gallifrey isn’t without its own internal and external challenges. Your case might be a priority, but immediate resources could be allocated elsewhere temporarily.

🤔 What Could Be Going On?

Deeper Investigation: They could be conducting a deeper investigation into your Time Lord’s activities. Perhaps they’ve uncovered something bigger and need to piece it all together.

Unexpected Variables: Something might have thrown a wrench into their plans. A sudden development, either with your Time Lord or elsewhere, could have shifted their focus temporarily.

Operational Risks: Moving on you might carry risks they’re not willing to take just yet. If your Time Lord is particularly dangerous or has unpredictable allies, the CIA could be treading carefully.

Waiting for the Right Moment: Timing is everything. They might be waiting for the most advantageous moment to act, ensuring maximum effectiveness and minimal risk to the Web of Time.

🏫 So ...

The CIA’s silence doesn’t mean inaction. They’re likely playing a long game, watching and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Remember, the wheels of Gallifreyan bureaucracy turn slowly, but they turn with purpose.

Wait ... who's that over your shoulder?

@jillthecia-agent

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴