John Warner
@biblioracle.bsky.social
Writer, speaker, consultant. Chicago Tribune columnist, blogging at Inside Higher Ed. Coming soon, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI. Previously: Why They Can't Write and The Writer's Practice. biblioracle.substack.com
Wrote my way into the headline: Is AI Use in Teaching Novelty or Necessity?
Digging around some thoughtful writing about teachers using AI to help with their course curriculum and materials and no doubt, some of the stuff they've developed is neat, but the question I have is, "is it necessary?" and at least from the outside, the answer for me, is "no."
January 30, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Wrote my way into the headline: Is AI Use in Teaching Novelty or Necessity?
Reposted by John Warner
"ICE is nothing like the Brownshirts. One was an open paramilitary wing of an openly fascist political party, the other is an unaccountable government force operating without clear uniforms, identification, or transparency… for an openly fascist political party."
ICE Is Nothing Like the Brownshirts, Because the Brownshirts Actually Identified Themselves
Let’s get this out of the way: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is nothing like the Sturmabteilung, a.k.a. Hitler’s Brownshirts. Your main clue ...
buff.ly
January 26, 2026 at 3:00 AM
"ICE is nothing like the Brownshirts. One was an open paramilitary wing of an openly fascist political party, the other is an unaccountable government force operating without clear uniforms, identification, or transparency… for an openly fascist political party."
My suggestion for David Brooks' replacement at the Times. Not another him since (somehow) Bret Stephens remains employed. Instead, a pivot to someone who understands the structural causes of cultural divide: Heather McGhee, (The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We can Prosper Together).
January 30, 2026 at 3:38 PM
My suggestion for David Brooks' replacement at the Times. Not another him since (somehow) Bret Stephens remains employed. Instead, a pivot to someone who understands the structural causes of cultural divide: Heather McGhee, (The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We can Prosper Together).
Reposted by John Warner
Bobo takes bullshit job: my latest for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/soci...
The Smug and Vacuous David Brooks Is Perfect for “The Atlantic”
The former New York Times columnist is a one-man cottage industry of lazy cultural stereotyping.
www.thenation.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Bobo takes bullshit job: my latest for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Digging around some thoughtful writing about teachers using AI to help with their course curriculum and materials and no doubt, some of the stuff they've developed is neat, but the question I have is, "is it necessary?" and at least from the outside, the answer for me, is "no."
January 30, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Digging around some thoughtful writing about teachers using AI to help with their course curriculum and materials and no doubt, some of the stuff they've developed is neat, but the question I have is, "is it necessary?" and at least from the outside, the answer for me, is "no."
IU president Pamela Whitten, who runs her educational institution like an authoritarian who hates free speech and free thought, is hailed as the ideal college leader. She is, for the football team. The divorce between big-time sports and education must happen. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Indiana University Football (and Others) Just Need to Go Pro
If Indiana University’s president is an MVP, we’ve got a problem.
www.insidehighered.com
January 30, 2026 at 2:43 PM
IU president Pamela Whitten, who runs her educational institution like an authoritarian who hates free speech and free thought, is hailed as the ideal college leader. She is, for the football team. The divorce between big-time sports and education must happen. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Reposted by John Warner
I wrote about Bari Weiss and CBS’s pivot to “scoops of ideas” newrepublic.com/article/2059...
What Bari Weiss Doesn’t Get About CBS News
Her plan to focus on “scoops of ideas” will only make the news network’s offerings more like (pretty much) everything else in media.
newrepublic.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:50 PM
I wrote about Bari Weiss and CBS’s pivot to “scoops of ideas” newrepublic.com/article/2059...
I was assured that Dartmouth is a world historical leader in developing AI. Don’t think this is what they meant.
The college at which I'm employed, which has signed a contract with the AI firm that stole books from 131 colleagues & me, paid a student to write an op-ed for the student paper promoting AI, guided the writing of it, and did not disclose this to the paper. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...
College approached and paid student to write op-ed in The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth ran the article on Nov. 17 without knowledge that the College had been involved.
www.thedartmouth.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:32 AM
I was assured that Dartmouth is a world historical leader in developing AI. Don’t think this is what they meant.
Reposted by John Warner
The Dept. of Appearing to Take Things Rather Seriously While Wearing a Navy Sport Coat and No Tie is actively searching for a Dean of Comfortably Ordering Wine in a DC Steakhouse Where Denny Hastert Used to Sit Right Over There. The position will pay $580,000. The history department is abolished
Yale is launching a new Presidential Senior Fellowship to expand access to the transformative work of universities. As part of this program, author and columnist David Brooks will join the Jackson School of Global Affairs starting February 1.
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
January 29, 2026 at 9:45 PM
The Dept. of Appearing to Take Things Rather Seriously While Wearing a Navy Sport Coat and No Tie is actively searching for a Dean of Comfortably Ordering Wine in a DC Steakhouse Where Denny Hastert Used to Sit Right Over There. The position will pay $580,000. The history department is abolished
There are actual experts in the world Yale could draw on if they were serious about this mission. Instead...this.
Yale is launching a new Presidential Senior Fellowship to expand access to the transformative work of universities. As part of this program, author and columnist David Brooks will join the Jackson School of Global Affairs starting February 1.
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
January 29, 2026 at 8:01 PM
There are actual experts in the world Yale could draw on if they were serious about this mission. Instead...this.
May have to write a sequel to my imagined narrative of what makes someone very much like David Brooks, but who is also a fictional invention...tick. biblioracle.substack.com/p/the-road-t...
January 29, 2026 at 7:31 PM
May have to write a sequel to my imagined narrative of what makes someone very much like David Brooks, but who is also a fictional invention...tick. biblioracle.substack.com/p/the-road-t...
Reposted by John Warner
Teaching exercise that is helpful with my policy students. Based on the solution, hiring this fella to a fancy position and giving him $$$ in this environment, what is the root of skepticism with higher ed that Yale is attempting to solve? Whose skepticism do they seek to assuage?
OH COME ON. Brooks knows fuck-all about "society at large".
January 29, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Teaching exercise that is helpful with my policy students. Based on the solution, hiring this fella to a fancy position and giving him $$$ in this environment, what is the root of skepticism with higher ed that Yale is attempting to solve? Whose skepticism do they seek to assuage?
I can confirm one aspect of Ian's story based on my travels speaking and doing workshops about teaching and AI, the smaller liberal arts colleges have an easier time having more meaningful discussions about what to do. The problem isn't solved, but the work is clearly productive. The other group...
Higher education is a hellscspe right now, attacked by the freedom government in one side and AI on the other.
This fall, I spent a month visiting elite liberal arts colleges, on the instinct that they would be more resilient in every way. My story (gift link):
This fall, I spent a month visiting elite liberal arts colleges, on the instinct that they would be more resilient in every way. My story (gift link):
The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed
Go to a small liberal-arts college if you can.
www.theatlantic.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:36 PM
I can confirm one aspect of Ian's story based on my travels speaking and doing workshops about teaching and AI, the smaller liberal arts colleges have an easier time having more meaningful discussions about what to do. The problem isn't solved, but the work is clearly productive. The other group...
Amen. If I see one of those obvious AI illustrations on a piece I now reflexively recoil and often decide not to read it. Can't wholly explain my own reaction, but it's genuine.
I kind of miss the generic stock photos that people were using before everybody switched to diffusion model pap.
January 29, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Amen. If I see one of those obvious AI illustrations on a piece I now reflexively recoil and often decide not to read it. Can't wholly explain my own reaction, but it's genuine.
Reposted by John Warner
If you grant that AP and IB should count for college credit, there is no leg to stand on when it comes to the Classic Learning Test’s forthcoming version of the same.
"More than 300 colleges nationwide already recognize the CLT as an alternative to the ACT or SAT, he said, and those relationships could help CB gain broader acceptance."
There's nothing to stop legislators from demanding that colleges grant credit for the program.
readlion.com/classic-lear...
There's nothing to stop legislators from demanding that colleges grant credit for the program.
readlion.com/classic-lear...
Classic Learning Test to challenge education monopoly through new baccalaureate program, scoring system - The Lion
With American students earning the lowest math and reading scores in more than 20 years, an organization focused on restoring classical, traditional education is launching the Classical Baccalaureate ...
readlion.com
January 28, 2026 at 8:59 PM
If you grant that AP and IB should count for college credit, there is no leg to stand on when it comes to the Classic Learning Test’s forthcoming version of the same.
This is an observation, not a complaint. I'm just saying that putting a book's success on garnering review coverage is a very unlikely proposiiton.
Via email I've been pitched 19 books for possible review coverage today. I write a weekly column and a newsletter so at most I can cover maybe 70 books a year. Most of these are not contenders (categories I don't read), but in a week I'm pitched more plausible candidates than I read in a year.
January 28, 2026 at 8:39 PM
This is an observation, not a complaint. I'm just saying that putting a book's success on garnering review coverage is a very unlikely proposiiton.
Via email I've been pitched 19 books for possible review coverage today. I write a weekly column and a newsletter so at most I can cover maybe 70 books a year. Most of these are not contenders (categories I don't read), but in a week I'm pitched more plausible candidates than I read in a year.
January 28, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Via email I've been pitched 19 books for possible review coverage today. I write a weekly column and a newsletter so at most I can cover maybe 70 books a year. Most of these are not contenders (categories I don't read), but in a week I'm pitched more plausible candidates than I read in a year.
I "know" without having to articulate it to myself that injecting LLMs into the experience of learning to write is bad for learning how to write. It changes writing into something else. Whether this other thing has value or not I can't say and don't think we'll know for a while. I also know that...
January 28, 2026 at 3:11 PM
I "know" without having to articulate it to myself that injecting LLMs into the experience of learning to write is bad for learning how to write. It changes writing into something else. Whether this other thing has value or not I can't say and don't think we'll know for a while. I also know that...
Reposted by John Warner
"The skater dudes, grandmothers, and dog walkers forever taunt us, my love."
A Letter to Home from a Weary ICE Agent
Dearest Beloved, I received your missive of Thursday last with the greatest of gratitude, as I and my brave compatriots have five hours now awaited...
buff.ly
January 28, 2026 at 2:20 AM
"The skater dudes, grandmothers, and dog walkers forever taunt us, my love."
Reposted by John Warner
Problem: You are not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Twenty Solutions to Common Story Problems
1. Problem: The story you are writing has plot holes. Solution: Unreliable narrator. - - -2. Problem: The story you are writing has severe, glaring...
buff.ly
January 28, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Problem: You are not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Reposted by John Warner
Check out this new organization lead by Mike to protect higher education and advance equity. I’m proud to be a member of the Alliance’s Speaker Bureau.
Higher ed is where we name who we are and dream of who we want to become. That dream is under threat. I’m proud to introduce the @alliancehighered.bsky.social and humbled to serve as its inaugural president. Join the movement in support opportunity and democracy: allianceforhighered.org
The Alliance
allianceforhighered.org
January 27, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Check out this new organization lead by Mike to protect higher education and advance equity. I’m proud to be a member of the Alliance’s Speaker Bureau.
Reposted by John Warner
Media coverage of censorship at TAMU has gone global.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
January 27, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Media coverage of censorship at TAMU has gone global.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
Reposted by John Warner
Higher ed is where we name who we are and dream of who we want to become. That dream is under threat. I’m proud to introduce the @alliancehighered.bsky.social and humbled to serve as its inaugural president. Join the movement in support opportunity and democracy: allianceforhighered.org
The Alliance
allianceforhighered.org
January 27, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Higher ed is where we name who we are and dream of who we want to become. That dream is under threat. I’m proud to introduce the @alliancehighered.bsky.social and humbled to serve as its inaugural president. Join the movement in support opportunity and democracy: allianceforhighered.org
This collection of dopes, grifters, 2nd rate influencers and nobodies is going to save broadcast journalism? Good luck with that.
The new CBS contributors:
Elliot Ackerman, Peter Attia, Masih Alinejad, Arthur Brooks, Caroline Chambers, Clare de Boer, Niall Ferguson, Roland Fryer Jr., Andrew Huberman, Coleman Hughes, Mark Hyman, Janna Levin, Casey Lewis, HR McMaster, Patrick McGee, Reihan Salam, Lauren Sherman, Derek Thompson
Elliot Ackerman, Peter Attia, Masih Alinejad, Arthur Brooks, Caroline Chambers, Clare de Boer, Niall Ferguson, Roland Fryer Jr., Andrew Huberman, Coleman Hughes, Mark Hyman, Janna Levin, Casey Lewis, HR McMaster, Patrick McGee, Reihan Salam, Lauren Sherman, Derek Thompson
January 27, 2026 at 6:29 PM
This collection of dopes, grifters, 2nd rate influencers and nobodies is going to save broadcast journalism? Good luck with that.
I was reassured that Dwight Garner’s review of Saunders’ new novel “Vigil” gibes with mine. I’d share mine too, but it’s behind the Chicago Tribune’s impenetrable paywall. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/b...
George Saunders Serves a Heavy Helping of Virtue in a New Novel
www.nytimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:18 PM
I was reassured that Dwight Garner’s review of Saunders’ new novel “Vigil” gibes with mine. I’d share mine too, but it’s behind the Chicago Tribune’s impenetrable paywall. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/b...