David Zwart
@davidzwart.bsky.social
Reposted by David Zwart
“Based on the available evidence, the skills that future graduates will most need in the AI era—creative thinking, the capacity to learn new things, flexible modes of analysis—are precisely those that are likely to be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.”
“When you allow a machine to summarize your reading, to generate the ideas for your essay, and then to write that essay, you’re not learning how to read, think, or write.“
November 30, 2025 at 11:10 AM
“Based on the available evidence, the skills that future graduates will most need in the AI era—creative thinking, the capacity to learn new things, flexible modes of analysis—are precisely those that are likely to be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.”
Reposted by David Zwart
Just going to keep pointing out that they're openly asserting that they think any criticism of the president is tantamount to "hating America" which is, itself, an insult to American values.
Barrasso on No Kings: "They have this big 'I Hate America' rally this Saturday in Washington where you have all these far-left activists groups coming to protest the president and the administration."
October 16, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Just going to keep pointing out that they're openly asserting that they think any criticism of the president is tantamount to "hating America" which is, itself, an insult to American values.
Reposted by David Zwart
One of the terrible things about the conservative elites’ attacks on higher education is that they are giving their constituents the impression that the universe isn’t big, complicated, and fascinating — that it really does take this many people to work out how even a small fraction of it works
October 15, 2025 at 3:25 AM
One of the terrible things about the conservative elites’ attacks on higher education is that they are giving their constituents the impression that the universe isn’t big, complicated, and fascinating — that it really does take this many people to work out how even a small fraction of it works
Reposted by David Zwart
Do you know how badly things have to be going in America for us to be owned this hard by the Dutch? The Dutch of all people
September 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Do you know how badly things have to be going in America for us to be owned this hard by the Dutch? The Dutch of all people
Reposted by David Zwart
A good point in a good thread. The troubling corollary is that we academics *also* internalize these values--we fetishize productivity and the "artifacts" of writing. Were you productive this summer? How long did it take to get that article out the door? Have you published enough for tenure?
When we encourage students to use LLMs to complete their work, I think we're signaling approval for alienation from the experiences of humans. I know that these tools can be used "productively," but productivity and efficiency are not educational values. We must encourage deeper work.
August 22, 2025 at 2:40 PM
A good point in a good thread. The troubling corollary is that we academics *also* internalize these values--we fetishize productivity and the "artifacts" of writing. Were you productive this summer? How long did it take to get that article out the door? Have you published enough for tenure?
Reposted by David Zwart
Shout this!
July 13, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Shout this!
Reposted by David Zwart
That last line hits hard
July 6, 2025 at 5:19 PM
That last line hits hard
Reposted by David Zwart
A lot of this country’s problems boil down to straight white men who see themselves as some sort of default “normal” but any variation on that as “an identity” that is “political”
July 4, 2025 at 10:28 PM
A lot of this country’s problems boil down to straight white men who see themselves as some sort of default “normal” but any variation on that as “an identity” that is “political”
Reposted by David Zwart
Anyway, glad to see that the GOP passed a bill that will gut the safety net and build up a paramilitary secret police and there are *still* some political reporters spending time passing along pathetic hit jobs from literal white supremacist trolls.
Good job, guys. You’re helping.
Good job, guys. You’re helping.
July 4, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Anyway, glad to see that the GOP passed a bill that will gut the safety net and build up a paramilitary secret police and there are *still* some political reporters spending time passing along pathetic hit jobs from literal white supremacist trolls.
Good job, guys. You’re helping.
Good job, guys. You’re helping.
Reposted by David Zwart
The Black Helicopters that Republicans with which they thought Obama was about to swoop them up any moment were always just a form of psychological projection. Texas right wingers are super-psyched to do a real Jade Helm on LA that will dwarf the Jade Helm of their 2015 imaginations.
With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.
🚨🚨 NEW: House passes sprawling domestic policy bill, sending it to Trump's desk
Final House vote is 218-214, with TWO Rs voting no (Massie & Fitzpatrick).
Senate passed it 51-50.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
Final House vote is 218-214, with TWO Rs voting no (Massie & Fitzpatrick).
Senate passed it 51-50.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
July 3, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The Black Helicopters that Republicans with which they thought Obama was about to swoop them up any moment were always just a form of psychological projection. Texas right wingers are super-psyched to do a real Jade Helm on LA that will dwarf the Jade Helm of their 2015 imaginations.
Reposted by David Zwart
For 50 years GOP has relied on 3 big scams:
*deficits pose civilizational threat (when Dem is in WH)
*tax cuts for rich pay for themselves
*safety net cuts needed to purge welfare cheats
w/this bill, Trump's "working class GOP" is supercharging all three
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
*deficits pose civilizational threat (when Dem is in WH)
*tax cuts for rich pay for themselves
*safety net cuts needed to purge welfare cheats
w/this bill, Trump's "working class GOP" is supercharging all three
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
Trump Just Went Absolutely Nuclear in Screwing Over MAGA Voters
He has persuaded the media and many voters that he’s different from earlier Republicans on economics—but he’s now doubled-down on the GOP’s plutocratic agenda.
newrepublic.com
July 3, 2025 at 5:30 PM
For 50 years GOP has relied on 3 big scams:
*deficits pose civilizational threat (when Dem is in WH)
*tax cuts for rich pay for themselves
*safety net cuts needed to purge welfare cheats
w/this bill, Trump's "working class GOP" is supercharging all three
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
*deficits pose civilizational threat (when Dem is in WH)
*tax cuts for rich pay for themselves
*safety net cuts needed to purge welfare cheats
w/this bill, Trump's "working class GOP" is supercharging all three
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/1976...
Reposted by David Zwart
“The bill’s unpopular now. But who knows how things will look after months of sustained political propaganda. Who knows how effectively the administration will be able to use the federal government to reshape perceptions, or to tilt the electoral playing field.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
Republicans Always Chicken Out
They try to pretend they’re not going to do whatever Trump says . . . and then they always do it.
www.thebulwark.com
July 3, 2025 at 1:48 PM
“The bill’s unpopular now. But who knows how things will look after months of sustained political propaganda. Who knows how effectively the administration will be able to use the federal government to reshape perceptions, or to tilt the electoral playing field.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
Reposted by David Zwart
Here's the truth about tax cuts for the rich.
They explode the federal debt, fuel giant profits at the biggest firms and financial institutions, and stoke a surge in billionaire wealth but do nothing for average working people.
Nothing trickles down — and the tax cuts don't "pay for themselves."
They explode the federal debt, fuel giant profits at the biggest firms and financial institutions, and stoke a surge in billionaire wealth but do nothing for average working people.
Nothing trickles down — and the tax cuts don't "pay for themselves."
You’ve seen this movie before: Maybe Reagan guessed, Bush hoped, and Trump tried—but tax cuts never paid for themselves. Given the mountain of evidence, claiming once again that "tax cuts will pay for themselves" is no longer ideologically motivated optimism.
It's a lie.
It's a lie.
July 1, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Here's the truth about tax cuts for the rich.
They explode the federal debt, fuel giant profits at the biggest firms and financial institutions, and stoke a surge in billionaire wealth but do nothing for average working people.
Nothing trickles down — and the tax cuts don't "pay for themselves."
They explode the federal debt, fuel giant profits at the biggest firms and financial institutions, and stoke a surge in billionaire wealth but do nothing for average working people.
Nothing trickles down — and the tax cuts don't "pay for themselves."
Reposted by David Zwart
Most important chart of the day, from the Yale Budget Lab; the black dots are the net effect of the budget bill and the tariffs.
The bottom 80% get poorer; only the top 10% come out ahead. Take from the poor and middle class, give to the rich.
budgetlab.yale.edu/research/com...
The bottom 80% get poorer; only the top 10% come out ahead. Take from the poor and middle class, give to the rich.
budgetlab.yale.edu/research/com...
June 13, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Most important chart of the day, from the Yale Budget Lab; the black dots are the net effect of the budget bill and the tariffs.
The bottom 80% get poorer; only the top 10% come out ahead. Take from the poor and middle class, give to the rich.
budgetlab.yale.edu/research/com...
The bottom 80% get poorer; only the top 10% come out ahead. Take from the poor and middle class, give to the rich.
budgetlab.yale.edu/research/com...
Reposted by David Zwart
You have to add up all the red bars and stack them on top of each other to pay for the green bar.
June 13, 2025 at 12:22 PM
You have to add up all the red bars and stack them on top of each other to pay for the green bar.
Reposted by David Zwart
Speaker of the House calling on a sitting governor to be "tarred and feathered."
Just unconscionable rhetoric. Unconscionable.
It's hard to have a democracy when one of the two major parties refuses to treat the other as legitimate and capable of governing.
Just unconscionable rhetoric. Unconscionable.
It's hard to have a democracy when one of the two major parties refuses to treat the other as legitimate and capable of governing.
Q: The president said that if he were Tom Homan he would arrest Gavin Newsom. Do you believe Newsom should face consequences in a legal way?
MIKE JOHNSON: Um, that's not my lane. I'm not gonna give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested. But he ought to be tar and feathered.
MIKE JOHNSON: Um, that's not my lane. I'm not gonna give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested. But he ought to be tar and feathered.
June 10, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Speaker of the House calling on a sitting governor to be "tarred and feathered."
Just unconscionable rhetoric. Unconscionable.
It's hard to have a democracy when one of the two major parties refuses to treat the other as legitimate and capable of governing.
Just unconscionable rhetoric. Unconscionable.
It's hard to have a democracy when one of the two major parties refuses to treat the other as legitimate and capable of governing.
Reposted by David Zwart
It's an authoritarian takeover:
1. austerity bill to facilitate theft & clientelism
2. destroying sites of dissent - law firms, unions, unis
3. attacking independent institutions - Congress, courts, states
4. will require violence - militias, ICE, Nat'l Guard, military
None of it is a "distraction"
1. austerity bill to facilitate theft & clientelism
2. destroying sites of dissent - law firms, unions, unis
3. attacking independent institutions - Congress, courts, states
4. will require violence - militias, ICE, Nat'l Guard, military
None of it is a "distraction"
June 9, 2025 at 1:51 PM
It's an authoritarian takeover:
1. austerity bill to facilitate theft & clientelism
2. destroying sites of dissent - law firms, unions, unis
3. attacking independent institutions - Congress, courts, states
4. will require violence - militias, ICE, Nat'l Guard, military
None of it is a "distraction"
1. austerity bill to facilitate theft & clientelism
2. destroying sites of dissent - law firms, unions, unis
3. attacking independent institutions - Congress, courts, states
4. will require violence - militias, ICE, Nat'l Guard, military
None of it is a "distraction"
Reposted by David Zwart
The same is true for raids on restaurants—rounding up people who are working hard and contributing to their community.
It’s obvious but worth drawing out what raids of Home Depot’s of all places is about. It’s rounding up people who are really eager for work and for whom there is work, peoples whose labor is in demand. We know this but shows just how far it is from rounding up just the bad guys.
June 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM
The same is true for raids on restaurants—rounding up people who are working hard and contributing to their community.
Reposted by David Zwart
"Studying history taught me how to research. And, more important, it taught me how to think, how to listen and how to recognize the quiet moments when the future is asking you to respond." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
Opinion | 13 students on what studying history taught them about the present
Progress can be undone. There’s plenty we don’t know. But change is possible.
www.washingtonpost.com
June 8, 2025 at 9:54 AM
"Studying history taught me how to research. And, more important, it taught me how to think, how to listen and how to recognize the quiet moments when the future is asking you to respond." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
Reposted by David Zwart
I'd put this a bit more sharply than @steveinskeep.bsky.social probably can: Trump simply does not understand any boundary between himself and the government. He has no sense of the public interest and believes the government is an extension of himself personally. open.substack.com/pub/steveins...
Trump threatens Musk the same way he did Harvard
He threatened to use federal contracts to gain retribution.
open.substack.com
June 5, 2025 at 10:01 PM
I'd put this a bit more sharply than @steveinskeep.bsky.social probably can: Trump simply does not understand any boundary between himself and the government. He has no sense of the public interest and believes the government is an extension of himself personally. open.substack.com/pub/steveins...
Reposted by David Zwart
must be incredibly frustrating and disheartening to have federal funding that was promised to you for important work suddenly and arbitrarily ripped away
“In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately”
June 5, 2025 at 8:15 PM
must be incredibly frustrating and disheartening to have federal funding that was promised to you for important work suddenly and arbitrarily ripped away
Reposted by David Zwart
Start of an excellent thread reacting to the recent 404media article on GenAI in the classroom...
These testimonies reinforce exactly what I'm hearing as I go present at schools and universities about how to adapt to teaching writing in an AI world.
1. Schools and institutions embracing the technology while also requiring instructors to police academic integrity is a disaster. (cont.)
1. Schools and institutions embracing the technology while also requiring instructors to police academic integrity is a disaster. (cont.)
I talked to 15 teachers/professors about how AI and ChatGPT is ruining their lives:
www.404media.co/teachers-are...
www.404media.co/teachers-are...
June 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Start of an excellent thread reacting to the recent 404media article on GenAI in the classroom...
Reposted by David Zwart
When technology rendered the ox-drawn plow obsolete it was arguably a net gain for society as a whole and for the people who'd previously used that technology. It's hard to see how rendering obsolete the human ability to think critically and write cogently will benefit anyone but the tech elite.
June 2, 2025 at 4:31 PM
When technology rendered the ox-drawn plow obsolete it was arguably a net gain for society as a whole and for the people who'd previously used that technology. It's hard to see how rendering obsolete the human ability to think critically and write cogently will benefit anyone but the tech elite.
Reposted by David Zwart
There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
May 31, 2025 at 4:43 AM
There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.