Nick Covington
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covingtonedu.bsky.social
Nick Covington
@covingtonedu.bsky.social
Dad. Iowan. Former HS social studies teacher.
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“And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.”

— Howard Zinn
Getting to talk with @dianeravitch.bsky.social about her life is one of the highlights of mine. What a pleasure to share it with listeners as well!

Changing My Mind About Schools (and Everything Else) w/ Diane Ravitch: www.humanrestorationproject.org/podcasts/cha... @humanrestorationproject.org
January 24, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
Read the caption and understand what is happening here in Minnesota.

Our local schools are empty, many are at 50% or 70% absenteeism, it’s like COVID except with zero resources to support families or students. Because the federal government keeps specifically targeting them with terror tactics.
January 24, 2026 at 12:49 PM
January 24, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
"Slavery was real"

Tiny sign at the base of a brick wall that, until yesterday, held panels about the people enslaved by George Washington.

Presidents House, Philadelphia.
January 23, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
I am not being snarky. I need my colleagues who wrote on covid school lockdowns to engage with this. To be as loud as they have been about prior "learning loss." Hell, you can cite Tom & Mark's AERJ paper so you feel better that there's some econ somewhere in your argument.
January 23, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
We're not allowed to see the faces of the taxpayer-funded goon squad who is committing crimes in the streets, but the goon squad is allowed to record the faces of taxpayers who have committed no crimes.
“We have a nice little database, & now you’re considered domestic terrorists” says an ICE agent after photographing a civilian who was videotaping them. Posted today by Brian Allen on X. h/t @allenanalysis.bsky.social
January 23, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
"In St. Paul, at least one-fourth of students from Spanish-speaking homes have missed every day of school since Dec. 12."
8 weeks under siege in Minnesota • Minnesota Reformer
Frank has a hard time explaining to his 8-year-old daughter why they rarely leave their home in the Twin Cities. Why she can’t go to school, and why he can’t work. “The only thing we tell her is that ...
minnesotareformer.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
Started sending my kids (both of whom have Arabic first and last names) to school with copies of their birth certificates in their backpacks, in case you're wondering how things are going over here
January 23, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
"Through intention or its absence, built by us or built for us, the very real and shared world we inhabit is built bit by bit each day. So is our work in education a world-building project."

So what is it about the world that is worth building?

www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/we-a...
January 23, 2026 at 4:53 PM
"[John Dewey and Goodwin Watson] understood that the worlds of possibility we build through our work in schools become the shared world in which we live, and the ways we learn become the ways we are."

We Are Worldbuilders: www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/we-a...
January 23, 2026 at 5:01 PM
My latest @humanrestorationproject.org is me wrestling with all of *this* in relation to education:

"What is worth thinking, writing, learning, and discussing? What are we going to build with this time we have together?"

www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/we-a... #edchat #K12
January 23, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
The students who will begin college in the fall were in 8th grade when rampant book banning began in the USA.

A look at the generational impact of book bans on teenagers–one of the most impacted groups by this First Amendment violation.

bookriot.com/the-generati...
The Generational Impact of Book Bans on Teens: Book Censorship News, January 23, 2026
For generations, the research has been clear: young people read more and do better in school when they aren't subject to book bans.
bookriot.com
January 23, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation.

Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
January 22, 2026 at 8:25 PM
I don't get it. For the people who oppose having books and lessons about gender and sexuality in public schools, can't they get taxpayer money to send their kid to a private school? You got school choice, use it.
Iowa lawmakers may ban K-12 teaching about gender, sexual identity
Iowa's K-12 schools could not teach students about gender identity and sexual orientation under a bill lawmakers advanced expanding current law.
www.desmoinesregister.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:27 PM
My kids' school cancelled for tomorrow...before school was even out today! Now I'm nervous about how cold it'll actually get. 🥶
Hopefully you can get out of here before Friday!
January 22, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
Disney produced a propaganda film loosely based on it in 1943. I show in to my grade 10 history class.

youtu.be/xgehQnJYYtk?...
Walt Disney Animated Short - Education for Death (1943) Remastered 4K 60FPS
YouTube video by Public Domain Remastered
youtu.be
January 22, 2026 at 8:36 PM
I've been a follower and fan of his work for as long as I've been on social media, but I finally get to talk with @garystager.bsky.social next week for the @humanrestorationproject.org podcast! Been a long time coming!
January 22, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
Some of what I’m saying also comes from this very thorough book which is actually where I learned about the Education for Death book (and then took a detour and read the whole thing). The author does discuss the experiences of college students, not just under 18s archive.org/details/crue...
Cruel world : the children of Europe in the Nazi web : Nicholas, Lynn H : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
xix, 632 pages : 21 cm
archive.org
January 22, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
"The culmination of the Freedom School program was a student-led conference...For two days, more than 90 student delegates discussed issues...then formally offered recommendations...in a written declaration:"
September 9, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
Children’s Risk of Suicide Increases on School Days: "Looking at the monthly data, we can see that this elevation is not trivial: during school months, the increase in pediatric suicides ranges between 30 and 43 percent."

www.scientificamerican.com/article/chil...
December 8, 2023 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
Frankly, attacks on these ideas as "woke"' or justifying shutting them down by denigrating them as "DEI" is literally, fundamentally, foundationally un-American.
August 27, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
YES! Actually, teach students *what* to think in that the "what" is "Pluralism is good! Community is good! Reading is good! Taking care of each other is good! Violence is bad!"
January 22, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
Kids are indoctrinated by corporations, youtubers, pedophilic religious leaders, and cynical demagogues with minimal cultural and no institutional pushback

Educators, who are members of your community, are among the few influences that are even potentially positive
January 22, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Nick Covington
My 8YO was wracked with fear when ICE came to our city. First it was that we would get arrested. When we explained that wasn’t going to happen because racism, 8YO calmed for a moment and immediately started worrying about school friends because empathy. If an 8YO can get it, anyone can get it.
Call it woke indoctrination or whatever, who cares: the entire point of public education in a pluralistic multicultural democratic nation is to make sure we can live and work together without subjugating and killing each other.

The alternative is what we're living through right now.
I actually think one of the most American lessons you could learn in school is that your neighbors come from all races & religions, speak different languages, have families that may look different from yours, and that's what makes us great. I'd make Cultural Studies a requirement over Algebra II.
January 22, 2026 at 3:00 PM