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Tim Verstynen

@tdverstynen.bsky.social

1.2K followers 590 following 3.1K posts

Professor Department Gadfly Data Alchemist Synthetic Psychologist Zombie Apologist “The enemy” - JD Vance Opinions are my own. Not gonna let my employer take credit for them.

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Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · Jan 28

I grew up a white kid in a bilingual, majority Hispanic state, in a pueblo region continuously occupied by indigenous peoples for over a thousand years, and in a city whose name is derived from an old Arabic phrase.

This is what America looks like.

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Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 51m

I'm struck by the confidence that this person, not situated in academia, who apparently did not speak to any students--and my guess is that the number of other people he spoke to is not "countless" but can easily be counted--has in his bold claim that "the system is broken."/9

But the system is broken. Over the past year, I have spoken with countless university presidents, directors and advisers; scholars and academics; and lawmakers, policy experts and activists. The one thing they all agree on is that our university system, which was once one of the nation’s greatest strategic assets, has lost its way.

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Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 1h

4) I find the "uniformity of thought" critique simplistic. How does this operate in engineering, the natural sciences, computer science, and business, the fields which most students study? I don't think it is a fair critique of how the humanities and social sciences operate either./4

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Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 1h

Most of this laundry list of "overwhelming evidence" is tendentious. Let's go through them.
1) A big driver of high costs at public universities has been a decrease in state appropriations. Many public schools have been forced to act on a public/private model as a result..../1

The evidence is overwhelming: outrageous costs and prolonged indebtedness for students; poor outcomes, with too many students left unable to find meaningful work after graduating; some talented domestic students and scholars have been crowded out of enrollment and employment opportunities by international students; and a high degree of uniformity of thought among faculty members and administrators, which can result in a hostile environment for students with different ideas.

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Anna Schapiro @annaschapiro.bsky.social · 1h

MIT!!!!! YES!!!!!!! www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

MIT Rejects Proposed Federal Compact

MIT is the first institution to reject a proposal by the Trump administration that would trade preferential treatment on federal funding in exchange for far-reaching changes.

www.insidehighered.com

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Genie Lauren @moreandagain.social · 2h

Fuck the AI cult

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Dr. Katy Croff Bell @katycroffbell.bsky.social · 51m

Students, employees, and alumni just received an email from Sally Kornbluth -- MIT says NO to the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”

"we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education."

Dear Madam Secretary,

I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.

I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.

As we discussed, the Institute’s mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 5h

“The problem with billionaires isn’t that they’re hoarding money that would otherwise pay for a Scandinavian social utopia. It’s that their money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.”

Billionaires Are Hoarding Power, Not Money

Billionaire money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Pittsburgh Scanner @pgh-scanner.com · 1h

One of the medics just asked for a police / social worker co-response unit for a check on well being. One of the supervisors said that they were all disbanded. Medics are going to try to figure the call out on their own.

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Seth Rudy @sethrudy.bsky.social · 2h

Meanwhile in #Portland

Kermit faces off with Hopper in The Muppet Movie

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Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 1h

A phenomenon that you see regularly brought up in far right rhetoric is declining birth rates. This is often attributed to social/cultural factors, but is this trend driven by environmental pollutants (specifically plastics)?

Review on the potential mechanisms:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37579804/

Graph showing global plastics production by year. Sharp rise since 1950.

Graph showing global birth rates by year. Steep decline starting in 1950.

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Mattia Chini @mattiachini.bsky.social · 6h

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 2h

NEW: Cutting federal funding. Weakening civil rights protections. Injecting God into the classroom.

Here are some of the ways Trump’s Department of Education could upend public schools.

How Trump’s Department of Education Is Upending Public Schools

The Trump administration has made a rapid succession of hires and decisions at the Department of Education that could spur profound changes in how schools operate and children learn. Here’s what to know.

www.propublica.org

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Reuters @reuters.com · 6h

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

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Harrison Ritz @hritz.bsky.social · 2h

I enjoyed Hilgard for a historical perspective, but obviously it’s dated. The chapter on Hull is very cool

archive.org/details/in.e...

Theories Of Learning 4th Edition : E R Hilgard : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book Source: Digital Library of India Item 2015.198449dc.contributor.author: E R Hilgarddc.date.accessioned: 2015-07-08T12:46:59Zdc.date.available:...

archive.org

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Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 2h

Oooooo…. thank you!

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 5h

Three @wsj.com headlines from the past three days. 👀

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Sam Gershman @gershbrain.bsky.social · 3h

There's this paper on the definition of learning:
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
but that doesn't really provide a taxonomy. You can find taxonomies in some specific domains, but nothing super broad as far as I know.

link.springer.com

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Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 3h

Seriously. WTF do the people of the UK have against phonetics???

Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 3h

Thanks. Yeah, I found the De Houwer piece interesting. Glad I’m not missing something obvious.

Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 3h

Since you’re teaching this, have you come across a good piece (book, chapter, review) on the taxonomy of learning theories? I have found some for specific areas (eg- motor learning), but not a broader summary.

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Sam Gershman @gershbrain.bsky.social · 4h

This is a great idea except for the fact that it's wrong. You can obtain the same learning speed across dramatically different interstimulus intervals (T) as long as the intertrial interval (I) is kept in a fixed ratio with the interstimulus interval (Gallistel & Gibbon, 2000).

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 4h

Immigrant Nobel Prize winners exiting the United States

Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 6h

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

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Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 4h

This piece is unbelievably naive. Brooks spends most of it showing how societal factors like screens and COVID contributed to US education’s decline, then pivots to blaming equity policies (based purely on anecdotal evidence) that can’t be separated from the broader social factors.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 10h

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“When it comes to education policy, Republicans are now kicking Democrats in the butt,” our columnist David Brooks writes.

Opinion | Democrats Are Increasing Inequality

When it comes to education policy, Republicans are now kicking Democrats in the butt.

nyti.ms

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 19h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Jennifer Smith Richards @jsmithrichards.bsky.social · 1d

To understand the Trump administration’s vision for American education, @megomatz.bsky.social and I studied dozens of hours of political appointees’ speeches and podcasts and essays. What emerged is a desire to dismantle the nation’s system of public schools.

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

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