And if you scroll down, you'll see that this question was introduced without introducing what DNA methylation actually is and how it works. And that's the biggest problem.

Methyl groups don't just hang out in the environment, lurking about, waiting to jump your cells and methylate your DNA. DNA methylation is a complex process and the process of environmentally-induced DNA methylation is even more difficult.

Your point is a good one - and in about 50% of the conversations I have had, the source of the problem is the stuff that the teacher HAS to teach. I have had plenty of times where the teacher was like "yep, I get it, you're right, but we have to do it this way"

There is nothing wrong with asking kids to learn facts and memorize things. Memorization gets such a bad rap but it's really critical for building a knowledge base.

The Emperor of All Maladies and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The NYT wants you to think universities became dependent on government. This is false.

The government invested in the national research infrastructure by competitive grants to universities. The taxpayers built this. It got us to the moon. Won the Cold War. Created Silicon Valley. Made the McRib.

(I know you know all this, I'm just screaming into the ether here)

Easier to keep people in training for a PhD if they don't feel pressure to go out and get a job to support their families. And these supplements were never solely based on race either - they tried to address all of the reasons why students drop out of academic paths.

Jay knows this. He knows what they think of him. But he has no spine and no conviction beyond his pathologic need to be liked by these people. So he's willing to play his part in service of their goals.

These little things matter here and they are cumulative!

We're not going to get far with addressing disparities unless we make school the major source of knowledge so that stuff outside the schools doesn't matter nearly as much.

So he looks like a genius in class only because of who his parents are. But it also breaks my heart for super smart kids who simply haven't had a chance to be exposed to an extensive knowledge base.

My 14-year-old got in the car the other day commenting how so many kids in his class do not understand that evolution is a process, not an event. He went on a 15 minute tirade about it. And he's not really that into science anyway, but he has parents who have talked about evolution since he was 2.

I abhor "learning styles" - it's the awful, zombie idea in education that just refuses to die. Also, don't get me started on "productive struggle." I have to keep telling my kids' teachers that is NOT how scientists learn new things, regardless of what they were told.

No, you do not need to show how to do something 5 different ways. Show one approach, have kids build confidence with that one approach, and then build on that for the other strategies.