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  • In Sweden, parents get time off work to introduce their kids to school. Americans need this too

    Parents can do inskolning as part of their 480 days of paid leave per child – as an American, this was a foreign concept

    About a month ago, I sat on a tiny wooden chair, hand-embroidering a thick cotton pillowcase in dim candlelight. Eight Swedish children softly sang a good morning song over tiny cups of peach-colored herbal tea.

    This is not a tale of a tradwife textile artist living off the grid in the Swedish countryside or the opening of some eerie Midsommar-style folk horror scene. It was the first day of my three-year-old’s inskolning, the introductory period to her new daycare/preschool.

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  • Students at Pentagon schools sue Hegseth over book bans on race and gender

    Lawsuit argues that culling library books prevents children from learning about health, hygiene, biology and abuse

    Twelve students studying in Pentagon schools in the US and around the world are suing the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, over the book bans he has instigated to remove titles on race and gender from their libraries.

    A lawsuit lodged on the students’ behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday argues that their first amendment rights are being irreparably harmed. The complaint says that the censorship has been applied system-wide across Pentagon schools, and was endangering children by preventing them from learning critical information about health, hygiene, biology and abuse.

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  • Mississippi orders deletion of race and gender databases in state libraries

    Library commission says state ‘in dire shape’ and has ‘had a reconsideration of everything with regard to’ Doge

    The Mississippi library commission, which offers services such as specialized research assistance to libraries in the state, has ordered the deletion of two research collections: the race relations database and the gender studies database. The collections were stored in what’s called the Magnolia database, which is used by publicly funded schools, libraries, universities and state agencies in Mississippi.

    The commission’s executive director, Hulen Bivins, confirmed the deletion to the Guardian, and said: “We may lose a lot of materials.”

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  • White House freezes funds for Cornell and Northwestern in latest crackdown

    Pauses come after Trump officials sent warning letters to 60 US universities for ‘failure to protect Jewish students’

    In early March, the Trump administration sent warning letters to 60 US universities it said were facing “potential enforcement actions” for what it described as “failure to protect Jewish students on campus” in the wake of widespread pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last year.

    The president of Cornell University, which was on the list, responded with a defiant op-ed in the New York Times, arguing that universities, and their students, could weather debates and protests over the war in Gaza.

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  • New York schools tell Trump administration they won’t comply with DEI order

    State officials say they don’t believe US Department of Education has authority to demand end to DEI practices

    New York state officials have told the Trump administration that they will not comply with its demands to end diversity, equity and inclusion practices in public schools, despite the administration’s threats to terminate federal education funding.

    Daniel Morton-Bentley, counsel and deputy commissioner of the state Department of Education, said in a letter dated Friday to the federal education department that state officials do not believe the federal agency has authority to make such demands.

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  • US supreme court allows Trump administration to freeze teacher-training grants

    Millions in grants that would promote diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives may be frozen following ruling

    The US supreme court is letting the Trump administration temporarily freeze $65m in teacher-training grants that would promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in a 5-4 decision.

    The decision came down on Friday afternoon, with five of the court’s conservatives – Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh – in the majority. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson all dissented.

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  • Trans teacher in Texas resigns after online attacks: ‘I’m heartbroken’

    Rosie Sandri says she wanted to prioritize students’ safety after receiving hateful comments, including death threats

    A trans teacher at a Texas high school has resigned after becoming the target of conservative backlash and online attacks.

    Rosie Sandri came out as a trans woman about seven months ago. Her colleagues at Red Oak high school and the Red Oak independent school district were very supportive, she recalled to NBC News.

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  • ‘It reminds you of a fascist state’: Smithsonian Institution braces for Trump rewrite of US history

    Normally staid historians sound alarm at authoritarian grasping for control of the premier US museum complex

    In a brightly lit gallery, they see the 66m-year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex. In a darkened room, they study the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. In a vast aviation hanger, they behold a space shuttle. And in a discreet corner, they file solemnly past the casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman in the US south.

    Visitors have come in their millions to the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s biggest museum, education and research complex, in Washington for the past 178 years. On Thursday, Donald Trump arrived with his cultural wrecking ball.

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  • ‘Canary in the coalmine of totalitarianism’: how Columbia went from a home for Edward Said to a punching bag for Trump

    The university had a history of being a home for cutting-edge discourse on Palestine – until it capitulated to the administration’s demands

    Last week, Columbia University announced that it would cave to demands by the Trump administration and adopt sweeping measures against pro-Palestinian activity on campus, including new restrictions on protest and the takeover of an academic department from faculty control.

    The news sent shock waves across higher education institutions nationwide for what appeared a stunning capitulation to attacks on academic freedom and the independence of the department of Middle Eastern, south Asian and African studies, or Mesaas, which became a scapegoat for what the administration viewed as a pro-Palestinian climate on campus. It was also a remarkable turn of events for a university that had for years been a home for cutting-edge academic discourse on Palestine, beginning with the scholarship of Edward Said, a leading Palestinian intellectual.

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