Author: Nola Jones

Something quietly interesting about Gavin Newsom’s school life stands out. Not because it was easy, because it wasn’t. They didn’t do well because they were smart or showed promise early on. It was amazing how hard it was, and how much of what made him who he is politically did not come from law school or lecture halls, but from the stubborn ways of thinking that people with dyslexia often have to deal with. Newsom was born in San Francisco in 1967. He went to École Notre Dame des Victoires, a Catholic school that was bilingual in French and English,…

Jacob Elordi did not enter a drama school and graduate prepared and polished. Injury, moving, and the kind of unintentional self-discovery that usually occurs when a teen is stuck in the wrong city with nothing left to prove on a sports field shaped his educational path, which was more complicated than that. Elordi was born in Brisbane in 1997 and lived there for the first twelve years of his life before his family relocated to Melbourne. It was for one of his sisters who had been admitted to the Australian Ballet School, not for him. It’s easy to ignore that…

A group of women in their forties are learning to read at a community center in a small Punjabi town. No roll call, no uniforms, and no wall-mounted grades. There are only a few chairs set up in a loose circle and a facilitator who comes carrying a battered canvas bag filled with workbooks. Ninety minutes is the duration of the session. No one receives a certificate. However, something genuine is taking place there that these women were never able to receive through formal education for a variety of reasons. One form of non-formal education is that environment. It’s not…

One version of Josh Allen’s story—the arm, the size, the improbable ascent from obscurity to NFL MVP—is frequently shared. However, the educational component—the actual sitting in classrooms, changing schools, and earning a degree—tends to be overlooked. That’s unfortunate because it could be the story’s most illuminating thread. Growing up, Allen lived on a 3,000-acre cotton farm outside of Firebaugh, California, a small, unnoticed rural town west of Fresno. He went to Firebaugh High School, which was actually constructed on property that his grandfather had donated. He led the basketball team in scoring, pitched for the baseball team, and played quarterback.…

The way Macmillan Education Everywhere entered the field of digital learning is almost subtle. No big product launch event, no viral campaign. It’s just a platform that sits silently in the form of an access code at the rear of a printed textbook, ready to be activated. It’s simple to ignore. At first, many students do. However, users typically discover something more comprehensive than they anticipated. The fundamental idea is simple. Teachers and students can access course materials linked to Macmillan Education books through a digital platform called Macmillan Education Everywhere, or MEE. This comprises interactive exercises, videos, animations, and…

One day, when you enter a well-run preschool as an observer rather than for a tour, something subtly unexpected occurs. A four-year-old bargains with a classmate for a turn. Without being asked, another person stacks blocks, knocks them down, and attempts an alternative strategy. Instead of correcting, a teacher crouches down to eye level and listens. From the outside, it doesn’t appear to be much. However, what is actually taking place in that room is some of the most neurologically complex learning that a person will ever experience. For many years, early childhood education—roughly from birth to age eight—has been…

In Louisville, Kentucky, there is a structure at 8800 Westport Road that receives little attention from the general public. No athletic teams. There are no commencement ceremonies. No courses to prepare for college. What it does have is something perhaps more significant: a room full of three-year-olds discovering, perhaps for the first time, what it means to show up somewhere and fit in. Children in pre-kindergarten, usually between the ages of two and five, are served by Westport Early Childhood Center, a public preschool run by Jefferson County Public Schools. The school is small by almost all standards, with about…

When you think about how Tate McRae rose to prominence in pop music by the time she was in her early twenties, there’s something to think about. The voice, the dancing, and the songs that seem to land with an almost unsettling emotional precision are what most people pay attention to. However, a closer look reveals that her path was actually shaped by an education that never quite followed a straight line, long before any record deal. McRae didn’t spend much time in Calgary, Alberta, where she was born in 2003. Her family moved to Oman when she was two…

The majority of people are familiar with one version of Joe Burrow. The person wearing the Bengals jersey, appearing to have seen this movie before, was incredibly composed during a two-minute drill and had his chin strap loose. The version that crossed a stage at Louisiana State University on December 20, 2019, six days after accepting the Heisman Trophy, to receive a master’s degree in liberal arts, is less frequently discussed. Both versions are authentic. Additionally, they are not as distinct as you may believe. As Burrow himself noted, the poverty rate in Athens, Ohio, a small city in the…

A young woman in her early twenties moved out of her college dorm in the spring of 1994, not because she had graduated but rather because her father had recently passed away. Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, was home to Kristi Arnold, who would go on to become Kristi Noem. After her father died in a grain bin accident a few years into her studies, earning a degree seemed like a luxury her family couldn’t afford. The farm needed to be managed by someone. She returned home. In political reporting, it’s a detail that is frequently overlooked in…