January 2026

Broad Discussion on Education, Class, and Social Inequities

By Richard Myers
Posted: 12/04/2025

Notes by Sharon Jarrett

 

There was no formal agenda or presentation for the meeting and participants engaged in a wide ranging discussion of topics focused on education, intersectionality, and inequalities in the tax and health systems.

 

Education

The discussion focused on what constitutes a basic education and Artificial Intelligence.

One participant expressed concern about AI generated content and the ability to recognize when the content was accurate and when it was meant to deceive. The emergence of fake videos was of particular concern.

An article from the Upworthy website was shared, "10 Basic Skills Third Graders No Longer Have".

Included in the skill set were literacy, numeracy and research skills for fact checking. The article also addressed skills that were safety concerns such as not knowing actual phone numbers, addresses and full names.  This led to a discussion about what are the skills that would be expected from a public education, what is a base knowledge for effective social functioning.  The participants next discussed the Dept. Of Education in providing consistency relative to content standards.

 

Class Hierarchies

The participants next discussed Class Hierarchies. One participant discussed the book "Paper Girl" by Beth Macey, noting the exploration of "class migration" discussed by the author. Another participant noted that there is a lack of data or archival information to fully understand the impact historically of class effects on underrepresented groups. Of note, were the racial disparities in the taxation system. It was also noted that there are large health impacts associated with a variety of class issues. There was significant research on this topic beginning in the 1980s. This research addressed the effects of poverty on health.

 

Intersectionality

This led to a brief discussion of transgender acceptance and social issues. This led to a discussion of intersectionality and the impact of multiple racial, social, gender, age and cultural influences on individuals. The challenges of managing multiple impacts was noted.

 

Farming

Finally, the impacts of various issues impacting family farms was noted. Of particular concern was the loss of family farms to Big Corporate Agriculture. 

 

The group will meet next on December 19, 2025 at 12:00 pm Pacific on the usual link, which will be sent via email. 

There is no specific agenda but it would be interesting to consider the administration’s attack on DEI (diversity equity, inclusivity). How does this relate to our whole question of the legacy of 1619? There are always many stories in the news stream that could relate to this and if anyone has a specific article to recommend, we can try to send it out in advance of the meeting.

Hope everyone’s holiday season is proceeding well.