Schoolwork is “irrelevant,” San Diego-area teens said in a series of interviews. Vista High hopes personalization will engage students, reports Hechinger’s Mike Elsen-Rooney in The Atlantic. Senior Hernan Hernandez, 17 (left), and junior Ray Garcia, 15 (right), hope to design a new skateboarding course at Vista High School near San Diego. Photo: Mike Elsen-Rooney For example, Principal Anthony Barela has agreed to let skater Hernan Hernandez, 17, design a skateboarding course

In “Schools Are Still Peddling the Self-Esteem Hoax,” Fordham’s Checker Finn criticizes social and emotional learning as another fad. Marc Tucker jumps into the debate with a post on how high-scoring Singapore and Hong Kong educators combine social, emotional and academic learning at schools for vulnerable children. (Teachers) know they cannot reach these young people in order to engage them in learning until they first do what they need to do to earn their trust.  The facult