Briefly

Many parents want their children to go to so-called “elite” schools. Why? They believe those schools have some magic formula when it comes to educating students. But according to MIT researcher Josh Angrist, those parents are wrong. Those schools’ graduates don’t score highly because the schools are great. No, the schools appear great simply because they choose students who are going to do well no matter were they go to school. There is a bizarre tendency among Americans to see a cause-and-effect relationship between fancy schools and superior education. That’s why parents assume that a school with fancy buildings and expensive labs and bright reputations can turn their children into brilliant scholars. That’s why people look at high-income suburbs — with expensive schools paid for by higher taxes — and assume the high test scores from there are because of “better schools.” But they’re not. If you take those kids from high-income homes and send them to a run-down urban school and take those kids from poor neighborhoods and put them into the fancy school buildings, the schools’ results would reverse. Most of the difference between schools is because of which homes the students come from, not because of fancy buildings and elite reputations.

Phase 1 of our realty company’s renovation starts tomorrow and I made a quick video promo Sunday night to use on the company’s Facebook page and website. I don’t have approval for it yet, so it might still change a bit, but here’s what I’m currently planning to use. It’s amazing that just a 60-second video with stills, narration and music takes a couple of hours to put together when you count finding the right pictures and going through stock music and editing everything together. You wouldn’t think it would be so time-consuming. Here’s where you’ll find the video if you’re interested.

I love college football and I’m eager for the 2019 season to kick off for my alma mater in three weeks. But as much as I enjoy Alabama football, I would strongly encourage a child not to play the sport. If I’m fortunate enough to have a son, I hope to steer him in the direction of something safer. We’ve known for years that serious injuries are common in football, but the evidence is piling up that the sport does long-term brain damage, even for those who never had obvious injuries. Evidence of brain damage called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been found in 99 percent of the former NFL players whose brains have been studied after their deaths. And now a new study shows that playing even one season of college football causes hidden long-term brain damage, even in players who never suffered from a concussion. I still love the game, but I can no longer doubt that it’s too risky for people I care about.