It’s always dangerous to read comments on the internet. The anonymity afforded users makes it easy for them to rant, bitch, and promote myths and lies. The last week of 2018 was no different.
The Wall Street Journal posted the following article on Dec. 28th…
The authors discussed the teacher shortage, last year’s state-wide teacher strikes, and the lack of support that teachers get. You can read about all that on your own…today I’m going to focus on the comments the article generated.
Now, I know that the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal is very conservative so it’s not surprising that many of the people who comment…
Privatizing, deregulating, outsourcing and offshoring of various functions have become major goals for conservative forces in America. They all serve to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a small percentage of the populace at the expense of the rest while claiming to increase efficiency, lower costs and grow the economy. They all neglect the purposes for which the activities were made public or regulated to begin with. They cost real people good paying jobs, endangering the health and wellbeing of themselves and their families. Inequality in income and wealth is increasing as a result, along with a real drop in the opportunity for advancement by the vast majority of people in our society.
One area where privatization has seen a push in recent years is public education reform. Prisons have been another target for corporate takeover of government functions. Both provide major public services affecting society as a…
Predictably, the releases of the recent ACT and SAT scores prompted the usual alarms and cautions. Maybe these results are cause for concern. However, something else about K-12 education is more alarming: Young people who graduate and do not vote.
At this time and in this moment, the most important outcome of PK-12 education is citizens who vote. We need an education system intentionally designed to engage students to understand their values, exercise sound…
Will big money buy the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction in California? Will false ads carry Marshall Tuck to victory?
The ACLU OF Northern California condemned the Marshall Tuck campaign for mailers falsely asserting that it had “sued Tony Thurmond.” It had not, and the ACLU demanded that the campaign withdraw the ad and offer an apology to Thurmond. Tuck refused.
Tuck is running a campaign based on lies. His character has been revealed. Will the public catch on in time to stop him? Or will the public believe Tuck’s scurrilous attack ads? It is possible. Tuck has an astonishing amount of money to spend. But should California’s schools be overseen by a person of such low ethics and character.
A thought for Marshall Tuck (written by sportswriter Grantland Rice):
“For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He writes—not that you won or…
Ethan Siegel, a senior contributor to Forbes, understood what was happening to public education well before the wave of teacher strikes in the spring of 2018. America was literally destroying public education with ill-advised policies and was not reacting to the failure of these policies with common sense. (Please ignore the use of the word “industries” in his article, as he is addressing it to business people.)
The ultimate dream of public education is incredibly simple. Students, ideally, would go to a classroom, receive top-notch instruction from a passionate, well-informed teacher, would work hard in their class, and would come away with a new set of skills, talents, interests, and capabilities. Over the past few decades in the United States, a number of education reforms have been enacted, designed to measure and improve student learning outcomes, holding teachers accountable for their students’ performances. Despite these well-intentioned programs, including No Child…
Education Week posted an article by Madeline Will reporting that the National Education Association had lost 17,000 members since the Janus decision. The NEA has more than 3 million members. It had already reported that it immediately lost 88,000 members who were paying “agency fees,” paying dues reluctantly while collecting benefits negotiated by the union. The NEA has projected a possible loss of up to 300,000 members and planning to cut its budget.
Where does the report come from about the recent loss of 17,000 members? The 74, an anti-union, pro-privatization website funded by billionaires and founded by anti-union Campbell Brown. What was the source of The 74 report? Mike Antonucci, a writer who specializes in spying on unions and sending out any bad news he can find. Antonucci is probably the most virulently anti-union reporter in the nation. He calls his website the “education intelligence agency.” He won an…
