2012 was a tumultuous year in terms of higher education.
When historians review 2012 for its noteworthy moments, events and milestones, they will find the year was a trying one for the American higher education system, despite its being able to educate and enlighten thousands in search of more choices and preparation for adult self-sufficiency.
Many academicians and students worked for and celebrated the re-election of President Barack Obama to a second term. Obama’s re-election helped ensure higher education would continue having a strong advocate in the White House as the nation continues to navigate perilous economic waters that increasingly threaten public support for education. Also, Obama is expected to reinforce his DREAM Act agenda, building on his decision barring the deportation of undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements outlined in the proposed
In my short notes series, I like to share things I’ve read from around the web, usually parsed out from the plethora of things I pick up on my social media networks. At times, I find gems that keep me coming back for more. The following list have been reliable sources for pieces to share all year. I’ve had some of these in my Google reader since I started blogging, and some of these are relatively new to me. Either way, check them out and tell them I sent you:
In no particular order: BrainPickings.org
Maria Popova’s blog continues to be a source of inspiration for my writing. The curation of pieces is top notch. NYC Educator
Not that people don’t already laud him for his blog, but recently, it feels like everyone’s
I'm on the email solicitation list for the Center for American Progress, a "progressive" think-tank in Washington. And, apparently, they want my money - badly:
We need the Center for American Progress.
During my time in Congress, CAP provided the fuel that powered our hard-fought victories on issues like health care, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and women’s health. Their side had money, and our side fought back with facts—and those facts came from CAP. Progressive champions at the local, state, and federal levels rely on CAP’s expertise, analysis, and
Dear Standardized Testing,
I hate you. Yes, I know I wasn't raised that way. My Mom told me that hate was a strong word, and that I shouldn't use it. But there is no other word strong enough for the way I feel about you.
Why, you ask? You are only doing your job, you say? You hold teachers accountable? Make sure that they are doing their jobs well? Not allowing us to slack off the way those powerful
On New Year's Day at 4 pm on 90.7 FM KPFK I will do a show on the deplorable state of public education at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), how we got here, what's the nefarious agenda, and the rather straight forward means of fixing it. Hopefully, this show will be the first in a series laying out in the clearest of possible terms what is wrong at LAUSD and what we can do to turn this unacceptable situation around. After an initial introduction of the topic and our panel, we will take calls from you the listening audience.
PUBLIC EDUCATION WAS CLEARLY TARGETED IN THE NEOLIBERAL AGENDA. IT'S MAJOR GOALS ARE:
THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THIS COUNTRY HAS BEEN ESTIMATED TO BE WORTH AS MUCH AS 1.3 TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR TO THE HEDGE FUNDS THAT WOULD WIND UP REPLACING PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS. THESE HEDGE FUNDS COULD DOUBLE THEIR MONEY IN 7 YEARS, WHILE GETTING SUBSTANTIAL FEDERAL AND STATE TAX BENEFITS.
I am pleased to announce the winner of the Ronald Reagan vs. Mayan Apocalypse winner. It wasn't an easy choice for our judges, but in the end we gave the nod to Jeffery Caldwell for his coining of the phrase "Morning in Mesoamerica". I will be contacting Jeffery tonight to let him know how to claim his rare free edition of the Profiles in Courageousness eBook. These were my favorite entries:
Reagan foiled the Mayan Sun Stone calendar by taking those offensive solar panels Carter put
Karen Lewis: the Anti-Ed-Reform Idol. Photo from the Chicago Tribune.
If 2011 was the “year of school choice,” then 2012 was the “year of the resurgent teachers union.” And leading the comeback was Chicago’s Karen Lewis—fiery, forceful, and unabashedly oppositional. Call her the Anti-Education-Reform Idol.
Lewis dominated the education news in 2012. First there were the skirmishes over an extended day in the Second City (resulting in a longer day for the students, not the teachers). A lengthy run-up to the strike ensued, followed by the strikeitself—which, as others have noted, surprised many of us by being a public relations success for the union and a galvanizing event for teachers nationwide.
Lewis ended the year with in-your-face comments about the Newtown tragedy and a fresh lawsuitalleging racial discrimination in the shuttering of Chicago schools.
While Lewis appears unlikely to be able to challenge Randi Weingarten as leader of the AFT anytime
I've thought long and hard about it. On the night of January 1, 2013 I will eat my last meal for a while. As soon as the clock strikes midnight I will officially be on a hunger strike to keep PS 154x from closing and to keep it out of the hands of the Empire. Also, to keep the bogus evaluation system to take place. I'll add other causes. But that is all. I'll be drinking plenty of water.
Mayor Bloomberg loves talking about "accountability." That's what teachers need. It's important, therefore, that we establish parameters that will ensure they are fired for no reason. This, of course, is why we're having conversations about judging teachers by test scores. The methodology is absurd, and does not reflect on how good or bad teachers may be, but at least it will guarantee some of them will lose their jobs.
It's another thing altogether when the fickle finger of fault is pointed toward Mayor Bloomberg. For one thing, he has all that money, and if that's the case, how could anything he does be considered "wrong?" When parents say, in the mayor's own survey, that class size is the most important issue to them, he
Many of us involved in Oregon SOS are thrilled about a number of experiences this January that will help to create what we hope is a larger dialogue on the subject of public education reform. (With our personal interest being that this moves more people to press for and create reforms that are GOOD for students and learning.) Please mark the dates/times below and make sure to attend!
Oregonian Susan Mach, a teacher at Clackamas Community College, a parent of a Portland Public School student and now an award-winning playwright, has two plays opening at the same time in January, both professionally produced by theater companies in Portland. The original Oregon SOS folks met Sue at our first organizing meeting at the end of August 2011 and she mentioned something about writing a play on education reform, so it has been great to see how this has developed into the play that many are now talking about: A Noble Failure. (If you want to catch her other play, which also sounds fantastic (not about education reform) you can read about it here.) Many of us saw A Noble Failure when it was in its reading stage, and we were struck
Nine days ago we were confronted with utter madness, the deepest of sorrows and ultimately the shame of not doing more to prevent Newtown. This is my shame because while I did legislate the assault weapons ban in the California Legislature, my words did not resonate on the national level. Despite Aurora, Oak Creek, Virginia Tech and Tucson, I did not push harder. And now 26 are dead including 20 children. This is how I see my grief.
But this is not a new failing. According to the FBI, over the past 5 years alone at least 774 people have died in mass killings, including 161 children under 13.
Killers engage in deadly sprees about every two weeks somewhere in America.
This cannot continue.
Task forces are welcome, and I hope they spur a serious conversation across the country. Violence in America is a complex problem and requires thoughtful deliberation and thoughtful solutions. We need a better mental health system. We need to examine the pervasive role of violence and glorification of guns in media and entertainment.
But we cannot blame this crisis on violent video games or mental illness.
Social Security that is unsocial and insecure.
Pensions entrusted to state governments that cannot be trusted to govern a trust.
Representatives who do not represent.
Legislators who do not write or read legislation.
Leaders who follow.
Public services cut for corporate tax reduction.
Public schools for private profit.
The list goes on and on in the world’s wealthiest country that claims it cannot afford human services which are for citizens who have already paid for them.
Public reform that is neither.
What did President Ronald Reagan say about cutting Social Security to reduce the national debt?
Watch this 37 second video from Oct. 7, 1984 as Reagan states in no uncertain terms the reality that has today become spun into the destructive lie called CHAINS. PopoutThe Illinois General Assembly meets in January to raid public employee pensions for present teachers and retirees. Democratic super-majority members of both the Illinois Senate and the House of Representatives continue the lies as they steal from and betray their own public servants. Isn’t it about time that we demand to reclaim reform?
The Eva/Success scam exposed. Watch resources in the Success network flow to the rich white kids whose parents want to use public funds instead of paying for private school. Really, a brilliant business model to drain funding from public schools and remove those pesky kids of color from neighborhoods where they are not wanted. One day the parents in Harlem will see that very clearly.
The NYC Department of Education's PEP decided to ignore the public input and opinion of all the affected communities, teachers, principals and students. They approved ALL proposals and hand Eva Moskowitz's
In response to Katie Osgood’s post, “A Message to Reformers,” Maureen Reedy wrote the following:
“Katie, Diane and Friends,
I am loving your article Katie, it is right on in every way.
No more! No MORE!!! NO MORE!!!!
I have contacted Ed Schultz, a production company in California, Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow who teaches at Ohio State, state senator and superintendents in Michigan, I have a panel ready to go with the media when we get someone to pick up the ball and run with it.
I have been in touch with Parents Across America about a project based on “Hands Across America,” where, state by state, we join together, simultaneously, on the same weekend afternoon, and celebrate public education and present the cold, hard facts of privatization to the public, across America… remember “This land is your land, this land is our land?”
I have been relentless since running for state rep in Ohio as former Ohio Teacher of the Year and being kept out of the Statehouse by a malicious 1.5 million dollar ad campaign the last 2 weeks of the election of which Michelle Rhee was a player. I am determined to join others and take action from the Outside/ In where ever, whenever and however we can.
As a 29-year veteran educator and supporter/supervisor/facilitator for over 250 IEP/IAT meetings in my elementary school each year, you have got it right!!!
These are perilous times for our kids who are fragile, vulnerable and at risk. Taking the experts out of the equation and ping-ponging children across town in the name of for-profit avarice and greed is destroying our children and their crucial connection to community.
We ALL have momentum and the power to get moving on CIVIL / HUMAN rights issue of our time, namely, protecting our children and preserving public education.
It is time to take action from the Outside/ In.
Keep contacting people in a position to bring Katie’s facts to light, keep going with reaching your contacts, newspaper columnists, talk show hosts, etc.
Keep moving with your words, your expertise, your stories, your ACTIONS.
Keep doing what you can to save our children and public education.
Thank you Katie, thank you Diane, thank you to all friends who are fighting for our precious children, the real victims of corporate reform.
Maureen Reedy
Parent/29 year Public School Teacher
Columbus, Ohio
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Should Public Schools Depend on Charity? by dianerav A reader asks a good question: Call me a socialist, but I am totally against any & all fundraising for public schools. We as a nation should provide all our children equally with the highest possible standards we as a nation can afford. Private schools can do their own thing, whatever they can afford. (though it is my understanding that private schools pay teachers less than public schools). I don’t support or contribute in any way to fund raisers for e...more »
First Focus: Will Congress push America's kids over the cliff?
December 27, 2012: First Focus, a Washington, D.C.-based, bipartisan advocacy nonprofit dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions, released its analysis just last week on how the "fiscal cliff" -- also known as "sequestration" -- would affect specifically affect children in the U.S. At left is the graph, breaking out the specific cuts, totalling $6.4 billion, that will impact American families -- particularly those who are already teetering on the edge of poverty and survival.
In a letter sent to Congress that accompanied the analysis, First Focus president Bruce Lesley wrote:
"...this is the worst possible time to cut initiatives that protect children..."
...Failing to extend the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the report finds, will hit 6.5 million families with children with a $500/annual increase in taxes, and failing to extend the Child Tax Credit (CTC) will raise the tax liability by $800 for 12 million families with children. It would also deny the CTC to as many as 5.5 million children whose parents file federal tax returns with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Families affected by this provision earn an average of $21,000 per year. The federal poverty line for a family of four is just over $23,000.
[Proposals by House Republications] would also cut billions from federal initiatives that meet children’s basic needs:
First-grader Richard Nixon sits at the end of the first row. (Nixon Library)
Our modern Presidents received educations and participated in school activities in ways as diverse as their backgrounds and their political philosophies.
Some of the Presidents attended neighborhood public schools, and some of them learned in rural classrooms; others studied under tutors and attended prestigious private schools. Many of the Presidents participated in extracurricular activities and organized sports while they attended school.
The challenges of studying various subjects, completing homework, forming new ideas, participating in extracurricular activities, and making friends are part of the common heritage of an American education shared by everyone—including our Presidents. This is the premise of a new exhibit opening at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., called "School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents." It charts the educational experiences of our Presidents from Herbert Hoover to William J. Clinton and includes several items from President George W. Bush's childhood.
Bill Clinton (far left) at Miss Mary's Kindergarten in Hope, Arkansas. (Clinton Library)
Through the records of the presidential libraries—archival material, museum objects, and photographs as well as audio and visual material—"School House to White House" gives the public a new perspective on the presidency. It allows visitors to make connections and comparisons between their own education and the variety of educational experiences of our leaders.
Developed jointly by the museum and archival staffs of the presidential libraries and the museum staff of the National Archives Experience in Washington, D.C., the exhibit explores these future Presidents' activities in grade school, high school, college, and after graduation. Other
The free eBook The Meaning and Making of Emancipation illustrates the conception and significance of the Emancipation Proclamation through documents in the holdings of the National Archives.
We invite K-16 educators, librarians, media specialists, and museum educators to participate in one of several regional sessions of Primarily Teaching, our summer institute for teachers, this year.
There's a whole generation of kids of color who have grown up not having any idea what a comprehensive secondary education looks like. They get these things instead. Or these things.
I'm really shocked that the elites have not moved back into the city to attend the lawyer-prep charter school. It's almost as if they think their kids deserve more than field trips to law firms. And I don't know how the private schools, or the selective enrollment public schools, stay in business with these options.
By the way, as for the Rocketship schools with their online curriculum..... let me just say this. I've worked in some rather "elite" places. The schools I've worked at are places where parents invest--- either through property taxes or through tuition--- in comprehensive schooling. In each of those places, there were online programs. I
2012 was a tumultuous year in terms of higher education.
