THE BECOMING RADICAL
EMPATHYEDUCATES!
the becoming radical
A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness
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Oscar Wilde on the Poor and Socialism
While I highly recommend a careful reading of Oscar Wilde’s The Soul of Man under Socialism, I also urge you to consider that this examination of the consequences of private property and how that perpetuates poverty is stunningly similar to the current education reform movement, notably: “But their remedies do not cure the disease: they merely prolong it. Indeed, their remedies are part of the dis
YESTERDAY
South Carolina Officially Vamboozled
If anyone is wondering why the “bad” teacher crisis remains central to what political leaders want the public to hear, South Carolina offers a heaping dose of why: Political leaders are enormously incompetent and need us all to remain distracted from that fact. Case in point: SC has now been officially vamboozled, passing a new teacher evaluation system that includes the new sham word “growth” nea
Listen to Gary Rubenstein: “TFA…thrives on greed, deception, and fear”
Gary Rubenstein’s Advice to the 2014 TFA Corps Members is, I assume, intended for TFA recruits directly and about specifically TFA as a reform agenda. Thus, I do first recommend that those drawn to TFA should read carefully, and then heed Rubenstein’s words, notably this: But I am compelled to go further and note that Rubenstein’s central point is also applicable to the entire education reform ag
JUN 12
Notes on a Theory: This Day in History: Loving v. Virginia
This Day in History: Loving v. Virginia See Also LOVING v. VIRGINIA, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) The Loving Story (HBO) Loving v. Virginia in a Post-Racial World: Rethinking Race, Sex, and Marriage, Kevin Noble Maillard and Rose Cuison Villazor, Eds.
What We Tolerate (and for Whom) v. What the Rich Demand: On Teacher Quality
Two of the best teachers and education advocates I respect and listen to carefully, Nancy Flanagan and Susan Ohanian, had an important exchange on Twitter recently: “Vergara ruling rhetoric stern & memorable stuff, directly frm playbook of deep-pocket advocacy groups bankrolling it” http://t.co/apY9PRKXD8 — nancyflanagan (@nancyflanagan) June 12, 2014 @nancyflanagan I don’t like Goldstein’s em
Meditating on Teacher Unions and Tenure Post-Vergaras
[Reposting from Truthout as a response to the Vergaras ruling in California to dismantle tenure. See also Adam Bessie's A Tale of Two Vergaras: Of Stardom and the End of Teacher Tenure.] Howard Zinn would have turned 90 a couple of days ago [24 August 2012]. I have to imagine after reading and re-reading most of Zinn’s works that if Zinn were alive today, he would remain baffled at how America is
JUN 11
This Week in “Please Shut Up”: Arne Duncan
This Week in “Please Shut Up” should have been aimed at George Will and that he really needs to shut up about rape. But, instead, let’s look at Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who has held forth on the Vergaras ruling in California: The ruling was hailed by the nation’s top education chief as bringing to California — and possibly the nation — an opportunity to build “a new framework for the tea
Gates Moratorium Another Scam: Beware the Roadbuilders pt. 2
The road to hell is not paved with good intentions. [1] The road to hell in the U.S. of the 21st century is paved with the appearance of good intentions fostered by billionaires. Billionaires are our roadbuilders, and in education reform the main roadbuilder is Bill Gates. Gates is a billionaire education hobbyist who started a road to small schools, only to bail, but has since shifted his roadbui
Bessie: A Tale of Two Vergaras: Of Stardom and the End of Teacher Tenure
Please read latest from Adam Bessie A Tale of Two Vergaras: Of Stardom and the End of Teacher Tenure.
JUN 10
Twitter Truth (and The Onion Gets It Again)
As I have catalogued on this blog and elsewhere, when it comes to education policy, my home state of South Carolina is A Heaping Stumbling-Bumbling Mess of Ineptitude. And while we have garnered a sort of unwanted but fully warranted 15 minutes of fame by being the repeated source of ridicule for The Daily Show, SC has now achieved what I am calling Twitter Truth through the actions of Governor Ni
JUN 09
Living in Dialogue: The Problem Isn’t Just Common Core, but the Entire Reform Agenda
Paul Thomas: The Problem Isn’t Just Common Core, but the Entire Reform Agenda
Listening to a Teacher from a “No Excuses” Charter School
Valerie Strauss has raised a key problem with the education reform movement in the U.S.: The central experts in the education system, teachers, are essentially ignored. I have a long history now of rejecting the charter school movement and the “no excuses” ideology that is driving many charter schools. Because of my position, I have been criticized for not visiting KIPP schools and I have detailed
JUN 08
Maxine Greene and the “Frozen Sea Inside of Us”
The image of Franz Kafka that captures most clearly Kafkan for me is the one of Kafka himself coming to consciousness in the morning, numbed from the waist down after sitting in one spot writing all night. He, of course, was lost in his text in a way that is something like dreaming—a hybrid of consciousness and unconsciousness. The text of Kafka that speaks most directly about Kafka for me is his
Education is the Work of Teachers, Not Hackers
By Leon Wieseltier | Originally Published at The New Republic. December 21, 2012 WHEN I LOOK BACK at my education, I am struck not by how much I learned but by how much I was taught. I am the progeny of teachers; I swoon over teachers. Even […]
The Case for Banning Laptops in the Classroom
By Dan Rockmore | Originally Published at The New Yorker. June 6, 2014 A colleague of mine in the department of computer science at Dartmouth recently sent an e-mail to all of us on the faculty. The subject line read: “Ban computers in the classroom?” The note […]
JUN 12
Meditating on Teacher Unions and Tenure Post-Vergaras
By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. June 12, 2014 [Reposting from Truthout as a response to the Vergaras ruling in California to dismantle tenure. See also Adam Bessie's A Tale of Two Vergaras: Of Stardom and the End of Teacher Tenure.] […]
JUN 11
School Shootings, Armed Officials, and Barometric Pressure
Introductory Essay By Betsy L. Angert | Originally Published at EmpathyEducates. June 10, 2014 It happened again. Today there was another school shooting. The killing of our children, and often by our children is much like the weather. Wait five minutes and it will change. Wait five […]
Econocide Over-the-Rhine – Cincinnati and Our Cities
(Photo: Check Eilerman / OverTheRhine; Edited: JR / TO) “What’s going on?” (Marvin Gaye)
”Like Genocide, So Econocide” (Alice Skirtz) Every once in a while in the sea of intellectual discourse a term surfaces that resonates, that galvanizes the historical moment, that has gravitas. Stokely Carmichael’s “Black Power” […]
JUN 10
Judge Rejects Teacher Tenure for California
Julia Macias, at a news conference Tuesday, was one of nine students who claimed tenure laws left bad teachers in place. Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times Months ago we asked the question; could it be that at present education policies are designed to serve only a […]
JUN 08
Death to Common Core! Long Live Failed Education Policy!
By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. June 6, 2014 From the beginning of the call for and debate about Common Core, I have taken a clear stand against the promise of standards-based reform; for example, Why Common Standards Won’t Work: A […]
JUN 07
Study Shows Why Standardized Test Scores Aren’t Just About Schools
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched Fwd.us, which will lobby for higher education standards. (David Paul Morris, Bloomberg ) Will we ever learn that philanthropy is really not impressive. Nor is money the cure for what ails us. A practiced philosophy that promotes caring human connectivity brings […]
A Case For High Quality Education
– Lawsuit Challenges Florida School Funding (Vouchers, Charters, Pre-K Failures)
In 1998, 72% of voters approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution mandating that the State has a paramount duty to provide a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality” public education system. Source Southern Legal Counsel By Leslie Postal | The Orlando Sentinel. May 30, 2014 […]