THE BECOMING RADICAL
EMPATHYEDUCATES!
the becoming radical
A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness
by
Death to Common Core! Long Live Failed Education Policy!
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 call for national standards ensures that we continue doing what is most wrong with our bureaucratic schools (establish-prescribe-measure) and that we persist in looking away from the largest cause of low student a
JUN 05
Insurance and the Common Good
A few weeks ago, a hail storm battered my neighborhood: Within the hour after the storm, signs appeared around my neighborhood for miles advertising hail damage repair for cars and homes. And while I have two badly damaged cars, my home suffered only a few dings to the siding and some ripped window screens (none of which will result in my filing insurance claims). But the insurance vultures cont
JUN 04
Orwellian Educational Change under Obama: Crisis Discourse, Utopian Expectations, and Accountability Failures by Paul Thomas
Orwellian Educational Change under Obama: Crisis Discourse, Utopian Expectations, and Accountability Failures by Paul Thomas.
JUN 03
Education in Black and White: Beware the Roadbuilders
Nettie sees the world in a stark black and white once she faces and confronts the missionary zeal being done to the people who are native to Africa. The letters exchanged between Nettie and Celie, which constitute The Color Purple, are literally the lived stories of oppression and the oppressed right there in black and white for readers: The first thing I should tell you about is the road. The roa
Kindness as Antidote to Fatalism of “Grit”
For all the advocates of “grit”—along with the disturbing racism and classism—the world is a horrible place, a fixed horrible place—one requiring children to be treated horribly as practice for that horrible world. (I imagine “grit” advocates see the world in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road when they are planning how to “toughen our children up.”) And thus, it is that fatalism I find nearly as disturbi
JUN 02
Invoking “Oliver Rule (Expanded)” for Education Reform Debate
While it is becoming increasingly common and frustrating that the most perceptive views of political and public claims and policies come from satirical programs and their figure-heads (as I have noted recently), John Oliver’s skit about the current ways the mainstream media present the climate change debate can serve well how we proceed with the education reform debate. Oliver’s climate change deb
JUN 01
Maxine Greene, Released to a New Landscape
Throughout my life as a student and career as a teacher, I have always been drawn to the philosophical; thus, my scholarly interests have leaned heavily toward educational philosophers such as Paulo Freire and Maxine Greene. In Greene, I found not only a philosophical kinship but also an eclectic style of scholarship that appealed to my essential nature as a lover of literature and English teacher
MAY 31
AlterNet: News Flash: Failed Education Policies Will ALWAYS Fail Our Children
News Flash: Failed Education Policies Will ALWAYS Fail Our Children
In New Orleans, Traditional Public Schools Close For Good
Akili Academy first-grader Kyron Bourgeois, 6, raises his hand in the class of Hannah Bunis on May 27, 2014 in New Orleans. Akili Academy in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans will be absorbing some students from the city’s closing public schools. (Edmund D. Fountain/For The […]
The Case For Reparation Begins with Education
Photograph; Atlantic Author Ta-Nehisi Coates and Joy Reid walk and talk about the competition that we see in our schools. By Betsy L. Angert | Originally Published at EmpathyEducates. May 29, 2014 You may have read or heard about The Atlantic article, The Case For Reparations. If […]
JUN 05
What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades
Illustration by Michael Mabry By Maria Konnikova | Originally Published at June 2, 2014| Does Handwriting Matter? Not very much, according to many educators. The Common Core standards, which have been adopted in most states, call for teaching legible writing, but only in kindergarten and first grade. […]
JUN 03
Discipline With Our Children in Mind
Have you ever said, did, or been something that got you in trouble? If not as an adult perhaps, at the age of four you hugged a teacher. Might that be a crime? Surely, this act merits a school suspension. It is so cruel. But it cannot […]
JUN 02
New Orleans Nearing a ‘Privatized’ Public School System
Students change classes during the first day of school at Landry-Walker High School on August 12, 2013. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune) Introductory Reflection by Raynard Sanders, Ed.D., Host of The New Orleans Imperative In this week’s Louisiana Weekly’s article [see below] Journalist Kari […]
Florida League of Women Voters Blasts Charter School Movement
By Jeffrey S. Solochek | Originally Published at Tampa Bay Times. Thursday, May 29, 2014 9:49am Following a year of research, the Florida League of Women Voters issued a report this week that’s highly critical of the state’s charter school movement. Education “reform” critics, such as historian […]
JUN 01
News Flash: Failed Education Policies Will ALWAYS Fail Our Children
ThinkStock Image. By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at Alternet. and The Becoming Radical. May 31, 2014 What do third-grade retention policies based on reading tests, charter schools, tracking, and parental choice have in common? First, across the U.S., they all have a great deal […]
MAY 31
Can We Really Measure Racial Prejudice?
The British Social Attitudes survey usually involves interviews with about 3,300 people, chosen at random. Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA Is racial prejudice racism and how do we know if one, the other or either exists? Do we believe that racism persists? Perhaps we are comfortable with the notion […]
Chris Christie Can’t Afford To Pay Public Teacher Pensions… But Still Hands Education Megacorp $82m In Subsidies
By David Sirota | Originally Published at PandoDaily. May 27, 2014 Last week, Gov. Chris Christie announced he will take $2.4 billion owed to New Jersey’s public pension system and use it instead to balance the state’s current budget. To hear Christie tell it, he has no […]