Burger Chef and Dan Died on the Same Day | Dissident Voice

Burger Chef and Dan Died on the Same Day | Dissident Voice

Burger Chef and Dan Died on the Same Day

If you’re like most 16 year old males, there’s a better than average chance that the suit inventory in your wardrobe consists of a total of one. And by suit I mean the matching sport coat and pants that was purchased on clearance from a discount warehouse that has as much chance of staying in business as a groundhog attempting to take up tenure on the 18th hole of Torrey Pines. It’s the periodic skeleton in the closet that rears its head primarily during weddings you don’t care about, shows its face annually to celebrate the birth of Jesus at the church you otherwise never attend and the threads that make an intermittent appearance at whateverthefuck anniversary or birthday you’re required to participate in. Not to mention the occasional unanticipated funeral.

We’ll get back to the suit momentarily.

While growing up in the Midwest, a significant part of my weekly caloric intake came from Burger Chef. For those unfamiliar with it, Burger Chef was a fast food restaurant chain that originated in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1954. It rapidly expanded throughout the United States and at its peak in 1973 approached 1,200 locations, challenging McDonald’s for artery-clogging supremacy. It was a mostly now-forgotten pioneer on many levels, patenting the first flame broiler that is now standard throughout the industry. But perhaps the most lasting and ingenious element that Burger Chef introduced to the fast food marketplace was an understanding that its success was primarily predicated on its ability to market specifically to children. They initially introduced a couple of mascots: Burger Chef (who looked sort of like everyone’s creepy uncle) and his sidekick Jeff (who looked like the kid everyone beat up on in high school). They were also the first fast food concept to introduce a meal specifically targeted at kids – the Burger Chef Funmeal (five years before McDonald’s would copy the idea with their own Happy Meal). The Funmeal included a small hamburger, fries, dessert and a drink that came in a colorful box containing puzzles, riddles, stories and toys. No one had ever seen the likes of this sort of culinary miracle before, and not a week went by that Burger Chef didn’t coerce a portion of my father’s paycheck from him just to get me off his back.

Back to the suit.

Mine was a shade of brown that when worn made me look like a turd that had escaped the toilet pre-flush and had – through some genetic malfeasance – CONTINUE READING: Burger Chef and Dan Died on the Same Day | Dissident Voice

Police training is broken. Can it be fixed?

Police training is broken. Can it be fixed?

Police education is broken. Can it be fixed?

A patchwork system for training police focuses too much on military approaches and not enough on de-escalation and anti-bias. Past attempts at reform haven’t led to wholesale change.

In late May, when video began circulating of George Floyd trapped under the knee of a police officer, struggling to breathe, it was the latest reminder of America’s failure to address the racism and brutality that pervades U.S. policing. For those who train and educate law enforcement officials, Floyd’s death — along with the recent police killings of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and other Black Americans — was also a moment of reckoning, prompting some of those educators to examine their role in preparing officers for a profession responsible for so much senseless violence.

In Virginia, where community colleges enrolled some 2,200 students last year in programs designed to train law enforcement officials, school system administrators decided it was time to review their curricula for future officers. Across the country, in California, Eloy Ortiz, chancellor of the state’s community college system, called for a similar examination of police training. A few college police academies announced their own reviews.

In Minnesota, where Floyd was killed, the interim director of the state board overseeing police education pledged to develop a “sweeping action plan” for change, while advocates pressed the legislature to pass reforms, including more investment in de-escalation training. Bills introduced in Congress in recent weeks, one by Democrats and the other by Senate Republicans, both called for more training for law enforcement officials.

But any effort to improve police education will have to contend with the reality that America’s system for training officers is a complex patchwork of hundreds of different programs that operate with virtually no CONTINUE READING: Police training is broken. Can it be fixed?

Defund the police, not education – Liberation News

Defund the police, not education – Liberation News

Defund the police, not education

In a country as wealthy as the U.S., you would think ensuring that students have access to quality education and services would not be an issue. You would think that in a country as wealthy as ours, it would be a priority that students and their families remain in good health and have access to health care, as well as mental health care during a global pandemic. You would think that national COVID-19 testing would be required before opening up the doors of schools to students, educators, and staff.

In this country, the people expect these basic public health needs to be met considering the wealth we have generated. Instead, our reality is we continue to see our public schools defunded, and the funds invested into a brutal, repressive, militarized police force whose purpose is to exercise lethal force on all, irrespective of age, race, gender, or supposed criminality. To reverse this inequity, we should defund the police – not our public education system.  

As of early June, this year, on-duty police had  killed  429 people across the United States. If this rate continues, more than one person a day will be killed by police in 2020. According to the Police Integrity Research group at Bowling Green State, on-duty police claim the lives of between 900 and 1,100 people, a year  – with fewer than eight deaths, on average, resulting in indictments and even fewer convictions.

Despite the plethora of evidence showing the repressive and violent nature of the police across the nation, the uprising against racist police brutality and terror which occurred in Ferguson in 2014, as well as Baltimore in 2015 were not enough to convince Democrats or Republicans that something needs to be done about police departments across the nation. The disproportionate number of Black, Indigenous and Latino people behind bars has not been enough for politicians to take the cries of Black America and all working class people seriously. Politicians continue to ignore the needs of the people, and instead use taxpayers money to  fund and militarize oppressive police forces. 

For example, the New York Police Department has one of the largest police forces in the nation. In fact, if the NYPD were a military, it would be the 7th largest military in the world due to its size and the level of CONTINUE READING: Defund the police, not education – Liberation News

How Racism Gets Taught and Misrepresented in Our Schools | Dissident Voice

How Racism Gets Taught and Misrepresented in Our Schools | Dissident Voice

How Racism Gets Taught and Misrepresented in Our Schools
Teaching It Forward

The not-so-subtle purpose of compulsory schooling is to ensure a populace subservient to the status quo which primarily serves the ruling class. What we call education is derived from a Prussian model designed to reward individuals based on how well they stay in line and do as they’re told through the process of grading. It’s no mystery that those who conform the most by repeating verbatim the state-controlled curriculum they’re force fed receive the highest marks and are thus given the greatest opportunities for societal advancement. By discouraging individual thought and creativity while instead placing a premium on conformity, the powers that be ensures obedience instead of dissent from the people most likely to rise up against it. By controlling what is taught and holding educators responsible for their student’s test results, the ultimate goal of mass indoctrination is all but assured.

It’s this sort of forced institutionalization that has not only enabled but encouraged the racism that has plagued this country since the inception of government-mandated schooling. And there is no greater evidence of this than a brief perusal of a couple of the mostly southern school textbooks that were used to teach bigotry to young minds in the 1950s and 1960s.

An entire generation of Baby Boomers learned Alabama history from a textbook called Know Alabama. In a chapter called Plantation Life, fourth graders learned how living on a plantation was “one of the happiest ways of life.” The 1957 edition encouraged students to imagine themselves on their CONTINUE READING: How Racism Gets Taught and Misrepresented in Our Schools | Dissident Voice

VOICES: River City, Episode 67: California’s School-to-Prison Pipeline – VOICES: River City

VOICES: River City, Episode 67: California’s School-to-Prison Pipeline – VOICES: River City

VOICES: River City, Episode 67: California’s School-to-Prison Pipeline

BY: VOICES: THE PODCAST JUNE 23, 2020

Do cops belong in schools?

The answer is obvious: No. Yet Americans have spent the last seven decades increasing their presence in institutions of education, to devastating results. We discuss chapter three in Alex Vitale’s ‘The End of Policing’ (which you can download for just $3 from Verso Books!), while incorporating some local flair.

Longtime Sacramento residents may remember 25 years ago, when Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies terrorized students at Encina High School: pepper spraying, punching and throwing as many kids as they could get their hands on. (Fun fact: now-Sheriff Scott Jones makes a cameo on the KCRA news clip, lying through his teeth about what actually happened.) This traumatized many Encina students, and shaped how they viewed police for the rest of their lives.

Back then Sacramentans made excuses for the cops.

Today, things are different. The region is asking serious questions about if they really belong as an occupying force in our schools.

Last fall, Sacramento City Unified School District cut its policing contract by more than half. Two school board members–Leticia Garcia and Mai Vang–voted against it because they wanted police completely out. Vang, who is running for Sacramento City Council in District 8, has also signed a pledge to never take campaign contributions from cops.

Enjoy! And keep an eye out for the 1995 clip of sheriff’s deputies terrorizing the high school.

Thanks for listening and, as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

VOICES: River City, Episode 67: California’s School-to-Prison Pipeline – VOICES: River City

It’s Ridiculous to Treat Schools Like Covid Hot Zones (David Zweig)* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

It’s Ridiculous to Treat Schools Like Covid Hot Zones (David Zweig)* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

It’s Ridiculous to Treat Schools Like Covid Hot Zones (David Zweig)*

This article appeared in Wired Magazine June 24, 2020.

“David Zweig writes about technology and culture for a number of publications, including the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic. He is also the author of the book Invisibles: Celebrating the Unsung Heroes of the Workplace.”

On May 18, education ministers from the EU gathered on a conference call to discuss the reopening of schools. Children had been back to class for several weeks in 22 European countries, and there were no signs yet of a significant increase in Covid-19 infections. It was early still, but this was good news. More than a month later, the overall mortality rate in Europe has continued to decline. Now, as we look to the fall, the US belatedly appears keen to follow Europe’s lead.

The question of how US schools should be reopened—on what sort of schedule, with what degree of caution—has yet to be determined. But recent guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released May 16, conjures up a grim tableau of safety measures: children wearing masks throughout the day; students kept apart in class, their desks surrounded by 6-foot moats of empty space; shuttered cafeterias and decommissioned jungle gyms; canceled field trips; and attendance scattered into every other day or every other week. Reports suggest that certain US schools may even tag their kids with homing beacons, to help keep track of anyone who breaks the rules and gets too close to someone else. It seems that every measure, no matter how extreme, will be taken in an effort to keep the students and the staffers safe.

This could be a grave mistake. As children return to school this fall, we must take a careful, balanced view of all the safety measures that have been proposed and CONTINUE READING: It’s Ridiculous to Treat Schools Like Covid Hot Zones (David Zweig)* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

22 Reasons Why Schools Should NOT Reopen in the Fall

22 Reasons Why Schools Should NOT Reopen in the Fall

22 Reasons Why Schools Should NOT Reopen in the Fall

Well-meaning parents and schoolboards have been working remotely to determine how to safely reopen schools, but these plans are filled with uncertainty. Many of the changes make schools unrecognizable.

The Coronavirus has involved conflicting information. Now we’re seeing an uptick in cases.

It’s not what anyone wants, but fall doesn’t seem like a good time to reopen schools.

Here’s why:

1. Illness and Russian Roulette 

According to the CDC, the risk might seem low for children, but they still get sick, some seriously. Children and teenagers have died. Questions still surround the disease. It’s not worth the risk. Maybe the situation will improve by January, or next summer. Currently we’re experiencing a pandemic and safety is the number one concern.

2. How Will the Flu and Covid-19 Tango? 

Maybe Covid-19 alone doesn’t affect children as badly as adults, but what if you mix it with the flu? Every year the flu kills children. Last January, before Covid-19 became well known, 27 children had died of the flu. What will the dance of these two illnesses look like in the fall?

3. Adults Matter Too!

A large concern with children is that they can spread the disease to teachers, parents, and grandparents who could be vulnerable. It isn’t fair to risk their health by CONTINUE READING: 22 Reasons Why Schools Should NOT Reopen in the Fall

Paul Horton: Why Study History? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Paul Horton: Why Study History? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Paul Horton: Why Study History?

I invited Paul Horton, a history teacher at the University of Chicago Lab School, to write on the topic, “Why study history?” He wrote this essay.

Betsy Devos’ War on History is Just Another Trip to Fantasyland

Without history we are lost. Without history we are disconnected, thrown into limitless space and time that has no ground or purpose. Learning history is central to learning individual identity and how that individual identity fits into a larger picture or purpose.

Up until the “age of mechanical reproduction,” to use Walter Benjamin’s phrase, history was passed from generation to generation in the form of face to face storytelling. The griot, the elder, or grandma and grandpa, wove meaning into the telling of family and human history. The storyteller wove the individual, family, and human stories together into a fabric or pattern of meaning, into a place and a purpose. The teleology of the individual became a part of a fabric of a larger human story that had beginning and ending points with a purpose.

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as storytelling has been largely lost in an endless sea of competing CONTINUE READING: Paul Horton: Why Study History? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Meeting with Mulgrew about Reopening Schools | JD2718

Meeting with Mulgrew about Reopening Schools | JD2718

Meeting with Mulgrew about Reopening Schools

Last Tuesday afternoon I attended a curious Zoom Meeting about reopening schools in September. Michael Schirtzer (teacher, Leon Goldstein HS, and UFT Executive Board Member, High School Division) organized it. He wanted to bring some hard questions to the UFT leadership.

There were six classroom teachers: Mike; me; the two co-programmers from Michael Schirtzer’s school, Gary and Marty; Emily James, teacher at a Brooklyn high school, recognized author of columns on teaching today, and advocate, most famously for paid parental leave; and Arthur Goldstein (Chapter Leader, Francis Lewis HS, and also a UFT Executive Board member).

And from UFT Central: VP at large for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds, Special Rep Anthony Klug, VP at large for Career and Technical High Schools Sterling Roberson, and President Michael Mulgrew.

Everyone looked kind of relaxed. From UFT Central Sterling was there on time, and we were chatting. I wondered if the others would make it. They all did. And stayed for a pretty full conversation.

Schirtzer moderated, to some extent. It mostly became a conversation. We all had different angles. But what we had in common is that we were thoughtful, and critical, and concerned first of all with the safety of our members.

My angle? You can guess it. I can program a school for “live instruction.” I can reprogram a school for CONTINUE READING: Meeting with Mulgrew about Reopening Schools | JD2718

Schools Matter: Details of Allegations Against KIPP's Mike Feinberg

Schools Matter: Details of Allegations Against KIPP's Mike Feinberg

Details of Allegations Against KIPP's Mike Feinberg

Do you remember Christine Blasey Ford's emotional and riveting testimony related to her decades-old sexual assault at the hands of Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, when he was a drunk, horny punk who enjoyed terrorizing and humiliating females? If you do, you're likely to remember, too, that institutional sexism functioned as it always has: it maligned the female victim of abuse so that the male perpetrator would never be held accountable for his criminal violence and cruelty.

You may remember, too, that Blasey Ford is a highly-regarded white middle class professional, whose testimony lacked only vital criterion required to establish its veracity: maleness.

Now picture what it must be like for a working class non-white female to go up against a privileged middle class male hero of the white male establishment, this time in a Southern state where discrimination and racism are even more systemic than in Washington, DC. 

This is what happened in April when a former KIPP student and her mother testified before two administrative law judges in Texas about a sexual assault that occurred twenty years ago when she was an 11-year old Mexican-American girl at Mike Feinberg's Houston KIPP middle school.

And even though Wilmer-Hale, the prestigious DC law firm hired by KIPP in 2017 to investigate CONTINUE READING: Schools Matter: Details of Allegations Against KIPP's Mike Feinberg

Mr G. for District 3 ----------------- Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Support Mr. G for district 3 by getting a (free) button

Mr G. for District 3 ----------------- Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Support Mr. G for district 3 by getting a (free) button

Support Mr. G for district 3 by getting a (free) button

Hello friends, I hope this finds you well. As many of you know I am running for school board! Today we are starting a social media campaign to boost knowledge about the campaign and we would love your help!

Are you in? If so PM us your address and we will put a button in the mail to you ASAP! Even if you do not live in district 3 we want you to participate!!!

What then? When you get the button we want you to take a picture of you wearing it and add it to your social media and tag the campaign page!

Why you ask? We think this way more people can learn that we have a candidate who understands that the better things are for teachers the better they will be for students and families. We want people to know there is a candidate with ideas who isn't afraid to face the issues!

So if you would like to help us out, PM us your address and we will get the button to you.

Two things, like I said it doesn't matter if you live in district 3 or not, I am sure you know someone who does, and getting a button is a good way to stop me from bothering you, about buttons anyway (insert wink emoji here).

Feel free to share with people who care about both education and buttons and if you haven't already liked the candidate page please do!

https://www.facebook.com/MrGforDistrict3/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Then if you are in the position to help financially, and friends no ammount is to small, we will but five dollars to work, click the link.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/christopher-guerrieri-for-school-board-1?fbclid=IwAR25gsUJVvBK89gad8CWFhnKEIBw26G5WSX_Qs_qB1lx38BL1u-TdRXIPsY

Thank You

Chris Guerrieri

Mr G. for District 3 ----------------- Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Support Mr. G for district 3 by getting a (free) button

CURMUDGUCATION: Florida Tightens The Public Education Noose

CURMUDGUCATION: Florida Tightens The Public Education Noose

Florida Tightens The Public Education Noose

I have run out of words for Florida. It's been a little more than a year since I dubbed them "the worst," and there really isn't anything to add to that, except of course there is. The leadership positions under Governor Ron DeSantis have been handed over to profiteers and people whose whole life story is anti-education, plus a very active astro-turfy group of folks determined to cheer the legislature on. Charter and voucher programs are largely unregulated, and Florida taxpayers get to foot the bill for schools that openly discriminate against LGBTQ students (or anyone else they feel like discriminating against).

Per a 2018 report from the DeVosian group American Federation for Children, Florida is where over a third of the voucher dollars in the US are spent-- and in 2019 they launched yet another voucher program. This year AFC gives 3 out of Florida's 5 voucher programs the top ranking in their category.

This frickin' guy.

But none of that is enough for DeSantis, who is intent on just tightening the noose around public education's neck (and gaslighting taxpayers while he's at it by continuing to claim that charter schools are public schools).

"But wait--" I hear you say. "Didn't the governor just raise the base salary for teachers in Florida?" Isn't that a good thing? Certainly better than the Best and the Brightest program that gave bonuses based on teachers' high school SAT scores?

Well, sort of.

The new $47,500 base starting salary is called "aspirational." So don't count on it just yet. As laid out in HB 641, each district will get a pile of money, and they have to somehow apportion that to raise their base salary, while at the same time, nobody anywhere else on the salary schedule can make CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Florida Tightens The Public Education Noose

New York’s Largest Charter Network, Known for Its Abusive Discipline of Children of Color, Gets Praise From Private-Charter Support Site “citizen ed” | Educate All Students, Support Public Education

New York’s Largest Charter Network, Known for Its Abusive Discipline of Children of Color, Gets Praise From Private-Charter Support Site “citizen ed” | Educate All Students, Support Public Education

New York’s Largest Charter Network, Known for Its Abusive Discipline of Children of Color, Gets Praise From Private-Charter Support Site “citizen ed”

One of the well-funded Internet sites advancing the private-charter narrative these days is citizen ed. Funded by brightbeam, this site relies heavily on the taped interviews by Chris Stewart (a.k.a citizenchris). One noticeable interview by Stewart, featuring Eva Moskowitz, is titled “What We Can Learn From One of America’s Most Successful Networks of Public Schools.” The network is Success Academy Charter Schools.

Four years ago I blogged an article from the New York Times titled “No-Nonsense Charter Once Again Embarrassed.” The article was linked to a video of a horrific classroom incident from Success Academy charter school in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

See the video at:  the video.

See the full article at: https://tinyurl.com/ybju85e9

I recently went back to see if Eva Moskowitz, CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, had learned the error of her ways. But an article published in the New York Daily News on June 17, shows she hasn’t. In the article it states, “An uproar alleging entrenched racism at Success Academy Charter Schools is threatening to upend the city’s largest charter network. More than 400 current and former Success students, staff and parents took to social media in the wake of George Floyd’s death under the banner “survivors of Success Academy” to share stories of both overt and subtle racism, according to the organizers of the Instagram page.”

To see the full article go to: https://tinyurl.com/yavpl8u3

I suggest citizenchris interview the “survivors of Success Academy” before giving the platform to Eva Moskowitz. New York’s Largest Charter Network, Known for Its Abusive Discipline of Children of Color, Gets Praise From Private-Charter Support Site “citizen ed” | Educate All Students, Support Public Education

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

SEL Weekly Update

by Larry Ferlazzo / 54min

I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. You might also be interested in THE BEST SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART ONE. Finally, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources . Here are this week’s picks: What is ‘self-nudging’? A

“Hamilton” Program Released For Remote Teaching

29by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

We’re all looking forward the July 3rd premiere of the Hamilton move on July 3rd! I just learned that the EduHam at Home program, a free version of the program the show and the Gilder Lehrman Institute does in-person with students, has been released (it actually happened two months ago, but it was news to me): What should you expect from this free program? A personal welcome video from Lin-Manuel

YESTERDAY

Ed Tech Digest

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

Nine years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART ONE , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this w

New Resources On What The Fall Might Look Like – God Help Us All!

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Many Students Will Be in Classrooms Only Part of the Week This Fall is from The NY Times. The future of the coronavirus recovery runs through the classroom is from NBC News. As America struggles to reopen schools and offices, how to clean coronavirus from the air is from The Washington P

A Look Back: Google’s “Interpreter Mode” Makes It Easier For Teachers & Parents To Talk If They Don’t Speak Each Other’s Languages

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from the first half of this year. You can see the entire collection of best posts from the past thirteen years here . Google has added what they call “Interpreter Mode” to the mobile Google Assistant app. Download the free app, say something like “Be my Spanish translator,” and it will automatica

Three Minute Video of – Me – Talking About “Teaching in the Pandemic”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 19h

MintBlack4u / Pixabay The Brainwaves Video Anthology is an impressive collection of short videos where retired educator Bob Greenberg interviews teachers around the world. Here’s a new short one of my talking about “Teaching in the Pandemic”:

“Q&A Collections: Best Ways to Begin the School Year”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 19h

Q&A Collections: Best Ways to Begin the School Year is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. All Classroom Q&A posts sharing advice on how to begin a school year (from the past nine years!) are 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007