accomplishedcaliforniateachers.wordpress.com - As my school year is coming to a close, I try to stay connected to the developments in national education reform, but it is the developments here in South Central Los Angeles that have barely allow...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Senator Dick Durbin’s Message to DREAMer and DREAM Act Supporters - Hispanically Speaking NewsSenator Dick Durbin’s Message to DREAMers and DREAM Act SupportersHelp send the word out to other DREAM...
nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com - June 5, 2011 (GBN News): In the second such incident in the space of a week, a compromising picture was sent out today to the Twitter followers of a public figure. This time, it involved Bloomberg ...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - NYC Public School Parents: Shino Tanikawa: The deep flaws in the CEC selection processShino Tanikawa: The deep flaws in the CEC selection processby Leonie HaimsonThe below email is from Shino Tanik...
businessweek.com - With K12, the largest U.S. operator of taxpayer-funded online schools, the former junk-bond king has figured out how to make money in education. Is that a good thing?By John HechingerTen-year-old A...
desmoinesregister.com - Officials at two other Iowa for-profit colleges react to the controversy WALDORF COLLEGE: Waldorf College in Forest City is a former nonprofit that was purchased by the for-profit Columbia Southern...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - NYC Public School Parents: K. Webster on the undue influence of businessmen on our public schoolsK. Webster on the undue influence of businessmen on our public schoolsby Leonie HaimsonKathleen Webs...
schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com - In an interview after the ceremony, Norcross said his interest in school choice was borne of moral obligation and old-fashioned capitalism. -- Star LedgerHigh-powered Dem, George E. Norcross II...
tangerineflorida.com - Maybe I’ve joined the ranks of old geezers but I still have to ask what in the H E double-hockey sticks NBC Saturday Night Live writers were thinking when they wrote the skit parodying President Ob...
vivirlaeducacion.com - Publicado el 5 Junio 2011Archivado en Josep | La miniserie “Estudiantes 2.0″ continรบa el miรฉrcoles, 28 de abril, con una entrevista en directo e interactiva con Anya Kamenetz en su libro, Edupunks ...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Schooling in the Ownership Society: Powerful Dem backs N.J. T-Party gov's school voucher programPowerful Dem backs N.J. T-Party gov's school voucher programby Mike KlonskyIn an interview after the ...
npr.org - Enlarge Courtsey of the Task Force for Busines Mines, like this one in Badakhshan, could help lift Afghanistan out of poverty. Courtsey of the Task Force for Busines Mines, like this one in Badakhs...
rttnews.com - (RTTNews) - The United States has ordered all its non-essential diplomats and family members of Embassy staff in the Yemeni capital Sanaa to leave the country, as clashes between security forces an...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Beyond Shop til’ we Drop | Lefty ParentBeyond Shop til’ we Dropby Cooper ZaleI’m thinking about the sluggish US economy and trying to do the math. Seventy percent of our economy is based on consume...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Dad at the Chalkboard: The Twenty-Six Year Old Hug or Why One Should Never Laugh in a Deserted Funeral HomeThe Twenty-Six Year Old Hug or Why One Should Never Laugh in a Deserted Funeral Homeby Bri...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Tiananmen Square Protest Anniversary | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...The Best Language Learning Games (That Are Not Online) I’ve previously written about my favorite language-learning game...
am760.net - At 9:05 Peter Moskos joins David to discuss his new book In Defense of Flogging. The problems in our prisons are far from resolved. Just last week, the U. S. Supreme Court ordered California to red...
thinkprogress.org - A fringe anti-abortion group, Personhood USA, has been startlingly successful at pushing forward legislation across the country that would redefine life as beginning at the moment of fertilization,...
dekerivers.wordpress.com - I just do not see how rock solid Baptists, and evangelicals support a Mormon for President. While the policy issues that impact the nation and world are separate from the idea of each devout Mormo...
newarka.edu - Students organize and participate in more than 40 clubs Numerous social activities throughout the year include: an annual “Welcome Back Barbecue,” Homecoming, class and all-school dances, sports ni...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - NYC Public School Parents: K. Webster on the undue influence of businessmen on our public schoolsK. Webster on the undue influence of businessmen on our public schoolsby Leonie HaimsonKathleen Webs...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Beyond Shop til’ we Drop | Lefty ParentBeyond Shop til’ we Dropby Cooper ZaleI’m thinking about the sluggish US economy and trying to do the math. Seventy percent of our economy is based on consume...
schooltechconnect.com - Approximately 100 people braved the Chicago weather yesterday to attend the first Quality Public Schools For All Parent Summit at Whittier Dual Language Community School in Pilsen. The event was sp...
Kathleen Webster engages with Jonathan Alter on his attack on Diane Ravitch and his praise of Bill Gates and the other Billionaire Boys Club for their involvement in public education. For earlier critiques of Alter's attack , see here and here. Kathleen points out that at the same time Gates and other corporate mavens are seeking to impose their favorite policies on our schools, they are contributing to hugebudget cuts here in NYC and throughout the country, by not paying their fair share of taxes. Thus their irresponsible behavior is causing a double whammy to our public schools. Microsoft, Gates' company, is one of the nation's prime experts in tax evasion; for more on this, see here and here.
To Mr. Alter:I leave it to others to debunk the absurdities of the rest of this article. But,Re: "what’s wrong with business executives ... devoting time and money to public schools? "If businesses executives would shoulder their share of the tax burden instead of milking this country for all its worth we would not need their "largesse" to fund our schools. And public schools could get back to the
Their hardest-fought victories include the passage of laws that curb teachers’ collective bargaining rights and tie educators’ tenure, advancement, and pay to their performance, including their ability to improve student test scores.
Ironically, they weren’t hard-fought at all. IEA President Ken Swanson gave these actions his full support and approval with the weight of the union’s lobbyists and media machine behind him.
What he didn’t have was the support of the membership, which stayed away from Lobby Day in droves.
Nonetheless, the legislation won praise—including from U.S. Secretary of
I’m thinking about the sluggish US economy and trying to do the math. Seventy percent of our economy is based on consumer spending… rich seem to be getting richer and more of everyone else are falling into economic distress. Do all of us with disposable income need to go back to “shopping til’ we drop” and buying stuff we don’t need to make our economy grow again and move people out of that economic distress? There’s got to be a different path forward that leverages some sort of “less is more” principles. Can we somehow shift our economy from being based on private overconsumption and perhaps redirect it more towards building say more shared public infrastructure?
I as always, apply my hierarchy vs circle of equals frame of reference to these issues. My thinking generally is that we, as a species, have reached a phase in our individual and collective (cultural) development where we are transitioning (sometime three steps forward and two back) from lords, monarchs, bosses, (even experts?) etc to a more level and egalitarian relationship with each other. My “ministry” is all about calling out and facilitating that transition and doing what I can to not get “stuck” in conventional wisdom and the path of least resistance.
So given my agenda, I tend to look at issues through a lens that puts a premium on facilitating our freedom and development versus limiting that freedom and directing our development. So applying this lens to economics
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but we need to talk. It’s the same talk my editors had to have with me after my first few submissions, and one that I never had to have again afterwards. You see, for writers that care, the act of writing is a personal craft, and I can’t deny how hard it is to get your writing critiqued because it is a piece of you. Whether it’s a personal poem or an objective article, you put in all this time into your piece, hoping that you’ll get the same exact feedback that all your friends do:
“Oh, you’re such a great writer!”
“That was awesome. I’m really excited that you wrote this piece.”
“Your performance of the piece was stunning. I feel it right here [points to heart or temple].”
So, when you came to me asking me to give you feedback, I was under the impression that you wanted me to
At around 4:30 AM on Monday, May 30, 2011 my grandmother died.
If it hadn't been for the keyboard, I would have missed what occurred at 9:45 AM on Friday, June 3, 2011.
That's when, five days after she died, my grandmother spoke to me for the last time. On Thursday morning we were sitting in the auditorium at The Peanut's school, waiting for her kindergarten farewell concert to begin. My mother was going over the funeral plans with The Wife, my mother-in-law, and me. 'Nana', as we have always called her, is a deeply devoted Christian woman. She had been ill for a long time so death's approach was not exactly a surprise. When she discussed her impending funeral with my mother, she told her that she wanted several hymns sung at her service. The only problem with that turned out to be that there was no piano or organ available for Mom to play at the funeral home. My mother-in-law, who has been taking piano lessons for a year now, offered us the use of her electric keyboard so Mom didn't have to lead everyone in singing the songs A Capella.
Friday morning, the day of the funeral, I drove over to my in-law's house to pick up the keyboard and its three piece stand. I loaded it up in the back of my car and drove over to the funeral home. I pulled up the winding
If you read the scummy hack writing job Jonathan Alter tries to pass as journalism and you read it early, you may have missed the pleasure of the reading the comment section.
Alter’s piece is full of nasty, unsupported slanders of Diane Ravitch like, “While healthy skepticism is a virtue, Ravitch seems bent on extinguishing any hope that our teachers and schools can do better.”
Huh? If anyone gives hope to teachers that things can be better, it is Diane Ravitch.
But reading the comment section also gives hope. Taken together, the responses provide a scathing critique of the reformy nonsense of Alter, his patron Michael Bloomberg, Arne Duncan and the like.
H/T to my old friend from my grad student days, Celia Oyler, for sending me back to the comments.
The below email is from Shino Tanikawa, a member of the Community Education Council in District 2 to Dennis Walcott. Shino points out the deep flaws in the selection process for Community Education Councils, which ended last week, despite the postponement that resulted from a threatened lawsuit:
From: Shino Tanikawa shinot@verizon.net
To: Chancellor Walcott DMWalcott@schools.nyc.gov
Cc: Ojeda Hall
Sent: Sun, June 5, 2011 9:39:38 AM
Subject: CEC Election
Dear Chancellor Walcott,
Thank you for the decision to postpone the CEC election. I appreciate your willingness to work with parents. Unfortunately, the postponement did not result in any significant improvements. Many of my concerns before the postponement remained unresolved. So that you can run a better election next time, I would like to share some of the remaining problems that require resolution and carefully planning.
· Many parents did not seem to know the advisory voting was repeated and that they had to vote again even if they voted during the first round.
· The same confusion over how to cast advisory votes remained after the postponement. Many parents never received the flier with the login information or they did not hold onto it after they cast their first votes, not realizing the advisory voting was being repeated (please note many elementary
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