Maybe it’s just me, but “Fireworks”, The Declaration of Independence song from Schoolhouse Rock, doesn’t get the play it deserves. There are a few moments that make me a little cringe-y, which is kind of inevitable when you watch Schoolhouse Rock after a more critical, in-depth study of history. (Not that this really dampens my enthusiasm for SHR– I’m probably one of the biggest fans out there. Not gonna lie; I’ve sung the entire Preamble episode at a party… more
July 02, 2011
By Cindy Long
At the official opening of the 2011 Representative Assembly this morning, hearts were thumping and blood was pumping, and not just from RA excitement. The new RA theme song, “NEA Standing Strong,” inspired and energized delegates with a message that, after a very tough year, was literally music to their ears.
“Standing strong, standing proud, standing tall.Standing up for what is right and true, NEA is standing up for me and you!”
Chris Bodden, whose company has been running the RA from behind the scenes for years, was also behind the music and lyrics of NEA Standing Strong.
“NEA has been under attack, and the organization has to restore its honor,” Bodden said. “We wanted a song that reminds everyone that there is no organization greater than NEA that looks after public education and all it stands for.”
The song title and lyrics follow the theme of the RA that was chosen by President Dennis Van Roekel: Standing Strong for Our Schools,
Here at the 2011 NEA Representative Assembly, we've reached the cutoff for new business items and we now have the full list available.
Most of them toe the line of years past (support for national-board certification, condemnation of "privatization"), but there are a few that caught my eye.
Here's a list of four to watch:
• New Business Item 37, which just passed a few moments ago, calls on NEA to inform members about the "anti-public education agenda behind the ill-informed intrusion of billionaires on education." (The NEA's independent foundation, by the way, receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, but never mind.)
• New Business item 46, which we'll get to this afternoon, would require the NEA to organize a "national
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Fill out your information and Bernie will add your name to his letter to the president. Let's send the message: "stand with us, and stand firm."
In the spirit of Independence Day, we’d like to share this statement on public education and Civics in particular, which comes to us from Academy Award-winning actor and friend of the March Richard Dreyfuss. Best known for his roles in films like The Goodbye Girl and Mr. Holland’s Opus, Dreyfuss is also a staunch supporter of a well-rounded public school education for all students.
From his video statement:
There can be no greater mandate in education than enabling and guiding our children to act as responsible citizens engaged in their community, nation, and the world around them. We know that our children will be the source of new ideas, new industries and new jobs; the source of solutions to new problems
“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same, you wanna be where everybody knows your name. You wanna go where people know, people are all the same, you wanna go where everybody knows your name.”
…Original and full length lyrics for “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” the theme song from the 1980s television sitcom “Cheers,” was written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo.
My former colleague, Dan McDonald, master teacher and kid-magnet extraordinaire, came up with a damn good
The self-deception of exceptionalism: Put away the flagsEditor: People’s historian Howard Zinn died on January 7, 2010. This piece was originally distributed by the Progressive Media Project in 2006. Though Zinn was writing during the presidency of George W. Bush, the message is certainly no less relevant today, as we observe the Fourth of July weekend throughout the land.
By Howard Zinn
On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.
Is not nationalism — that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder — one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?
These ways of thinking — cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on — have been
Here’s a quiz to test just how much you know about July 4 history:
1. On what day did the Second Continental Congress vote in favor of independence from Britain?
a) July 1, 1776
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07-01-2011 - Yesterday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a budget just in time for the new fiscal year. The new California budget bridges the deficit by relying on an additional $4 billion in revenue, which lawmakers expect from an improved economy. However, if the extra money doesn’t show up, there will be significant repercussions for the state’s classrooms.
If the state does not receive at least $2 billion of the $4 billion projected, officials could be forced to shorten the school year by up to seven instructional days (Los Angeles Times, Educated Guess, San Jose Mercury News).
Many districts have already cut days of school or reduced after-school programs and summer school. For the current school year, the Legislative Analyst’s Office reported that more than half of school districts reduced the number of school days, and 30 percent cut a full week (California Budget Project pdf). IDEA’s latest Educational Opportunity Report Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011 also documented that 65 percent of state high schools reduced or eliminated summer
CHICAGO — When her union endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008, retired Montgomery County teacher Jane Stern wrote checks to his campaign and spent hours calling voters in swing states to support a Democrat she though would stand strong for public schools and break from a federal education policy of “testing, testing, testing.”
Three years later, all the standardized tests are still there. In some places, they are beginning to be used to fire teachers. Lately, Stern said, the solutions to all of public education’s
