Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Joel Shatzky: Educating for Democracy: Is "Green Education" Possible?

Joel Shatzky

English Professor

Posted: June 15, 2010 12:21 PM

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Educating for Democracy: Is "Green Education" Possible?

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"It isn't easy, being Green." - Kermit the Frog

One of the dilemmas I've noticed coming out of the environmental disaster that is still roiling the Gulf of Mexico is the interconnectedness of our economic system with toxic policies. By "toxic policies" I mean programs or planning that will lead to eventual destruction of human life on this planet, if not in the immediate future, than within several generations. The future drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico for instance, even if done carefully, will result in the pollution of the entire area from the "little disasters" at oil rigs where there are "dribbles" of oil escaping from the pumps that have a cumulative effect on marine life, not to mention other forms of pollution that are poisoning the oceans.

Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, is himself involved in the environmental awareness movement with his programs about pollution in the Pacific Ocean. He warned, over a year ago:

"We have to start treating the oceans like a bank account," . . . . 70% of our food depends, directly or indirectly, on a healthy ocean, as do many of our medicines and much of the natural protection we enjoy against storms. Already, roughly half the commercial fish stocks of the world have collapsed since the 1950s, and 90% of certain types of fish, like tuna and

Arizona Local News - Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek, Tempe, Phoenix: Arizona - As need for college grows, Arizona to lead most states in jobs for dropouts

As need for college grows, Arizona to lead most states in jobs for dropouts

Posted: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 3:57 pm | Updated: 4:38 pm, Tue Jun 15, 2010.

Michelle Reese, Tribune |0 comments

A new national study shows that by 2018 Arizona will be one of the top five states with jobs available for high school dropouts.

But conversely, just more than 60 percent of jobs in Arizona will require some type of postsecondary education by 2018, according to the study released Tuesday by The Center on Education and the Workforce.

Arizona's vast tourism industry which creates service-related positions - housekeepers, food service, grounds keepers - is driving the growth of jobs for those lacking a diploma, according to Lee McPheters, research professor of economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

"You come to Arizona to play golf," he said. "Business travel and tourist travel are important to the Arizona economy, more so than other states."

But Arizona's expected population growth will also fuel a need for more doctors, nurses and others in health care, McPheters said. Those jobs all require postsecondary education.

The report released Tuesday, "Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements through 2018," was created out of Georgetown University. It looks at job growth by sector and educational requirements across the country. Nationally, 63 percent of jobs will require postsecondary education, from associate's degrees to college training to bachelor's and graduate degrees. In Arizona, 61 percent of jobs will require postsecondary education.

"The economy (that follows) this recession will be very different than the economy we entered it with. It will require more and more postsecondary education. We've come to the point we've been headed for a long time: If you don't have some type of postsecondary education or training you will have a much reduced chance of earning a middle class wage," Anthony P. Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce, said Tuesday morning during a web conference.

Welcome to Matter Of Trust

Together we're all orchestrating a phenomenal mobilization to help the Gulf!

June 14, 2010: Orange Beach, Alabama using the donated natural fiber booms (hair, fur, fleece, feathers stuffed into nylons by volunteers) then put in shrimp bags with pool noodles for flotation. They want more because they say it works better since the oil floats underneath the white conventional boom. More photos & Boom FAQ

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Donated natural fiber booms in shrimp bags and conventional boom

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ALL salons, groomers, alpaca, llama, sheep fleece farmers, feather donors, individuals, & pet owners... Please sign up to be a part of this recycling system for hair, fur, fleece, feathers, nylons... and to volunteer to make booms..More info below...

We shampoo because hair collects oil. Why should millions of pounds of absorbant, natural, renewable hair, fur, fleece clippings go to waste?

School Board gives OK to raise class sizes to 35 :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education

School Board gives OK to raise class sizes to 35

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June 15, 2010

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter

In a dramatic emergency meeting, Chicago School Board members today unanimously gave Schools CEO Ron Huberman the green light to raise class sizes to up to 35 students — a move that would trigger thousands of layoffs — to plug a $427 million deficit.
To prepare their fiscal house for the uncertain times ahead, board members also moved to stave off any chance of a strike over teacher pay by unanimously declaring the system had the money to bankroll promised four percent raises to teachers and workers in seven other unions, at a cost of $135 million.
The board also agreed to let Huberman obtain a short-term line of credit worth up to $800 million to cover more than $400 million in late state aide and replete a reserve fund that will topple, by school year’s end, to what officials called a “perilously low’’ level of less than $50 million. That’s the equivalent of about one week of operating expenses.
In one somber moment, the board’s veteran member, LaSalle Bank chairman emeritus Norm Bobins, said the emergency vote was “the most difficult” he had cast in his 15 years on the board under Mayor Daley.
“As a banker, I have opposed having a line of credit,’’ Bobins said. “We need the line of credit not to fund the deficit but to cover us for the fact that we have not been paid for over five months by the state, and we’ve used up our cash reserves.’’
Bobins said he was “not a proponent of having 35 students in a class or

School Tech Connect: Some Interesting Thoughts On The Core

Some Interesting Thoughts On The Core

by Tim

Linda Perlstein asks and answers the big questions about the press coverage of the adoption of the Common Core. It's an interesting piece. Go read it. I'll wait.

She's right; they're boring. They're excessively boring. Standards detached from curriculum are nothing but gas. They're someone's idea of a good idea, but in reality, they only appeal to people who aren't actually teaching

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