Big Education Ape: Feb 19, 2017

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Married teachers, their children, and President Trump’s supporters | Reclaim Reform

Married teachers, their children, and President Trump’s supporters | Reclaim Reform:

Married teachers, their children, and President Trump’s supporters

My friend Darcey Addo and her husband, Dan, are teachers on the Space Coast in Brevard County. They have two young children in the public schools. They are sweet and loving people. Here is Darcey’s own account of one witnessed incident that occurred to them during President Trump’s “campaign” stop in Melbourne, Florida on February 18, 2017.

Last post about 45’s visit, but I feel compelled to share some reflections:

* Dan and I raise our kids to know the importance of civic engagement and, when necessary, political dissent. To us, that’s American. To those who judge us as parents for raising kids who understand their Constitutional rights to assemble, to speak, to petition…I cannot understand your logic. I’m glad that my children will be able to defend their rights. One day you may silently thank us as we defend your right, too.* To the grown man Trump supporter who thought it was acceptable to get inches from my eight year old daughter’s face with your rally sign and shout at her nearly nose-to-nose: you give the word “deplorable” a whole new meaning.* To the 40 or 50 Trump supporters who stood and watched this grown man invade the personal space of my little girl, watched him get down in her face and shout at her: is this the GREATNESS that you talk about? Or maybe it’s OK because it wasn’t your child…?* To the protestors who saw the same interaction and saw Dan (and the cops) spring into action, thank you for rallying around my family. I didn’t know most of you, but humanity and decency is a compelling force that binds us.Today I saw division like I’ve never seen before. We are far beyond simple political disagreement. When a man can do to a child what he did to my daughter and EVERYONE – literally EVERY SINGLE PERSON from the Trump side stood watching in support, we are in a really bad place. I am so Married teachers, their children, and President Trump’s supporters | Reclaim Reform:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/19/17

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/19/17

Featured Post

Ed Notes Online: DeVos to Tour Schools With Randi - Marshals Doubled to Protect Randi From Union Members' Outrage

NYC Public School Parents: Update on Lead - what's going on?

by mike simpson / 16min

NYC Public School Parents: Update on Lead - what's going on? : Update on Lead - what's going on? On Thursday night, I gave a presentation on the capital plan to District 6 CEC. Since many of the parents in the district at the meeting were understandably concerned about the high levels of lead reported in the water of some of their schools -- including a finding of 6,620 parts per billion (ppb) an

On 2/19/17, the 75th Anniversary of the Japanese Internment Order | Bill Ayers

11by mike simpson / 2h

On 2/19/17, the 75th Anniversary of the Japanese Internment Order | Bill Ayers : On 2/19/17, the 75th Anniversary of the Japanese Internment Order https://monthlyreview.org/2003/07/01/construction-of-an-enemy/ Remember that the US Supreme Court upheld the internment orders in Korematsu v. US., convicting US citizen Fred Korematsu for refusing to comply with the order. The Korematsu decision has l

Decaying Buildings and the Rise of Digital Education – Wrench in the Gears

by mike simpson / 4h

Decaying Buildings and the Rise of Digital Education – Wrench in the Gears : Decaying Buildings and the Rise of Digital Education “DeVos doesn’t think we should be funding school buildings as much as students.” The line caught my eye as I scrolled through social media this weekend. How could it not? I’ve been working hard over the past year to try and convince other education activists that the t

CURMUDGUCATION: Toomey Doesn't Get It

by mike simpson / 5h

CURMUDGUCATION: Toomey Doesn't Get It : Toomey Doesn't Get It Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey's office was one that was bombarded with phone calls, faxes, texts, tweets, emails, and messages strapped to the backs of delivery hamsters during the run up to the Betsy DeVos confirmation. At one point he was targeted as one of the GOP senators who might change his mind, which struck me as odd because

BustED Pencils Trending News: Resistance! | BustED Pencils

by mike simpson / 5h

BustED Pencils Trending News: Resistance! | BustED Pencils : BustED Pencils Trending News: Resistance! Stark. Bleak. Depressing. etc. Have you used any of these words to describe your sense of the world lately? Hey it’s hard not to. But let’s not forget that the solutions we seek and the remedy for this malaise is within each of us. So in that spirit here are three stories of resistance —with end

Michigan students sliding fast toward the bottom

by mike simpson / 5h

Michigan students sliding fast toward the bottom : Michigan students sliding fast toward the bottom Michigan, already sliding toward the bottom nationally for fourth-grade reading performance on a rigorous national exam, is projected to fall to 48th place by 2030 if the state does nothing to improve education. That finding is included in a report out today from Education Trust-Midwest, a nonparti

KJ's No Accountability Charter School Chickens Coming Home to Roost? | The Sacramento Bee

by mike simpson / 6h

Del Paso Heights adult charter school under investigation for overcharging state | The Sacramento Bee : Del Paso Heights adult charter school under investigation for allegedly overcharging state Highlands Community Charter School is under investigation for allegedly enrolling adult students in primary grades, double-charging the state and claiming a full year of funding for students who attended

Civil Rights Project: Charters Worsen Segregation in D.C. - The Atlantic

by mike simpson / 7h

Civil Rights Project: Charters Worsen Segregation in D.C. - The Atlantic : What Could Reverse D.C'.s Intense School Segregation? Not more charter schools Last week, a group of Washington, D.C., parents and teachers stopped Betsy DeVos, the new secretary of education, from entering a D.C. middle school. Several conservative pundits compared DeVos , an outspoken school-choice advocate , to Vivian M

US: Remembering Japanese internment camps 75 years on

by mike simpson / 7h

FDR Called Them Concentration Camps: Why Terminology Matters : FDR CALLED THEM CONCENTRATION CAMPS: WHY TERMINOLOGY MATTERS Boys Behind Barbed Wire (Norito Takamoto, Albert Masaichi, and Hisashi Sansui), 1944, Manzanar concentration camp (Photo Credit: Toyo Miyatake) As we approach February 19th, the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, now referred to as the Day of Remembranc

Ed Notes Online: DeVos to Tour Schools With Randi - Marshals Doubled to Protect Randi From Union Members' Outrage

by mike simpson / 7h

Ed Notes Online: DeVos to Tour Schools With Randi - Marshals Doubled to Protect Randi From Union Members' Outrage : DeVos to Tour Schools With Randi - Marshals Doubled to Protect Randi From Union Members' Outrage With Betsy DeVos mocked throughout the nation and on the run, Randi Weingarten has legitimized, or normalized, her by arranging to go visit public schools with her. Some people are speec

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Extra Homework Edition (2/19)

by mike simpson / 8h

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Extra Homework Edition (2/19) : ICYMI: Extra Homework Edition (2/19) It's a big list this week. As always, remember to share, pass on, and amplify what speaks to you and provide that writer with a wider audience. Betsy DeVos Broke the Ed Reform Coalition-- For Now Daniel Katz with a good historical overview of how we ended up where we are in the ed debates, and what a DeVos

In Annual Newsletter, Gates Goes Silent on Education | deutsch29

by mike simpson / 8h

In Annual Newsletter, Gates Goes Silent on Education | deutsch29 : In Annual Newsletter, Gates Goes Silent on Education Each year, the Gates Foundation issues an annual newsletter touting what it perceives as the gains make by its spending. In 2015, the education focus of the newsletter was, “Better software will revolutionize learning.” The 2015 Gates ed celebration includes the following commen

Resistance Sunday. | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 8h

Resistance Sunday. | Fred Klonsky : Resistance Sunday. In neighborhoods across Chicago with large immigrant populations, people are banding together to form rapid response networks to support their neighbors in the event of expected deportation raids by President Donald Trump’s administration. In the 35th Ward on the city’s Northwest Side, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa has started what he calls the Co

Schools Matter: Let's Slow Down the Faster Future

by mike simpson / 8h

Schools Matter: Let's Slow Down the Faster Future : Let's Slow Down the Faster Future Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future , Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab & Jeff Howe Grand Central Publishing 2016 Kirkus calls this book “exhilarating and authoritative,” two cybergurus offering a “user’s manual to the twenty-first century.” As a longtime teacher, I find the manual to be flawed. I was inte

A View of the Long Game: Where Art Thou Public Education? | educationalchemy

by mike simpson / 8h

A View of the Long Game: Where Art Thou Public Education? | educationalchemy : A View of the Long Game: Where Art Thou Public Education? The privatizers are busy at work. Unless you live under a rock (a tempting thought lately…) you probably feel like I do every time you turn on the news; the sensation of riding the Tilt a Whirl while taking ‘shrooms. It’s exhausting at best, and terrifying at wo

Get over it? No freaking way! | Opine I will

by mike simpson / 8h

Get over it? No freaking way! | Opine I will : Get over it? No freaking way! We have been told over and over again “get over it!” I won’t get over it, I won’t sit back quietly, I won’t stand idle while our country is in trouble. How can we stand by when our illegitimate Commander in Chief puts our nation’s standing in the world at risk every day? On Thursday, his Ambassador to the United Nations

Facts? We Don't Need No Stinking Facts by Dr. Michael Flanagan - Badass Teachers Association

by mike simpson / 8h

Badass Teachers Association: Facts? We Don't Need No Stinking Facts by Dr. Michael Flanagan : Facts? We Don't Need No Stinking Facts by Dr. Michael Flanagan I recently read an article on the ways that teachers are trying to combat "fake news" and it directly related to what I have been teaching in my government and economics classes. Research and cite your sources before you debate an issue. As a

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/18/17

by mike simpson / 23h

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/18/17 Featured Post DeVos criticized teachers at D.C. school she visited — and they are not having it - The Washington Post CURMUDGUCATION: Evidence by mike simpson / 6min