Saturday, May 20, 2017

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/20/17


Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/20/17
Featured Post

Florida Charter Scandal: Legislators Vote Millions for Charter Schools Where They Earn a Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog





Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION
CURMUDGUCATION : Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION My 16 Rules 22 by Peter Greene / 5h Today I turn sixty, so it's time form one of those posts. These are the rules. Mind you, they are not a sign of any particular wisdom or smartitude on my part-- I have learned about these rules in the same way a somewhat dim cow learns about an electric fence. About 59 years ago. My typing skills have not improved 1
Jersey Jazzman: U-Ark Screws Up A Charter School Revenue Study, AGAIN: Part II
Jersey Jazzman: U-Ark Screws Up A Charter School Revenue Study, AGAIN: Part II : U-Ark Screws Up A Charter School Revenue Study, AGAIN: Part II Here's Part I of this series. If this is true , it's really disturbing: Colorado’s General Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill giving charter schools the same access to a local tax funding stream as district schools have, The Denver Post reported. The bip
New National Map Shows That Education Privatizers Have Burrowed into Almost All 50 States | Alternet
New National Map Shows That Education Privatizers Have Burrowed into Almost All 50 States | Alternet : New National Map Shows That Education Privatizers Have Burrowed into Almost All 50 States Charter schools, voucher programs, private school tax subsidies and more. Only three states do not have some form of privatized K-12 education in their public schools, a new nationwide map and accompanying
Democrats Look To Close Conflict-Of-Interest Loophole Linked To Betsy DeVos | HuffPost
Democrats Look To Close Conflict-Of-Interest Loophole Linked To Betsy DeVos | HuffPost : Democrats Look To Close Conflict-Of-Interest Loophole Linked To Betsy DeVos New bill would require nominees to disclose “dark money” they’ve donated or solicited. WASHINGTON ― Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday to close a conflict-of-interest loophole spotlighted after President Donald Trump nomina
New superintendent champions data use, educational equality for Sacramento schools | The Sacramento Bee
New superintendent champions data use, educational equality for Sacramento schools | The Sacramento Bee : Buckle up, Sac City Unified parents: A reformer is about to take over Long before he was named the new superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District, Jorge Aguilar was a freshman at UC Berkeley who had his educational self-worth shattered on his first day of chemistry class. O
Trouble in California Eden: A Divided Marin County Community Gets a New Charter School | Alternet
Trouble in California Eden: A Divided Marin County Community Gets a New Charter School | Alternet : Trouble in California Eden: A Divided Marin County Community Gets a New Charter School On a recent idyllic Marin County afternoon, Manor Elementary School PTA President Heather Bennett sat on her outdoor deck and related the newest incident to inflame the Ross Valley public school community. “Crazy
Keeping retirement weird. Wealth matters? It sure does. | Fred Klonsky
Keeping retirement weird. Wealth matters? It sure does. | Fred Klonsky : Keeping retirement weird. Wealth matters? It sure does . One of the subjects that Dad and I didn’t need to talk have a talk about as he approached his passing at age 85 was handling the inheritance. There wasn’t any. Vicki and Ron Weiner have talked with their two daughters about the wealth they will inherit. “The thought of
CURMUDGUCATION: My 16 Rules
CURMUDGUCATION: My 16 Rules : My 16 Rules Today I turn sixty, so it's time form one of those posts. These are the rules. Mind you, they are not a sign of any particular wisdom or smartitude on my part-- I have learned about these rules in the same way a somewhat dim cow learns about an electric fence. 1. Don't be a dick. There is no excuse for being mean on purpose. Life will provide ample occasi
White Guy Problems | Blue Cereal Education
White Guy Problems | Blue Cereal Education : White Guy Problems My wife and I live in a non-descript middle class suburban neighborhood. It’s more white than not, but there are a half-dozen families of color up and down the block, including a Hispanic couple and their kids two doors down and across the street. We haven’t socialized, but we wave from time to time. You know how it is with neighbors
Susan Ohanian: Schools Matter: Moby-Dick for Babies: Marvel or Monster
Schools Matter: Moby-Dick for Babies: Marvel or Monster : Moby-Dick for Babies: Marvel or Monster NOTE: This first appeared in the Charlotte News, May 17, 2017 Susan Ohanian A display at my village library invites parents and others who care about young children’s literacy development to take a look at the new assault on childhood—baby versions of the classics. Cozy Classics, publishers of the ba
Florida Charter Scandal: Legislators Vote Millions for Charter Schools Where They Earn a Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog
Florida Charter Scandal: Legislators Vote Millions for Charter Schools Where They Earn a Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog : Florida Charter Scandal: Legislators Vote Millions for Charter Schools Where They Earn a Profit Fabiola Santiago has a stunning story in the Miami Herald about the deep corruption in the state’s charter industry. Several key legislators are financially connected to charter scho

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/19/17
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/19/17 Featured Post California's Democrats Meet: Unfinished Business - LA Progressive Tweet Trump and DeVos about their bad budget - Network For Public Education by mike simpson / 15min 

Top Posts This Week


Why caps and gowns at graduation? Let’s go back 900 years. - The Washington Post

Why caps and gowns at graduation? Let’s go back 900 years. - The Washington Post:

Why caps and gowns at graduation? Let’s go back 900 years.

Actor Matt Damon, in cap and gown, gestures during his address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 2016 commencement in Cambridge, Mass. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

It’s pretty clear why preschoolers and kindergartners wear caps and gowns at their “graduation” ceremonies.
Adults think it is cute to see little kids parade around like grown-ups and don’t mind spending the money to buy one of the various sets available at one of the companies that sell them. You can, for example, get the “shiny basic set” offered by Rhymeuniversity.comfor $14.95, which includes the shiny gap and gown and tassel, or the “matte deluxe package” for $25.95, which includes a cloth matte cap and gown, tassel, graduate sash, ring, diploma with matching invitation and program cover.
But why, at American high school and college graduations, are the grown-ups — the students, faculty, honorary degree recipients — wearing caps and gowns during the ceremony, often in an outside venue under a withering sun or in a stifling auditorium jammed with guests?
And why are students, many of whom have forked out many tens of thousands of dollars to get a college degree, asked to spend more to rent or purchase a cap and gown for their graduation ceremony? The cost is significant; caps and gowns for rent can cost around $100 and much more to buy. The University of Texas at Arlington, for example, has an order form online for students that includes this section:
Doctoral attire, custom-made for purchase, can cost close to $1,000. Take George Washington University, for example:
Doctoral Gown, Tam & Hood — Rental  $145.00
  Doctoral Gown — Custom Purchase  $557.60
  Doctoral Hood — Custom Purchase  $157.00
  Doctoral Tam — Custom Purchase  $108.88

When decency and kindness is a radical concept. My bed is made. | Fred Klonsky

When decency and kindness is a radical concept. My bed is made. | Fred Klonsky:

When decency and kindness is a radical concept. My bed is made.

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Even though this is a dreary, rainy Chicago day I’m in a good mood. Yesterday morning we did a great Hitting Left with our friend Jerry Harris. And then last night we had dinner and good conversation with old friends.
In a few weeks this blog will hit the 4 million page views mark. Our podcast numbers are increasing each week. A lot of people like what we say.
But inevitably the small – I want to emphasize small – number of trolls need to send nasty and mean spirited comments. It’s not that they disagree. I’m good with that. It is that they are mean and anonymous and know that their comments will never see the light of day on this blog.
They just get off on sending them.
I mentioned on the radio show yesterday that it seems that a political party with a program of decency and kindness would seem radical in today’s climate.
Okay.
To show you what I mean I will make a rare exception. This morning this appeared in my in-box:
Fred,
One can get tired of listening to the bitching from people that freely chose a path in life for reasons that had little or nothing to do with money and then at the end they decide to count the chips, they find out there are not as many as they thought.
So you bitch, piss and moan out of jealously and a perceived lack of fairness in the world, then try to figure out ways to get some for yourself based on the mistaken belief that you some how “deserve” it.
After all you did work hard and are good people, and contributed a lot more to society than the assholes that got it all.
To you I say KISS MY ASS!!!!
Or as grandma would so eloquently put it “you made your bed…………..”
As I said, I’m in a really good mood this morning and so I’m going to respond to this When decency and kindness is a radical concept. My bed is made. | Fred Klonsky: