Shanker Blog � Bart Simpson: Worker Rights Activist

Shanker Blog � Bart Simpson: Worker Rights Activist

BART SIMPSON: WORKER RIGHTS ACTIVIST

by Burnie Bond

If (like me) you’re not a regular viewer of The Simpsons show, you will have missed a controversial new opening sequence created by British graffiti artist Banksy, which aired this past weekend. The segment, which mocks the show for outsourcing much of its animation work through a South Korean company, began to go viral until yesterday, when Fox asking for the video to be pulled from YouTube and other venues (see here).

The scene begins much like the regular opening, but with “Banksy” scrawled strategically across the town of Springfield. Bart is seen writing punishment lines on the school blackboard, as usual, but this time “I must not write all over the walls” covers every wall of the classroom. The sequence continues almost as usual until we see the family is seated on their couch.

Suddenly, we shift to a dark, cavernous space where row upon row of sweatshop workers are seen to be laboring

t r u t h o u t | The Myth of the Bad Teacher

t r u t h o u t | The Myth of the Bad Teacher

The Myth of the Bad Teacher

Friday 15 October 2010

by: Adam Bessie, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

(Photo: Rob Shenk / Flickr)

In this political season of faux anti-establishment anger born of very real economic desperation, public educators have become the villain du jour, their reputations collateral damage in the war against "big government." In a remarkable slight of hand, the super rich who imploded the economy, manufacturing the recession which now enrages the public, have successfully misdirected the public's justifiable anger away from them and toward teachers.

This anti-teacher rage is focused on the mythical cartoon character the "Bad Teacher," who - according to the recent explosion in press on

The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking

Your support, your voice and your action – that's what it's going to take to wake up the world and make a real difference. Make yourself part of the Girl Effect revolution.

Given the chance 600 million adolescent girls in developing countries can unleash the world's greatest untapped solution to poverty. This is the Girl Effect.

If we can release girls living in poverty, they will do the rest.

You can be part of that change. In fact without you it won't happen. Join the conversation and let the world know what the Girl Effect is capable of.

Talk it up. Spread the word.

Check out our Girl Effect Networks on Facebook and Twitter.

Another Shutdown at the University of Puerto Rico? � Student Activism

Another Shutdown at the University of Puerto Rico? � Student Activism

Another Shutdown at the University of Puerto Rico?

by Angus Johnston

Students in two divisions of the flagship Rio Pedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico have voted to stage strikes next week that could lead to a new round of shutdowns at UPR.

This spring students shut down ten of UPR’s eleven campuses in a two-month action that won major victories against planned budget cuts and tuition hikes. But now the university is looking to implement an $800 tuition increase, to take effect in January, and students are fighting back. At meetings held earlier this week,

Thirty People Will Die Today, But That Will Not Stop Us From Living – Lily's Blackboard

Thirty People Will Die Today, But That Will Not Stop Us From Living – Lily's Blackboard

Thirty People Will Die Today, But That Will Not Stop Us From Living

Oct 15th, 2010

by Lily.

I visited my new friends, the Garcia family, who live in the center of Ciudad Juárez. There are five beautiful children: Flori, Julia, Isabel, Pablito and Raquel. Their talented mother, Flor, has taught them to sing in harmony.

One daughter has dreams of representing Mexico as a diver in the Olympics. Another already sings like a professional. They taught me a card game called Cucharitas, which I got bruised playing. Cucharitas is a contact sport which includes grabbing for spoons in the middle of the table when you get the right combination of cards.
None of the gorgeous Garcias speak English, and so I had to make my limited Spanish work as they tried to teach me the card game. I’m afraid I didn’t make a very good impression on them, but they were kind and patiently repeated themselves because they felt sorry for me being so slow.

Alberto García is proud of his children. We had a

The Answer Sheet - Two superintendents who rejected the "manifesto"

The Answer Sheet - Two superintendents who rejected the "manifesto"

Two superintendents who rejected the "manifesto"

Much has been written (including on this blog) about the school reform “manifesto” published in The Washington Post this week and signed by 16 big-city public school district chiefs. But little has been said about superintendents who refused to sign the document. New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein gave the document to Michael Casserly, executive director of the nonprofit Council of the Great City Schools, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that is a coalition of 65 of the nation’s largest urban public school systems. Casserly then asked the chiefs in member districts if they wanted to sign on to the document. Fifteen did, including the soon to be departed Chancellor Michelle Rhee of Washington D.C. But some superintendents found the rhetoric empty and the solutions highly limited.

CA-11: Teabagger John Harmer Wants to Abolish Public Schools | California Progress Report

CA-11: Teabagger John Harmer Wants to Abolish Public Schools | California Progress Report

CA-11: Teabagger John Harmer Wants to Abolish Public Schools

by christine

By Robert Cruickshank

Mother Jones has a very important article up regarding David Harmer's desire to, in his own words, "abolish public schools." Harmer is the teabagger candidate and Republican nominee in the 11th Congressional district against Democratic incumbent Jerry McNerney, and a new SurveyUSA poll found Harmer has a 48%-42% lead, making this race and this issue even more important.

The Mother Jones article is based on Harmer's own op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle published in 2000, titled "Abolish the public schools". In it, Harmer advocates for vouches, but says that's the best we can do until we eliminate the state constitutional requirement for free public education - and then proceeds to argue for exactly that:

read more

Campaign 2010: The Big Things That Didn’t Get Debated

by christine

By Peter Schrag

Anyone looking for clues to the state’s future direction in this year’s gubernatorial debates – much less in the rest of the two major candidates’ campaigns – was more likely to find grim irony than signs of leadership.

Abetted by the media’s ubiquitous preference for flash over substance, Tuesday’s final debate spent more time parsing the nuances of the word “whore” than the intricacies of the economy or the ongoing Mississippification of California.

Just a few days after the legislature and governor approved a “budget” that accomplished nothing but transfer the state’s chronic fiscal problems to the next governor, the debate Tuesday saw the two candidates assiduously avoid anything that resembled a real confrontation with the state’s fundamental fiscal and governmental problems.

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End Budget Gridlock -- Vote YES on Proposition 25

by christine

By Sara Flocks
California Labor Federation

Budgets reflect the priorities and values of a state. Public dollars dedicated to schools, safe communities, healthy kids and well-maintained infrastructure demonstrate that a state is committed to creating a high quality of life for residents. California’s budget tells a whole different story. Because California has a two-thirds vote requirement to pass a budget, a small group of partisan legislators can withhold their votes to extract concessions from the majority. As a result, California’s budget process ends up full of corporate loopholes, special favors and worker takeaways—not exactly a reflection of the values of the majority of working people in California.

read more

President Obama to Host White House Science Fair | The White House

President Obama to Host White House Science Fair | The White House

President Obama to Host White House Science Fair

Event Will Highlight Winners of National Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Competitions

WASHINGTON, DC -- On Monday, October 18th, President Obama will host the White House Science Fair celebrating the winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions. The President will view exhibits of these students’ work, ranging from breakthrough basic research to new inventions, followed by remarks to an audience of students, science educators and business leaders on the importance of STEM education to our country’s economic future.

The White House Science Fair fulfills a commitment the President made at the launch of his Educate to Innovate campaign in November 2009 to inspire boys and girls to excel in math and science. As the President noted then, “If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you're a young person and you produce the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too.” The White House event will kick off a week that culminates with the USA Science and Engineering Festival on the National Mall and in over 50 satellite locations that is poised to draw more than a million people nationwide.

Your Questions: The Flier for Schools Tax - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

Your Questions: The Flier for Schools Tax - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

Your Questions: The Flier for Schools Tax

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Prop J Flier from SDUSD

Posted: Thursday, October 14, 2010 12:45 pm |Updated: 1:15 pm, Thu Oct 14, 2010.

Posted on October 14, 2010

• 

  by Emily Alpert

Several parents have sent me emails after seeing their kids come home with fliers from San Diego Unified about its proposed parcel tax, Proposition J.

The fliers emphasize the extent of school budget cuts so far and warn that deeper cuts are coming. San Diego Unified has spent roughly $4,700 on fliers that it has sent home with schoolchildren and passed out at community meetings held at schools. The question that readers asked me is: Is this legal?

School districts and other public agencies are allowed to provide information about ballot measures that impact them. But they aren't allowed to campaign for or against a measure with public funds. Opponents of the parcel tax for San Diego Unified schools argue that the fliers are implicitly advocating for the tax.

So what do the fliers say? They include straightforward information about what school programs are on the chopping block, but also state that "every effort has been made to keep cuts away from the classroom," a subjective statement that school district critics would contest.

Campaign to Remake School Board Goes Live

The ballot measure would expand the school board, a movement that came out of frustration toward San Diego Unified's frequent turnover at the top.