Walter’s blog archive: http://surfaquarium.com/blog.htm
Mirror site: http://surfaquarium.blogspot.com/2011/07/revel-rebel-or-revolt.html
You say you want a revolution?
We all want to change the world.
You tell me that it's evolution;
We all want to change the world…
There are calls for revolution everywhere today; in education, economics, environment, law, government, international relations…and in many cases the call smacks of change for change’s sake. It has to be better than our current situation. Right?
Let’s think this through:
Federal Education mandates under No Child Left behind are quickly becoming the hottest state nullification target.
Idaho and South Dakota recently joined Montana in openly defying benchmarks set for this year.
NCLB set a goal of 100 percent student proficiency in math and reading by 2014. The feds gave the states leeway to create their own timetable, but as that deadline looms, state lawmakers are beginning to realize they won’t make it. So instead of pushing on toward unrealistic federal goals, they are abandoning the mandates and formulating their own programs.
Even at the risk of losing federal dollars.
Montana receives more than $44 million in federal funding under NCLB, according to the Associated Press.
Jonathan Kozol, a public education activist and author:
“We had reason to believe from his campaign promises that Obama was going to reverse the damage that this law has caused. He has betrayed us… That’s why we are here today.”
By Michael Alison Chandler and Sarah Khan / Washington Post / July 30, 2011
There are many reasons thousands of teachers traveled across the country to protest in front of the White House on Saturday — including to oppose charter schools, to fight for equal funding
The Save Our Schools March on Washington Saturday is part of a new nationwide push to organize educators against the Obama administration's regime of education reform.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan visits Dayton’s Bluff Achievement Plus Elementary School in Minneapolis. Mr. Duncan has reached out to teachers to acknowledge their concerns but administration policies continue to receive criticism.
Jim Mone/AP/File
What if the education reformers are wrong?
Protesters circled the Capitol in Boise, Idaho, in March to challenge proposed state education reforms that would, in part, tie teacher bonuses to student performance.
John Miller/AP
That's the opinion of a growing number of educators who are convinced that the current direction of reform – despite powerful backers that include President Obama, Bill Gates, and many influential academics and nonprofit leaders – is harming public schools rather than improving them.
While teachers unions and a number of prominent education thinkers have been critical of the reform policies for some time, a more concerted effort is emerging to organize those critics. They plan to take to the streets in Washington on Saturday in hopes of galvanizing attention around their cause. The Save Our Schools March has attracted endorsements from well-
Dear Changemakers Community,
Solving the world’s most pressing challenges will require innovations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (also called STEM). From climate change to fiscal meltdowns, renewable energy to eradicating diseases, from food security to global and local health, the STEM disciplines are at the very center of our quest to improve our lives and the condition of our world.
If we are to bring new ideas to long-standing problems and new talent to emerging opportunities, we need to educate all of our young people to higher levels of understanding in the STEM fields. Despite the heroic efforts of our nation’s best teachers and principals, our schools are ill-equipped to do that: According to international comparisons, U.S. students ranked below 22 countries in science and below 30 countries in math. And yet our communities are filled with many of the world’s most talented professionals in these fields. They work in hospitals, universities, and museums; biotech, engineering, and architecture firms; graphic-design and urban-planning studios; hedge funds, banks, and computer-software, gaming, and pharmaceutical companies. They just rarely directly impact our
“AM I A Socialist Like Bernie Saunders?” was a question someone, who friended me on FB, asked. I think my answer to her is worth publishing here…
Thank you Jennifer. I am not a socialist, per se. I do believe, however, that the government “could be” better able to provide us with certain services. Neither individuals, communities, nor even states should be responsible for putting together a plan for an interstate highway system. I also know that is is counter intuitive to give an entity your money to take care of you when you become sick or injured, when paying for that care conflicts with that entity’s bottom line.
If everyone in this country who is, in any small way, able to pay for medical insurance were to join ONE plan, then this country could provide low cost health care to everyone. Especially so, if the administration of that plan did not have a goal of turning a profit. The idea of someone, like a healthy young person, not needing medical insurance does not fly. The number
