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Obama High School and Affirmative Action

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Fred Klonsky posted his viewpoint on Barack Obama College Preparatory School and Obama’s silence on a Supreme Court decision on Affirmative Action.

President Obama, however much I disagree with his education policies, is entitled to his opinion…whether it be for or against Affirmative Action.  I presume he is for it, but chose not to speak out at this particular decision.  I really don’t recall him speaking out on much regarding Supreme Court decisions— so because he’s black, he should speak out on this particular decision?

Perhaps I’m misinterpreting things…but this piece just struck me wrong.

As a side note~ Cabrini Green?  Really?  That was the housing project that was famously featured when former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne *cough* moved in….the press was all over it…but what they forgot to tell people was that she wasn’t moving in as in moving all her household…but rather, she kinda sorta stayed there one night a week./snark

Or perhaps it was a few hours in the daytime./snarkier

Or perhaps she just drove past the place…on her way to her real home…./snarkiest

We need jobs, not eggs.  Funny how it’s been thirty years and not much has changed, eh?

Oh, wait…

Rahm builds an elite high school on this historical spot….not only do you not get jobs, but you get thrown out.

 

Cowardice In Combat

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Another video that is hard to watch. Is it cowardice when you are against war? Some people say the Vietnam protestors were cowards for running away to Canada. I see them as courageous for protesting a war that was unjustified. Vietnam never did anything to us and the pretext that they were Communists was bunk–only 25% of the population was Communist before the war…and guess what happened after the war? More of them became Communist–not less.

Andrew Sullivan's avatarThe Dish

The made-for-tv movie The Execution of Private Slovik – based on the true story of Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier executed for desertion during WWII – aired 40 years ago last month. Chris Walsh considers the film’s success in 1974 and ponders why today “cowardice in the military is a topic too obscure and tender for nonmilitary Americans to contemplate”:

We are willing to have other people’s children put themselves in harm’s way, but we feel both ignorant and guilty about it, and that is enough to keep us from presuming to criticize, much less punish, a deserter. Reflecting on the alleged cowardice of a soldier like Slovik leads to disturbing questions: What would we do in his place? Why haven’t we joined the fight, or more actively supported those who do — or, alternatively, joined in the debate about whether fighting is the right thing? Why did we…

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Newark teachers: want to work for Eva Moskowitz? (No?)

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Oddly enough, and despite what Moskowitz herself describes as an education she got without any help from teachers, Moskowitz still managed to attend the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins–and now she makes almost $500,000 per year as CEO of the Success Academy chain. (So student success really isn’t about teachers at all? Teachers aren’t important? It’s really about social or socioeconomic status? It’s really about privilege? It’s really about intellect? If Moskowitz could learn despite incompetent and drunk teachers, can’t anybody? Or is Moskowitz just some sort of superior species? I’m confused.)

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Word. It makes no sense that those who came from public schools are now saying those schools are “terrible, terrible” places that don’t teach children well…but I somehow managed to teach myself….yeah, makes no sense to me, either.

Children With Terminal Diseases Have to Take the Test, But Voucher Kids Don’t

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Bob Sikes's avatarScathing Purple Musings

From St. Augustine Recordreporter Marcia Lane:

A Senate subcommittee approved an amendment on Tuesday expanding the voucher program, known as the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, adding it to a bill that helps parents of disabled children get additional educational services.

Opponents say the plan is going to hurt public schools and the state’s children. Among major complaints is the lack of accountability.

“Our concern is the same as it always has been, and that is there’s no accountability or transparency in voucher legislation,” St. Johns County School Superintendent Joseph Joyner said. “We believe all students that get taxpayers’ money should be held to the same level of accountability. … We have no idea where those children are and how they’re doing.”

Hiding in their ideological bunker, Florida republican legislators continue to ignore the people who matter on voucher expansion. And not just school superintendents. Voters, too. A poll…

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WATCH: Social experiment shows how homeless have become ‘invisible’

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Wow, this hits close to home. I was thisclose to being homeless and most likely would have died, given how sick I was…
…and if I had survived, I most certainly would have been ignored, too, if someone who knew me in my previous life passed by me on the street. The homeless aren’t seen as people who had lives at one point and somehow ended up on the street. And those that are mentally ill got there because of politicians closing mental hospitals to save the taxpayers’ money. …but what price is humanity?

Barack Obama High School and Chicago’s tale of two cities.

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I certainly would not want to have my name put on a school that excluded special needs and lower IQ students. Everyone has something to give to this world, and making someone feel they are *less than* because their parents don’t have enough money or clout or wherewithal is not an honorable thing to do.

Fred Klonsky's avatarFred Klonsky

042414-politics-obama-Rahm-Emanuel

On Wednesday, Rahm Emanuel’s hand-picked school board voted to fire every administrator, teacher, paraprofessional and lunch lady from three neighborhood schools and handed those schools over the the corporate-connected Academy for Urban School Leadership.

The three schools – Gresham, Dvorak and McNair are on the south and west side. 

“Given money, we can do many, many things,” said Diedrus Brown, principal of Gresham Elementary. She said test scores rose when the school was allowed extra funding, and that it achieved the middle tier for a Level 2 school in 2011. “You destabilized our school for the past two years by taking money away,” Brown added.

“It’s Chicago Public Schools, not Chicago private schools,” Brown insisted.

“We are not failures at Gresham,” said Tina Bumbers Walker, a second-grade teacher and alumna at the school. “It’s not just about scores.

“We were progressing,” she added, but then pointed out the school had…

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