Diane Ravitch has this up on the destructive policies designed to push for charter schools that will ultimately mean the demise of public schools through siphoning funding away.
By the way, HB1320, has passed. By the legiscan link, it’s hard to tell whether it passed in the legislature or just the committee. Either way, it doesn’t look good.
Diane Ravitch has this up on Tennessee teacher Laura Hopson speaking out on what teachers really want–funny thing is they don’t want what the self-appointed education gurus say they want…
What a bombshell…the United States Department of Education is taking dirty money from Bill and Melinda Gates.
For a “collaboration conference” April 2012
Another “collaborative” effort to implement Common Core, December 2013
Note the “shared responsibility” white paper….and the focus is on labor collaboration…nothing about a well-rounded education as a robust part of democracy….the focus is on labor and business.
Note the paper states that the Dept. of Ed. is under “immense pressure” to implement labor-management collaborative…um, yeah, I don’t remember asking for more corporate involvement in public schools, have you…?
This sentence is telling:
To advance this collaborative theory of change the Department has been using both its convening andgrant making powers.
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(I have no idea why the font changed to smaller size…must be the pdf.)
…in other words, the Dept. of Ed. has been coercing schools to adopt the policy through grants and legislation…
n February 2012, the Department
announced the launch of the RESPECT Project.RESPECT stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching.The project’s purpose is to directly engage with teachers across America in a national conversation about transforming the teaching profession bydramatically changing the way teachers are recruited,credentialed, supported, compensated, promoted,and retained in the profession.The near-term aim of the RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices in shaping federal,state, and local policy, with a long-term goal of making teaching one of America’s most respected professions.
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This is such a joke. Respect means you pay teachers a decent wage that reflects their professional education and their experience. Respect means you do not bash teachers and teacher’s unions.
“…the…aim of RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices…” Unless, of course, those voices are in passionate disagreement with you:
Finally, I found this wonderful video that takes on “Waiting for Superman” and all the false claims made by the education profiteers and their allies:
$7 BILLION dollars to the biggest welfare queens…McDonalds and Walmart.
Peter is an unethical toad. He never mentions the $$ executive pay that could easily be cut to allow for a decent livable wage. And preying on the mentally challenged? I have no words.
This LA Times article talks about income inequality and executive pay:
Unlike most SEC regulations, the CEO rule isn’t really designed to provide information for investors. Rather, it’s designed to provide information for the larger community — for society, if you will. Its aim is to provide ammunition for the argument that the share of corporate profits going to top management, and by extension corporate shareholders, has gotten out of control.
She addresses the situation in Canada and how the indigenous’ rights outlined in the law have not been honorably enforced. She speaks with heartfelt passion towards the land. She sees this as a fight for her children.
We are all borrowing this land while we are here–no one owns the land, truly. One cannot own what one did not create…and one cannot take without giving equally in return…
Fred Klonsky has this up on Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s threatening letter to parents who wish to opt-out of the testing, testing, testing of their children.
Again, it seeks to usurp parents’ ultimate responsibility towards the welfare of their children.
I would put it back in her lap– show us that these tests are provable measures of one’s intelligence. They can’t. Because they’re not. There is no test that can measure potential. And the kinds of questions being asked–whether a first grader knows the Code of Hammurabi shows a complete lack of understanding of child development.
What a stirring, beautiful song. (Now THIS is what I’m talking about when I talk about music stirring the soul!) (hat tip to Global News Canada)
Thank you to Neil Young for making this available. The video is just stunning…how beautiful the untouched Earth is when left alone…and how quickly it is destroyed by thoughtlessness and lack of vision of the future…
Young isn’t asking for any contributions, but I’m sure this song will be available for download. If you’re able, please support him and this effort. We are all connected.
This just makes my morning! Bob Braun’s article here.
The explosion of personal anger occurred at 8:30 pm, two hours after the meeting at First Avenue School got off to a delayed and troubled start. Scores of residents who wanted to attend the meeting were kept outside in single-digit temperatures. Then some were allowed to enter an unheated cafeteria. Police officers, citing fire regulations, said the auditorium in the school was too crowded.
The venue clearly was chosen to keep the size of the crowd down.
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See…you can control the negative speech against you by making it harder for the mounting opposition to even get a space to stand.
Remember what I said in the previous blog about education and how it seemed like they were trying to separate kids from their parents by reducing the amount of time at home?
Well, this statement kind of supports that:
a letter to families that suggested if Newark children were home from school they would get into trouble, make the city “less safe” and cause crime to go up
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Where do I start? The insinuation is that parents don’t know how to raise their kids. That kids are little criminals just waiting for the opportunity to commit a criminal act.
Perhaps art and music instruction would be helpful here in creating and encouraging imaginations so that kids could entertain themselves while out of school, eh?
They could be painting, drawing, learning a new game, playing/practicing an instrument, playing tag outside, making snow sharks 🙂 , or doing something to give back, like shoveling an elderly/disabled person’s sidewalks, or running errands…the list is endless….
I sometimes forget about my “past life”…
I had purchased a crafted zippered “wallet”, for want of a better word, crafted by the women of Afghanistan **, featured on the Feminist Majority’s website many moons ago when I had a job…I wondered if they still had this program going. They do.
So…I hope that some of you can support the women of Afghanistan to gain some independence with a purchase of their handicrafts.
**keep the kleenex handy…for those in pain and those that never made it home, on both sides of the ocean…
Eagle 
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