Category Archives: wages

McSchools

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Diane Ravitch has a great blog up today on one family’s monopoly on charters in Minnesota and the resulting segregation.

A great comment by Reteach for America explains just how charters actually give parents less choice…and less power…when it comes to their child’s education:

Charter schools have no civic responsibility.

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Many parents don’t realize this lack of democratic representation or really any say whatsoever in their children’s school is a serious issue until they have a concern about the charter and the charter tells them they are welcome to shop for another school. When they turn to the district for help, they’re often told the same thing. You don’t like McDonalds? Go to Burger King.

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So, imagine that your town no longer has independent restaurants, but only McDonald’s, Burger King, or any other national chain….you dislike the fast food and wish for a home-cooked meal that fits your diet…none of these chains have decent food, so you no longer have a choice.  You either eat the stuff that resembles food, or you stay home.  They don’t care about you, as an individual, but only YOU as a collective group to profit off of…

….this is essentially what charters like the ones in Minnesota are doing.  McSchools.

Bob Braun: Newark school closings may be illegal

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I have to hand it to Bob Braun–the hits just keep coming.  He has yet another great report up on how the Christie/Anderson plan of trashing public education via closing public schools and pushing children into charters may be illegal, according to New Jersey law.

I am so happy that at least someone is fighting for them.  I wish we had them here….Indiana’s public schools will close before Hoosiers wake up to what is really happening…

**note that the 5 principals that were fired…er, put on indefinite layoff…were reinstated.  Woot.

 

Angel Meadow: Hell on Earth

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City Jackdaw has this up on a hellhole called Angel Meadow.  And as I view it, I can’t help but think that America is headed back in that direction…

…but then I catch myself…we have always had a problem, but now it’s a bigger problem.

This from Mother Jones on poverty right on Silicon Valley’s doorstep.  I think the folks featured here give the business workers/owners a little too much credit that they “would do something because they’re so smart” if they were only aware.  Please.  They’re aware.  They don’t care because they have the attitude “I’ve got mine, screw you.”  This, from people whom have sent tech jobs overseas and/or create nothing (F_cebook).

More here on a tent city in New Jersey where the mayor calls it “disgusting”….but the solution, before a lawyer showed up, was to…wait for it…fine them $1,000 for violations.  Unreal.

This in Greenville, South Carolina.

As I read all of these, I have to shake my head at the lack of creativity to find a solution.  In South Carolina, with the red clay Earth, why can’t one use that to create bricks and build a dwelling out of that?  Perhaps a traditional Native American can show them how it’s done?  And, of course, my favorite, Earthships, which are self-sufficient, and sustainable, could be a solution, too.

Note that many of these folks were made homeless circa 2008, after Wall Street caused the crash tumbling us into the Un-Depression.  (are we calling it a Depression, yet?)

 

 

 

 

U.S. Dept. of Ed. receiving money from Gates

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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 and

grant 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 by
dramatically 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:

Supporting Walmart and McDonalds…

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…but not the working poor.

$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.

That’s a sound argument, shared by many management experts and economists who argue that the diversion of corporate resources from workers to executives and shareholders is a major contributor to rising income inequality in the U.S., as well as to other social and economic ills.
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This information would be very helpful to folks who wish to invest but want to do so with a conscience.  Even if I had the money, I would think twice before investing again–I would not want to invest in a company that paid the execs 350% more than workers, nor one like Johnson, who was sooo overcompensated for….failure.  That’s poor management, in my opinion.
This piece states that companies were supposed to notify shareholders of environmental impacts…it’s been awhile since I had invested in stocks, but I don’t recall ever receiving notice of what a company did environmentally.  And would those reports be worth anything?  If a company is polluting, and does not wish to alert shareholders, they could skew the statistics towards a favorable view.  They could also use jabberwocky language to confuse people.
A better option would be independent inspectors sending stockholders reports of all the above to hopefully get an unbiased opinion.

Dr. Martin Luther King

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Several folks have posts up this morning on Dr. King–

I’ll start with Mercedes Schneider — it is disgusting how George W. Bush used MLK to somehow try to link No Child Left a Mind with civil rights.  As we are seeing, most of the public schools being closed are in neighborhoods of the poor and minorities.  An excellent point made by Joanne Barkin about how they have appointed themselves as leaders of the reform movement without the rest of us included.  Our opinions don’t matter…unless, of course, we agree with them.

A quibble I have with “I Have A Dream…” is the sons of former slave owners and advocating brotherhood...what is glaringly missing are women being part of the whole.

As has been pointed out by others–Dr. King was defending workers who wished to unionize…he would have no part of the destruction of teacher’s unions.

Next, Diane Ravitch has a blog up on MLK.  When breaking the law is just…if one follows one’s conscience.

Finally, Democracy Now! has a video up on MLK.  When I first clicked on, I heard “I Have a Dream…” and sighed that it was going to be yet another rehash of the I have a Dream speech without reference to his other great speech, Beyond Vietnam. 

http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2014/1/20

I was so glad that they aired this speech.  It was so wonderful hearing Dr. King’s voice again…hard not to get emotional at the love that was flowing from him.  He and John F. Kennedy were advocates of Peace working against dark forces.  Both were killed for it.  But as Dr. King said prophetically, he had been to the mountain top and was not afraid of the consequences of doing what he knew God wanted him to do.

I want to say something about this speech by Amiri Baraka, also on DN!

He speaks about women being raped and wanting to have reparations for it…does he not think that white women have been raped, too?  Where is the white woman’s reparation?

What about the Irish slaves whom also worked for no wages?  Where are their reparations?  What about the Irish women whom were forced to birth babies for lighter-skinned African Americans?

The music we stole?  Didn’t all music come from the great classical composers?  Isn’t music supposed to be a shared experience?  Did we not enjoy each other’s music and share that special connection?  It is deflating to hear such anger for something we both enjoyed.

And then he says “give us our lives or be prepared to forfeit your own…”

Dr. King was against violence of any kind.  I can’t see him agreeing with advocating violence.

And I don’t understand “giving” someone their life….you can’t “give” someone their life.  You can’t give someone self-esteem nor a purpose in life–it has always come from within…from that connection to God (or your Higher Power).

Dr. King knew this…it emanated from him.  He was solidly connected and acted accordingly.   He mentions the overzealous need for material things…and questioned why someone had more than enough while others had to beg for the things they need.

Advocating violence against whites is just as bad as a KKK leader advocating violence against blacks.

I see white faces amongst the black faces in the civil rights protests.  I read a story of a white guy being hosed down and beaten along with the blacks during the civil rights riots.  He nearly had an eye gouged out.

Other whites wrote that they had fought alongside blacks and  then were told they were not welcome anymore.

White folk were right there alongside black folk, and now it seems that part of history is being rewritten.

I know I’ll probably catch hell for writing this, but it is written with an open heart, and not meant to offend, but to question biases and prejudices….and somehow get back to that love that emanated from Dr. King.   Violence, anger, and hatred don’t serve anyone.  Anger is only useful if that energy is used in a positive way.

As a side note~ Dr. King spoke about them keeping Vietnam going when they knew it was wrong.  I happened upon this the other day–and how Kissinger was behind the scenes prolonging the war…because he loved the power and he, Nixon, et al, wanted to “save face”.  They prolonged death of our soldiers, death of Vietnamese so they could keep their reputation intact.  Remember, he had stated that power is an aphrodisiac…it’s as if he thought of himself as some sort of “James Bond”….how disgusting.

The Law and Louisiana Teachers

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This is why I love the law….if it is working properly (i.e., judges apply it fairly), then the “little guy” wins out even when being bullied by those bigger with $$ bank accounts.  Woot.

The PR ads against Teachers and Public Education

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Mercedes Schneider has this up on a billboard blasting Randi Weingarten and teachers  unions (read: public education).  (hat tip to Diane Ravitch)

Note that sleazy Rick Berman is behind this attack ad.

This is what parents have to look forward to, with dictatorships as Charters:

This is a comment signed Concerned Charter Teacher:

I work at Success Academy and thought you might be interested in the following. Just heard that we are planning a pro-charter parent march on October 8th. Our schools are being closed for the morning. Teachers, parents, students, and central office staff are being required to join the march. Other charter schools are joining as well. Several emails from senior leadership make it clear that the event is not optional. It seems very unethical that adults and children are being forced into this political statement, but I don’t know what, if anything, can be done. [Emphasis added.]

 

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Event is not optional.

Thinking is not optional.

Art is not optional.

Music is not optional.

Being a kid is not optional.

 

Republican Mask – Democrat Mask

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Reclaim Reform (Ken Previti) has this up on the Chicago Teachers Union’s new IPO….the solution isn’t with those wearing Democrat or Republican Masks whom are in reality corporate employees…but with us.

God bless Karen Lewis and the CTU.