When Does Obstruction Become Treason?
Why Won’t Americans Just Read the Constitution? Recently, Bill Maher and Michael Moore rightly criticized Congressional Republicans for their relentless obstruction of government. Plenty of liberal bloggers and their followers jumped on the bandwagon. But they all went too far in calling it treason. Republicans have tripped over each other to obstruct every budget proposal, jobs bill, issue, policy, effort, nomination, and idea that President Obama has proposed since the day of his first inauguration. In 2010, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, at a Heritage Foundation event, that denying President Obama a second term was the GOP’S top…
Tea Party Protests We Can Believe In
On this Monday, April 15th, we will enjoy both the benefits and detriments of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution which has permitted income taxation by Congress for the last 100 years. Also on this day in all 50 states, “grass roots” tax protests of varying authenticity will occur outside post offices, government buildings and town squares as tens of thousands bemoan the annual freedom killing duty that is the timely filing of our returns. Notwithstanding that these protest folks are in apoplexy over the lowest marginal tax rates since Reagan, that the last GOP POTUS turned a $200 billion…
Standardized Testing: More Harm Than Good
Early in 2013, Seattle high school teachers boycotted their annual standardized test. This brave and necessary move has reignited public debate about the place of standardized testing. School reform has gone back and forth for over a century and a half, between the 19th century, Prussian military-industrial model to Dewey’s individualized, “special snowflake” philosophy and back again to factory- and business-preparedness treatment of children. Because neoliberalism is the winning philosophy at the moment, the worth of schools is tied to how well they can churn out identical cogs to plug in to the economic machine. Schools around the country have…
Tax Payers Fund For-Profit Charter Schools as They Fail Miserably
Paolo Friere, in “Pedagogy of the Oppressed“, shows us the view of education as liberating and empowering, as a dialogue between teacher and students, and creating community through collaboration and empathy. K12 Inc., a for-profit, public online school, shows us the view of education where public school districts are ‘liberated’ from their tax dollars for the phenomenal return of under performing students and underpaid, non-certified teachers. The private venture capital model of return on investment and maximizing profits holds empowering students toward greater insights and performance as the least important component of their model. And until recently they have been able to convince…
So Hopelessly Dumb
The traditional learning process implemented in many schools is largely a lie. Partially out of necessity, and partially out of fear of change, the American education system continues to adhere to the egg-crate mentality of teaching. Students continue to be grouped arbitrarily by age rather than ability, even though learner readiness can be easily assessed. Plus, subjects are still mostly taught in isolation, rather than in tandem. Worst of all, knowledge continues to be taught as a series of discreet skill sets with clear beginnings and ends. In essence, schools today are run as if learning is nothing more than…
Perpetual Volunteers: Teachers Should Not Be Expected To Work For Free
I saw a “job announcement” last week for someone to teach after-school classes. It touted the “opportunity” to plan lessons and run classes (and of course it would also include classroom management, material preparations, and parent relations). In all ways, it appeared to be a posting for a part-time teaching job. The kicker? The job was completely volunteer! I’m all for volunteerism, but when the volunteer “opportunity” looks EXACTLY like a highly-skilled day job, it starts to cross into insulting territory. For what other profession is this acceptable? “Looking to give a surgeon the opportunity to perform brain surgery several…
Police in Schools is Not the Answer
The January 2013 policy brief issued by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Advancement Project, Dignity in Schools Campaign, and the Alliance for Education Justice gives us the following, well researched, case against more police in schools as an answer to the Newton shooting. The brief also provides more measured solutions to violence in our communities.
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