Social Justice Magazine
The California Faculty Association, which represents the faculty of the nation's largest public university system, released a report today titled: "For-Profit Higher Education and the California State University, A Cautionary Tale." In it, the CFA presents a devastating critique of the "for-profit" direction that Chancellor Charles Reed and the Board of Trustees have taken the CSU system. … [Read more...]
LAUSD has issued more than 9,500 Reduction in Force (RIF) notices to UTLA bargaining unit members, denying educational opportunities to our communities, and shuttering Arts Programs, Adult Education, and Early Childhood Education.The LAUSD school board majority says they they don't have a choice, even though they're spending $2 million to $4 million (the equivalent of 25 to 50 employees) on … [Read more...]
Each morning as I enter the prison-like gates of Gardena High School, I see our dean, Mr. Sieslove with his metal detector in hand, conducting random searches on us as we enter the school. If you were to walk through the hallways of my school, you would see advertisements for football fundraisers, an upcoming dance, or some other mundane school activity. The problem here is that schools like … [Read more...]
Squeezing the Life Out of Children- The Deadly Impact of Testing Protocols Derived from No Child Left Behind and Race the Top When I first started work on this "Educators' Letter to President Obama" early in January, my first thought was all the teachers being demoralized by a campaign of demonization, orchestrated from Washington, that aimed to hold them accountable to student performance on … [Read more...]
The War on Teachers: Why America’s Shrinking Middle Class and Battered Working Class Is Eating Its Own and What Can Be Done About It. All over the nation, teachers are under attack. Politicians of both parties, in every state in the union, have blamed teachers and teachers unions for the nation’s low standing in international tests, and our nation’s inability to create the educated labor … [Read more...]
With the top 1% in full control of education policy and responsible for creating a financial crisis that is defunding our public schools and eliminating essential programs such as Adult Education and Early Childhood Education, we must join together as the 99%. We must take back control of our schools from corporate interests and make those responsible for the financial crisis in this country pay, … [Read more...]
Last week Rick Santorum called the President “a snob” for wanting everyone to get a college education (in fact, Obama never actually called for universal college education but only for a year or more of training after high school).Santorum needn’t worry. America is already making it harder for young people of modest means to attend college. Public higher education is being starved, and … [Read more...]
If you are finding what Superintendent John Deasy is saying about the LAUSD disciplinary process to be something less than factual, now is your chance to have your say, while maintaining you anonymity. Sharon McNary of KPCC is interested in hearing from you and will respect your anonymity, because she understands the justifiable fear of reprisals you might have.If you don't like what has been … [Read more...]
In accepting a Texas case of a white student challenging racial preferences, the United States Supreme Court is again set to reverse decades of court precedents and impose its own conservative agenda.Since President Obama’s election, the Court has ended decades of campaign finance laws, eliminated damage claims in class action employment discrimination cases, promoted … [Read more...]
How Test Mandates and Budget Cuts Result in “Cruel and Unusual Punishment” for the Nation’s Children Yesterday evening, I was at a dinner with a group of activists from Eastern Long Island who shared many disturbing stories about what was going on in local schools. One narrative centered on the consequences of growing poverty -- the fact that a significant minority of students were coming … [Read more...]
After the publication of my first book, in 1983, I went on a lecture tour that had stops in several Northeastern industrial cities. My travels took me to Buffalo, Youngstown, Bridgeport, Newark, Detroit, Trenton, Philadelphia, and Baltimore and since I was speaking about labor history, my hosts always took me on tours of the city’s industrial districts. What I saw sent chills through me.I … [Read more...]
Recently, in a class discussion about youth not having a voice at school, my students gave me an earful about racially disparate discipline policies. They pointed to a culture of disrespect that they believe marginalizes and disfavors outspoken African American students. For many, this culture is rooted in a policing regime that kicks in before they even get to school, buttressed by … [Read more...]
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy wants to present himself as a nice guy who is just doing his difficult job, while having "deep conflict" about what has happened at Miramonte, Telfair, and possibly many other LAUSD schools, instead of being the prime mover in a dysfunctional public education system that is so busy targeting good teachers that it doesn't have the time … [Read more...]
When Barack Obama ascended to the Presidency, he was fired up with a desire to improve America’s schools, which he felt were falling behind those of other advanced countries. He decided to bring “the best minds in the country” in to help them with this task -- CEOs of successful businesses, heads of major foundations, young executives from management consulting firms -- to figure out a … [Read more...]
Growing up, we used a plethora of words to dismiss fools. From two different worlds, my father was from Jalisco, so his sayings were always blander than my mother’s Sonorense expressions, which always seemed franker and more to the point. If you were ugly, they called you el feo. It was the cow culture that reveled in a no bull sh.. mentality. When I messed up badly, I was the pinche güero or … [Read more...]
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