Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
An Open Challenge to Michelle Rhee and the Corporate Education Zombies | Common Dreams
An Open Challenge to Michelle Rhee and the Corporate Education Zombies | Common Dreams
"Rhee, the prominent corporate education reform advocate, former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor, and CEO of the ironically-named “Students First” organization, now has Seattle in her crosshairs. In her March 5thop-ed for the Seattle Times, Rhee berated teachers at Garfield and other Seattle schools for their boycott of the district required MAP test."
"Rhee, the prominent corporate education reform advocate, former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor, and CEO of the ironically-named “Students First” organization, now has Seattle in her crosshairs. In her March 5thop-ed for the Seattle Times, Rhee berated teachers at Garfield and other Seattle schools for their boycott of the district required MAP test."
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Who Profits from Teacher Testing? Murdoch, That's Who
Who Profits from Teacher Testing? Murdoch, That's Who
"In previous news stories discussing education reform, the Journal has disclosed its financial connection to News Corp. and Wireless Generation. In a May story on education standards, the Journal wrote about "Wireless Generation, an education-technology company owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal." In a January story on the "Race to the Top" education program, they made a similar disclosure. But the paper has not disclosed the contracts with Chicago Public Schools in their coverage of the strike."
"In previous news stories discussing education reform, the Journal has disclosed its financial connection to News Corp. and Wireless Generation. In a May story on education standards, the Journal wrote about "Wireless Generation, an education-technology company owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal." In a January story on the "Race to the Top" education program, they made a similar disclosure. But the paper has not disclosed the contracts with Chicago Public Schools in their coverage of the strike."
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The Right-Wing Machine Behind ‘School Choice’ - In These Times
The Right-Wing Machine Behind ‘School Choice’ - In These Times
"Even before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United ruling deregulated campaign finance and unleashed millions in political donations, concentrated wealth has played a role in politics. Now in the limelight for its attacks on unions and the exposure of 800 model bills and documents, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has produced model bills favorable to its corporate and right-wing funders behind closed doors for decades (as In These Times uncovered in 2011)– including school vouchers and tax credit bills.
"Even before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United ruling deregulated campaign finance and unleashed millions in political donations, concentrated wealth has played a role in politics. Now in the limelight for its attacks on unions and the exposure of 800 model bills and documents, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has produced model bills favorable to its corporate and right-wing funders behind closed doors for decades (as In These Times uncovered in 2011)– including school vouchers and tax credit bills.
This concentrated wealth is reaching into America's classrooms state by state, promoting the transfer of public funds to private education through vouchers that allow parents to pay for tuition at private schools with public money. Promoting “school choice” through privately run charter schools doesn’t go far enough for these billionaires. Today, “private school choice” programs, as vouchers are called in theannual report of the Alliance for School Choice, are in place in 13 states and the District of Columbia. In 2011, a year when states across the nation slashed their education budgets, 41 states introduced 145 pieces of private school choice legislation."
Funding Teachers Doesn't Get Embassies Attacked
Funding Teachers Doesn't Get Embassies Attacked
"We're not out of money. We've stopped taxing billionaires and corporations, and we're funding war-preparation so generously that we're sparking a global arms race that will eventually generate some enemies with which to justify the war preparation . . . which will make sense to students who were never taught to put events into chronological order. They couldn't be taught that because their teachers had to be laid off so that greedy billionaires could stuff a little more cash into their fat "Job Creator" tote bags.
"We're not out of money. We've stopped taxing billionaires and corporations, and we're funding war-preparation so generously that we're sparking a global arms race that will eventually generate some enemies with which to justify the war preparation . . . which will make sense to students who were never taught to put events into chronological order. They couldn't be taught that because their teachers had to be laid off so that greedy billionaires could stuff a little more cash into their fat "Job Creator" tote bags.
Funding teachers doesn't destroy our environment, erode our civil liberties, hollow out our economy, antagonize the world, or kill anyone. Funding teachers doesn't get our embassies attacked in nations we've "liberated" and leave our Secretary of State wondering out loud how someone could attack our embassy in a city we'd rescued -- forgetting that we'd rescued it with heavy bombing on behalf of an ad hoc coalition of rebels, religious nuts, terrorists, racists, child soldiers, former enemies from Iraq, former allies turned enemies from Afghanistan, and CIA stooges. Funding teachers could actually help us develop a society of people with something better to do than attack each other's primitive superstitions."
Saturday, September 15, 2012
This week in the War on Workers: After the strike, we still need to fight for Chicago public schools
This week in the War on Workers: After the strike, we still need to fight for Chicago public schools
"Chicago teachers have a tentative deal and may be headed back to work on Monday. But the schools they teach in still have a lot of problems, and there are still a lot of powerful people determined to blame teachers for those problems. That makes it important to keep listening to teachers and students and parents when they talk about the problems they see and the solutions they want."
"Chicago teachers have a tentative deal and may be headed back to work on Monday. But the schools they teach in still have a lot of problems, and there are still a lot of powerful people determined to blame teachers for those problems. That makes it important to keep listening to teachers and students and parents when they talk about the problems they see and the solutions they want."
Friday, September 14, 2012
DeMint Likens Teachers Striking In Chicago To ‘Thugs’ In The Middle East
DeMint Likens Teachers Striking In Chicago To ‘Thugs’ In The Middle East: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) jokingly compared the teachers strike in Chicago to the unrest in the Middle East during a speech at the Values Voters summit Friday morning. “You know, we had a lot of bad news this week,” DeMint began. “On my way over, I was reading another story about a distant place where [...]/p
Two Visions for Chicago’s Schools | Common Dreams
Two Visions for Chicago’s Schools | Common Dreams
"According to most news reports, the teachers in Chicago are striking because they are lazy and greedy. Or they are striking because of a personality clash between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and union president Karen Lewis. Or because this is the last gasp of a dying union movement. Or because Emanuel wants a longer school day, and the teachers oppose it. None of this is true. All reports agree that the two sides are close to agreement on compensation issues—it is not money that drove them apart. Last spring the union and the school board agreed to a longer school day, so that is not the issue either. The strike is a clash of two very different visions about what is needed to transform the schools of Chicago—and the nation."
"According to most news reports, the teachers in Chicago are striking because they are lazy and greedy. Or they are striking because of a personality clash between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and union president Karen Lewis. Or because this is the last gasp of a dying union movement. Or because Emanuel wants a longer school day, and the teachers oppose it. None of this is true. All reports agree that the two sides are close to agreement on compensation issues—it is not money that drove them apart. Last spring the union and the school board agreed to a longer school day, so that is not the issue either. The strike is a clash of two very different visions about what is needed to transform the schools of Chicago—and the nation."
The Right Wing Plan To Dismantle Public Schools Is Working
The Right Wing Plan To Dismantle Public Schools Is Working
"They couldn't be any clearer about their agenda: They want to destroy teachers unions and the public school system. This is what the Chicago strike is about. Stand up for public education. Stop falling for the right-wing spin."
"They couldn't be any clearer about their agenda: They want to destroy teachers unions and the public school system. This is what the Chicago strike is about. Stand up for public education. Stop falling for the right-wing spin."
On the Significance of the Chicago Teachers Strike: Bearing Witness to, and Challenging Democracy's Demise
On the Significance of the Chicago Teachers Strike: Bearing Witness to, and Challenging Democracy's Demise
"What the world witnessed in Chicago as thousands of teachers, staff and support personnel went on strike was the emergence of a revolutionary ideal.
"What the world witnessed in Chicago as thousands of teachers, staff and support personnel went on strike was the emergence of a revolutionary ideal.
This is an ideal rooted in the promise of democracy - one that challenges corrupt neo-liberal practices, such as giving corporations and markets the right to define the purpose and meaning of public education; opposes policies that systemically defund public education by shifting the burden of low tax rates for the rich, and the cost of bloated military expenditures, to teachers and other public servants; and refuses to support educational reforms that debase educational leadership and teaching in order to undermine public education as a bulwark of democracy."
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Teachers Have No Friends Among the Journalistic Elite | Common Dreams
Teachers Have No Friends Among the Journalistic Elite | Common Dreams
"If union bashing is supposed to be about what's good for the children, I think people need to think a little bit more deeply about what this really means."
"If union bashing is supposed to be about what's good for the children, I think people need to think a little bit more deeply about what this really means."
5 Liberal Pundits Repeating Right-Wing Teacher-Bashing Talking Points | Alternet
5 Liberal Pundits Repeating Right-Wing Teacher-Bashing Talking Points | Alternet
"Chicago's teacher strike may turn out to be the most important one in a generation, as teachers stand up to a corporate-backed education reform regime that stresses testing and firing teachers as a form of “accountability” while continuing to refuse to invest real money in making educational opportunities equal for all students. "
"Chicago's teacher strike may turn out to be the most important one in a generation, as teachers stand up to a corporate-backed education reform regime that stresses testing and firing teachers as a form of “accountability” while continuing to refuse to invest real money in making educational opportunities equal for all students. "
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Rahm Shortchanges Public Schools, Showers Charters With Cash
Rahm Shortchanges Public Schools, Showers Charters With Cash
"Matt Farmer on Huffington Post with a story that's a illustrative of the kinds of issues Chicago teachers are striking over: how Rahm Emanuel is siphoning off the money from public schools and giving it to the politically-connected, for-profit "reformers" -- while public schools have inadequate resources, overcrowded classrooms and leaky roofs. He's also willing to switch out the bulk of the Chicago public schools for a system that we already know isn't any better, because it benefits the political and financial agenda of his corporate cronies:"
"Matt Farmer on Huffington Post with a story that's a illustrative of the kinds of issues Chicago teachers are striking over: how Rahm Emanuel is siphoning off the money from public schools and giving it to the politically-connected, for-profit "reformers" -- while public schools have inadequate resources, overcrowded classrooms and leaky roofs. He's also willing to switch out the bulk of the Chicago public schools for a system that we already know isn't any better, because it benefits the political and financial agenda of his corporate cronies:"
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Going To School In Chicago: High Poverty, Short School Days, Crumbling Buildings
Going To School In Chicago: High Poverty, Short School Days, Crumbling Buildings: Chicago’s public school teachers were on strike for a second day today, continuing a standoff with the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel (D). Negotiations stalled over a handful of issues, including teacher evaluations, the funding of charter schools, and class sizes. Meanwhile, some 350,000 students are left missing time in the classroom. And a look at [...]/p
Chicago Teachers Swiftboated by For-Profit Charter School Operator
Chicago Teachers Swiftboated by For-Profit Charter School Operator
"As Susie wrote yesterday, Chicago teachers are on strike. The right wing is already jumping on this as another excuse to claim that teachers are greedy people who just want to be lazy while milking the system.
"As Susie wrote yesterday, Chicago teachers are on strike. The right wing is already jumping on this as another excuse to claim that teachers are greedy people who just want to be lazy while milking the system.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. What is happening in Chicago has been brewing for a very, very long time, and it's not about what teachers are paid, though the prevailing wisdom about that is wrong, too.
Chicago teachers are striking to prevent a corporate takeover of public education. The line is drawn right here. This is not about pay but it is about job security. It is about children, and the right of every child in this nation to receive an education without corporate influence."
Monday, September 10, 2012
Why We're Striking in Chicago | Common Dreams
Why We're Striking in Chicago | Common Dreams
"We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. We stand with those who have already declared they too are prepared to strike, in the best interests of their students."
"We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. We stand with those who have already declared they too are prepared to strike, in the best interests of their students."
Chicago Teachers Take Stand Against Corporate Education Reform | Common Dreams
Chicago Teachers Take Stand Against Corporate Education Reform | Common Dreams
"Embattled Democratic Mayor Rahm Emmanuel called the teachers' action "a strike of choice," but opponents of the mayor's corporate education reform agenda respond by saying that the policies proposed are simply destroying public education in the city and, because of Chicago's connection to President Obama, the impact of the resistance to such measures has national implications."
"Embattled Democratic Mayor Rahm Emmanuel called the teachers' action "a strike of choice," but opponents of the mayor's corporate education reform agenda respond by saying that the policies proposed are simply destroying public education in the city and, because of Chicago's connection to President Obama, the impact of the resistance to such measures has national implications."
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