2018 Medley #18

Neglecting our Children and our Future,
Budget Cuts, Testing,
Hiring Non-Educators for Education Positions,
Nominating a Pro-Privatization Judge

NEGLECTING OUR CHILDREN, AND OUR FUTURE

Share of Federal Spending on Children Projected to Shrink, New Report Says

Kids are 25% of our population, 100% of our future, and 9% of federal spending...for now. "Kids' Share" thinks the federal spending number will drop to less than 7%. Yet politicians, especially those who control the pursestrings, don't seem to recognize that there's a relationship between the amount of money we spend on kids and the results we get.

I understand that the budget is tight...and we need support for other public services, but a 27% cut isn't going to improve the care and education our children get.

Meanwhile, "reformers" continue to (wrongly) claim that they can do better than "failing public schools" and drain more money from the public schools.

"Kids' Share" projects that Washington's budget for health, nutrition, tax provisions, and education spending on children will drop from 9.4 percent of the fiscal 2017 budget to 6.9 percent after 10 years, a decline of 27 percent from 2017 levels. The Urban Institute expects spending on elementary and secondary education to dip to $37 billion from $42 billion, and for early-childhood education to drop to $14 billion from $15 billion, after adjusting for inflation.

America is guilty of neglecting kids — our own

As the money set aside for educating America's children lessens, the gap between those children who grow up with enough, and those who don't, widens. Politicians like to claim that the US is "the greatest country in the world." You wouldn't know it by paying attention to how we treat our children.

We're doing nothing less than squandering our future.

“A shockingly high number of children in the U.S. live in poverty,” the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, declared in a scathing report. Almost one-fifth of American children live in poverty, he noted, and they account for more than one-fifth of homeless people.

The High Cost of Education Budget Cuts

The big reason for school cuts from the state? Tax cuts for the wealthy. The poor and middle class are paying their fair share. A caring society – which I understand is not the US – would ask those who can, to pay more.

Most states still invest less in K-12 schools than they did in 2008, despite the fact that enrollment increased by over 1 million students nationwide between 2008 - 2016.

...It’s up to educators to call on their state’s elected leaders to:
1. Stop subsidizing corporations
2. Ask companies to pay their fair share in taxes
3. Raise income tax rates for top earners
4. Eliminate ALL voucher schemes

END TEST AND PUNISH!

Breaking News?: @NAACP Now Opposing High-Stakes Testing!

Two years ago the NAACP called for a moratorium on charter schools. Now they're calling for an end to high-stakes tests. Cheers!

...one-time, [high-stakes] standardized tests may have a disparate impact on students of color, many of whom have not had the benefit of high quality teaching staff (urban school districts have the greatest challenge in attracting and keeping highly qualified teachers), adequate classroom resources, or instruction on the content and skills being tested by the standardized tests. Considering additional measures of student achievement, such as grades and teacher evaluations, adds not only to the fairness of a decision with major consequences for students but also increases the validity of such high stakes decisions.

The Problems of Outcomes-Based School Accountablity

The test and punish plan for public education has failed. The NAACP understands. State governments don't. The average person believes that test scores indicate the quality of a school and that erroneous belief is perpetuated by politicians and pundits.

...underneath any conversation about “failing” schools are lots of realities about segregation—by class and also by race.

Research has documented growing economic inequality and segregation by family income. Sean Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist, used a massive data set to document the consequences of widening economic inequality for children’s outcomes at school. Reardon showed that while in 1970, only 15 percent of families lived in neighborhoods classified as affluent or poor, by 2007, 31 percent of families lived in such neighborhoods. By 2007, fewer families across America lived in mixed income communities. Reardon also demonstrated that along with growing residential inequality is a simultaneous jump in an income-inequality school achievement gap. The achievement gap between the children with income in the top ten percent and the children with income in the bottom ten percent, was 30-40 percent wider among children born in 2001 than those born in 1975, and twice as large as the black-white achievement gap.

NOW HIRING

He has quite the résumé — just not for the powerful schools job he has won

As a nation, we're still hiring people to run school systems who don't know anything about education...people like Arne Duncan, Margaret Spellings, and Betsy DeVos. Los Angeles is following suit, hiring a neo-liberal investment banker to run a K-12 school system with three-quarters of a million students.

When was the last time Beutner stepped into a K-12 classroom? When he was a student? For a photo op? That's not good enough. It's educational malpractice.

He’s got quite the résumé.

Austin Beutner, the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, has been, among other things:

— Clinton administration appointee assigned with helping Russia transform from a centralized to free-market economy
— Successful investment banker
— First deputy mayor of Los Angeles, overseeing 12 city agencies
— Publisher and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune
— Major philanthropist

Now he is chief of the second-largest school district in the country. Experience in the classroom? Zilch. Operational experience in education systems? Nada.

A dig through Kavanaugh’s record on education finds plenty of material

Speaking of hiring...the judge that the President wants to hire for the US Supreme Court is no friend of public education...

National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García said Kavanaugh will be a "rubber stamp" for the agenda of Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, including on school choice issues like vouchers. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said that a Supreme Court nominee “should be fair, independent and committed to protecting the rights, freedoms and legal safeguards that protect every one of us. Judge Kavanaugh does not meet this standard.”

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Listen to This #5 – A True Patriot

Since the 1960s I've noticed that different people have different ideas about patriotism. When I was protesting against the Viet Nam War in the sixties I was struck by the fact that those of us who were trying to get the government to stop the war felt just as patriotic as those who called us "commies" and "traitors." The same differences appear today. It is obvious that the definition of patriotism is not the same for everyone.

In honor of Independence Day, 2018, *here are some quotes about patriotism that align with my definition.

Carl Schurz

My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.

Barbara Ehrenreich

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.

Clarence Darrow

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.

Albert Einstein

I am against any nationalism, even in the guise of mere patriotism. Privileges based on position and property have always seemed to me unjust and pernicious, as did any exaggerated personality cult.

Erich Fromm

Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. "Patriotism" is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that by "patriotism" I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one's own nation, which is the concern with the nation's spiritual as much as with its material welfare—never with its power over other nations. Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one's country which is not part of one's love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship.

Henry Giles

It should be the work of a genuine and noble patriotism to raise the life of the nation to the level of its privileges; to harmonize its general practice with its abstract principles; to reduce to actual facts the ideals of its institutions; to elevate instruction into knowledge; to deepen knowledge into wisdom; to render knowledge and wisdom complete in righteousness; and to make the love of country perfect in the love of man.

Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

Patriotism, not nationalism, should inspire the citizen. The ethnic nationalist who wants a linguistically and culturally uniform nation is akin to the racist who is intolerant toward those who look (and behave) differently. The patriot is a "diversitarian"; he is pleased, indeed proud of the variety within the borders of his country; he looks for loyalty from all citizens. And he looks up and down, not left and right.

George Santayana

A man's feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.

George McGovern

The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one’s country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.

Howard Zinn

If patriotism were defined, not as blind obedience to government, nor as submissive worship to flags and anthems, but rather as love of one's country, one's fellow citizens (all over the world), as loyalty to the principles of justice and democracy, then patriotism would require us to disobey our government, when it violated those principles.

John F. Kennedy

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Jefferson Airplane

We're volunteers of America
Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America

*h/t to blogger Ed Brayton who posted some of these quotes. I liked the idea so much I decided to copy him and add others.

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2018 Medley #17

Flint Fights Lead,
Hope for Lead-poisoned Children,
Out of School Factors,
Preschool Teachers, Teachers Unions,
"Give me your tired, your poor..."

WHY ISN'T PREVENTING LEAD POISONING A NATIONAL GOAL?

Is Flint Michigan’s Water Quality Really Restored?

It's hard to stay focused on education topics when the country is under the stress it now finds itself. When August and September roll around, however, no matter what's happening with the nation's immigration crisis, with the Supreme Court, or with the investigation into possible treasonous activity on the part of the President's political campaign, the nation's schools will fill once again and teachers will try to ease the stress on their students with the healing power of routine, curiosity, and study.

Yet some children, including those from Flint, Michigan, will go back to school with their blood contaminated by lead. Despite the claims of the politicians, lead is still an issue in Flint (and elsewhere). The repair of the water lines responsible for contaminating the bodies of school children is actually causing the condition to worsen.

In addition, the State of Michigan is allowing Nestlé to pump millions of gallons of water from the Great Lakes in order to bottle and sell it. Nestlé is "giving" a few thousand gallons back to the people of Flint. According to the interview below, Nestlé is donating less water than they drain from the lakes in an hour per week back to the people of Flint – the same lakes which should be providing the clean water to the city's residents. Most residents are having to buy water and pay their water bills. The "donation" from Nestlé is barely a supplement.

NAYYIRAH SHARIFF: Well, the water is not safe to drink. And while they are replacing the lead service lines, because of just the, the vibrations from that, it’s reintroducing lead particles into the system. So the water will not be safe to drink until after the lead service lines are replaced. But I will say a larger picture is there are a lot of things like lead that’s in our water that the state is refusing to act on.

EDDIE CONWAY: OK. So since they stopped distributing the water bottles, what are the citizens doing there for safe water?

NAYYIRAH SHARIFF: Well, people are going back and buying water. There are still some small donations from people. And I would say one of the, one of the more unfortunate consequences from this is it’s given a chance for Nestlé, who’s paying, like, $200 a year to pump 500 gallons a minute from our Great Lakes, they’re donating 100000 bottles of water a week to Flint. So that’s like one bottle per person.

EDDIE CONWAY: OK. So you’re saying it’s a PR boon for Nestlé, who’s stealing a large amount of water out of the lake, and giving you all a bottle apiece a day? Is that what you’re saying?

NAYYIRAH SHARIFF: Yes. Nestlé is donating 100000 bottles of water a week to Flint residents. And while people are desperate and they’re using that water, this is just a PR move for Nestlé.

HOPE

Lead hurts kids, including their ability to learn. But new research shows cities can help.

A new study shows that the effects of lead poisoning in children can be ameliorated somewhat, but it will cost money.

Now, a new study says there’s a lot that can be done about it — even for kids who have already been exposed to the chemical, which was common in paint until the late 1970s. Straightforward efforts, like making sure kids get nutritional help and aren’t exposed to any more lead, can boost student learning and cause substantial decreases in suspensions, absences, and crime rates.

Politicians and pundits should take note. Environmental toxins such as lead are just one of the factors outside of school which contribute to low achievement.

The research underscores how factors outside schools’ control can profoundly influence academic outcomes.

From Reliability and Validity of Inferences About Teachers
Based on Student Test Scores by Edward Haertel

ON BEING SELFISH AND CHEAP

When preschool teachers can’t afford care for their own children

You might have heard politicians go on and on about how they agree that early childhood education is important, yet when it comes to paying for it they're more interested in making sure that taxes are insufficient due to tax breaks for their donors. Meanwhile, the tax burden of Americans is one of the lowest in the developed world...

You get what you pay for.

Low wages and poor working conditions undermine the quality of early education experiences, which hinge on positive adult-child interactions. When teachers are worried about their ability to put food on the table, pay their bills or take care of a sick child, they are understandably less able to focus on the needs of the children in their care and to provide the intentional interactions so critical to child development.

The result is high turnover rates and difficulty retaining the most qualified educators. In turn, this creates instability for young children, who crave routine, and decreases the likelihood that children will reap the long-term benefits that come from attendance at a high-quality preschool staffed by experienced, highly skilled educators.

CORPORATE REFORM SCORES A WIN OVER UNIONS

Michigan-based Mackinac Center’s Campaign to Kill Unions in Other States

Corporate America received a win last week when the US Supreme Court overruled the case for unions collecting fees for services they are required by law to provide all employees in their bargaining unit. The ruling has two serious results. First, it has legitimized freeloaders who pay nothing to support those who work to improve their working conditions, and second, it has energized anti-union forces around the nation.

On June 27, 2018, in Janus V. AFSCME, the US Supreme Court ruled 5 – 4 that nonunion workers cannot be forced to pay “fair share” fees when union advocacy results in a benefit to nonunion members.

The extreme-right-wing Mackinac Center for Public Policy is using the Janus decision to actively campaign for the fiscal crippling of unions by targeting emails to organizations such as school districts in order to try to get union members to “opt out” of union membership.

Betsy DeVos Conquers the World: The Global Education Reform Movement (GERM)

Here's a companion piece to the story above about union busting by the US Supreme Court. Busting unions is just one part of the Global Education Reform Movement, or GERM, and it's an international affliction.

The National Education Union in the UK sums it up well. Here is what GERM does to schools in countries around the world:

• Threatens the teaching profession by prioritizing and imposing a business model on education.
• Emphasizes competition between schools and teachers, using high-stakes testing.
• Gives performance rewards.
• Aims to produce a narrowly educated workforce, which can read instructions and advertisements but is discouraged from thinking critically about the world.
• Attacks teachers’ unions.
• Views education as an opportunity to maximise human capital.
• Abandons education’s role to create cultural good and social cohesion.
• Takes education out of the hands of those who own it, teachers, students, parents, and the public, to develop a commodity which can be traded globally.
• Creates a service sector which is open to trade and investors.
• Education becomes about profit not people.
• There’s an emphasis on education technology for capital.
• Breaks good school systems into academies, free schools, or in America, charter and voucher schools.
• Creates a national pay framework.
• Relies on performance related pay—think social impact bonds.
• Privatizes educational services.

GERM affects all schools—everywhere.

IMMIGRATION LAW HISTORY

A Brief History of U.S. Immigration Law

We all owe it to ourselves to understand where the United States has been with our immigration laws in order to understand where we are now.

...our immigration laws have increasingly become more strict, with a growing focus on controlling undocumented immigration. How these laws are interpreted and implemented is determined for the most part by court rulings when the government and its agencies are sued on behalf of immigrants (class action suits). When a ruling is made on a class action case, that ruling then becomes national policy.

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