Good Bye Democracy?

I’m posting this video because it seems to have been pulled down a few times.  I first saw it on Fred Klonsky’s PREA Prez Post entitled, Shocking video! McBush’s USA: This is what democracy looks like. and kept getting the message that the video was no longer available. There was a ping back from JD2718, so I clicked on his link.  I thought I’d post it as well, just in case there are any future “glitches”.

It’s funny, because when I tried to submit it to DIGG, I received a message that my computer system almost crashed.

Funny thing about those Republican videos.

Maybe you would like to post it too…

Praying for Rain

Click below to read a post that contains a video of Conservative Christian wing-nut Stuart Shepard encouraging people to pray for rain during the Democratic Convention.

The author of the post makes an interesting point.  It did rain - in fact it rained in bibical proportions - during the Republican Convention.

Click here to read Evangelical FAIL from TYWKIWDBI

Tough Guy Joel Klein

What a load of bull crap.

According to ABC News Australia, Joel Klein is an educator who’s not afraid “to sack an entire teaching staff” when the school doesn’t perform. 

Klein told interviewers, “I’ve shut down 70 schools, brought in a new principal who selected a new team and they are operating in a more effective way,” he said.

“We had high schools that had a 30 per cent graduation rate, I shut those schools down and replaced them with smaller high schools in the same building and some of those schools now have a 70 or 80 per cent graduation rate.”

What planet does this guy live on?  Apparently, he had to go to Australia to get anyone to buy into his b.s.

Click here to read the revolting post, NY schools boss backs move to sack under-performing teachers. 

Have a vomit bag handy.

Teacher Bashing is Global

Sadly, the anti-teacher sentiment is not limited to the United States.

This is an excerpt from a post entitled, “Teacher bashing, as easy as a b and c” found on Larvatus Prodeo, an Australian group blog:

“The latest dumb suggestion from Australia’s favourite prefect, Julie Bishop, is for university graduates to start teaching in schools without any educational qualifications.

I have no idea which particular educational problem or moral panic this is meant to be a solution to.

It couldn’t be the shortage of trained maths/science teachers, because doing a two year postgrad qual in education isn’t the deterrent, it’s the crummy salaries.”

Sound familiar?

Click here to read more

Is Teach For America Part of A Global Phenomenon?

Well, in the global age, isn’t everything?

Click here to read a post by Lois Weiner, educator, author, and researcher about Teach for America and the global trend that it represents for teachers, public schools, unions, and working people around the world.

Uh-Oh…Klein’s Calling Bloggers

Apparently, overseeing the start of the school year for over one million New York City children, many of whom are at risk, is not keeping Chancellor Joel Klein busy enough.  While the word is sent to principals to keep teachers busy every second of the staff development days in preparation of the new school year, Klein has found the time to call a blogger who has criticized him.

Talk about having free time.  Most teachers can’t even find a few minutes to set up their classrooms.

Doesn’t he have better things to do like build more charter schools?

Read Klein Calls Blogger to Respond to Criticism in The New York Times.

Deemed Unfit in Michelle Rhee’s “Final Solution”

EdNotes has posted an email that he received concerning a dedicated and well respected DC teacher who was removed from his position at Woodrow Wilson High School.  Dr. Art Siebens is an 18 year veteran who has been removed during a “Restructuring” of the school.  Siebens was one of several teachers who were informed by the Wilson Local School Restructuring Team (LSRT) that they were deemed to not “fit in with the restructuring plan”.

Read more at Ed Notes.

If Teachers are Saints, Why Doesn’t Anyone Listen to Us?

I had a conversation yesterday with a friend about Elizabeth Logan, a teacher who stole a first-grader’s coat and sold it on Ebay. The judge told Logan that she should have known better because she is a teacher. My friend agreed. She said that teachers should be held to higher standards and should have a higher moral code than others. My response was simple- get a clue.

In his book Values in English Language Teaching, Bill Johnston argues that it is impossible to teach without interference from one’s value. He contends that teachers cannot deal with the issues the arise in the classroom without assessing those issues in relation to their personal values. And let’s face it, sometimes, teachers lack values. Sometimes, teachers have values that are not aligned with a moral or honorable code. In the same way that doctors, lawyers, CEO’s, police officers can go to the dark side, teachers are not immune to bad behavior. But why is it that teachers are held to a higher standard? Should we hold all members of society to the same standard? Why do we look the other way when anyone but a teacher drops the moral ball?

AVIW wrote in her post Why We look to Teachers to Solve Our Problems, “I fully recognize that teachers are not saints. We too have our scandals. Unfortunately, however, society has decided to canonize us…” and I could not have put it better.

But what disturbs me more about my friend’s way of thinking is that given a choice between two stories- one from a teacher and one, say from a student, why is it that students win? If teachers are such saints, why is it that no one listens to us? Why doesn’t anyone care about our ideas regarding education reform? Why is it that when politicians seek to “better” education they never ask teachers? Charlie Rose, in July, featured an Education Series with six days of interviews attempting to find solutions to solving the Education Problem. Teachers were only interviewed on one day. They were not present when Michell Rhee, Wendy Kopp, or Joel Klein spouted misrepresentations and incoherent jargon about how to better education.

This is the real problem. This is the problem with making teachers into saints. This is the problem with judges who tell teachers that they should know better not because they are adults, but because they are teachers. Teachers don’t know anything about their jobs or their field. But they should know everything about morals, values, and more. And as a society, we would rather listen to politicians and self-serving, so-called do-gooders.

———–
To purchase the beautiful and powerful tote bag, visit our store.

American Politics Are Affecting Our Health

Let’s show this one to those who wish us to believe that the American Health Care System is so much better than in Europe and that by providing socialized care for all Americans, this superior health care will drop. 

According to Social Science Quarterly, Americans have stopped growing.  Apparently, Americans used to be the tallest in the world, but have been falling behind our European counterparts since World War II. Americans are now between two and six centimeters shorter than Europeans.

Researchers could not understand the reason for this decrease.  There is a well known correlation, according to the article, between wealth and height.  Apparently, Eastern Europeans have grown significantly since the fall of communism.  Yet America is supposed to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and we are falling behind.

A report from Princeton University concludes that “the spotty US health-care system and weak welfare net could explain why Americans have stopped growing”

“We surmise that the health systems and high degree of social security in Europe provide better conditions for growth than the American health system, despite the fact that the system costs twice as much,” said study co-author John Komlos from the University of Munich in a statement. “There are also indications that American diets are deficient in several areas.”

Now, I can’t but wonder if our wonderful genetically modified food might have something to do with this.  Europeans have been resisting the incorporation of GMOs and many groups have been fighting for stricter identification of food that contains GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

 Europeans have also been resisting the bullying efforts of biotech company Monsanto, who have been attempting to weaken laws that protect consumers.  Monsanto has been accused of a skew of corporate attrocities and according to Source Watch, have come to represent “the greed, arrogance, scandal and hardball business practices of too many multinational corporations.”

These atrocities include global pollution, development of the infamous “suicide seeds”, attempts to bully organic farmers, manufacture of napalm and Agent Orange, and a skew of others.

Monsanto appears to have strong connections to the Bush Regime.  Under the regime’s “restructuring” in Iraq,  Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to “save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years” but will now be forced to purchase their seeds from, you guessed it, Monsanto.

And since I can’t resist a Teach for America reference, Monsanto has recently awarded TFA with a million dollars to train Math and Science teachers.  Perhaps Monsanto hopes to see more influence in education that reflects a “sympathy” for their corporate philosophy.

So, it seems that not only are American pocket books and test scores shrinking, but our height is shrinking as well.

If we allow these practices to continue, I will have to believe that our IQ’s are also on the decline.

What is Hell?

I’m so sorry that I will not be there to join my fellow New York City teachers in their two glorious days of staff development.  OK, I’m lying.  Still, my sympathies are with all of you.

Since my last joke completely tanked, I thought I’d take a stab at another one.

(If this one dives I’m giving up the jokes completely)

Here goes:

A beloved teacher passes away after a long and fruitful life and finds herself in heaven.

When she gets there, Saint Peter is at the Pearly Gates.  He explains that he is going to take her on a tour of the residential neighborhoods in heaven.

They approach the first neighborhood and the teacher is awed - beautiful houses line perfectly manicured, spacious lawns. 

“Who lives here?” the teacher asks. 

“This is where the doctors live,”explains Saint Peter. “Doctors help many, many people on Earth, so when they pass away they live here.”

They then walk a little further to an even better neighborhood.  The houses are twice as large and the landscape is breathtaking.

“Wow,” the teacher remarks.  “Who lives here?”

“This is where the social workers live,” Saint Peter explains.  “Social workers help many, many people-and they get paid very little for their efforts.  So, when social workers pass away, they live here.”

Finally, they walk a bit further and see an area that the teacher has only seen on television shows like “LifeStyles of the Rich and Famous”.  Huge mansions tower from behind gated shrubbery.  On closer examination, the teacher sees that each house has a pool and tennis court.

She let’s out a low whistle. “Who the heck lives here?”

Saint Peter smiles.  “This is where the teachers live.  Teachers help thousands of people when they’re alive.  They get paid very little to do so and are blamed for every problem in society.”

The teacher looks a bit closer at the neighborhood and becomes puzzled.  There don’t seem to be any people around. 

 ”Saint Peter,” she asks.  “Where are all the teachers?”

“Don’t worry,” Saint Peter reassures her.  “They’ll be back soon.  They’re all in hell right now… in Staff Development.”

Good luck everyone!

I really think I need to lay off the jokes.  After all, staff development is no laughing matter.