Dear New TFA recruits in Chicago,
Can we talk about your teaching plans, as if you came to my office, as do lots of students and college grads thinking about becoming a teacher?
Category: Education
Liberals, ideology, and Teach for America (TFA)
Liberals have taken way too long to understand that the bipartisan educational agenda, which started with the so-called “excellence” reforms in the 1990’s, has done harm.
Heartbreak and class warfare, Chicago-style
I’d be heart-broken by the layoffs announced by the Chicago Public Schools, (CPS) even if my pal Xian Barrett (in the photo, talking teaching with me at the DC Save Our Schools demo last April) weren’t one of the folks given a pink slip.
A reply to Herman Benson: The Chicago Teachers Union is a different kind of labor union
The exchange between Herman Benson and Dan La Botz highlights one, if not the primary, issue that has to be resolved if we are to turn back the tidal wave of anti-union and anti-democratic policies that have transformed the nation’s social and political landscape. I think both Herman and Dan would agree that we need a revived labor movement. But what will drive the revival? And what form should it take?
Randi Weingarten – my union president, not my bff
Diane Ravitch has been a powerful voice for US teachers against the Billionaire Boys Club, who have carried out a program of social engineering that has devastated our schools. Ravitch is a friend of public education, a friend of the social movement trying to push back these terrible "deforms." This distinction is one Ravitch misses when she defends her personal pal, Randi Weingarten, who is coming under intense pressure for supporting the Common Core, a national curriculum that is gener
review
No Movement, No Justice!
Most of the current literature on the international education crisis gives little to no big-picture context for planning a fight back. Given the parochial view of most popular education authors, many earnest, well-intentioned proposals for fight back are written within parameters the ruling class tolerates.
Union "reform" or reform?
In These Times describes reformers winning elections in two key teachers unions, Washington DC and Newark NJ. While the change in the DC local shows members’ dissatisfaction, that’s nothing new in the local, which for many years has been riven by competing cliques and individuals vying for power. In contrast, the caucus that provided the organizational backbone for the Read more ›
Positive winds of change in Newark NJ public schools
A reform caucus in the Newark Teachers Union (NTU) made remarkable gains in the union election that ended on Friday. Out of about 3,000 members eligible to vote, 1,200 NTU members cast their ballots. (Sadly, that proportion is about par for US unions.) The New Visions candidate for President lost by only 9 votes to the long-time chief, Joe Del Grosso, who will now serve his 10th two-year term.
Chicago teachers again lead the way: Union reformers are re-elected
Hats off – again – to Chicago’s smart, courageous teachers and the union leadership they’ve re-elected, from the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), including Karen Lewis as Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) president.
Greek children starve – and teachers are blamed for the crisis
The union representing Greek secondary school teachers has asked for messages of support. The Greek government has banned its strike and other public employee unions have come out in support of the teachers. Mary Compton’s newly-reconfigured website about teachers’ global resistance to neoliberalism’s destruction of public education has the information about the strike and how/where to send messages of support.
Mexican Teachers Rebel Against Government's Educational Reform
Mexican teachers, particularly in the south of the country, have joined a regional rebellion of rank-and-file teachers that erupted in violence in late April. In the state of Guerrero the offices of all three major political parties were vandalized and set afire to protest their support for the educational reform passed by congress and the states over the last five months. At the same time there have been marches and demonstrations in several other states, and there are plans afoot to strike indefinitely beginning on May 1.
Yoo hoo to the AFT and NEA: Support the Garfield teachers, for real
Teachers at Garfield HS in Seattle, Washington are re-launching the MAP test boycott of the spring test with a press conference at which they will announce important developments. Garfield teachers are concerned that because evaluations are directly tied to the spring version of the test, the district will not give the same leeway for their boycott this spring.
Students fighting for their future – and ours – in Santiago, Newark, Chicago
Student protests in defense of public education as a right are spreading across the globe. The courage young people are showing is remarkable, as they confront governments who do the bidding of bankers while pretending to put “students first.” Student protests in Chile have resumed, with between 80,000 – 150,000 young people taking to the streets in Santiago, to demand free public education.
The Indiana University Student Strike
The Indiana University (IU) student strike of April 11-12, 2013, was an important milestone in new student activism.
How to understand that "fawning interview" with Bill Gates – look to the World Bank
In her informative blog, Diane Ravitch refers, correctly,to a “fawning interview” with Bill Gates. I think we have to move beyond these visceral reactions to understand why this is occurring. And to do that, we have to look at the international picture. I’ve been told that when I discuss this international picture, it sounds like I’m describing a “conspiracy.” Heavens no! Conspiracies are secret, and this is a public project.
Teachers are guilty of "labour terrorism"?
Teachers are guilty of “labour terrorism”? Sounds too ridiculous to take seriously?
Towards meaningful solidarity? Union democracy too?
As readers of New Politics and/or my new book probably know, I’m not bashful about criticizing the politics and policies of the international confederation of teachers unions, the Education International (EI). So what does it mean that the EI has just published my blog about what EI should be doing – but isn’t?
Notes on teacher unionism in the UK – same struggle as here
Preamble: Last weekend I spoke at the annual conference of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in Liverpool, the UK’s largest teachers union. Largest in Europe too, I think. (NUT – correct me if I’m wrong, please.)
Timing of the Chicago School closings?
Rahm Emanuel has timed these school closings to frighten Chicago teachers, to punish them for their successful challenge to the rich and powerful who control Chicago’s schools, to make Chicago teachers doubt their strength — and to sway the upcoming union election.
Rebutting David Greenberg's Hit Job on Howard Zinn
The March 25 issue of The New Republic offers a lengthy piece by Rutgers professor David Greenberg, “Agit-Prof: Howard Zinn’s Influential Mutilations of American History.” The essay presented as a review of Martin Duberman’s Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left (2012) [read the review by Ron Briley, the book editor of History News Network (HNN), hereRead more ›
Mexican Teachers Union Leader Jailed For Stealing Union Funds
In a major event that will have a serious impact on Mexican politics and labor unions, Elba Esther Gordillo, who for more than twenty-five years has led the Mexican Teachers Union (el SNTE), was arrested on Feb. 26 on the charge of embezzling millions of dollars in union funds which she reportedly deposited in banks in Europe and spent on real estate.
