Why Are Things As They Are?

Dear Friends,

The education resistance continues to rise along with predictable counterattacks  Let’s cut right to it this week,

The Education Agenda is a War Agenda and the War Agenda is an Education Agenda:

Sit-in Against Cuts at Fresno State: “Failure to comply with these demands will be met by increased levels of activism by students.”

Fresno State: Sit-in

Camp-In at CSU Fullerton: www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fullerton-furloughs22-2009oct22,0,6888361.story

Solidarity Alliance at Berkeley Calls for Three Day Action: “To this end we call upon the allied students, workers, and faculty
>> to unite in a system-wide Three Day Solidarity Strike from November 18th to November 20th. We invite all members of the UC community in Northern California to converge on the Berkeley campus to Strike beginning with a mass rally on November 18th and
>> a mass action on November 20th to call for escalation and continued struggle.”

Southwestern College (South San Diego County) Profs Suspended for Protest vs Cuts:
www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/23/bn23college-instructors-suspended/

Regimented Standards Set Stage for National Tests: “As 48 states charge ahead with plans to adopt common academic standards, the U.S. Department of Education will enlist experts and the public to help design a $350 million competition for the next step: the development of common tests.” www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/20/09assessment_ep.h29.html?tkn=ZLLFZ7G6uWYO2oL2RzzptzvUuiqFDEbtUigh

An “Atta Boy, Obama” from Jeb Bush on the Education/War Agenda:

Sweetwater Teachers Resist CTA Sellout in CA: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=192546071912

Chickens Come Home to Roost with the Chickens in Teacher Ed: Arne Duncan Speech on Teacher Education Programs: “they say two things about their training in ed school. First, most of them say they did not get the hands-on practical teacher training about managing the classroom that they needed, especially for high-needs students. And second, they say there were not taught how to use data to differentiate and improve instruction and boost student learning. On Tuesday night, at a national town hall meeting with teachers, I asked the studio audience of about 100 teachers how they felt about their schools of ed. An uneasy laughter filled the room­not the kind of response that engenders confidence.”
www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2009/10/10222009.html

Ban Maya Angelou! latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/orange-county-school-might-ban-maya-angelou-book.html But we know why the caged bird builds its own cage.

Surprise. Weekly Reader Lies About Socialist Helen Keller: www.weeklyreader.com/featurezone/crhelenkeller/
www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/intro.htm

The Corrupt Aristocracy of the Education Unions:

Maureen Dinnan, former boss of the Florida Education Association, explains why the school board she runs is not corrupt to the core (Dinnan was FEA president while a stream of union leaders were jailed, including Pat Tornillo, pride of the AFT):
blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/09/maureen_dinnen_james_notter_email.php

UTLA Subs Betrayed: www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers22-2009oct22,0,3687254.story

“The Law locks up the Man or Woman who steals a goose from the common, but leaves the Greater Villain Loose, who Steals the Common from the Goose.”

Mass Unemployment Merges with Wage Gutting: “Compensation so far in 2009 has been cut by the largest amount in nearly two decades, with a government index of real average weekly earnings down 1.9 percent since its high point last December. And the average workweek ­ now down to 33 hours ­ is the shortest on modern record. Some pay cuts have gone far deeper than the aggregate data indicate.”
www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/77492.html

Double Bubble Toil and Trouble: Inflation/Deflation: “Our present situation can give rise to two scenarios ­ or some combination of the two. The first is that central banks start exiting at some point in 2010, triggering another fall in the prices of risky assets. Alternatively, central banks might prioritise financial stability over price stability and keep the monetary floodgates open for as long as possible. This, I believe, would cause the mother of all financial market crises ­ a bond market crash ­ to be followed by depression and deflation.”
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b82d2b96-bc02-11de-9426-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

So Long Partner: NYTimes to Dump Another 100: mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/times-says-it-will-cut-100-newsroom-jobs/?hp

The McCrystal Perpetual War Plan: “Even under the best of circumstances, this effort would most likely last many more years, cost hundreds of billions of dollars and entail the deaths of many more American women and men.”

Asides:

October 24, 1929, was Black Thursday, the beginning of the stock market crash. Same date, 2008, Black Friday, the stock market experienced the worst declines in history. 1917: The October Revolution, Russia.

We note with great sadness the death of Jerry Bracey, an honest educator and renaissance man who was reflective, never dogmatic, but surely dogged, in his opposition to regimented curricula and high-stakes exams. Bracey was one of the far-too-few Obama supporters who recognized that the Obama agenda was the Bush agenda, nearly one and the same, and he turned his guns on that agenda.

Thanks to Bertell for the Goose story, Mike Antonucci for the heads up on Dinnen, Tony, Amber, Wayne, Adam, Kelly, Em, Donna, Elvira, Betty and Don, Doug and Connie, Sherri, Marc and Bonnie, Shelly, Ted D, Bonnie Hunt, Agopes, Don A, Dave, Bill, Greg and Katie, Micheline, Laura, Dr Mitchell, Ken, the Susans, Abe, Perry, Steve, Rose, Mary and Paul.

Good luck to us, every one.

r