Tag: Educational Policies

Closing Thought–07Sep22

One of the dumbest ideas that comes from the mental midgets on the Right….the banning of books…..and it is reported that it has hit an all-time high…..

As kids, teachers and librarians head back to school this fall, bookshelves around the country are a bit emptier than usual.

According to data collected by PEN America, 1,145 books have been banned by school districts across the United States between July 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022.

These numbers are at a historic high, said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who has tracked and analyzed book bans across the country during her more than two decades with the American Library Association (ALA).

Caldwell-Stone, currently the director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the ALA, said in the past, the norm was for one or two titles to be challenged per year in schools. Today, it’s common for four to six unique books to be challenged each day, she said.

The uptick is part of a culture war taking center stage in political races, on social media and at school board meetings — between those who believe that parents should have a greater say in school curricula; those who think that certain histories and narratives should not be taught in classrooms; and others who resist censorship of any form, encouraging all titles onto shelves.

Caught in the middle of the debate are questions along legal, geographic and economic lines — mainly, how book bans really relate to the First Amendment, their impact in the internet age (more significant than you would guess) and consequences of bans — both intended and unintended.

https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/08/27/book-banning-in-us-schools-has-reached-an-all-time-high-what-this-means-and-how-we-got-here/

I do not see where banning books does anything to move a society forward….

Does the banning of books really protect anyone?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Revisionist History

There is a plan under foot, especially in Red States, to teach an sanitized version of history….to the point of banning some of our history from being taught.

These attacks on education is making the Red State citizens a stupid pack of idiots…..non-issues are being used to re-write American history….

Apparently these attempts are successful so successful that even Russia will try there hand at rewriting history…..

After being accused of committing atrocities in Ukraine, and facing global opposition for its invasion, Russia is taking a step to control the narrative among its people early. The Education Ministry has announced the starting age for compulsory history lessons in its schools will be 7, down from 10. It’s part of a campaign to stress patriotic education, the Moscow Times reports. In Russia’s history lessons, Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov said: “We will never allow it [to be written] that we somehow treated other nations—our fraternal nations of Ukraine and Belarus—poorly. We will do everything in our power so that historical memory is preserved.”

Historical education will be added to the teaching of other subjects, as well, per the Times. It’s important that students learn their nation’s history, President Vladimir Putin told “The Power Is in the Truth,” a schools forum. “A deep understanding of our history, and a respectful, thoughtful attitude to the great patriotic, spiritual, and cultural heritage of the Fatherland enables us to draw correct conclusions from the past,” Putin said. As of Sept. 1, schools will begin each week by raising the Russian flag and singing the national anthem, Kravtsov said.

Think about that!

Russia is doing the same thing that our Red States are doing….suppressing history…revising events to suit an ideology…..

Online and offline, digi-fascism thrives from designing an illusionary world of individual experiences and spaces in which the supposedly oppressed and insecure can feel at ease. Now they are protected from an accelerated and ever increasing complexity of modernity.

Right-wing extremist’s propaganda constructs this idyllic and pre- or better: anti-modern world as a place in which an imagined white majority no longer needs to fear the loss of its social privileges. Ideologically speaking, digi-fascism follows an old but proven playbook.

The Rise of Digi-Fascism

States like Texas and Minnesota want to do away with the Public Education Act…that is they do not think they should be educating children….how damn sad is that movement?

All I can do is shake my head at the stupidity and the wholesale ignorance in this world….it is a pandemic and I refuse to let stupidity and ignorance infect me.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Liberty University Has Made The News (Again)

It seems that Liberty U has become a hot bed for sexual deviants….first it was the sexual exploits of the founder’s son a school president, Falwell….then the school hires the sexual predator coach from Ole Miss…..from the professor who abduct a student to the rapes on campus…..and now more sexual exploits in the school…..

A professor at the conservative Christian Liberty University in Virginia has been accused of abduction and sexual battery of a student. William Atwell, an associate professor of American Sign Language, was arrested on Nov. 20 in connection with an accusation of sexual battery on Sept. 15 and abduction on Nov. 19. A spokesperson for the school said in a statement that Atwell has been suspended and the school is taking the matter seriously. Inappropriate sexual contact with a student is “something for which there is zero tolerance,” the spokesperson said, per NBC News.

The student reported the incidents to the school, which turned it over to the police. Liberty has been under fire in the past for how it handles accusations of sexual assault at the school. Twelve women are suing the school, CNN reports. The women, former students and staff plus one minor who was not a student, filed a complaint in federal court saying the school created a hostile environment and punished people who reported misconduct. Scott Lamb, senior vice president of communications and public engagement until Liberty fired him in October, has filed a lawsuit with similar charges, too, the News & Advance reports. Scott says he was fired in retaliation for coming forward, and the school has pushed back hard against the allegations.

Is this where right wing pervs go for an education?

A terrible record for a supposedly religious university….but then I never trusted a group that teaches junk science as fact.

A pack of hypocrites charged with of children’s future….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Black Immigration”

I know…what the Hell is that?

It seems that some US textbooks are teaching the slavery was just ‘black immigration’

WTF, right?

I have been writing about the sad condition of our educational process…..the dumbing down of the American student….

And the leader in this stupidity are those private Christian schools that teach the student garbage that poses as an education.

But I did not know just how far the stupid runs…..and the idea of ‘black immigration’ just illustrates these lies taught…..

One history textbook exclusively refers to immigrants as “aliens”. Another blames the Black Lives Matter movement for strife between communities and police officers. A third discusses the prevalence of “black supremacist” organizations during the civil rights movement, calling Malcolm X the most prominent “black supremacist” of the era.

Legislatures and boards of education around the US are currently engaging in acrimonious battles about how issues of race and equity are taught in public K-12 classrooms – the latest culture war in a decades-long fight around whose stories and contributions get highlighted in school. But largely left out of this conversation has been the education provided in private schools, thousands of which have quietly been excluding diverse voices and teaching biased versions of history for years.

While public school textbooks suffer from their own blindspots, a Guardian analysis has found that private schools, especially Christian schools, use textbooks that tell a version of history that is racially biased and often inaccurate. These textbooks, used in thousands of private schools, many of which receive tens of thousands of dollars in public funding every year, whitewash the legacy of slavery, frame Native Americans as lesser and blame the Black Lives Matter movement for sowing racial discord.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/aug/12/right-wing-textbooks-teach-slavery-black-immigration

Revisionist history is destroying our educational process….a process that has been fragile at best.

I have said many times….American history, all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly, should be taught…..our children deserve a better historical education….

An honest curriculum shows students all the tragedies and triumphs of American history – an unabashed, candid look at the fullness of our history – rather than cherry-picking events without context in order to fight contemporary political battles.

A sound understanding of U.S. history must be firmly grounded as an educational endeavor, not a political project. To bring history to life, to teach it honestly, we must stop feeding teachers a script authored by journalists or activists who use curricula as tools for forwarding a specific political narrative. Such authors have already made up their minds about difficult questions and manipulate our history and our students for their own ends.

https://www.realclearpublicaffairs.com/articles/2021/08/19/the_history_education_our_children_deserve_790709.html

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Needed Revolution In Public Education

I have been bitching and writing about the poor quality of our public education for decades…..and in that time education has taken many hits in rounds of budgetary cuts…..and all this poor quality has lead us to this point in our history when lies, hatred and revisionism leads the way.

I agree that it is time for this country to get serious about the education we provide for our children….our future……and there is an excellent idea in the making…..

The New York Democrat said in a statement Thursday that “it’s time for a revolution in public education,” and he is aiming to include provisions of his bill in the emerging reconciliation package.

“As we deal with a devastating climate crisis caused by decades of unchecked corporate greed, we need to center our children and their future,” said Bowman, who was a public school principal in the Bronx prior to his successful 2020 congressional bid.

Bowman presented his legislation as a remedy to longstanding education crises stemming from years of cuts to public school funding in states across the country, which have disproportionately impacted the poor and people of color. The deadly coronavirus pandemic has placed massive additional strain on the nation’s public schools, and some states have resorted to pursuing further education cuts to cover budget shortfalls.

“What this comes down to is whether we’re willing to provide our kids with the resources they need to realize their brilliance and have a livable planet,” Bowman said Thursday. “Do we want to continue building a world based on militarization, incarceration, poverty, and destruction of resources? Or will we take advantage of this moment, put our kids and educators first, and treat the climate crisis as the emergency it is? This legislation is what we need to put us on the right side of history.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/07/15/time-revolution-public-education-bowman-unveils-green-new-deal-us-schools

I agree with Bowman…..

If you would like then read the proposal for yourself and then make up your mind…..

Click to access F58C35F28FBC115F0D531D7D185C9E01.gnd-for-public-schools-act-final.pdf

If you can see past your TV or the game console then you will see the need that education can provide…..if not then you could well be witnessing the demise of this republic and the grand promise of a better tomorrow.

But sadly I think I am farting in the wind here…..

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Texas Education

If you want to feel good about your white privilege then Texas will be the place for you and your children…..if ever there was revisionism in our educational system then look NO further than the state of Texas.

Where to begin with this?

The Texas state Senate has passed legislation that would repeal requirements to teach the history of white supremacy and the ways “in which it is morally wrong,” among other lessons pertaining to prominent people of color and women.

The Republican-led upper chamber passed the measure, known as Senate Bill 3, in a 18-4 vote on Friday.

The legislation now awaits consideration in the House, also led by Republicans, where Democratic lawmakers left earlier this month to deny their colleagues on the other side of the aisle the quorum necessary for a special legislative session in an effort to block a sweeping elections bill.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/563618-texas-senate-passes-bill-that-would-nix-requirement-for-teaching-white

This bill would also tackle the KKK …..

In a new political low in Texas, the Republican-dominated state Senate has passed a bill to eliminate a requirement that public schools teach that the Ku Klux Klan and its white supremacist campaign of terror are “morally wrong.”

Critics say the state is promoting an “anti-civics” education.

 

Senate Bill 3 — passed last Friday 18-4 — drops most mentions of people of color and women from the state’s required curriculum.

That includes eliminating a requirement that students be taught the “history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-senate-education-bill-white-supremacy_n_60f50cf6e4b01f11895b2dc3

But there is so much more in Senate bill 3……

The Texas Senate approved a GOP-backed education bill backed on the moral panic against the so-called critical race theory that eliminates any requirements for public schools to teach students about Martin Luther King Jr., the Ku Klux Klan, women’s suffrage, and a number of topics related to the Civil Rights movement. 

Presently, Texas law requires that public school teachers adequately instruct their students on “the history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong.”

However, the bill, advanced on Friday along with an 18-4 vote in the Republican-led Texas Senate, will effectively give school districts the choice to shape their own history curriculums. S.B. 3 falls in line with the broader conservative push to abolish educational mandates on what history teachers can and cannot teach in the classroom. 

https://www.salon.com/2021/07/20/texas-republicans-are-ramming-through-legislation-to-ban-teaching-about-mlk-jr-in-public-schools/

In case anyone would like to read the entire bill then look no further than here…..

Click to access SB00003F.pdf

Granted this has not become law yet….but there is an excellent chance that Abbot will have this bill on his desk soon.

Sorry but this is pure revisionism….and basically teaching hate….

I am so glad that my child graduated before this type of bullsh*t became the norm.

Plus this will be a template for other Red States and their brand of made-up history.

I heard an ad for something that states the “you cannot re-write history”….that is pure BS….some one should tell Texas and other idiot Red States…..

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“leg ergo scribo”

We Need A ‘Counter-Revolution’

There those out there (of which I am one) that believes that there needs to be a standardize educational program on civics.

For too long the subject of civics has been ignored and attempted to reign the subject to the dust bin of history (I always like the saying)…. most Americans are ignorant on the use of civics and how the government works….

Look at the last election and the response by Americans…..where about 10 millions Americans think the election was stolen or somehow illegitimate…. which NO evidence has proven the claims of a stolen election….all of which lead to the insurrection of 06 January….

So I agree with a statement from the Claremont Institute…..that there needs to be an educational counter-revolution.

Claremont Institute president Ryan Williams says that American civic education faces an acute crisis. In his estimation, essentially every institution – the vast complex of media, Big Tech, Hollywood, Fortune 500 companies, and education and government bureaucracies – teaches “vicious lies about America’s Founders” and our nation’s “heritage, heroes, accomplishments, and people.”

Williams argues that what passes for civic education today advances “the goal of wholesale revolution and the institution of a monstrous and unnatural tyranny.”

…

In light of these daunting circumstances, however, he counsels hope: “We at Claremont are happy warriors, and there’s no work we’d rather be doing with friends and fellow citizens.”

Williams describes The Claremont Institute, founded in 1979, as a think tank fomenting a “counterrevolution” to recover civic education through teaching, writing, and litigation. Its mission, he continues, is to restore the natural law and natural rights principles of the Declaration of Independence, the “ingenious political science of the Constitution,” and the “popular constitutionalism and reverence necessary for the maintenance of free government” to “their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.”

https://realclearwire.com/articles/2021/04/16/the_claremont_institutes_counterrevolution_to_save_america_772948.html#

I believe that civics is one of the most important subjects that needs more attention in our educational system.

Any thoughts?

Coming soon is a post on a new civics project….something that is desperately needed….some may ask why….this cartoon says it all for me….

Image

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden On Public Education

A continuation of my look at the policies of the president-elect……

We have a president-elect and the new first lady is an educator so there should be a massive program dedicated to education…..but is there?

Biden has suggested the need for $88 billion in new COVID-19 relief to schools. This is less than half of the amount needed by districts. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has said an additional $158.1 billion to $244.6 billion would be required to reopen school buildings safely and serve all students this year. Biden knows full well that such sums would never be approved by Republicans but has made the proposal to provide a political cover for his full support to a return to in-person schooling.

Secondly, a Biden administration will continue the austerity policies against public education, under conditions of a severe economic crisis. Originally Biden took to the presidential campaign trail with proposals for a series of mild reforms, including a threefold increase to Title I federal funding for low-income schools, universal prekindergarten and greater funding for special education programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). He also proposed “fixing” the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, support for student mental health, and “hiring more people of color into the Department of Education (ED).”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/17/educ-n17.html

Education is a popular policy promise at election time…..and so far we still have a needy educational policy….and now with a new president….that will not change.

Am I being too hard?

Then you tell me….these are the promises made…..

He will:

  • Support our educators by giving them the pay and dignity they deserve.
  • Invest in resources for our schools so students grow into physically and emotionally healthy adults, and educators can focus on teaching.
  • Ensure that no child’s future is determined by their zip code, parents’ income, race, or disability.
  • Provide every middle and high school student a path to a successful career.
  • Start investing in our children at birth.

What about the crippling debt for an education….will he do anything to help there?

https://joebiden.com/education/

The easy answer is NO he will NOT!

It is more important to protect the criminals in the financial sector than the students.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Shutting Down College

The news has been horrific about the return of college students to their respective campuses……several colleges have gone to on-line studies after hundreds of students have contracted the virus.

Of course Donald the Orange has something to say about this turn of events that counters his message…..

President Trump on Wednesday blasted universities that have canceled in-person classes amid coronavirus outbreaks, saying the move could ultimately cost lives rather than saving them. Raising the issue at a White House press briefing, Trump said the virus is akin to the seasonal flu for college students and that students pose a greater safety threat at home with older family members than on college campuses. He cited no evidence to support either contention, and the White House did not respond to a request for information on what Trump based his remarks, the AP reports. Health experts have said the novel coronavirus appears to be deadlier than the seasonal flu—initial data suggest a far higher mortality—and it is more easily transmitted. Another major difference: There is no vaccine for the novel coronavirus while there is a vaccine for the seasonal flu.

“It’s significantly safer for students to live with other young people than to go home and spread the virus to older Americans,” Trump said. While older adults face greater risks from COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month that otherwise healthy young adults can experience lingering symptoms for two to three weeks. Campuses face unique challenges in keeping students safe and responding to outbreaks, including providing adequate facilities for placing infected or possibly infected students in quarantine. Trump’s comments follow recent suspensions of in-person instruction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of Notre Dame. Those schools’ struggles have prompted some other colleges to backtrack on plans for on-campus classes.

His bullshit flies into the face of all reliable information available…..notice I said “reliable” and that does NOT include anything coming out of Trump’s mouth.

Besides….is this not what conservs want…it would stop all those “liberal professors” from infecting the students……if they are not in classes they cannot be influenced by their instructors…….and yes as an opinionated SOB I have written on this subject as well………https://lobotero.com/2020/02/22/those-damn-liberal-professors/

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Student Debt Can Be Fixed

One of the biggest issues that many Millennials are dealing with is their student debt…..which in most cases these days is massive. Many are looking to the candidates for an answer to their misery.

I am happy to say that all my years in college was paid for by my G.I. Bill and some scholarships….but nowadays students are not so lucky….most of them are saddled with massive debt thanx to getting an education.

Congress needs to grab their nuts and do something about this problem…..and they can if they would just grow a pair……

Students borrowed approximately $91 billion in federal loans in 2018, bringing the total outstanding loan balance to nearly $1.5 trillion.1 For many, college would not have been possible without such readily available financing, but the burden of debt has become too much. More than 1 million borrowers default every year,2 and millions more are stuck in what feels like an endless cycle of interest payments3 and benefits applications.4 Borrowers of color, in particular, are struggling to repay their debt, exacerbating long-term inequities and causing higher education to be more of a gamble than was promised.5

All of these woes are part of the college affordability crisis, but they are also part of a more arcane problem: The United States’ federal student loan repayment system is broken. This year, however, Congress has a chance to fix it.

The stars seem to have aligned for a long-overdue reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA),6 the country’s primary legislation governing postsecondary education. Senate Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who plans to retire at the end of the current congressional session, will likely be motivated to burnish his legacy by passing the first HEA reauthorization in more than a decade.7

Since HEA was last updated in 2008, the loan system has moved to 100 percent direct lending through the federal government.8 This completely federalized system has resulted in many benefits: less on-the-ground industry influence in lending;9 repayment programs that are unavailable in the private market;10 and, though it may seem ironic given the current dissatisfaction with the repayment system, stronger consumer protections.11 Perhaps most importantly, the transition to direct lending saves the federal government roughly $6 billion per year—funds that have resulted in an infusion of $36 billion of mandatory funding into the Pell Grant program over the past 10 years.12

Nevertheless, now that direct lending has been the primary federal loan system for nearly a decade, it is time for a major revamp to address modern problems.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/reports/2019/03/07/467005/congress-can-fix-student-loan-repayment/

The idea of a free college education is a great idea but will not fly……however the system of debts needs reforming if not changing…