Computers? Broadband? American schools? Fightin’ time!! (Update)
(Author: This is a re-post from 12/08/08. I re-post this due to the recent elimination of almost $50 billion dollars for education from the Stimulus Recovery Bill.)
Imagine Pooky, Shanika and Jamal going to Al Gazzera English web site and reading the content of the site on their school computer. Imagine them going to the Dkos web site or to the Huffington Post. Lord have mercy if they find The Drudge Report or CounterPunch!
David “Thought police” Horowitz will not allow that to happen. The group who last year closed the Muslin school in New York City would strenuously object as will the opponents of “Leave No Child Behind”. Pres. Elect Obama recently announced re-structuring our school, putting in computers with broadband connections has upset a lot of people. The foes of education are saying, “No, no, no by my chinny chin chin!” They go on to bray, “We are very satisfied with our permanent underclass citizens. They satisfy our needs” they would conclude.
Needless to say, in my opinion the new Secretary of Education is going to have a tough row to hoe. Very tough! There are segments of our society who will do anything, anything you hear, not to educate people of color. They have done it in the past and will continue to do so. Their efforts to keep us dwelling in the past with the Holocaust and 1932 Germany is notorious i.e., Christiana Amanpour “Scream bloody murder” as an excuse to once again show the tired story of the Holocaust. Hello? There is the more modern American Civil Rights story.
There may be many virtues living in the past but a citizenry has to at least move up a notch or two on the scale of civilization. They can not all be subjected to Herculean efforts to keep then at ground zero expecting any meaningful productivity from them or their country. Their anticipations and productive levels are predictable. The permanent underclass becomes a drag on a country.
Yesssirree! The new Secretary of Education is going to indeed have a tough row to hoe and as a matter of fact, it may well be the hardest cabinet position both to fill and sustain with many of us learning how to love eating cake as we did with Sec. Spelling. To be specific, do I think we will get our schools physically restructured having computers with broadband connections? No! In my lifetime? Hell No. In my children’s lifetime? No. My grand-children’s? It. Will. Not. Happen! At best, we will be able to modify or change some curriculums and ask for the return of, and get, some trade schools. Might as well as Ms. Spelling to stay.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
(Update)
Education can be a key element to our recovering from this economic crisis long-term, or it may play a role in our continued decline. To have someone who sees the complexity of these problems, and is willing to draw counsel from those who have studied that complexity, gives me much hope going forward that the role of education in our country will be more the former than the latter.
If you have read this far, thank you. This is a long diary, and I had to resist making it longer. But, I hope you have found here something thought provoking, if not helpful, in your own coming to terms with education policy as we move forward.
Linda Darling-Hammond and "Renegade" Education Advice
by elropsych
Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 06:31:16 AM PST
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/8/93116/4574/785/670429
A Comment:
Kennyb said...
From CBS News:
"Collins earlier Friday circulated a roster proposing $88 billion worth of net cuts from the measure. She proposed eliminating money in the bill for K-12 education while boosting funding for Pentagon operations, facilities and procurement by $13 billion."
That's More of the Same, not Change I can believe in. Boo and hiss.
February 6, 2009 3:40 PM
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/02/obama-hits-road-to-sell-stimulus-steps.html#comments
Imagine Pooky, Shanika and Jamal going to Al Gazzera English web site and reading the content of the site on their school computer. Imagine them going to the Dkos web site or to the Huffington Post. Lord have mercy if they find The Drudge Report or CounterPunch!
David “Thought police” Horowitz will not allow that to happen. The group who last year closed the Muslin school in New York City would strenuously object as will the opponents of “Leave No Child Behind”. Pres. Elect Obama recently announced re-structuring our school, putting in computers with broadband connections has upset a lot of people. The foes of education are saying, “No, no, no by my chinny chin chin!” They go on to bray, “We are very satisfied with our permanent underclass citizens. They satisfy our needs” they would conclude.
Needless to say, in my opinion the new Secretary of Education is going to have a tough row to hoe. Very tough! There are segments of our society who will do anything, anything you hear, not to educate people of color. They have done it in the past and will continue to do so. Their efforts to keep us dwelling in the past with the Holocaust and 1932 Germany is notorious i.e., Christiana Amanpour “Scream bloody murder” as an excuse to once again show the tired story of the Holocaust. Hello? There is the more modern American Civil Rights story.
There may be many virtues living in the past but a citizenry has to at least move up a notch or two on the scale of civilization. They can not all be subjected to Herculean efforts to keep then at ground zero expecting any meaningful productivity from them or their country. Their anticipations and productive levels are predictable. The permanent underclass becomes a drag on a country.
Yesssirree! The new Secretary of Education is going to indeed have a tough row to hoe and as a matter of fact, it may well be the hardest cabinet position both to fill and sustain with many of us learning how to love eating cake as we did with Sec. Spelling. To be specific, do I think we will get our schools physically restructured having computers with broadband connections? No! In my lifetime? Hell No. In my children’s lifetime? No. My grand-children’s? It. Will. Not. Happen! At best, we will be able to modify or change some curriculums and ask for the return of, and get, some trade schools. Might as well as Ms. Spelling to stay.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
(Update)
Education can be a key element to our recovering from this economic crisis long-term, or it may play a role in our continued decline. To have someone who sees the complexity of these problems, and is willing to draw counsel from those who have studied that complexity, gives me much hope going forward that the role of education in our country will be more the former than the latter.
If you have read this far, thank you. This is a long diary, and I had to resist making it longer. But, I hope you have found here something thought provoking, if not helpful, in your own coming to terms with education policy as we move forward.
Linda Darling-Hammond and "Renegade" Education Advice
by elropsych
Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 06:31:16 AM PST
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/8/93116/4574/785/670429
A Comment:
Kennyb said...
From CBS News:
"Collins earlier Friday circulated a roster proposing $88 billion worth of net cuts from the measure. She proposed eliminating money in the bill for K-12 education while boosting funding for Pentagon operations, facilities and procurement by $13 billion."
That's More of the Same, not Change I can believe in. Boo and hiss.
February 6, 2009 3:40 PM
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/02/obama-hits-road-to-sell-stimulus-steps.html#comments
posted by BB at 7:54 AM
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