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Why the Chicago Teachers Won by Stephen Franklin, prospect.org | September 21, 2012
Consider the battle of Chicago’s teachers as a lesson for what’s ahead as the same struggle winds its way away around the nation. For the nation’s beleaguered labor movement, the six-day strike by the Chicago Teachers Union that ended on Tuesday is proof that a strike is not suicide, as has been the fate lately for most unions. Indeed, as the end neared and they were heady with an apparent win, the teachers’ talk catapulted from standing up for teachers to standing up for organized labor and ultimately to speaking for bullied, and exploited workers. read more »Standing Up For Teachers by Eugene Robinson, | September 19, 2012
Teachers are heroes, not villains, and it’s time to stop demonizing them. It has become fashionable to blame all of society’s manifold sins and wickedness on “teachers unions,” as if it were possible to separate these supposedly evil organizations from the dedicated public servants who belong to them. News flash: Collective bargaining is not the problem, and taking that right away from teachers will not fix the schools. It is true that teachers in Chicago have dug in their heels against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s demands for “reform,” some of which are not unreasonable. I’d dig in, too, if I were constantly being lectured by self-righteous crusaders whose knowledge of the inner-city schools crisis comes from a Hollywood movie. read more »Headline o' The Day by Digby , OurFuture.org | September 17, 2012
Mayor's reputation tarnished in teachers union dust-up read more »Chicago School Teachers Give Us All A Lesson by Dean Baker, aljazeera.com | September 17, 2012
The Chicago school teachers managed to overcome the enormous money and power on the other side. This included the media, which is dominated by people who instinctively side with Rahm Emanuel and his Wall Street types whenever they confront workers. The teachers did an outstanding job making their case to the people of Chicago, and especially to the parents of school children. A poll of Chicago parents commissioned by the union found that two-thirds supported the teachers in spite of the inconvenience caused by the strike. The parents understood that if the teachers won their demands it would likely mean better educational outcomes for their children. The lesson from this strike is that even as money is becoming ever more important in politics, it is still possible for well-planned collective action to win out. The Chicago school teachers and their unions did their homework and moved at the right time. The rest of us can learn a lot from their example. read more »Teacher Bashing: The Inequality Psychology by Sam Pizzigati, OurFuture.org | September 16, 2012
In any society where wealth and income concentrate overwhelmingly at the top, the affluent will almost always come to sneer at public services and the men and women who provide them. In Chicago, those men and women have pushed back. read more »The Right-Wing Machine Behind ‘School Choice’ by Rachel Tabachnick, inthesetimes.com | September 14, 2012
In June 1995, the economist Milton Friedman wrote an article for the Washington Post promoting the use of public education funds for private schools as a way to transfer the nation’s public school systems to the private sector. “Vouchers,” he wrote, “are not an end in themselves; they are a means to make a transition from a government to a market system.” While Friedman has promoted vouchers for decades, most famously in his masterwork Free to Choose, the story of how public funds are actually being transferred to private, often religious, schools is a study in the ability of a few wealthy families, along with a network of right-wing think tanks, to create one of the most successful “astroturf” campaigns money could buy. Rather than openly championing dismantling the public school system, they promote bringing market incentives and competition into education as a way to fix failing schools, particularly in low-income Black and Latino communities. read more »Students Rally Behind Their Teachers in Chicago by Kari Lydersen, The Progressive | September 14, 2012
Marie Sklodowska Curie Metro High School is located in a hardscrabble neighborhood on Chicago’s southwest side. A coal-burning power plant lies just to the north and various factories and warehouses stand on surrounding streets. Gang violence is a serious problem in the area, and the economic crisis has hit many immigrant families hard. Students and teachers describe the school as a safe haven, a place where, despite a severe lack of resources, teachers offer innovative lessons with real-world context and organize clubs and after-school programs on topics like literature, science, and the environment. Curie students say they recognize the extra lengths their teachers go to in making sure they get a stimulating, top-flight education even in such trying circumstances. Hence many students and former students have spent the past few days on the picket lines with their teachers and former teachers. read more »Why I Support Public School Teachers by Erik Loomis, lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | September 14, 2012
The Chicago Teachers Union deserves everything they are asking for because many of them are heroes. For some, for kids like me, they are role models who give young people social mobility and who teach them that learning is a great thing. The Chicago Teachers Union deserves the world because they take kids like me out of working-class families and help them fulfill their dreams. Those who attack them place themselves on the other side of the class divide, on the side that promotes social inequality and the side that provides no incentives for good teachers to stay in working-class schools since poor test scores, largely a result of poverty, will cost them their job. They claim to help children but don’t understand poor public schools; they claim to support policies that will improve education but promote ideas that will enrich capitalists at the expense of students. Which side are you on? I side with the people who changed my life. read more »Progressive Breakfast by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | September 14, 2012
On the menu this morning MORNING MESSAGE: So Who Is It That Cares About The Deficit Anyway? Fed's Economic Booster Shot The Middle-Class Struggle For Survival Chicago Teacher Strike Update Breakfast Sides read more »Record Poverty Persists While Gap Between Rich and Rest of Us Increases by Karen Dolan, ips-dc.org | September 13, 2012
Sadly, those who "occupied" Wall Street and city squares across the country in 2011, were right: All of the income gains have concentrated at the top, while the rest of us saw a deterioration or stagnation in our wages and income. We can’t seem to stop having record numbers of people living in poverty in the United States. The richest continue to get richer and the rest of us continue to see our incomes get lower and lower. read more »
The Latest
Schools Freezing Tuition, USA Today | September 4, 2008
Several colleges and universities in Texas, Ohio, Maryland and New York are freezing 2008-2009 tuitions at last year's levels in an effort to make college more affordable for the nation's middle class. more »
Hard Times Hit Schools, Students, iht.com | September 1, 2008
With mortgage foreclosures throwing hundreds of families out of their homes each month, dismayed school officials say they are feeling the upheaval: record numbers of students turning up for classes this fall are homeless or poor enough to qualify for free meals. more »
Grandparents Help With Back-To-School , USA Today | August 29, 2008
In the midst of one of the toughest back-to-school buying seasons in years, grandparents in many families are pitching in to get kids clothed. more »
Army Opens Dropout Prep School, time.com | August 27, 2008
The U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, formally opened its first prep school for dropouts. The soldiers work in small classrooms outfitted with simple desks, chairs, and dry-erase boards. In-desk computers are used for test-taking. more »
Private Student Loans Scarce, USA Today | August 26, 2008
In recent months, several large lenders have stopped providing private student loans, stranding families that were counting on private loans to cover some of their costs. Education Finance Partners, the fourth-largest private lender, recently announced on its website that it had ceased operations. more »
School Lunch Prices Rise, The New York Times | August 25, 2008
Prices on some school lunch lines are going up this fall as school officials, like many others, struggle to pay higher prices and delivery fees for staples like bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables. more »
Sallie Mae Spent $640K Lobbying, money.cnn.com | August 19, 2008
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student lender, spent $640,000 lobbying in the second quarter for government help to shore up the troubled student loan market and on legislation related to other issues affecting the industry, according to a recent disclosure report. more »
More Families Need Reduced Lunch , USA Today | August 19, 2008
The troubled economy may be prompting more families to turn to federal school nutrition programs that aid poor children, a survey suggests. For the first time since 2004, a majority of cafeteria operators say the number of children getting free or reduced-price lunches has risen. more »
Schools Adopt Four-Day Weeks, time.com | August 18, 2008
As the price of diesel — which most school buses run on — topped $4.70 per gal. last spring, school officials across the country watched their transportation costs skyrocket as much as 40 percent. Maryland's Montgomery County is debating whether to shrink its school-bus routes. more »
Low-Income College Students Too Few, Christian Science Monitor | August 7, 2008
About 50 percent of low-income students enroll in college right after high school, compared with 80 percent of high-income students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That's a gap of 30 percentage points, a gap that over the past 30 years has fluctuated between 22 and 49 points. more »
