education

Leonora Perron

Leonora Perron — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:47:20 -0700

James Reid

James Reid — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:29:22 -0700

Coming Clean on the Stimulus

Alan Jenkins — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:34:33 -0700

A report issued by the White House and the Education Department on Monday showed that the federal economic stimulus package (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) has so far created or saved 250,000 education jobs. The report is the first hard evidence of the Recovery Act’s contribution to the nation’s economic health, and previews more extensive data that will be released October 30.

The report is good news for at least two reasons. First, it documents how public investment is helping to pull the nation back from the brink of a devastating economic depression. And, second, it includes crucial information that should inform the ongoing investment of stimulus funds to achieve a full recovery—especially when it comes to job creation. In analyzing the full October data, however, it is important to ask not only how many jobs were created and what infrastructure was built, but also whether we are investing in a lasting economic recovery that will include our entire nation.

Because stimulus funds are flowing largely through traditional state and local channels, particular attention is needed to ensure that they reach the communities and populations that need them most, that distribution is fair and transparent, and that progress is measured in terms of greater and more equal opportunity for all Americans.

If the last year has shown us anything, it is that we are all in it together when it comes to the economy. When all communities have access to jobs, education and health care, and can contribute to our economy through spending, taxes, and entrepreneurship, we all do better. And when millions of our people are shut out from economic participation, we are all held back. It’s in our national interest to foster the economic participation of all Americans, and to invest in the infrastructure of opportunity, particularly where it’s been ignored in the past.

Monday’s education report includes some encouraging details on this front. It reports, for example, that schools in Lafayette, Indiana are using Recovery Act funds to extend the school day and year in two schools with the highest rates of poverty. West Hartford, CT is using funds to provide after-school math and reading help for the town’s neediest elementary schools, and Hillsborough County, FL is using its incentive pay program to attract and keep highly-qualified teachers working with the most at-risk students. Along with saving hundreds of thousands of jobs, these investments go a long way toward the Recovery Act’s education goal, which is “to stimulate the economy in the short term, while investing in education advancements to ensure the long-term economic health and success of our nation.”

At the same time, however, there continues to be a troubling lack of information about the overall accountability and equity of stimulus investments on the ground. There is no indication in Monday’s report, for example, as to whether innovative efforts to expand opportunity are the norm, or simply sporadic points of light. The report is silent, moreover, on whether African American and Latino students—who are disproportionately concentrated in our nation’s most under-resourced schools—are benefiting from stimulus investments to the extent that their pressing need and overrepresentation in our public schools would dictate. The Administration has done well in identifying such interventions as priorities, but we simply don’t know how or whether they are playing out on the ground.

The same lack of information has plagued the larger recovery effort so far. While the government’s stimulus tracking website—www.recovery.gov—offers some useful information, it is currently inadequate for determining, for example, whether jobs reach women and men on an equal opportunity basis, or whether transportation and health care infrastructure projects are serving communities that reflect comparative need and the growing diversity of our nation.

Lack of transparency has been an even bigger problem at the state and local level. Residents and community groups around the country have been frequently frustrated in their attempts to identify and participate in needed initiatives. And, with a few exceptions like New York City’s NYC Stat website, state and local stimulus tracking sites are strikingly uninformative.

Eight months into the economic recovery, the lack of transparency or a documented focus on greater and more equal opportunity is disappointing. But that can and should change, starting now. For the October 30th data release and going forward, the Administration should document online and in its reporting how each stimulus investment is or is not expanding opportunity to disconnected communities. It should disaggregate employment, education, entrepreneurial, and infrastructure data by race, gender, and disability, as well as by other demographic characteristics like rural/urban/suburban, along which opportunity has frequently been segregated.

In considering future disbursements of Recovery Act funds—some $228 billion in contracts, grants, and loans remains to be distributed—federal agencies should require fund applicants to share with the public detailed information about stimulus project choices, and to invite and consider public input in determining investments. As I have urged before in this column, governments at each level should employ Opportunity Impact Statements to ensure that greater and more equal opportunity for all residents are prioritized.

The stimulus and other timely efforts are helping to stave off an economic meltdown of catastrophic proportions. But the hard work of lasting recovery lies ahead. Moving from fiscal survival to broadly shared economic security and prosperity requires a focus on opportunity for all.

Post-Speech: Conservatives, How Stupid Do You Feel Now?

Brian Dockstader — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:30:30 -0700

I wrote last week about the absolutely shameful, shocking and appalling attacks from conservatives against President Obama in response to his plans to give students a back to school pep talk about the importance of education. I wrote at the time that the level of paranoia and vitriol was all the more amazing given the fact that they were reacting to something that hadn't even happened yet--not to mention something that could never possibly happen, outside the confines of their snugly fitted tinfoil hats.

Well now the infamous brainwashing, march-of-communism, Nazi. Maoist, Mussolinist, terroristesque, take-away-our-children-and-force-them-into-Obama's-personal gestapo speech has come to pass, and undoubtedly the right-wingers are gloated that they were absolutely right. And of course they were. I'll swallow my pride and admit it. Here I expected a completely vanilla, completely uncontroversial, completely benign speech to children about staying in school, and the President shocked me by diving right into the Commie indoctrination from the beginning. I was flabbergasted:

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

At this point I was just thankful that I don't have any kids yet, because I couldn't bear to think of my poor child being subjected to such brainwashing! If his introduction wasn't a call for an armed revolt against capitalism I don't know what is. And then he started talking about destroying Christianity:

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

And the importance of being pro-choice and not questioning the government:

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And then he topped it all by commanding everyone to become gay:

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

And then he turned them all black:

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

And then, in his parting shot at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he told all the children to burn flags:

I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

What can I say? Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin were right...it was a horrific speech, a speech full of blatant brainwashing, filled with harmful messages to our children. Thankfully there we parents out there who had the courage to stand up and pull their kids out of school so they couldn't be subjected to such evil words, words like "Don't ever give up on yourself", and in the process giving them a valuable lesson on how the President of the United States, or at least a colored one, ought to be treated as a common criminal.

So obviously gone are the days of our children being taught to look up to the Office of the Presidency, as I was taught when I was in school, so that maybe one day they could aspire to such a prestigious post. Prestigious? Hell no, not anymore! Now we teach them that the President is out to get them, that the President doesn't have their best interests at heart, that the President is no less than the Boogeyman. Wonderful lessons for children. I really hope these people are proud of themselves.

But of course they probably are. Despite the fact that the President's speech was exactly what any sane person would have expected--exactly what I would have expected from any president, regardless of ideological background, regardless of color--these parents, right-wing agitators, fearmongers, and the public school administrators who banned the President of the United States from speaking to students in their schools and districts probably are proud of themselves. They are so out of touch with reality, so full of hate, that I wouldn't be surprised if not a single one of them took a look at the President's speech, saw how ridiculously harmless it was, and blushed with embarrassment over their paranoid delusions, their gullibility, their shamefulness, and how utterly wrong they were.

That is the problem with these people, they have no sense of shame. With them there is zero introspection. They can be proven dead wrong over and over again--they can lie and lie, or be fooled and fooled, over and over again--and every time, when their wild stories and accusations turn out to be false, they never look back, never think about what that episode says about who they are as people. They don't feel embarrassed, they don't feel shame, they don't wonder how they could have been so gullible and ignorant as to be sucked into all of that. They just go about their lives, maybe jumping on the next bigot bandwagon that conservative opinion leaders send down the trail.

Just once I'd like to know that at least one of these people actually feels shame for how they acted. I don't expect this from Glenn Beck or those types...I know they are liars, and they know they are liars, and they are happy with their jobs (and well compensated)...but I would just love for one of these teabaggers, or one of these parents who allowed themselves to get worked into a frenzy by the lies of conservative media, to look in the mirror at some point, and think: Wow, when did I lose my sanity? Who have I become?

So that is my simple wish. I urge all the conservatives out there who bought into this "Obama is gonna brainwash your children" nonsense to take a step back, take a deep breath, watch the video of Obama speech, see how undeniably harmless it was, and then take a look inside and really ask yourself...

A) How could I get so caught up in this madness?
B) How could I fall for something so ridiculous and insane?
C) What does this say about who I am?
D) Did I really just treat the President like a sexual predator or a common criminal?
E) What does this say about all of my favorite right-wing pundits and blogs that filled me full of this paranoia?
F) What else could they be lying to me about?

Oh, and let's add one more, that I'd love for them to really soul-search about:

G) Would I have been this upset about a white president talking to my children?

No, really, ask yourself. Be honest.

As for me, I just want to thank the President for trying to inspire America's youth to work hard and stay in school. We have been coming up short in education for decades, and dropout rates are soaring, especially among the communities that the President has the most influence with. These are serious problems, and for someone with as much power as the President of the United States not to act would be a dereliction of duty. I hope students his message to heart, and I hope he inspires this young generation to stay in school and take education seriously. We will be a stronger country if he is successful in this, and that shouldn't have anything to do with politics or ideology.

Update: Here is the video. Be sure to wear your tinfoil hat before viewing, and hide your pets because they are susceptible to Obama's mind-rays as well, especially terriers and short-haired cat breeds:

Taking Pride In Being Ignorant

Brian Dockstader — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:45:43 -0700

Well the reviews are already in on Obama's big speech on "the importance of education", and they aren't pretty. The descriptions range from "brainwashing" and "indoctrination of your children" to accusations that Obama's speech shows that he is actually Mao, Hitler, Mussolini, and of course, a terrorist.

Right now you might be asking yourself, what speech on education? I didn't see any speech. Did the media not cover it? Why didn't I see any tweets??

Relax, relax, you didn't miss anything, I'm talking about the speech Obama hasn't even given yet, the one he is due to deliver on September 8th, a little less than a week from now. Now you might be asking yourself, but you just said there were damning reviews of the speech already, how is that possible??

Silly reader, didn't you know that conservatives have time machines? They don't need to wait for an event to actually happen to lambaste it with outlandish attacks of tinfoil hat lunacy. They have seen the future!

Yes, a week out from Obama's speech on education, in which he is expected to impart upon students the importance of education, as well as to challenge students to do such abhorrent things as "work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning", conservatives are already in a frenzy over his possible words. And of course the President's anti-American sacrilege doesn't stop there. Oh no, he also brings the war-against-all-that-is-good to parents and teachers, according to a letter from the Secretary of Education:

He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.

If that isn't a sign of the impending Red takeover of our society I just don't know what is.

So the speech probably isn't even written yet, but that hasn't stopped conservative opinion leaders from writing their damning rebukes of the President's future speech.

On his radio show Glenn Beck told listeners that "your republic is under attack" and warned them that the public school system, under the direction of President Obama, "is capturing your kids" and "indoctrinating your children." Beck later compared the President to Mussolini.

NewsBuster's contributing editor Mark Finkelstein, attacked "Chairman Barack" alongside a picture of the book, Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. He warned that teachers "will be sure to imbue every student with correct thinking in the wisdom of the president before he or she is freed, um, graduates." He also suggested there was an "interesting parallel between our president's plan for our children and the approach of another Great Leader from the past."

Michelle Malkin, in a post with a picture of a sign saying "School Indoctrination" warned that President Obama's emphasis on academic achievement is "Downplaying academic achievement in favor of left-wing radical activism in the public schools" and attempted to tie Obama's future speech on education to the philosophy of "old neighborhood pal and Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers." Malkin also accused teachers of coercing children into "pro-illegal immigration protests, gay marriage ceremonies, environmental propaganda stunts, and anti-war events."

Lauri Regan with the American Thinker (how ironic) suggested that Obama and his "team of brainwashers" was committed to "indoctrinating America's youth."

No crazy montage would be complete without WorldNetDaily, whose editor Bob Unruh cited a bunch of right-wingers claiming that Obama is "recruiting his civilian army. His 'Hitler' youth brigade" and warning that "we can learn a lot from the spread of propaganda in Europe that led to Hitler's power. A key ingredient in that spread of propaganda was through the youth." Another "concerned parent" warned that "Totalitarian regimes around the world have sought to spread their propaganda and entrench their power by brainwashing the children."

Meredith Jessup on Townhall.com wrote that "your kids are going to be made a captive audience to this forced nonsense" and suggested that the government was trying to force parents to "relinquish your rights and responsibilities as parents to the government." She also called Obama's future speech a "massive abuse of governmental power."

Newsmax.com contributor Pamela Geller raised the alarm that the "fascist in chief is taking his special brand of brainwashing to the classroom. Keep your kids home. I think this man is a threat to our basic unalienable rights. I don't want him indoctrinating my children." She also stated her belief that we should "Keep communists and their propagandists away from small children."

I'm sure it goes on and on (and a big thanks to Media Matters for keeping track of these attacks), but you get the idea. All of this in response to a speech emphasizing the importance of education, that the President hasn't even given yet. And where were these people when, as Media Matters notes, Bush Sr. gave a nearly identical speech to children, or when Bush Jr. "posted a 'teacher's guide' on the White House website intended to help students understand the 'freedom timeline' and encouraged them to 'explor[e] the biographies of the President, Mrs. Bush, Vice President, and Mrs. Cheney.'"? What about when Reagan gave a speech directed at schoolchildren that was almost certainly far more ideological in nature than President Obama's future speech will be?

It turns out it has absolutely nothing to do with the substance of the speech, and everything to do with who is giving it. Bush Sr. can give the same speech, and gets wild applause from these people. Bush Jr. distributes "teacher's guides", has the Pentagon engage in a media propaganda campaign, tortures people and holds them indefinitely without charge, starts wars based on lies, and engages in an unprecedented domestic spying campaign which violates federal privacy laws, and not a blink from this crowd that is so fond of crying "fascism". Yet when Obama's Secretary of Education announces that Obama will give a speech explaining the importance of a good education to kids--hardly a radical or partisan statement--they are instantly up in arms, raising the specter of Nazis, communists, government brainwashing, and terrorism.

This episode serves to highlight what has become one of the defining characteristics of conservatives when they are out of power. Some have suggested that they are part of a "Party of No", since Republicans have essentially adopted of strategy of unanimous (or near-unanimous) blanket opposition to any legislation proposed by Democrats, no matter how many concessions they are able to gain to water it down.

Yet I would submit that it goes far beyond that. Legislatively, conservatives are indeed defined by a single word: NO; however when it comes to issues, it turns out they have a lot more to say. Now I don't want you to get the impression that they like to talk about issues, because they actually don't. In fact, almost completely absent in any right-wing commentary on serious issues like health insurance reform, the stimulus package, or global warming are facts, of any kind.

The "debate" coming from the Right is instead packed with lies, hyperbole, outlandish claims, and of course a heavy dose of hate, paranoia, violent rhetoric and racism. It used to be that we'd have to wait for Obama to actually say or do something to have them viciously attack it with lies, to have them call it Nazism or communism or terrorism or the end of the Republic. Now they have devolved to the point where they attack preemptive, reflexively, that is, they attack things that haven't even happened yet. They don't even need anything to attack, they just attack air (or their own straw men).

Conservatives have achieved a remarkable knee-jerk reflex for insanity. If the President so much as twitches a muscle they spring into action, mouths foaming, spewing out an uncontrollable torrent of epithets--"Nazi!" "Socialist!" "Muslim!" "Brainwasher!" "Terrorist!" "Murderer!"--like projectile hate-vomit. It doesn't matter what he says. It doesn't matter if he hasn't even said anything. They will reflexively attack it, and attack it in the most ridiculous, over-the-top invectives you have ever heard.

If Obama says he wants a Supreme Court Justice with, dare I say, empathy, conservatives jump to the attack saying that this shows Obama is against the rule of law, the Constitution, the principles of democracy, and is probably a fascist.

If Obama says he believes health care is a fundamental human right, conservatives attack him as a socialist who is trying to kill your grandma, and your babies. They'll also call him a Nazi and compare his policies to slavery.

If Obama announces he is planning on giving a speech about the importance of education, conservatives attack him as a Nazi, a communist, a brainwasher, a terrorist and Mao Zedong. Oh and he is going to take away your children.

If Obama orders a hamburger with "spicy mustard", conservatives attack him for being "elitist", some suggest he might just be a little gay. No, really. They actually attacked the President for wanting mustard on his hamburger instead of "plain old ketchup." (Thankfully on this occasion they were able to restrain themselves from drawing the obvious comparison between mustard and Hitler...although this was a few months ago, when they were relatively "restrained".)

And that highlights my point: What happens in reality has absolutely NO bearing on how they react. In fact they aren't "reacting" to anything, they just spew lies and hate reflexively--they don't need a reason.

Another thing that this "education speech = brainwashing" lunacy highlights is the general antipathy that conservatives have always had against education. The Right continually rails against so-called liberal bias in public schools and in universities. Why are they convinced there is an omnipresent liberal brainwashing conspiracy in academia, not just in the United States, but in every country? Well because they, like the rest of us, have noted an interesting phenomenon that is evident in pretty much every survey comparing education and political ideology--liberals are more educated than conservatives!

See?? SEE?!?! That proves that education brainwashes people into being libruls!! It couldn't be that *GASP!* maybe the act of gaining knowledge actually makes people more liberal because reality has a liberal bias! Or put another way, perhaps conservatism thrives on the darkness of ignorance and misinformation, and just maybe has a hard time surviving in its absence, under the harsh light of facts, education, and knowledge.

So it should be no surprise that conservatives have done nothing to make higher education more affordable and everything to make it less affordable (except by private loans, which are acceptable because they pump profit into banks and fill their campaign coffers). Nor should it be a surprise that conservatives routinely vote against increased funding for public schools and strongly support charter schools which aren't subject to the same quality standards that the public school system must meet.

Given the hysteria cited above, it should also come as no surprise that millions of conservative families have opted to cut out public education altogether and instead home school their children so they can maintain absolute control over every piece of information or disinformation that comes into contact with them. Don't want your children exposed to "liberal brainwashing" like evolution or a less flattering interpretation of the Civil War? No problem, skip that chapter. Hell, don't even buy that book.

In the end it all comes down, not so much to taking pride in being ignorant--as a flabbergasted Obama once observed during one of his first encounters with this right-wing misinformation during the presidential campaign--but to being utterly reliant on ignorance for political power. So while they engage in generalized anti-education rhetoric and policies, they also have to drown out intelligent debate on any issue, not just education, because if logic or facts (or even common sense) are heard above the frenzy, they will lose the battle.

That is where these insane, almost comical (if there wasn't so much at stake) knee-jerk reactions to anything the President or Democrats in Congress say or do, no matter how benign or uncontroversial, come into play. When in doubt, Obama is a Nazi, period. You have your marching orders, now go scream at a town hall meeting.

What this made me think of is a toy from my childhood, the one where you pull a string or a lever and an arrow spins around, lands on a barnyard animal, and says something like, "The Cow says 'Mooooo!'". That basically seems to be the new modus operandi of the right-wing. Wait, the President is about to speak, get ready pull the lever...

The teabagger says "HITLER!!"

(Post Scriptum: I have discovered that the See 'n Say doesn't quite work how I remembered it working and described above, but whatever, my way is better)

Update: Read the followup: Post-Speech: Conservatives, How Stupid Do You Feel Now?

Dept. of Ed's 'Race to the Bottom?'

Armand Biroonak — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:17:58 -0700

The Obama administration realizes that our education system is lagging, but the recently announced ‘Race to the Top’ initiative may not be the solution. The Department of Education’s ‘Race to the Top’ puts up for grabs almost $5 billion of federal dollars to states that devise innovations and demonstrate improvements in K-12 education. This program is a good start in theory, but the fine print promotes broad, sweeping changes that are cause for concern.

First, to be eligible, states are required to link performance with testing. This is similar to the failed No Child Left Behind policy that focused too much on student assessment, and too little on broader factors and gains, when gauging school quality. For those who forgot, NCLB showed little gains in student progress, with schools forced to teach to the test and tests emphasizing low level skills.

The President of the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel voiced added concerns that, “A 'Race to the Top' can quickly turn into a 'Race to Judgment.' We need to offer incentives so that our best teachers teach the students most in need of assistance, not incentives to teach students most likely to score highest on a standardized test.”

The other main provision requires states to lift caps on charter schools –this is equally troubling. Charter schools have not shown to improve the quality of education, nor do they prove competitive to the public alternative. In fact, the Department of Education found that public school children have higher reading and math scores compared to charters’.

The ‘Race to the Top’ hopefully will not become a ‘race to the bottom.’ Yet it is hard to believe that real change will come if failed, recycled ideas to reform are continued. For sure, federal investment that reward innovation should be applauded and expanded, however policies of the former administration should not be. True reform allows program flexibility for our public schools, while improving teacher skills, emphasizing advanced level curriculum, and building school-family-community partnerships.


Just to showcase how far behind America is, take a look at the following statistics; According to OECD, the U.S. ranks 18th in secondary education completion. Consider top performance and quality, we rank well below average in math and far behind the rest in science.

Can Anyone Read “The Economy” Correctly?

William Daniels — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:52:06 -0700

On July 5, 2009 U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said: “We misread how bad the economy was…”. Well that’s exactly what the previous administration did also.

Isn’t it about time we stepped back and took a fresh and comprehensive look at just what it is that is being “read”? Reading the markets, the unemployment numbers, the leading economic indicators, the availability of capital, the GDP, etc., etc. has gotten us where we’re at, which most everyone finds unacceptable. Maybe, just maybe, asking different types of questions will allow us to see opportunities that will lead us to some better results.

For example:

Since we have invented so many labor saving devices, do we really need full employment?
Are we reading the experience of well being of human beings?
Is “the economy” serving the people or are the people serving “the economy”?
Are we reading how many human beings are well nourished?
Are we reading how many human beings are adequately sheltered?
Are we reading how many human beings have full access to the best health care?
Are we reading how many human beings have all the education they desire?
Is communication technology available equally to all human beings?
Is transportation available to all human beings when they desire it?
Are human beings getting all the recreation they desire?
What is the definition of “economics”?
What is the definition of “finance”?
What are the underlying assumptions of the financial system?
Are the foundational principles of finance in sync with the foundational principles of economics?
Is there an economy, independent of human beings?
Since we get resources from most everywhere in the world, and provide goods and services to as many people as possible around the world, doesn’t the well being of people everywhere affect us?
Is there a more efficient way to provide for the well being of human beings?
Is it possible to design an economic management system in which there are not both winners and losers?

William Daniels
503-314-6902
wdinpdx@yahoo.com
BillionsofBillionaires.blogspot.com
Copyright. Please distribute this freely for non-commercial purposes.

103 Students Set to Graduate from National Labor College

Tula Connell — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:44:29 -0700

Rachelle Honeycutt works at an oil refinery in Washington State. Sam Schaffer is a skilled sheet metal worker from West Virginia. Javier Almazan organizes workers in south Florida and Cathy Merkel is an registrar in Maryland. They're all union members. And in a few days, all four will be graduates of one of the crown jewels of the labor movement: The National Labor College.

With a 46-acre campus just outside Washington, D.C., the nation's only labor college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and grants bachelor's and master's degrees. The college evolved from the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, created in 1969, and now partners with the University of Baltimore and George Mason University for its graduate degree programs.

On Saturday, 101 students will receive B.A. degrees and two others will be awarded M.A. degrees, as the Labor College graduates its 11th class in a ceremony on the Silver Spring, Md., campus. U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will give the commencement address.

The Labor College's mix of on-campus course work and life credit enables full-time workers to complete their higher education and, in many cases, fulfill lifelong dreams: Schaffer, Merkel and Almazan are the first in their families to receive bachelor's degrees.

Almazan, an organizer with the Machinists union, says he enrolled to reach an education goal he set for himself years ago.

My motivation wasn't really because of my career. It was more about just making my parents proud and setting a good example for my kids, my children. That's why I enrolled and pursued it.

Almazan sometimes rose at 4:30 a.m. to work on his assignments before his workday began and, at times, skipped family events to ensure his coursework was completed on time. His parents, migrant farm workers who now have retirement security because of their union pensions, will join him at the graduation ceremonies, as will his six children, one of whom will graduate from the University of Florida within months of her father.

The Labor College enables adults working full-time with families and other commitments to break the barriers they face in pursuing higher education. Merkel, a member of the Office and Professional Employees union, oversees apprentice training programs at the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters union in Maryland. When the union partnered with the Labor College for training programs, Merkel, 48, became inspired to pursue her degree as well. Her curiosity about why more union members don't take advantage of the Labor College's resources sparked her final research paper on the importance of college degrees for union apprentice instructors. In interviewing union members and compiling the data from the results of the 1,800 surveys she sent out, Merkel found that time and money were two important factors holding adults back from pursuing their degrees. But there was another factor: fear. Says Merkel:

It's a sort of a fear of failure. Growing up, I don't know about them...but we didn't grow up with money. My best friend went off to college and I went to work and cried my eyes out because I couldn't go. It just wasn't an option for me. It was a class thing.

Talking with union members about the Labor College, Merkel says she will hear:

"Oh, Cathy, I can't do that. You've got to get one of those smarter, younger guys to do it."

They've been taught all their lives that they're blue-collar workers and that's what they do. They fear academics. It can be intimidating. If I say I'm a welder, if I say I'm a plumber, how seriously does the academic world take me?

And that's what sets the Labor College apart. Says Merkel:

From the minute I walked on the campus, I thought it was a perfect fit for any worker.

A member of the United Steelworkers (USW), Honeycutt is the union's Safety Department coordinator at the Conoco Phillips plant in Ferndale, Wash., and tailored her final research project at the Labor College to address workplace safety and health issues. She created a database from the past 20 years of the refinery's morbidity and mortality reports and shared the information with other union members on the USW's Conoco Phillips Council, which includes workers from plants nationwide. Her research turned up an unexpectedly high number of lower back injuries, which she now seeks to address.

Honeycutt, mother of three college-aged children, says her double major in Safety and Health and Union Leadership and Administration was

so interlinked to everything I do. It taught me how to research stuff, locale stuff, report writing, that of course is way beneficial here, because what I do is write reports.

She credits members of the Fire Fighters with giving her the inspiration for creating a database from job safety reports, a cross-pollination of ideas that occurred because of the time she spent with other union members at the Labor College.

I think the strength of NLC is because you have that diverse group of unions. It was such an eye-opener to me to see how other people do things. I know so many different people from so many different unions.

Schaffer, whose grandfather was part of the famous 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain in West Virginia, spends evenings teaching sheet metal apprentices at the Sheet Metal Workers International Training Institute after working full-time as a sheet metal worker at Aerofab in Dayton, Ohio. He says the structure of the college is "very helpful for somebody that's been out of school for a long time" and getting the opportunity to attend was "an unbelievable dream."

Like Honeycutt, Shaffer says the opportunity to meet union members from around the country at the Labor College campus was a key part of his experience, including the 25 members of Sheet Metal Worker unions nationwide--the most from any union in this graduating class--who will join Honeycutt in graduating this weekend.

Meeting all the different union people--that was great. There were lots of sheet metal workers in the program. We'd sit at night and talk about how they do things in their local that's totally different from Huntington [West Virginia].

Now Schaffer, who has worked 22 years in the industry, hopes his B.A. in Labor Education will help advance his career as trainer. His achievement already has thrilled his family, especially his mother, who passed away in April. Schaffer, who is heart-broken his mother will not see him graduate, consoles himself with the knowledge that she read his final research paper, which described the Blair Mountain battle her father took part in.

She was so proud to have a child who was getting ready to graduate.

Another benefit: Schaffer says his degree also makes it easier to encourage his daughter, Lori, to finish college and his high school son, Matthew, to attend.

Merkel isn't alone in encouraging union co-workers to enroll. Says Almazan, who already has recruited two new students:

I'm trying to promote and encourage other members of our union that are seeking a degree to go there, that is geared toward our kind of lifestyle that will assist you in attaining a degree.

The Labor College enables working adults to obtain higher education many thought was long out of reach. It provides students with valuable skills they can take back to their workplaces and their unions. It also opens up for them the bigger picture of the U.S. union movement--it's short-term goals, long-term accomplishments and network of activism.

Honeycutt says the Labor College

gave me a broader sense of union policies and priorities, just introduced you to the bigger picture which never think about--you've got your own little world. It gives you deeper appreciation for why we matter. We really do a lot of good. We really do matter.

Adds Merkel:

The Labor College shows you what a sisterhood and brotherhood means.

This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog.

103 Students Set to Graduate from National Labor College

Tula Connell — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:35:21 -0700

Almazan, an organizer with the Machinists union, says he enrolled to reach an education goal he set for himself years ago.

My motivation wasn't really because of my career. It was more about just making my parents proud and setting a good example for my kids, my children. That's why I enrolled and pursued it.

It's a sort of a fear of failure. Growing up, I don't know about them...but we didn't grow up with money. My best friend went off to college and I went to work and cried my eyes out because I couldn't go. It just wasn't an option for me. It was a class thing.

Talking with union members about the Labor College, Merkel says she will hear:

"Oh, Cathy, I can't do that. You've got to get one of those smarter, younger guys to do it."

They've been taught all their lives that they're blue-collar workers and that's what they do. They fear academics. It can be intimidating. If I say I'm a welder, if I say I'm a plumber, how seriously does the academic world take me?

And that's what sets the Labor College apart. Says Merkel:

From the minute I walked on the campus, I thought it was a perfect fit for any worker.

Honeycutt, mother of three college-aged children, says her double major in Safety and Health and Union Leadership and Administration was

so interlinked to everything I do. It taught me how to research stuff, locale stuff, report writing, that of course is way beneficial here, because what I do is write reports.

I think the strength of NLC is because you have that diverse group of unions. It was such an eye-opener to me to see how other people do things. I know so many different people from so many different unions.

Meeting all the different union people--that was great. There were lots of sheet metal workers in the program. We'd sit at night and talk about how they do things in their local that's totally different from Huntington [West Virginia].

She was so proud to have a child who was getting ready to graduate.

Another benefit: Schaffer says his degree also makes it easier to encourage his daughter, Lori, to finish college and his high school son, Matthew, to attend.

Merkel isn't alone in encouraging union co-workers to enroll. Says Almazan, who already has recruited two new students:

I'm trying to promote and encourage other members of our union that are seeking a degree to go there, that is geared toward our kind of lifestyle that will assist you in attaining a degree.

Honeycutt says the Labor College

gave me a broader sense of union policies and priorities, just introduced you to the bigger picture which never think about--you've got your own little world. It gives you deeper appreciation for why we matter. We really do a lot of good. We really do matter.

Adds Merkel:

The Labor College shows you what a sisterhood and brotherhood means.

This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog.

Kari Fulton

Kari Fulton — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:49:48 -0700

Featured as a young leader to watch by both Elle and Glamour Margazine, Kari Fulton is a noted activist in the Environmental Justice and Youth Climate Movement. Currently she is the National Campus Campaign Coordinator for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative. Through EJCC Fulton works to mobilize young people of color around environmental justice and campus sustainability. Recently Fulton was awarded the Brower New Leaders Award (Earth Island Institute) and the Damu Smith Power of One Young Professional Award (Deep South Center For Environmental Justice at Dillard University). Currently, Fulton acts as a spokesperson for the Energy Action Coalition is a senior fellow with Young People For the American Way (YP4) and a member of the YP4 Leadership Academy. She is also a graduate of the John H. Johnson School of Communications at Howard University. In her spare time Fulton is a blogger on checktheweather.net a member of the board of directors for the Lets Raise A Million Project and Dreaming Out Loud, an after-school program in DC.