Category Archives: Education Policy

Asa G. Hilliard III | The State of African Education

American Educational Research Association Plenary Presentation 
Commission on Research in Black Education 
April, 2000 
New Orleans, LA

It took Lerone Bennett several decades to write his newest book, Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream, meticulously documenting Abraham Lincoln’s white supremacy beliefs. Bennett shows that Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” was a conscious and necessary deception that did not free a single enslaved African.  Bennett then shows the carelessness of historians, and even the cover-up of the record by some, in order to let the myth survive. How ironic that many tears have been shed by those who choose the Lincoln Memorial as a symbolic site to celebrate African liberation,  while oblivious to those who truly sought to free Africans, not the least of whom were Africans themselves. Instead we honor an opponent of equality who openly espoused white supremacy views until his death. Then we accept a myth that is the opposite of the truth.

In many ways, the persistence of the myth of Abraham Lincoln as a liberator of Africans is a symbol of the contemporary response to the state of education of African Americans and of African people worldwide. So much of what we believe about our state is false. How do we account for this myth of the “Emancipator” and of “emancipation.” It is in the curriculum and in the culture at large, a belief in the face of all evidence to the contrary. And so, until this very time, we have a whole nation in deep denial. Continue reading

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Filed under Black Culture | United States, Black Politics, Education Policy, Historic Black Politics & Figures, Pan Africanism | Afrocentrism | Africana Studies, white supremacy

CORE Charges Richard M. Daley & Chicago Board of Education with Union-Busting!

[CORE] Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators | Calls for Overturn of the 1995 Amendatory Act and an End to Mayoral Control!

 

CHICAGO – Quietly, with little public debate, on November 18, 2009, the Chicago Board of Education could authorize 8,130 additional charter seats, increasing charters’ current Chicago market share from 7.9% to 9.8% according to Chicago Public Schools data compiled by CORE researchers.  CPS proposes to open nine new charter schools in 2010 and 2011 and convert seven contract schools into charters.

Since the onset of Renaissance 2010 in 2004, Chicago Teacher Union membership has shrunk by approximately 6,000 members.

“Labor law doesn’t allow a company to close down a union plant and open up a non-union one across the street, but that’s exactly what Chicago Public Schools has done for the last six years without pause,” said Jackson Potter, CPS teacher at Little Village-Lawndale High School and CORE co-chair.

Karen Lewis, CPS teacher at King College Prep and co-chair of CORE stated that, “It is increasingly clear from mountains of research that Renaissance 2010 schools generally do not offer a better education than traditional neighborhood schools.  So today we have to identify the real reason behind school reform in this city — union busting.”

“The Mayor (Richard M. Daley) and his appointed Board of Education are violating the human rights of teachers and putting our children at even greater risk when it busts our union. The 1995 state law that gave Mayor Daley control of the schools – and prohibited the Chicago Teachers Union from bargaining over the closing and opening of new schools — is unconstitutional and must be overturned,” said Potter.

Potter explained that when educators do not have contractual rights, “management can run wild.  My union contract backs me up so I can demand that my students receive an adequate education and proper services if they are English language learners, special education students, or are in need of counseling or medical support. Without union protections, students are increasingly at risk.”

Kristine Mayle, a CPS special education teacher, explained that unlike contract schools, charters are barred from joining the CTU bargaining unit, may hire up to 25% non-certified teachers and no administrators need certification or education experience. “CPS is creating a low-wage, high-turnover workforce.  That’s the plan,” said Mayle, who added that, “Charters burn out teachers — most won’t stay in the classroom the 10 years it takes to vest into the pension.  It’s not a stretch to imagine that the Board sees that as a plus.”

“Mayor Daley is privatizing our schools under the guise of providing better educational opportunities for students and families.  There is no sound educational benefit for students in most charter schools,” said Sara Echevarria, a CPS teacher at Clemente High School.   “Why would CPS open another charter high school in Englewood ?  They have five already and only one neighborhood high school.  It’s all mapped out.”

“There’s a myth that unions guarantee teachers a job for life.  Not true,” said Michael E. Brunson, a displaced CPS teacher.  “Strong contracts provide due process but that’s not happening in Chicago .  Each year hundreds of union teachers are dismissed wholesale when their schools are closed, turned around or converted to charters.   CPS’s current proposals aren’t about improving education.  They’re about privatizing education and busting unions.”

Coreteachers.com

Contact: Liz Brown, 773/606-4876,  l.brown.work@gmail.com  | Kenzo Shibata, 312/296-0124,  kenzo.shibata@gmail.com

CORE, a caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union, represents rank-and-file members. The group is comprised of teachers, retired teachers, educational staff and other champions of public education.  

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Filed under Actions, Black Politics, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Education Policy, Obama Administration, The Obama Administration

Melanie Harris | Kozol on C-SPAN | SUNDAY SEPT 6

 

C-SPAN (BOOKNOTES, WHICH RUNS ON C-SPAN TWO) IS DOING A 3-HOUR SPECIAL ON JONATHAN KOZOL’S ENTIRE CAREER STARTING AT NOON EASTERN TIME THIS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, THE DAY AFTER JONATHAN’S BIRTHDAY. IT’S A VIEWER CALL-IN PROGRAM AND WILL REACH OVER A MILLION PEOPLE.

KozolKozol will be there in the C-SPAN studio to answer questions callers throw at him, and I expect many of the callers are going to be vicious right-wing types who despise everything he stands for. It would be great if teachers, former students, educators, and just plain friends who know what Jonathan is like and how hard and long he’s worked for kids like he ones he’s described in the South Bronx and Boston, feel like calling-in to give him some support. I’m sure Jonathan will be questioned about Shame of the Nation, Amazing Grace, Letters to a Young Teacher, and his other books and all the issues they raise about unequal, segregated schools, NCLB, corporate privatizers, the testing mania, etc.

He’ll be speaking out on behalf of all those idealistic and terrific teachers who write to us and tell us that they feel that everything they value (and the public system as a whole) is under withering attack. Knowing his views on charter schools (the kind that are run by private groups, especially for profit), I assume he’ll have to disagree with President Obama if this comes up. It probably will. Perhaps, even if you can’t call in, you’ll spread the word, by website or other means, to as many good folks as you can.

THIS SUNDAY, C-SPAN TWO, STARTS AT NOON E.S.T. (11 A.M. CHICAGO, 9 A.M. LOS ANGELES.)

 
Melanie Harris

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Filed under Actions | Events, American Culture, American History, American Politics, American Progressive Politics, ART | CULTURE | WRITING, Black Politics, Books | Book Reviews, Education Policy

Bruce A. Dixon | Send In the Clowns: 3 Stooges, Gingrich, Sharpton & Duncan Hit the Road For Corporate “School Reform”

Black Agenda Report
The Three Education Stooges

The Three Education Stooges

 [FOR STORY CLICK PHOTO]

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Filed under American Politics, Black Politics, Education Policy, Obama Administration, The Obama Administration

HOW LINCOLN LEARNED TO READ by Daniel Wolff

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Filed under American Culture, Education Policy, Friends & Comrades