During his campaign, Mayor Bill Di Blasio pledged to provide universal pre-kindergarten for all children whose families can’t afford it.
He said he would pay for UPK (universal pre-kindergarten) by imposing a modest tax increase on those with incomes over $500,000 a year. But he needs the support of Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature to raise taxes on the super-rich.
In the meanwhile, the Di Blasio administration has announced that it will redirect money from the city’s capital plan that was intended for charter schools to be used instead to begin UPK.
The Bloomberg administration made charters a high priority even though they enroll only 6% of the city’s children.
According to the report in the New York Times:
“The chancellor, Carmen Fariña, in describing the Education Department’s $12.8 billion capital plan, said she would seek to redirect $210 million that had been reserved for classroom space for charter schools and other nonprofit groups. The money, spread out over five years, would instead be used to create thousands of new prekindergarten seats, helping fulfill Mr. de Blasio’s signature campaign promise.
“The decision was an opening salvo in what many expect to be a long battle between the de Blasio administration and charter schools. The mayor is an unabashed critic of the schools, which are publicly financed but privately run. He has argued that the city should focus its resources on traditional public schools.”
The charter industry is outraged and is now angling to get permission to open pre-k programs.
Of course, if the charters maintain their typical practice of excluding children with disabilities and English learners, that would be disruptive for the UPK program.
The next contretemps between the Di Blasio administration and the charter industry will come when the administration reviews the decisions made in the waning days of the Bloomberg administration to open more charter schools in public school space. Chancellor Farina has said she will review each case on its merits, and Mayor Di Blasio has promised to listen to community sentiment.
Although increasing preschool enrollment seems like it might be a good idea to give children a jump on learning…..it is actually all part of the plan for the state to raise your children with their values and their mandates. Get ’em young and you have them for life. How about using that money to infuse poor communities with opportunities for productive work at a living wage? Then maybe one parent could actually stay home and care for very young children and teach them their family values, read them stories at night and prepare beautiful food together. An old idea…I know…but a good one.
I started my teaching career in a high quality pre-K program. We had intensive training before we started. We went into the homes once a week and learned where our students were coming from. We formed important partnerships with parents and made them feel welcome in our classrooms with family style meals. We were sent to national conferences where we learned the best developmentally appropriate practices. This program helped shape me into the teacher that I am today….20 years later! I have a great deal of respect and empathy for the parents of my elementary students and I know the value of play. My hope for New York is that they get it right by having high quality, developmentally appropriate pre-K programs in their neighborhood/community schools. Data and rigor need not apply!
Unfortunately, one of the requirements for applying for Race to the Top funds was that every state had to agree to create a longitudinal data collection system to keep track of all of “the state’s children” or should I say “human capital” from pre-K to 20 and beyond. So much information can be gleaned from young children too. It has become painfully obvious that there is something very unconstitutional and nefarious going in our country regarding the capturing of every email, phone call and tweet of every citizen. Allowing this invasive system to begin at 3 is completely unfair to our children who are relying on us to protect them.
“Allowing this invasive system to begin at 3 is completely unfair to our children who are relying on us to protect them.”
Our recourse is to not let it begin at all, for any children.
I’m curious what “values” you think the state is imposing on children?
Look up Common Core and Agenda 21 and you will get your answer.
In 2004, Bill Gates signed an agreement with UNESCO to create a curriculum to disseminate the goals and agenda of UNESCO which consists of spreading sustainable development and the creation of world citizens. The values the state would inculcate are that nature is more important than man, the group is more important than the individual, everyone is a global citizen not an American citizen (with sovereign rights granted by natural law not man), the New God is Mother Earth, there is no objective morality because everyone can have their own subjective truth, we will have open borders and redistribute America’s wealth to other nations and scientific inquiry will be replaced by consensus.
The Common Core is an empty skill set which leaves the curriculum wide open for the state to insert content. The state controls the tests. The tests drive the writing of new text books. The teachers teach to the test and the texts, so the state can push any values they want. (refer to a piece by Dean Kalahar at the Americanthinker.com)
These ideas have been circulating a long time. The Common Core has provided the opportunity to actually accomplish this devious plan.
“Every child in America entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It’s up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well – by creating the international child of the future.”
-Dr. Chester M. Pierce, Harvard Professor of Education and Psychiatry, in an address to the Childhood International Education Seminar in 1973
I couldn’t find a primary source for the quote attributed to Chester Pierce. For a more complete picture of Pierce I read the Wickipedia article. That said, teachers tend to be independent thinkers. To think that there is any way to get teachers to think along any one line, I think it would be easier to hers the nation’s cats.
“Every child in America entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances toward our Founding Fathers, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity… It’s up to you teachers to make all of these sick children well by creating the international children of the future.” ~Dr. Chester M. Pierce, Professor of Education and Psychiatry, Medicine and Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, address to the Association for Childhood Education International in Denver (1972)
Here’s more information on Dr. Pierce from the Harvard site:
Inspired by the life work of our founder, Dr. Chester M. Pierce, we seek quiet excellence and undying commitment in medical service to the international community
http://grumpyelder.com/2012/12/huh-every-child-in-america-entering-school-at-the-age-of-five-is-insane/
John D Rockefeller was on 20 years old when the NEA was formed. The Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations gave money to the NEA much later in its history.
The 11-14–04 USA Today article on Bill Gates signing the UNESCO agreement talked about more computer access for countries like India. Nothing about the other topics you mentioned. I would like to see the primary source text. Do you have a link for it?
You can read the agreement which is initialed by Gates on every page right here.
Click to access UNESCO-MS.pdf
(Just for starters) I value the ability to discern worthless irrelevant information from relevance, make quick, accurate and useful associations between loosely related facts, and to transfer skills and knowledge acquired in one situation to another, as deemed appropriate by the application of critical thinking skills.
I believe that such a foundation encourages beliefs and policy that leads directly and quickly away from the Stalinesque nightmares that seem to haunt the sleep of so many Americans.
The vision of American public education is and forever has been to teach people how to learn, and how to reason. Never what to think. That’s the job of the cable news stations and their corporate sponsors.
The U.S. Military has been keeping records of literacy of its recruits since WWII. In 1940, out of 18 million men who applied for the army, 99% of white men and 84% of black men were literate. By 1960, the number of literate black men applying for the army had dropped to 28%. Now the U.S. Department of Education states that 50% of all adults cannot read a bus schedule or fill out simple forms. If you think that is a natural phenomenon, a coincidence, an unfortunate happenstance….you are extremely naive.
People like Rockefeller and Dewey have purposefully undermined education to dumb down the population to make them more pliable and controllable.
The real purpose of modern schooling was announced by the legendary sociologist
Edward Roth in his manifesto of 1906 called SOCIAL CONTROL. In it Roth wrote, “plans are underway to replace family, community and church with propaganda, mass-media and education (of course he meant schooling)…people are only little plastic lumps of dough.”
“There is no God and no soul. Hence, there are no needs for props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or permanent absolutes …. Teaching children to read is a great perversion and a high literacy rate breeds destructive individualism … the child does not go to school to develop individual talents but rather are prepared as “units” in an organic society …. The change in the moral school atmosphere … are not mere accidents, they are the necessities of the larger social evolution.” ~John Dewey (signer of the Humanist Manifesto)
“There is urgent need for a program of education for world citizenship that can be made a part of every person’s general education… It will take social science and social engineering to solve the problems of human relations … The competitive principle must give place to the principle of cooperation … East and West are coming together in one world order… The role which education will play officially must be conditioned essentially by policies established in the State Department… and by Ministries of Foreign Affairs in other countries. Higher education must play a very important part in carrying out in this country the program developed by UNESCO … The United States Office of Education must be prepared to work with the State Department and with UNESCO.” ~Report by President Truman’s Commission on Higher Education (1947)
“America is reaping the consequences of the destruction of traditional education by the Dewey-Kilpatrick experimentalist philosophy … Dewey’s ideas have led to elimination of many academic subjects on the ground that they would not be useful in life… The student thus receives neither intellectual training nor the factual knowledge which will help him understand the world he lives in, or to make well-reasoned decisions in his private life or as a responsible citizen.” ~Admiral Hyman Rickover, The Tablet (1959)
It’s not such a big deal.
Let Eva Moskowitz and othes give up a chunk of their executive style pay, and then they’ll have a larger budget for renting space or even building their own facility.
More power to Bill and Carmen for thinking independently, and the most encouragement given to the mayor for choosing a veritable educator as chancellor. This will not be perfect, nor will it be everything one wants, but it is a critical, crucial step in the right direction away from Bloomberg’s, Walcott’s, and Klein’s twisted impacts . . . . .
I must agree with the comment from Dawn Hoagland but might add that parent education in the poorest of communities would hopefully do some good for generations to come. If parents have the proper education and resources, they should be able to pass them on to their children. Young children deserve to be at home, in their formative years, with their own parents. Education should begin in the home.
I agree with Dawn about this too.
From the hallowed halls of Harvard comes evidence of these 3 working solutions for engaging parents in schools, one is even “market based.”
My personal favorite is Logan Square, from the city where Arne got his start looting schools and abandoning poor families to obtain campaign favors (I told you I can do dog whistles and hyperbole… but I’m not sure I’ve mischaracterized or overstated anything here, so far). All of them are better than what is being done. There is no evidence to be found that what Arne & Co. are doing works, or ever has.
Please See…
Beyond the Bake Sale: A Community- Based Relational Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools
Mark R. Warren, Soo Hong, Carolyn Leung Rubin, Phitsamay Sychitkokhong Uy (2009) Teachers College Record, Volume 111, Number 9, September 2009, pp. 2209–2254
http://bit.ly/nYwbjK (PDF)
Pre-school is only valuable if its primary focus is on play, experimentation, developing curiosity and learning to share an interact with other children. THIS is the development of critical thinking skill and must be developed at the earliest possible age. If pre-school is going to focus on cognition and sitting at a desk and giving kids paper and pencil, then forget the idea. Yes it would be best if kids could be home with parents, but it is the poor who are most likely have both parents working and frequently working more than one job. Maybe if we paid our service workers a decent, living wage parents would be able to spend more time at home with their kids; maybe they’d have more resources to spend on their kids….books, games and toys that require manipulation and introspection. It’s a difficult world out there.
Very true. By the way, what jobs? There are still three applicants for every opening nationwide. Besides, the Republican-controlled HOR is not interested in any government-stimulated job creation. I agree that a parent who is at home full time would be great, but at this time in our history is often not feasible. Too many couples are earning too little, single parents on assistance must work or be in some kind of training program in order to receive government funds. Also, some students are coming to school with little in the way of normed behaviors (empathy, sharing, etc.) At least that’s what I observed in my teaching career. Teachers and other adults at the school sites need to model and reinforce these behaviors especially if students are not seeing them in the home environment.
Why is having to work or be in a training program to receive public assistance a bad thing? That could teach children the value of work. And maybe teach them to make good choices in life.
It’s not a bad thing. but if you’re working or in school, you can be at home simultaneously which I believe that was Joseph’s point.
This. Until I see what form this universal pre-k takes, I’m not jumping up to grab my pom-poms. Call me cynical, but I’m just afraid it will be one more state sponsored way for Pear$on to profit.
Bravo!
Great for de Blasio and Faritña! They really ought to consult with Early Childhood Education specialists, including ECE people in other states who have implemented Universal PreK, because there are a number of options. If the program is going to be only half a day, the best way to address UPK is to provide it along with subsidized child care, so that children in eligible families can be cared for longer and parents can still be employed. The district should be able to work something out so they can do that in traditional public schools, too.
In the best interests of young children, if not already designated for public schools by state law (I couldn’t find anything about this except in regard to NYS child care centers), they might need to establish and make a commitment to meeting minimum regulations consistent with the states’ child care requirements, such as for minimum space allocations, child/teacher ratios and maximum groups sizes.
I know it’s early in the game… but it looks like diBlasio is a politician who acts on his promises… this is the kind of leader needed to restore our faith in government!
I agree with the commenters who warn UPK must be well thought out, developmentally appropriate and community centered. But isn’t it great that the new city leaders are sending the message that money won’t buy public policy? Charter leeches had better find a funding source other than my tax dollars and the public trust known as public education.
Strongly agree that de Blasio’s PK proposal represents a wonderful new beginning in NYC, assuming that these programs will be carefully planned, developmentally appropriate, staffed by well-qualified personnel, closely monitored by the city, and routinely evaluated by early childhood researchers/experts.
As for charters now seeking to enter the PK “market” so as to enhance their business plan by further bolstering their funding from public tax dollars, they’re not wanted! Their “no excuses” philosophy, drill-and-kill pedagogy centered on testing, inappropriate punishments for children who fail to conform to the total-control environment, and Teach for a Day staffing represent the antitheses of quality early childhood practices.
Maybe require every school-based or private-sector operated PK receiving public funding to become NAEYC accredited. That’d go a long way toward ensuring developmentally appropriate settings for our youngest, most fragile children.
I hope that de Blasio doesn’t permit charter schools to open pre-k classes. If they do that, they will need more classrooms and, therefore, take away more classrooms from the public school that shares their space with them.
“More than a dozen new charter schools are scheduled to open this fall inside traditional school buildings,”
I love the careful phrasing. New schools are scheduled to open inside “school buildings”, as if there’s nothing and no one in the “buildings” now.
I believe the word is “school”. Those are schools, not “buildings”, but I guess not if you’re looking at them as simply real estate.
Overall I wonder the same things about charter school privateers living on the public dime as I do about business owners who pay their employees poverty wages. Can they afford the cost of doing business? Maybe they’re just not ready to handle the responsibility of running these schools and businesses. Do they need to attend schools first, work for others a bit longer?
If Mr Gates does even a bachelor’s degree in education, or some Waltons live and feed their families on minimum wage for some months, could it lend their views some credibility, possibly increase the chances of finding common ground?
When it comes to those venturing into the 21st-century classroom industry, which Christensen, Johnson & Horn (2008) conveniently reduced to a “supply chain” of textbooks, materials, testing instruments and digital professors, I’m even further bemused. I’d like to ask them, if you’re doing this to put kids first, why aren’t you taking personal responsibility and financing your own ventures? Why do you need other people’s money? Would you pay each other so grandly and be so lavish with it if we insisted you use only your own? If, as is now widely known, after in some cases decades of effort, your results are no better, often worse than traditional public schools—even as the numbers you do serve, the diversity of some who do benefit, become lower, narrower, less inclusive, and less equitable—why should the public be giving you a cent? Can you sell your high-stakes testing strategies to teachers, parents and communities on a fair open market like the ones you glorify when you tout “choice?” Do you actually believe in what you’re doing?
Should we elect strong defenders of public education like Bill Di Blasio in every city? Should we be out to disrupt the disruption of public education? Should we be out instead to end it?
Much of the reform appears to be about real estate; de-valuing inner-city schools to open up acquisition possibilities for Broad, etc. Isn’t this just another form of red-lining, the discriminatory and illegal banking practice that shut minorities out of traditionally white neighborhoods?
Mayor Wilhelms war on charters is now official. Of course this hurts our kids the most but the mayor dooesnt seem to mind hurting kids educational prospects for his political wars.
Of course of course it’s a no brainer. And finally a politician that looks at the reality of the situation instead of listening to non educator billionaires.
Let the education profiteers be outraged. They should be ashamed.
“He (de Blasio) has argued that the city should focus its resources on traditional public schools.”
This gives me hope … long awaited hope.
Kaiser Wilhelm is a divider not a uniter, he is threatening some public schools and rewarding others due to special interests. Man does this city miss Bloomberg already..
I hope former Mayor Bloomberg is able to continue his necessary and courageous work for common sense gun safety. I wish him all the best on all his endeavors outside education.
Mayor de Blasio is restoring a 3-century old American commitment to public education, passed down from Jefferson through Mann and Dewey and other men and women, famous & unknown, too numerous to mention, who helped build American democracy on a strong foundation of public education.
“The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages, as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country.”—Benjamin Franklin, 1749
“Before any great things are accomplished, a memorable change must be made in the system of education and knowledge must become so general as to raise the lower ranks of society nearer to the higher. The education of a nation instead of being confined to a few schools and universities for the instruction of the few, must become the national care and expense for the formation of the many.” —John Adams
In the earliest days of the nation one of our first historians, sister of Declaration signer John Warren and a frequent dinner companion of soon to be President Adams, Mercy Otis-Warren foretold the need of electing such men as Mayor de Blasio, from where they can draw strength, and what they’re elected to do:
“The people may again be reminded, that the elective franchise is in their own hands; that it ought not to be abused, either for personal gratifications, or the indulgence of partisan acrimony. …This can only be done by electing such men to guide the national counsels, whose conscious probity enables them to stand like a Colossus, on the broad basis of independence, and by correct and equitable arrangements, endeavor to lighten the burdens of the people, strengthen their unanimity at home, command justice abroad, and cultivate peace…”
Only 30 years later Alexis de Tocqueville predicted public education would one day be democracy in America’s only chance: “the time is fast approaching when freedom, public peace, and social order itself will not be able to exist without education.”
But it was another president who warned 3 decades later of the type of special interests Bloomberg served:
“… corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”—Abraham Lincoln, letter to Col. William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864
Americans really shouldn’t need a program to tell who the players are in this ball game. Maybe some just need a refresher in the “virtue” of “publick spirit” that built American democracy.
I like your quotes but my research on John Dewey says he doesn’t deserve to be listed in the line up of those who have contributed to our republic for the good of the people. He was a student of G. Stanley Hall who studied under Wilhelm Wundt in Germany. Wundt stated: “Man has no soul… supply the correct stimulus to get the desired result.”
Behaviorism denies that human beings have the capacity to discover universal principles. It denies that man has the capacity to create. Behaviorism states that man is not different than an animal. This is in direct opposition to the American system which recognizes that human creativity is our nation’s greatest treasure.
– The Leipzig Connection by Paolo Lionni
Although Dewey is considered to be the father of progressive education, he actually had a terrible impact on literacy on purpose. He changed the emphasis from phonics to whole word recognition, the look say method, which immediately resulted in poor reading skills. He also preached that the state could do a better job bringing up children than parents could. I know many teachers believe Dewey to be a great man….but remember the brainwash has been rampant. The NEA was started by John Rockefeller.
I appreciate that Dawn, and I’ll follow up… thank you.
It’s actually Paulo Freire I think of in regards to literacy (e.g., w Donaldo Macedo, 1987) and also very much democracy, but here I was purposely sticking to Americans.
“…While cultural action is political-pedagogical action that includes literacy, it is not always forced to revolve around literacy. Many times it is possible, and more than possible, it is necessary to work with communities in the “reading” of their reality” (Freire & Macedo, 1987, pg. 166). [I do love quotes, and I’ve got lots of them! Guess I’ll dig deeper into the Dewey.]
Truth is beautiful. Thank you for this wonderful post.
Bloomberg has purchased a house in London so he can be close to the center of the most fraudulent lawless unregulated financial district on the planet, the City of London, which is not a city but a block of iniquity. If it is fraud, the transaction went through the City of London. He could spend his time pushing for the reinstatement of the Glass Steagall Act which is necessary to stop the financial tsunami which is headed our way, but that would place him clearly on the side of the people which he is not.
Bloomberg is now working for the United Nations as special envoy for Climate Change. Considering global warming was a hoax started by Rockefeller and others, now re-branded as climate change because there has been no global warming and catastrophic sea water rise as predicted over the last 17 years, I have to wonder what he will do in this capacity.
My guess is he will work closely with Al Gore and Prince Charles to really get that carbon credit scheme cemented into place. We will be allotted a certain number of units for our carbon footprint. We may have to pay per unit or we may have to pay if we exceed the units or we may have to limit our vehicle miles traveled so that we can stay within the allotment. Of course, he and Al and the Prince will be exempt from limiting their own carbon footprints because they are doing such important work we have to give them a break and let them fly jets all over the place creating all kinds of environmental degradation and a huge waste of resources in the form of jet fuel. That is to be expected in an age where the elite rule the world by creating rules to which they are exempt. (Like Obama, Gates and Duncan create the Common Core for us while they send their children to private schools with small class sizes, lots of art and music, and no Common Core.)
Do you actually like Bloomberg, or were you kidding?
I have no respect for Bloomberg, Gates, Broad, or any of the other plunderers of our nation’s schools. They are in it for money and power period. Either that, or they are totally deluded as to the educational, emotional, physical, and mental needs of our nation’s children (or the whole world’s children, for that matter).
It had been 20 years since I read Dewey. I’m always willing to take another look at my beliefs. After re-reading Dewey and reading more of Dawn’s post my confidence in the former has grown. I can write in dog whistles and hyperbole too, but I’m trying to communicate, not delineate. For example, I worked reasonably closely with the UNESCO Chair at our Faculty of Education and the mis-characterization of their work and goals I read here is truly bizarre and absurd.
The poison in the debate is “othering,” and at its root is pure fear, shear and utter cowardice. Of course there are states that indoctrinated their subjects—and you can rest completely assured that Franklin, Adams et al knew far more about them than your average American voter today. The vision Revolutionary Americans held for public education was truth, science, historical fact and critical thinking. “Othering” the UN, international and humanitarian aid, and global peace movements is self-defeating and reprehensible, and serves only the war racket Lincoln, and later Eisenhower, so clearly saw as the real enemy to emancipation.
When Americans “other” their government—the one that’s “of, by, for” themselves—they admit they have failed. They admit they have lost, that e pluribus unum, “from many one,” means nothing to them. Many Americans are indeed surrendering—give them a large flat screen and a reality show to judge others by and they’ll happily repeat the stuff it pumps out. That’s “freedom” I guess, because they “choose” to be disengaged and believe whatever advertisers tell them. They have clever names to call each other. My tribe’s better than your tribe.
“For in spite of itself any movement that thinks and acts in terms of an ‘ism becomes so involved in reaction against other ‘isms that it is unwittingly controlled by them. For it then forms its principles by reaction against them instead of by a comprehensive, constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities.”—John Dewey
Throw the money changers out of the temple. Stop testing that isn’t diagnostic and formative. Make schools public spaces where teaching & learning is always happening, then when people enter that space they will simply become part of what is already taking place.
Very well said.
I do not know what writing in “dog whistles” would be. I do not write hyperbole. I quote:
“There is no God and no soul. Hence, there are no needs for props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or permanent absolutes …. Teaching children to read is a great perversion and a high literacy rate breeds destructive individualism … the child does not go to school to develop individual talents but rather are prepared as “units” in an organic society …. The change in the moral school atmosphere … are not mere accidents, they are the necessities of the larger social evolution.” ~John Dewey (signer of the Humanist Manifesto)
John Dewey said this:
Teaching children to read is a great perversion and a high literacy rate breeds destructive individualism.
The Sustainability Toolkit published by the U.N. says this:
“Generally, more highly educated people who have higher incomes, consume more resources than poorly educated people who tend to have lower incomes. In this case, more education increases the threat of sustainability.”
I am not the first person or the last to criticize UNESCO and the U.N. in general. Do not act as if it is this lofty institution has nothing but good will for the all of the world’s people. Hogwash. Turn your TV off. Open your eyes. Why are you justifying this institution that is in the process of “inventory and control” of all resources in the world including “human capital?” Are you a paid shill or just a shill?
The first Director General of UNESCO was Julian Huxley. Julian was also the President of the British Eugenics Society. His brother Aldous wrote the book, Brave New World, which seems to be the world we are creating right now with the help of the Common Core and Big Pharma.
Are you willing to criticize those pharmaceutical corporations at least? They are creating prescription drugs that make hooking a 5 year old on amphetamines legal. Does the name Adderall make it a more acceptable practice? Imagine a 5 year old being given speed every morning before they go to school so that they can focus on the boring and developmentally inappropriate Common Core aligned materials mandated in his classroom. Imagine the permanent changes those heavy duty drugs are making to that child’s as yet unformed brain. Criminal.
Thanks for your comments, Dawn. Maybe you’ll read the second & third manifestos and see how they evolved. I’ve long considered myself a secular humanist, but I don’t do manifestos. I do support the work of the UN & UNESCO, not without criticism, mind you. I’m aware there’s a great deal of histrionics around the UN, that’s what I meant by “dog whistle.” I choose to ignore it. And, thanks largely to the reading I’ve done in response to your nudge, I’ve renewed my deep respect for John Dewey and the strong American tradition of strengthening democracy through public education. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and good luck to you.
“The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.”—John Dewey
To conclude on topic… I wish the new mayor of New York success and offer my support in ridding the nation of predatory education reform that redirects public funds to private charters, causing inequity and exclusion. If charters have a good business model let them fund it themselves, and if they require space in public buildings let them pay rent at fair market value.
But first, stop training children to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. Stop harassing and abusing teachers. Just let all American schools be like the best ones. That’s what a truly American education is all about.
If my posts have nudged you into even more respect for John Dewey than you already had, then I have surely failed.
John Dewey was an evil man with evil intentions who has added to the suffering of the people of the United States. His legacy has been whitewashed by institutions such as the NEA, which was a creation of the Rockefellers. The NEA has remained a useful vehicle for Tavistock brainwash. The U.N. was founded on eugenics and continues to function for that ultimate purpose all the while participating in a very bold game of doublespeak and disingenuous talk of peace and social justice. If you want to be part of that dis-ingenuousness…be my guest…but know that “the arc of the moral universe is long but bends towards justice.” MLK.
Your attachment to John Dewey and the U.N. will be proven in the end to be indefensible.
Richard, Keep fighting the good fight and continue to ignore this nonsense, which is promoted by the TeaParty, Glenn Beck, FoxNews, etc. (and should not be coming out of the mouths of educated people, who are supposed to be critical thinkers, but is often repeated here by this poster.)
You are entitled to your own opinions but you are not entitled to ignore the facts.
The Lincoln School, which opened in 1916, with support from the Rockefeller-founded
General Education Board, became the experimental school for Teachers College. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who admired John Dewey and his radical education ideas, donated $3 million to the school. He also sent four of his five sons to the school to be educated under the new progressive philosophy. All four boys, subjected to the new method of teaching reading, became dyslexic.
“…. Teaching children to read is a great perversion and a high literacy rate breeds destructive individualism … the child does not go to school to develop individual talents but rather are prepared as “units” in an organic society …. The change in the moral school atmosphere … are not mere accidents, they are the necessities of the larger social evolution.” ~John Dewey
John Dewey did as much to destroy literacy in America as he could. Ask David Rockefeller. He can tell you what Dewey did for him. Luckily his father left him some money so it doesn’t so much matter for his well being that he cannot read.
You obviously can read, so I suggest that you research Dewey a little more before you sit back and smugly insult my posts.
Dawn,
You began by criticizing Dewey’s ideas and our collective memory of his legacy, which succeeded in reminding me to keep thinking about my assumptions and beliefs I’ve held for years. I’m sincerely grateful, and as a result you deserve a fuller response.
Reading your comments it immediately struck me as ironic that in the last 5 years I’ve read Horace Mann’s own words and biography, dug up Jefferson’s own words, letters with Madison and others, and read Norbert Sand’s books and essay [Sand, Norbert (1944) The Classics in Jefferson’s Theory of Education The Classical Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Nov., 1944), pp. 92-98.] in which he reports unequivocally the essence of Jefferson’s belief: “…education must above all things teach men to think clearly and independently, for only by so doing will they be able to perpetuate a democracy.” But probably because I felt so confident in beliefs I’d formed about Dewey well over 20 years ago I suddenly realized I simply haven’t gone back there since. Now I have, and I think I can explain why I reject your description of the man, his motives and his legacy.
A matter of deep national shame, everyone should question Rockefeller’s long support of Nazi racism research. It would help if more Americans had the moral courage required to inspect such stains on our history and make such criticisms. (I’d say the same of “Southern Pride,” and the equally despicable and loathsome reminder of treason and the racist war fought to retain ownership of humans as property: the Confederate flag.) Rockefeller’s influence on philanthropy in general has very troubling implications for our times, particularly regarding education. But in the matter at hand, all such concern is an argument in favor of de Blasio’s rejection of such influences.
You failed when you went ad hominem on Dewey, and cast him in Manichaeist terms as pure “evil,” and cast the UN and UNESCO in monolithic terms as if all their beliefs and activities are so unified and purposeful (and according to you tyrannical) they can be characterized and dismissed as one. I respectfully resubmit Dewey’s quote on “isms.” We’ve already got humanism and Manichaeanism distracting us from the matter at hand: Bloomberg’s policies can be seen to have increased inequity and exclusion, they privilege property over people, while robbing from the poor to benefit the wealthy. I believe Mayor de Blasio should continue what he has started, in fact he should pull out all the stops: write and strengthen laws to prevent ALEC and other professional lobbyists from eroding democracy in America by privatizing the education system. Educators should be in charge of implementing education, but certainly the private, especially the tech sector, can contribute—to everyone’s benefit. Educators have known for at least 40 years why even the best students at the best schools don’t learn, but investments are monolithically dismissed as “spending” so we continually fail to elect those with the will to do what must be done. Howard Gardner wrote of this, but as Alan Ryan points out in “John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism,” so did Dewey.
You failed to sway me largely because you attempted to apply a ‘forensic’ rhetoric where a ‘political’ one was indicated, and besides your evidence does not bear scrutiny. For example, the eugenics of Hitler was discredited and abandoned—I won’t defend what remains of it except to note another monolithic approach isn’t helpful. A widely noted aspect of American philosophy throughout the 20th century is that American philosophers said things and then changed their minds. The UN incorporated the world’s revulsion to eugenics into the Convention on Genocide, your assertion appears to be utter nonsense—like your smear of UNESCO it’s unsubstantiated and has no correlation in reality. Moreover, I’m deeply confused how someone can be ethically opposed to eugenics but not recognize and oppose the truly sinister social engineering—a veritable Feudal renaissance—at the heart of the for-profit education reform movement.
In addition to providing us the analysis of the art of persuasion, Aristotle also held that education is central to being a full person. Thinking and practice must be infused with a philosophy of life. Education must be balanced and holistic. Learning is accomplished by doing. Dewey’s philosophy of education is an extension of Aristotle’s.
For the record, I’ve committed considerable study to the topic of “race” and written about it on my blog, it has its own category there, which I invite you to read. My own research in education is closely tied to the introduction of social anthropology, via Jean Lave, into applications of technology in learning spaces, and my philosophy of education, which as you already know remains proudly and profoundly influenced by John Dewey, is also influenced by Franz Boas, an early critic of eugenics. [On a perhaps unrelated note, maybe you noticed an earlier poster attempting to turn Mayor Bill’s name into a ‘dog whistle’ by associating it with an infamous German WWI figure… who by pure coincidence, I’m sure, happens to have an institute of eugenics named after him.]
I mentioned I provided tech support for the UNESCO chair at the university where I was then employed. I can assure you unequivocally that the work we were engaged in had nothing to do with improving our species through any unnatural means, only the familiar but transformational one touted by such philosophers as Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson and John Dewey—education, and nothing but.
Alan Ryan sums up his comprehensive and balanced appraisal saying Dewey: “…will remain for the forseeable future a rich source of intellectual nourishment for anyone not absolutely locked within the anxieties of his or her own heart and not absolutely despondent about the prospects of the modern world” (pg. 269). Dawn, you do not strike me as absolutely despondent. I hope you’re able to overcome your anxieties.
Best wishes,
Richard
Thank you, Richard, for a deeply reasoned and researched reply.
Since when is holding up secular humanism as superior to belief in God a deeply reasoned and researched reply?
Religion is a matter of belief in something that can’t be perceived through the senses. Religion is important in that it gives people hope. In our society we have the freedom of choice of religion and the freedom not to choose a religion. Reason is used to draw conclusions about the world around us using our experience and observations.
Great scientists such as Kepler have not used their five senses to make discoveries of universal principles. The five senses are insufficient to find the truth of how things really work. Holding on to that keeps man from true progress. Basing an education system on that will kill all innovation and creativity.
Have you read Stephen Hawking’s Brief History of Time? It’s available free as PDF or audio book. http://ebookee.org/search.php?q=brief+history+of+time
What does true progress look like to you? Some think it’s tablets and WiFi, some might say world peace.
I had more thoughts about Bach, Beethoven et al. Did you know that South Indian Classical music, called Carnatic music, takes rhythm to heights equally [or more] complex as Western European music has done with harmony? But its still almost completely aural/oral tradition. You speak “solkatu” and mix short patterns of 1 or 2 beats into complex compound patterns, then perform all kinds of combinations and permutations on your pattern. It’s probably as closely tied to Hindu (the world’s oldest living religion) as Bach’s is to Christianity. But it’s serious mathematics too. Even if you read Huxley you might not know it’s the Gandharva (heavenly musicians) who guarded the Soma.
As a musician I’ve always been fascinated by the connections between math, music and religion that seem to exist in all cultures in all centuries. The ancient Chinese had a Minister of Music whose job was to keep the universe in tune lest the dynasty fail. The notes were brought by two phoenixes, a yin and a yang, there’s a piece of each in the other, each has six notes, you need them all to play a scale. I believe there must have been music at the beginning of the universe. They call it a Big Bang but I think it was an overture.
Did someone hold something up? Who said superior?
Research is when one follows up on the other person’s comments, reflects and comments back in a coherent manner indicative of engagement, and often includes links to supporting materials. Reasoning is more about the organization and delivery of the content (see Aristotle). Depth thereof is totally subjective, but long overdue thanks to C.V. for that.
Secular (“non-religious”) humanism (“concern for people”) is physical, while belief in God is metaphysical. One is the realm of reason, the other faith.
It’s generally superior strategy to keep the physical and metaphysical separated (as in Separation of Church & State)… success in the corporeal (physical) world is more likely when based on fact [“something that truly exists or happens : something that has actual existence”] than on dogma [“a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted”]. Or at least, that’s the Pragmatic point of view.
Dawn, I think somehow the United Nations offends your religious sensibilities and gets you thinking uncomfortable thoughts about evolution and DNA, and while I think your anxiety and apprehension are based on misinterpretation, false equivalences and slight of syllogism, I certainly don’t think less of you. It seems to be a peculiar groupthink I wasn’t aware of before, but I do respect that you have your own beliefs and I won’t question them further.
[Note to self: not PC to say “Dewey” in religious company.]
You and Alan Ryan have no basis to make judgements on despondency or anxieties. I am not despondent at all and I do not suffer from anxieties. I am very clear headed about exactly who has been busy spreading destructive philosophies in education, science and politics. Alan Ryan’s enthusiasm for Bertrand Russell throws him into that camp as well.
Wilhem Wundt was a German philospher who believed that man is no better than an animal and could be trained like one. G. Stanley Hall, Thorndike, Dewey, and Skinner followed in his footsteps and spread his destructive ideas far and wide. They took phonics out of the classroom because they did not want common people to be able to read. We suffer the consequences of their ideas ongoing.
Hitler got his eugenics ideas from American philosophers (who brought it over from Germany earlier.) They were sterilizing women in California way before they transported that bit of racist doctrine. Thorndike was using intelligence tests to decide who was “fit to breed” in the early 1900’s in the U.S.
Basically, I believe that man is here on earth to reflect the love of God throughout the world. Man is not equal to an animal. We possess the capacity to create and to discover universal principles. We need an education system that encourages and allows that such as one based on classical culture, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Shakespeare, etc. not workforce training such as the Common Core.
Aristotle was all about the five senses, seeing is believing. That is false. If we only make judgements about truth based on our 5 sense perceptions we will be mislead.
Franz Boas does not fit with your other mentors. He is not a eugenicist. Julian Huxley however, was. Julian was the first Director General of UNESCO. He was also the president of the British Eugenics Society. I am sorry that your perception of the U.N. and UNESCO does not comport with that fact but it is a fact not an opinion, not a conspiracy, just a fact. Julian’s brother, Aldous Huxley, wrote Brave New World, which is the world we are embracing and furthering when we agree to disseminate the Common Core. In 2004, Bill Gates signed an agreement to create and disseminate a curriculum to spread the goals and agenda of UNESCO. He spent $200 million on creating and marketing the CC. Bill also owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock. If that doesn’t prove he wants to damage and kill people, I don’t know what would. 278 scientist just published their statement that GMO’s are unsafe for consumption.
Did you think that my criticism of Di Blasio’s enthusiasm for pre -K meant that I want to privatize education and that I sympathize with hedge fund investors in education deform? It is so amazing to me that criticism is not allowed on the left. All kinds of assumptions are made when that happens.
Dawn,
I actually think you have a very interesting mix of stuff going on there. I said outright I don’t think you’re despondent, I’m not trying to insult you, but it’s very clear you have a lot of anxiety around John Dewey—which I think is very misplaced, and I’ve told you why I think that. I also sense anxiety around some issues that have nothing to do with Dewey. But for the record, I do agree with you that geneticists are playing with things they don’t understand and Monsanto should label its products.
Anthropology has been trying to atone for its sins since the 70s. I’ve studied this topic extensively and written about it here: http://www.rcfouchaux.ca/blog/category/race/ in 3 instalments. British colonialism “othered” the Irish centuries before the events you mention. Robert Knox was buying dead bodies to measure their skull sizes in the 1820s.
As dead white guys go you listed some of my favs. Did you know Mendelssohn’s sister wrote better music than her brother and father, but they told her women shouldn’t do that? Pete Seeger’s mom, the first woman ever awarded the Guggenheim Award for Music, was a heck of a composer too. The Seegers were called out by Joe McCarthy. Where I live now (Ontario) “guilt by association” is against the law (The Ontario Human Rights Code, which is based upon Eleanor Roosevelt’s and the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thank you Eleanor, UN, and Progressives everywhere.)
Some of the things you say about Dewey sound like McCarthy-isms. Dewey’s comments around the Nuremberg trials set him apart from the ideas you wrongly assign to him. I found some ideas similar to yours here:
http://www.learn-usa.com/education_transformation/er003.htm
It’s a very poorly researched smear job on the Hegelian dialectic, written by someone who doesn’t understand Hegel, and whose ideological stance is given away by a tired false equivalence (progressive = socialist) and the dog whistle phrase, “the very tenets on which this country was founded,” yet those “tenets” are never listed or defined—if we’re “in” we’re supposed to just understand that by tribal inference. Dog whistles aren’t serious assertions, they’re meant to trigger tribal responses. But the assertion on that page about Dewey and literacy is just plain false. Unless you provide reference title and page number I’m calling that a lie. That doesn’t mean I’m calling you a liar—I think you’ve been misled. But I do think you should read Dewey in the original and quote his actual words from now on.
I’d consider Paulo Freire a greater mentor than the Americans I listed, I read him often. He sees Hegel in a light more similar to my understanding, and probably Dewey’s. Freire’s record on literacy is irreproachable—he famously taught 300 Brazilian sugarcane workers to read and write in just 45 days. If Dewey actually said “literacy was the greatest obstacle to socialism”—and there’s no citation nor can I find it anywhere other than this deeply flawed document—then perhaps he was quoting someone else? Did he mean as Freire meant, that literacy is required in order to be considered educated, and that educated people become more open minded and cooperative (i.e., the “intelligence has a liberal bias” argument)? “Socialism has been defined, and rightly so, as an extension of democracy into economics,” says the author of this summary of Freire’s seminal work: http://ebookcollective.blogspot.ca/2013/08/paulo-freire-pedagogy-of-oppressed.html.
I believe educated people become better informed and make better choices as a result—you can’t tell educated people what to think. They’re the thinkers! http://tx.cpusa.org/school/classics/freire.htm
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.”—Ecclesiastes 1:9
I know intelligence tests were done, they were wrong, and that’s why we stopped doing that. The Conquistadors gave up looking for the Fountain of Youth, but the idea comes back every now and again—I’m just not interested. We should visit the past to learn from it, but then … move on!
If you like the metaphor “reflect the love of God throughout the world” that’s probably fine for you, but, and I mean no offence, it’s a little too fuzzy and imprecise for me. And yet I believe as you do—and as John Dewey clearly believed—that we should all try to leave this planet better than when we arrived. Better people, leaving a better planet for our having been here. That aspiration is quite difficult enough without worrying about what dead racists did a hundred years ago. ALEC, Stand Your Ground Laws, charters, vouchers and a cradle to prison pipeline are our reality, and we have to fight them—today.
If you’d like to continue this discussion please comment on my blog. You might be interested in what I’ve learned about think tanks, riverboat dandies and 18th century Whigs. But my political musing days are coming to an end because this is all theory and without action there is no transformation, no praxis!
Thanks for engaging.
Dawn,
Interestingly I’ve noticed when I reply from my phone there’s no awaiting moderation, but from my desktop there is, so I don’t know in what order you’re getting these. I keep saying I’m done but then I notice I’ve missed something you expressly asked about. I didn’t mean to assume anything, in fact I was clear from the start you’re no fan of “deform” and one of the reasons I’m genuinely glad we’ve had this opportunity to exchange ideas is I’m genuinely trying to understand how you see all these facts, and a few interpretations thereof I find less than factual, in relation to each other. I’m starting to see where any “conspiracy” (your word not mine) might begin.
First, let me say I sense, but don’t wish to assume, that you are a religious person. I am not, but I respect your beliefs and choices. I only bring it up because I believe what I earlier called, in the purely literal sense implying no stigma, “anxieties” might be about your faith conflicting with the theory of evolution. Am I warm? Eugenics and genetic engineering are not identical, and like atomic energy are not inherently evil—you can use it to heat a city for decades, or fry one in seconds. But they both tread on sacred land in the view of many. The heinous purposes to which some early evolution enthusiasts put the discovery of genetics to have parallels throughout history. You are right to be vigilant, for the same reasons we have holocaust museums. (But they didn’t help the Rwandans, why was that?)
I read Huxley in high school but I didn’t know nearly as much as you about his family. Thanks again for expanding my horizons. You’ve changed my perspective, if not in exactly the way you intended. Regarding Julian Huxley, the world-renowned biologist, son of a world-renowned biologist, who travelled in the same circles as Charkes Darwin… and who at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries was also into eugenics: in the 16th century people sought the Fountain of Youth, in the 18th doctors prescribed leeches… I hope I can expand your horizons regarding UNESCO. I don’t know anything about the UNESCO of 1946, although I know enough about the era—Nuremberg—to reject the most fantastical portrayals that have been offered here. Your characterization and interpretation of UNESCO are utterly false, and bear no relation whatsoever to what they’re doing today—education for sustainable development (5:12). This is first hand knowledge. In 2004 I worked with this man (I call him “Chuck”), one of 10 people in the world to be asked to Rio to be part of the writing process, at one of the 35 faculties he mentions. I’m proud of my small role but being among the first 35 was a feather in our caps. Is there anything about “local solutions” you object to? When he says “both in the private sector and in the public sector” (6:19) can you accept that he’s not talking about replacing capitalism? Anything unclear about “one size does NOT fit all” (8:20)? We were teaching people not to let their goats eat all the grass at the roots, and to teach themselves from there. Empowerment. The exact opposite of what that ridiculous Hegel smear was trying to pitch us. UNESCO is making lives better. Please watch.
Charles Hopkins, UNESCO Chair
Aristotle is much much more. The Logic. The Rhetoric. I have this link on my home screen:
http://rhetoric.eserver.org/aristotle/
Aristotle and Education
http://infed.org/mobi/aristotle-and-education
Enjoy!
There is a framework of the big picture necessary to understand why I say what I say. There are certain people who are key players and propaganda that is painstakingly placed here and there to make events that would otherwise never happen quite possible. Yes it is a conspiracy…a real one….not a theory. David Rockefeller outs himself on page 405 of his Memoirs when he admits that he and his family have worked for years on projects that are against the best interests of the United States and for the purpose of establishing a one world government. The U.N. is his chosen vehicle for that consolidation although it is probably a temporary stage.
He is one of the founders of The Club of Rome, which is the group of people who decided that “global warming” would be used as the common enemy to unite people and encourage them to give up their private property, rights and American citizenship to become “global citizens” that would consent to the inventory and control of all resources of the world including “human capital” (hence the purpose of the Common Core data collection and brainwash agenda.). There was an Earth Summit at Rio in 1992 when 178 heads of state including George Bush Sr. met to discuss this. 1800 NGo’s and all of the biggest corporate heads were represented at this event.
Global warming and pollution would be used to get people to lower their use of carbon, pay taxes on carbon credits and buy carbon offsets to balance out their use of jet planes,This was the biggest hoax of the 20th century and we are still dealing with the aftermath of this big lie now. Agenda 21 was never ratified by congress or publicly vetted by the people but it is completely entrenched in our present local town planning boards and it is the guiding principle for the community planning guides in every county in the U.S. President Clinton raised Agenda 21 to cabinet level interest when he created his “Presidential Council on Sustainable Development” in 1993 ( on which Andrew Cuomo sat which explains a lot.)
So the green movement (people who genuinely care about the earth) has been co-opted by the fascists and eugenicists. Julian Huxley was the president of the British Eugenics Society where Darwin’s ideas ran a muck. Margaret Sanger was an avowed eugenicist. 1n 1912 was the first international conference on Eugenics in London. The 1912 conference included an exhibit by the American Breeders’ …. The project was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefeller set up John Dewey and Thorndike and skinner. The Rockefellers destroyed homeopathic medicine in this country and set up the allopathic hospitals that rely on pharmaceuticals to ease symptoms and surgery to make money. They brought the junk science of psychology and elevated it to the point where a psychiatrist can testify in court and have someone remanded to a mental ward for life. Amazing. We can thank them for all of the Ritilin and Adderall being given to five year olds in our school system.
In July 2012, a commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of that event was organized by Bill Gates, the UK Department for International Development,, Planned Parenthood, and Marie Stopes International, and the United Nations Populations Fund. The 1912 Conference was presided over by Leonard Darwin, the son of Charles Darwin. The conference was dedicated to Charles Darwin’s half-cousin Francis Galton (1822–1911). Galton invented the term Eugenics to describe his theory that man could be perfected through strategic breeding. His ideas that certain races are genetically superior to other races had a profound impact on later Nazi theorists.
I don’t have time to go into all of this and you very well know it all already because “me thinks thou dost protest too much”.
Basically all of the people that you mention that you have great respect for are people who have been working for the destruction of mankind. John Dewey destroyed many minds. Horace Mann brought into schools a bunch of hooey. They may have all sorts of lofty things to say but their actions speak volumes and they hurt people. My reference to the fact that Bill Gates owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock is not because I am confusing genetic engineering with eugenics. It is because although our corrupt FDA approved GMO foods, they in fact cause cancer and infertility in rats and are doing harm to humans as well. My point is that if it causes death, Bill is all for it. He is a Malthusian although he talks a good game. We live in an Orwellian world of doublespeak where black means white and evil parades as good. Yes, I said evil. I believe in Jesus and I believe that some people have given themselves over to Satanic forces. Rockefeller, Gates, the entire Bush family, Cheney……too many to list.
You are correct that people can choose to believe whatever they like. However, there is an actual truth of the situation. I may not know what it is but I do know that it exits. Truth is not subjective. I do believe in carbon dating and the fact that things evolve. However, that does not conflict with my confidence that this beautiful well ordered universe was created by God. Not everyone takes the Bible literally and thinks the world is only 6000 years old. I have no anxiety about that. People like Richard Dawkins make money arguing silly things which he would not be able to do if what he was saying was already “settled science.” Just as “global warming” is not settled science either although they love to say it is. Anyway, if you would just read a bit more, I bet you would come across the information I have laid out here. John Dewey wrecked education on purpose to dumb down the population. I will use every opportunity to out these people who deserve to be spurned.
Go for it!
Thanks again for the chat. “Of all affairs, communication is the most wonderful.” —John Dewey
I wish this plan to pursue for the benefit of the kids and for the future of America. I just hope they are able to raise the needed funds for this project to materialize. I wish everyone in-charge goodluck!
Bill Clinton endorsed DiBlasio.
“If we want to talk about equality of opportunity for children, then the fact that children are raised in families means there’s no equality. . . In order to raise children with equality, we must take them away from families and communally raise them.” ~Dr. Mary Jo Bane, Assistant Secretary of Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration (1997)
Arne Duncan shares his vision for American Education with Charlie Rose:
Public Schools will be…
Open 12 to 14 hours a day/7 days a week
Offering 3 meals a day
Offering health care
Offering mental health care
Public Private Partnerships with NGO’s will help keep schools open many hours every day/year round
This is good news! I have personally seen what charters do to students if they don’t “conform”. I am a NYC public school teacher and have been for over 35 years. I have had too many students enter my classroom who have been “counseled out” of charters. They and their parents are demoralized, frustrated, angry and very sad. It’s about time money be returned to neighborhood public schools. Pre-K programs are vital to early learning. Maybe some of the money will also be used to return our staff, programs and counselors, etc., which were swept away by Emperor Bloomie and his cronies.
“It’s about time money be returned to neighborhood public schools” Best comment i read till now
Kaiser Wilhelm is making war on our public schools. This will not end well for the Kaiser.
If charter schools enroll 6% of students in NYC, doesn’t $210 million seem reasonable since it is below 6% of the $12.8 billion capital plan?
We need to go further out of our way to support Mayor Di Blasio. This morning the only faux progressive network, a corporation exploiting the “niche market” or “area of non-consumption” that is the “liberal” US media, regardless how effectively the corporate media have sold a different story, unfairly demonized the enlightened mayor, and arrogantly presented the corporate propaganda as if it is news or accepted fact. It’s actually something that’s harming all American children, including those who are privileged enough to avoid the direct torture of testing. Aren’t they the ones who’ll have to deal with the consequences of segregating and dumbing down the American populace for the next 30 years? They can’t all go into the private prison industry—that would only make it unprofitable!
Today I’ve heard from people who moaned and lamented the fact that Morning Joe told only one side, and also from people who said they phoned MSNBC, and tweeted their objections in real time during the show. Which sounds more effective? Which course of action will *you* take next time? If you were too busy being an educator this morning, will you contact them now, or soon, and insist on hearing them tell Mayor Di Blasio’s side?