Okay, here’s what we now have for political parties. I base this on the two things I’m most aware of: the privatization movement in education (long-standing but now on the brink of take-over) and our finally open acknowledgement that we are a War & Terror State. We now have a Corporate Party with a fundamentalist splinter. The Corporate Party consists of primarily all elite politicians…
IDOE–Shrinking State Power to Expose Your Tender Underbelly (UPDATE)
UPDATE in the body of the text Indiana is at the forefront of a concerted and aggressive drive to weaken state power. That sounds good to so many of us, especially those who believe there is a libertarian with a good heart out there. But here’s the trick. The agents of the state of the terms of Mitch Daniels (at least) have worked to make…
Education and Capital Replication: It’s the Rot that Becomes Us
If you read this pamphleteer, you discover that education is under ideological assault. Not because there are conflicting ideas about what to learn, how to learn, why to learn, etc. (though there are), but because people with money and power want to buy and sell into that “market.” Right now you can find likely billions of dollars being spent in all sectors of the “management”…
Travels with Tony; Race to Coerce; ALEC as Paramilitary State; Land of Goshen Teaching “science”
Here’s a bit of a news round-up from stories picked off the Doug Martin Wire Service. The number one story is kind of a jaw-dropper for me out of Goshen, Indiana. Tim Thiery, the author of this column, is described as “an eighth grade science teacher at Goshen Middle School (a public school)…wrote this for Indiana newspapers.” (I don’t really know what that last part…
Jay Greene and Roland Fryer–Clearing a Path for “Liberal” Eugenics
First, Jay Greene makes 150k per annum from WalMart graft through his assignment as the Chief for Change in the Educational Propaganda Department at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; likely he gets “scholarships” and speaking fees and free vacations from any number of ALEC-related, Jeb Bush “emceed” events; but, because this is not enough, his blog is now subsidized by advertising. Of course, that’s…
The Harthouse Exemplar: Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children
As I’ve been immersed in Hard Times this reminded me of this bit regarding the character James Harthouse, Esq., from Book II, chapter 2 ‘You are going to devote yourself, as I gather from what Mr. Bounderby has said, to the service of your country. You have made up your mind,’ said Louisa, still standing before him where she had first stopped-in all the singular…
Parent Revolution: Not Your Parents, Not a Revolution
INDIANA CORPORATE SCHOOL UPDATES FOR JANUARY 22, 2012 Once again, ISTA’s Nate Schnellenberger wishy-washes around fighting off the Indiana corporate school reformers, this time in response to the fake parent trigger bill. Nate says “We think that it should be 51 percent of the parents and teachers and educators should have a say.” Nate, the parent trigger is a scam and is anti-parent, anti-teacher, and anti-student. It…
Sunday Sermon: Spirituality Replaces the Unknown, like always
Today, as it is Sunday, the newspaper offers content to match the world of religious observance. In “Losing their religion: Young people rejecting organized worship at an unprecedented rate” (pay-wall) we discover several things about “young people” and the oldsters who are concerned for them. Primarily, we discover an “emblematic” type of young person–here is the mind of youth: Elyse Kienitz says during her teenage…
The Keynote: Everything Was Fact
From Chapter V of Dickens’ Hard Times. THE KEYNOTE. COKETOWN, to which Messrs. Bounderby and Gradgrind now walked, was a triumph of fact; it had no greater taint of fancy in it than Mrs. Gradgrind herself. Let us strike the key-note, Coketown, before pursuing our tune. It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and…
Martin’s Monsters–Highlighting the Latest from the Education Apocalypse
Doug Martin, always on the look-out for “news” from Liar’s Club, Education Division, sent us a few links to explore. What becomes clear, or is always clear, is that these folks are rank propagandists–simply look at the terms they use in making their case. But maybe more importantly, they are very well-funded and very well-connected. It’s a triple-whammy against the commoner, against you and me,…