Common Folk Collective » education

Common Core Collective

DCDan — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 15:56:40 +0000

I’m not qualified nor do I understand enough about Common Core (education curriculum) to take a side. The article I read today (@nytimes) though has the following choice quotes.

“We see kids,” she said, “they don’t want to go to school anymore.” – No shit, this has existed since school existed.

“I fear that they are creating a generation of young students who are learning to hate mathematics,” she said. – Really because mathematics was always loved by kids.

In interviews with a range of teachers in New York City, most said their students were doing higher-quality work than they had ever seen, and were talking aloud more often. But it has not come without sweat. Homework is more complex and takes longer, several said, and in some cases is frustrating parents. – Isn’t this the point of a solid curriculum?

Prison Industrial Complex, Reagan and STEM

DCDan — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:58:06 +0000

“Since 1980, the US prison population has grown by 790%. We have the largest prison population of any nation in the history of the world. One in three African-American men will go to jail at some point in his life. Imprisoning that many people, most of them for non-violent offenses, doesn’t come cheap, especially when you’re paying private contractors. The United States now spends $50bn on our corrections system every year.”

Guess who was elected in 1980?

Why STEM Education shouldn’t be overlooked.

From Wikipedia

Teachers, Guns and Cheetos

DCDan — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:20:01 +0000

A school spends on teachers instead of guards and wins.

Targeting kids with guns.

Al Franken uses Cheetos to school the Senate.

Uncomfortable

DCDan — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:21:59 +0000

I came across a story about Republicans feeling uncomfortable at the National Education Association’s convention because of the open endorsement of Barak Obama. I’d like to address this issue on two levels.

First the NEA is a union that fights for the rights of teachers. The Democrats have traditionally fought for education while the GOP has stymied it. So the endorsement should come as no surprise. Imagine if a member of PETA complained about feeling uncomfortable at the yearly meeting of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The response would be “So what you knew that going in the meeting.”

The second issue is the GOP whining about “feeling uncomfortable.” I call bullshit on this. You know what’s confortable?

Republicans supporting funneling money from the public school system via vouchers
Supporting prayer in school

To further embolden why the NEA would endorse Obama and why if you are at the NEA convention you should too is that Romney, the current front runner for the GOP nomination, has said in his book “No Apology: Believe in America” that unions like the NEA “a deadening impact on student achievement.”

So to paraphrase Suicidal Tendencies “If I may you uncomfortable, oh I’m sorry, but maybe you need to be uncomfortable.”

Suggested reading:
The Mis-Education of the Negro
History shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.