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Every afternoon last week, students, teachers, and neighbors gathered to hold classes on UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza. Everyone was welcome. They sat on the ground, or on what are now called the Mario Savio Steps. Topics included the economics of debt, the poetry of persecution, and Chilean student movement.
Fighting Privatization, Occupy Activists at CUNY and UC Kick Into High Gear
What research exposed about market-based ed reform in 2011 - The Answer Sheet
This was written by Matthew Di Carlo, senior fellow at the non-profit Albert Shanker Institute, located in Washington, D.C. This post originally appeared on the institute’s blog. By Matthew Di Carlo If 2010 was the year of the bombshell in research in the three “major areas” of market-based education reform – charter schools, performance pay, and value-added in evaluations – then 2011 was the year of the slow, sustained march. Last year, the landmark Race to the Top program was accompanied by a set of extremely consequential research reports, ranging from the policy-related importance of the first experimental study of teacher-level performance pay (the POINT program in Nashville) and the preliminary report of the $45 million Measures of Effective Teaching project, to the political controversy of the Los Angeles Times’ release of teachers’ scores from their commissioned analysis of Los Angeles testing data.Much of Brooklyn’s school District 15—which includes Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Red Hook—is a comfortable, brownstone-studded idyll, with schools so popular that they drive up real estate values and boast long waiting lists. Many of the district’s parents are privileged and have, commendably, used their advantages to improve their local public schools, insulating them from the budget cuts that devastate the rest of the borough. But an escalating charter school battle serves as a jarring reminder that even District 15 parents are still only the 99%—and that it’s the 1% that runs the show. Education entrepreneur and former city councilwoman Eva Moskowitz plans to open a new branch of her Success Academies in the district, as well as one in Bed-Stuy.
REPORT CARD Here Comes Success
As 2011 draws to a close, we can confidently declare that one of the biggest debates over education is — mercifully — resolved. We may not have addressed all the huge challenges facing our schools, but we finally have empirical data ruling out apocryphal theories and exposing the fundamental problems. We’ve learned, for instance, that our entire education system is not “in crisis,” as so many executives in the for-profit education industry insist when pushing to privatize public schools. On the contrary, results from Program for International Student Assessment exams show that American students in low-poverty schools are among the highest achieving students in the world.
What real education reform looks like
College students have, to some extent, always been poor and hungry. But in the past few years, undergrads' plight has become truly dire. It's not hard to see why the Occupy Wall Street movement has struck a chord on campuses.
Student Occupiers: It's the Debt, Stupid
Dylan Ratigan: Americans Under 35: Going Broke Trying to Become Middle Class?
It’s a look at our nation’s future through the eyes of the folks who have to make it work for the next 50 years — Americans under the age of 35. They’re everywhere across the spectrum, whether it’s stuck in traffic on the way to their job, waiting in the unemployment line, protesting at the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, or fighting our longest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Facing fewer job opportunities and high student loan debt, many 20-somethings now expect that they will do worse in their lifetimes for themselves than their parents generation. Some facts: Average tuition is three times higher today than in 1980. Two out of three students graduate with student loan debt, at an average of over $24,000.Student Loans (U.S.)
USAToday: Student loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion this year
Students and workers seeking retraining are borrowing extraordinary amounts of money through federal loan programs, potentially putting a huge burden on the backs of young people looking for jobs and trying to start careers. The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York , the U.S. Department of Education and private sources. Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports.
One of the more compelling issues to emerge from the Occupy Wall Street movement is subject of crushing student debt. College financing has gotten to be too onerous and complicated, so it’s difficult for families to negotiate the process and, as a result, it’s hobbling graduates’ attempts to live normal lives. Congress has largely ignored these Americans, though, as it focuses on the national debt and the Tea Party agenda. There’s been a sharp uptick in student loan defaults — the highest rate in a decade — as more students come out of college an average $24,000 in debt , yet can’t find jobs. Part of the psychology embedded in a college education is that the diploma should enable you to get a living-wage job, pay off debts and live a prosperous life.
Occupy colleges? How to shut down student debt – Reuters
For-profit education (also known as the education services industry or proprietary education ) refers to educational institutions operated by private, profit -seeking businesses . There are three types of for-profit schools . One type is known as an educational management organization (EMO), and these are primary and secondary educational institutions. EMOs work with school districts or charter schools , using public funds to finance operations. The majority of for-profit schools in the K-12 sector in America function as EMOs, and have grown in number in the mid-2000s.
Proprietary colleges
“This is the only dollar I have after my student loan payment.” (SHANNON STAPLETON - REUTERS) Thumb through the Tumblr of the 99 percent , and one phrase comes up again and again: Student Loans. Student Loans.
College Board reveals the real Occupy Wall Street problem - ComPost
WP: A primer on corporate school reform - The Answer Sheet
This is an edited version of a commentary given by Stan Karp , a teacher of English and journalism in Paterson, N.J., for 30 years. Karp spoke on Oct. 1 at the fourth annual Northwest Teachers for Justice conference in Seattle. He is now the director of the Secondary Reform Project for New Jersey’s Education Law Center and an editor of the 25-year-old Rethinking Schools magazine. A video and fuller version of the commentary can be found here. By Stan Karp “Corporate education reform” refers to a specific set of policy proposals currently driving education policy at the state and federal level.Chris Hedges: Empire of Illusion
Bio Chris Hedges Chris Hedges is a journalist and author, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and society. He has written for Foreign Affairs , Granta , Harpers , Mother Jones , National Geographic and The New York Review of Books .USA
New Orleans: Beachhead for Corporate Takeover of Public Schools « Education Talk New Orleans
New Orleans The national media consensus is that New Orleans has discovered the miracle cure for urban education. Their conclusion is largely drawn from data provided by the Louisiana Department of Education, which obviously has a vested interest in emphasizing the good and ignoring the bad in the post-Katrina education changes. New Orleans is important in the national education debate, but not for the reasons we commonly hear; it is important because it is the beachhead for a national movement to remove schools from local democratic control and accountability.Yes, the marketization of education is still a bad idea « Kritische Studenten Utrecht
by Alexander Beunder This article appears in Krantje Boord #9 Oktober 2011 The “Strategic Agenda” of the Dutch Ministry of Education, approved in July 2011 by the government, is to pursue more marketization of education and stimulate intensive cooperation between education and business. Is this so bad?Mijnheer de rector magnificus, zeer gewaardeerde toehoerders, in a further exploration of University + Sponsorship let us embark on a little thought experiment during which we turn our attention towards it's infrathin boundary with journalism . Put differently , let's try to imagine our "future of journalism". (All hyperlinks and embeds below were quite elaboratly produced by the ANS-online media crew on location in order to enliven our imaginary tour. ) Let's say it's the year 2281 and as a fresher you enrolled for your first year at your University and it's day zero of the Introduction.Now, ... even before you stepped upon the archway towards the campus grounds, your Universities Introduction Sponsor embraces you , CHOOSES YOU !!!
Future of Journalism -justanotherpicnic-
students / teachers protests initiatives
United Kingdom as analogue ?
Demise of journalistic independency & access to Uni / HE Media
University Inc. corporate corruption of Research & HE
play 'corporate òr state' publishing power
play corporate edu power
The Regency
The Big Picture: undercurrents / influences / inspirations