OBAMA vs ROMNEY: Here's Who's Right About The Economy Dismantling The Middle Class: The Hidden Cost Of Higher Education | Speckled Axe For decades, education was viewed as the most important step on the path out of poverty and the golden ticket to class mobility in American society. While this may still ring true for those managing on a hand-to-mouth existence, the role of education in securing the continued upward economic trajectory of the middle class is much less certain. Indeed, with rising costs of tuition and cuts in student aid, the debt burden of a college education may be enough to break the middle class. The American middle class, historically admired for its size and diversity, owes much of its existence to the public universities that made access to higher education available to everyone regardless of socio-economic background. According to Christopher Newfield in his book Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class: “There has never been a middle class in history that was not created by public infrastructure—by facilities offering rough equity regardless of personal means.
Why Americans doubt man-made climate change - Inside Story: US 2012 It was 42 years ago that the first Earth Day was organised in the US, drawing millions of Americans to rallies across the country calling for a sustainable environment. Some consider that day to be the birth of the modern environmentalist movement in the US. Today the day is marked by millions around the world but its impact in the US seems to have fizzled, with only dozens turning out at the National Mall in Washington DC on Sunday. While the first Earth Day helped lead to the establishment of the US Environmental Protection agency, this year it was largely ignored by politicians and the public. And for the Republicans it is something they would rather distance themselves from. So why do most Americans still doubt that climate change is man-made?
Capitalist universities and fightback « Workers Party (NZ) Joel Cosgrove Universities are an important part of modern society. The Education Act of 1989 defines them as being the “critic and conscience of society”. In the documentary 1951 author Kevin Ireland recalls calling a Student Representative Council meeting to make a stand against the draconian laws passed to smash the locked out watersiders in 1951 and finding his progressive motions drowned out 10-1 by conservative students, bent on supporting the authoritarian actions of the state. Forecast Tertiary Education Funding vs Forecast Inflation Per capita funding for universities rose in real terms through to the mid-70’s and since then has been declining. Initially the various institutions absorbed the increasing costs. Right now at Victoria University budgets have been slashed, pay rises are below inflation, resourcing cut, tutor numbers have fallen dramatically and more people are being crammed into each course. We need to take back the University. The pressure is mounting. Like this:
Faller musikkens verdi? Faller musikkens verdi? Tom Skjeklesæther betrakter det som et endetidstegn at øl blir mer verdt enn musikk. Tom Skjeklesæther betrakter det som et endetidstegn at øl blir mer verdt enn musikk. (ABC Nyheter:) I sommer har debatten om musikkens fremtid, vilkår og verdi tatt fatt igjen. Den svenske streamingtjenesten Spotify tilbyr både gratis, reklameavbrudt lytting og abonnement. Det kan uansett være gode grunner til å reflektere over hva streamingtjenestene innebærer, også utover den umiddelbare situasjonen med minimale inntekter for opphavsmenn og selskaper. Det har vært påpekt at streaming kan ha et potensiale som kan sammenlignes med omsetningen av innspilt musikk da den var på toppen, for fem år siden. Men det fortsatt uklart hvilke andre konsekvenser det har for selve musikken at den finnes i et slikt omfang, bare tastetrykk unna. Ender vi som mer aktive eller mer passive musikklyttere i streamingæraen?
How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools This article was reported in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. If the national movement to “reform” public education through vouchers, charters and privatization has a laboratory, it is Florida. It was one of the first states to undertake a program of “virtual schools”—charters operated online, with teachers instructing students over the Internet—as well as one of the first to use vouchers to channel taxpayer money to charter schools run by for-profits. About the Author Lee Fang Lee Fang is a reporting fellow with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. Also by the Author They're using the Ukraine crisis to push for expedited approval of US natural gas exports. News reports and politicians lauding US gas exports as “best for Crimea” don’t disclose the US gas companies pushing the line, or their Russian connections. But as recently as last year, the radical change envisioned by school reformers still seemed far off, even there.
Islamofobi og antisemittisme - tvillingideologier I denne artikkelen vil jeg vise hvordan den ideverdenen som selverklært kalles ”islamkritikk” sammenfaller med antisemittismens ideverden. Men først vil jeg grunngi hvorfor det å sammenstille disse ideene ikke bare er legitimt men også nødvendig. Aldri mer Holocaust Etter 2. Verdenskrig lovte alle verdens stater at den formen for menneskelig grusomhet som utspilte seg gjennom Holocaust aldri mer skulle kunne gjentas. Et viktig element i dette er kunnskap om hva som skjedde i Holocaust. De aller fleste elever kjenner både begrepet Holocaust og hovedtrekkene i hvordan dette artet seg i form av konsentrasjonsleire, gasskamre og forbrenningsovner. Empati og moralsk avstandtakelse er nødvendig men ikke tilstrekkelig som politisk vaksinering mot nye Holocaust. Forståelsen av hvorfor jødehatet kunne blomstre så sterkt i store deler av Europa i denne tida er også svært begrensa. Konkret kunnskap om den forestillingsverdenen som levde og florerte i Europa før 2. Fra religionskritikk til rasisme
Charter schools: Parents protest Charter schools will mean bigger classes elsewhere, says school superintendent Charter schools have been praised for injecting new energy into inner-cities in the United States. But it's not a one-sided story. There are also parents who see them as a threat to local education. Gloucester is a town about 40 miles outside Boston. But there is rebellion in the air here. Setting up another rival school will mean taking away money and pupils from the local school system, they argue. They're angry at what they say will be the disruption of their local schools for the sake of what they see as a political gimmick. While charter schools have a strong emotional appeal in the inner city, in this small Massachusetts town there is hard-headed opposition. "When you look at the funding, they're going to be draining away resources to fund this other school," says parent, Jason Grow. And he rejects the idea that this offers extra choice. 'Abdicating responsibility' Bigger class sizes
Norway’s Greatest Vulnerability Is Also Its Greatest Strength The unspeakable horror of this weekend’s massacre in Norway is exaggerated exponentially by terrorist Anders Breivik’s abuse of one of civil society’s most distinctive features: the trust that the public places in law enforcement. And Norway may be particularly vulnerable to such a breach, as a country with a particularly deep faith in its the integrity of its institutions. Norway’s best civil qualities, in this case, also made it most vulnerable to the worst impulses of this killer. Like its fellow Scandinavian countries, Norway is near the top of the world’s charts in many enviable ways: high standard of living and productivity, high levels of happiness, impressive longevity, low levels of economic inequality and corruption and in general, extremely low levels of violent and other crimes. Countries with this profile tend to have the highest levels of trust in their fellow citizens and institutions. PHOTOS: Anders Behring Breivik, the Extremist Behind Norway’s Tragedy