E Wayne Ross – Page 105 – Critical Theories in Education

Rouge Forum Update: Rouge Forum Conference, Detroit, First Weekend in March! Remember.

Dear Friends,

Rouge Forum Conference, Detroit, First Weekend in March! Remember.

The Rouge Forum No Blood For Oil web page is up to date, with key articles from Robert Fisk, Sy Hersh, and others.

Take note of the color anti-war posters available at cost. And, this week marks the beginning of the many actions to Declare Peace. Check here for your city here.

And, of special interest is this video on military recruiting.

And this classic, repeated by request, of George Carlin on how America works.

OAXACA COMMUNE ALERT: The governor of Oaxaca, whose resignation has been demanded by the massive social uprising initiated by school workers there, has ordered schools to open on Monday. He plans to recruit retired teachers and scabs. Thousands of teachers from Oaxaca are now marching on Mexico City, while others hold their radio station, defending their means of communication. Clear splits have appeared within this struggle, between union leaders who merely want to replace the governor on one side, and radicals and others who seek to fundamentally change an exploitative social order on the other. The federal government has warned they will unleash troops on the strikers.

Oaxaca Communards have carried their struggle, similar in many ways to the Detroit Teachers’ Strike, much farther than nearly anyone expected, demonstrating the Rouge Forum thesis that school workers can initiate social change, if not fully carry it through. The Oaxacans have set up their own communications systems, run the traffic, carried on their own internal education campaigns, fought the police and federal goon squads, deepened already close ties with parents and kids because this fight is truly an all-for-one, one-for-all battle, and, whether this long struggle wins or not, the lessons to be learned from this heroism will be invaluable to educators everywhere. NarcoNews has the best site on this fight, so far. Like the Detroit Strike, it is largely blacked out in mainstream media, even though it has involved hundreds of thousands of people. This is a warning to the militants of Oaxaca, about arriving national trade union sellouts from the US.

DETROIT STRIKE UPDATE: While the DFT sellout of the courageous strike of rank and file educators may be ratified, there is a growing chance that the deal may not be the deal, or that the rank and file will need, because of circumstances, to vote the tentative agreement down. Days after the TA was announced, the Detroit Public School bosses revealed there is a 25,000 student shortfall in attendance, about 16,000 more than projected. DPS claimed to project 123,000 students this year. Predictably, they blamed the shortfall on the teachers. At about $7500 per kid in lost state monies, the district is in real jeopardy.

The 25000 figure may be exaggerated, or it may exist because DPS deliberately lied about attendance figures in the past, but even if the loss is, say, just 16,000, it would be a crippling blow to DPS, and it could put the TA in jeopardy as it would mean a massive layoff.
Here is a piece wrapping up the Detroit Strike as of Friday past.

‘A republic … if you can keep it’

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘A republic … if you can keep it’
– John Cooke, Marshall Croddy
Thursday, September 21, 2006

In 1787, shortly after the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a woman interested in the proceedings approached Benjamin Franklin. “Well, doctor,” she asked, “what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” The venerable champion of American liberty replied, “A republic, madame, if you can keep it.”

As we celebrate Constitution Week (Sept. 17-23), it would be wise to heed Franklin’s challenge. A constitutional republic is not an easy form of government to maintain. It requires wise leaders more interested in the public good than in holding and using power. It requires an enlightened citizenry that understands and exercises its rights and duties and is willing to fight to preserve them. Moreover, both wise leaders and enlightened citizens must arise with each new generation, prepared and able to make the system work.

Nowhere is this more important than in California. California is the most diverse and multicultural of the 50 states. No single racial group composes a majority of the population and more than a quarter of the state’s residents were born in another country. In addition, California’s political system places high demands on its citizens.

From 2000 to 2006, California voters had to make decisions on some 90 state ballot propositions, and each year the electorate faces hundreds of city, county and community-college measures. California’s governments need engaged citizens who keep themselves informed about the issues, who vote and who participate in the public-policy process. California businesses need leaders and employees who know how to negotiate and compromise, work together to solve problems and make sound decisions.

Our state’s schools teach children to read and write, do math and use technology. So must schools educate the young about their constitutional heritage, the institutions and workings of government, and how to participate in a civil society as informed voters and as citizens committed to addressing the problems of their nation, state and communities. In short, California needs a world-class civics education for every pupil in every school.

Fortunately, we know what a quality civic education should look like. The Civic Mission of Schools, a report by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, identified educational practices that research shows are effective in developing knowledgeable and engaged citizens. Students need quality instruction in history, government and law. Pupils need the opportunity to discuss current events and issues and participate in service activities linked to school and community problems and to what they are studying in the classroom.

Students should get involved in extracurricular activities and have a voice in school governance. Finally, students should take part in classroom simulations, such as mock trials and legislative hearings, to experience how democratic institutions work in the real world.

California already has a history-driven social studies framework and standards for all grade levels, but it lacks a consistent and comprehensive focus on civics content. It also fails to adequately address the development of civic skills. All students must learn how to analyze and evaluate public policies, state and support reasoned opinions and work with others to solve problems.

We must make sure our students are adequately prepared to address the public-policy issues and challenges California will face in the 21st century. Now there is a lack of instruction time for civics, indeed all of the social studies, in many California elementary schools. Because, federal and state mandates and assessment programs require performance gains in language arts, math and science, many schools, especially those serving disadvantaged student populations, have sacrificed social studies instruction for more time on these subjects. Unfortunately, missing critical civics content, concepts and skill development in these early grades will make it difficult for these learners to achieve proficiency as they progress through middle- and high-school civics course work, and ultimately as adult citizens.

Math, reading and science are critical, but so are civics and social studies. Schools need our support! To best educate the next generation of California citizens will require using well- researched and proven classroom and school practices. We must offer teachers and administrators professional development opportunities and the materials that incorporate these educational practices as well as encourage schools to support and adopt them.

Assuring a world-class civics education for every California child is everyone’s responsibility. The California Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools convened by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, in collaboration with the Center for Civic Education and nearly 100 civic and educational organizations, is working with public officials, legislators, educators, business leaders, legal professionals, parents and everyday citizens to strengthen civic education throughout the state.

Let’s make sure our generation responds to Franklin’s challenge. Our response must be: “Don’t worry, Dr. Franklin, we will keep your republic.”

John Cooke is the chairman of the advisory committee of the California Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools; Marshall Croddy is director of programs at the Constitutional Rights Foundation.

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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/21/EDG6PKDTQQ1.DTL

Rouge Forum Update

Hold the date for the first weekend in March for the Rouge Forum Conference in Detroit. Details to follow.

The battles in Oaxaca, Mexico, initiated by educators’s struggles continue today. The best source is NarcoNews.com

The Rouge Forum was one of the first signers for the We Declare Peace movement. Events are on for this week all over the US. In San Diego, one of many events is a mass demonstration from 4-7p.m. on Monday, September 25, Horton Plaza.

A friend, Bill McDannel, initiated his own walk to end the war, from Lakeside, Ca., to Washington DC, starting on November 4. You can track his hike, and maybe fix him dinner, on his site.

The Detroit Teachers’ Strike of 2006 appears to be at an end, a tragic sellout by the leadership of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. Though the tentative deal must still be voted by the membership, it is very hard to pull teachers, who already conducted a two week strike, out of school again. An analysis is here.

The choice of democracy and equality, or barbarism, is especially stark in Michigan, tailspinning behind the auto industry. Those curious about the collateral wreck of the United Auto Workers might check here.

We are preparing informal discussion groups among teachers, students, and parents, in San Diego to address the question of how we link imperial wars, high-stakes standardized tests, curricula regimentation, and the militarization of schools. Interested? Email:rgibson@pipeline.com

The Rouge Forum No Blood for Oil web site is updated. Check out those great posters for upcoming demonstrations, and classroom use too!

Bennett and Paige flog national test for schools

In the pages of The Washington Post a tag-team of hypocritical holier-than-thou former federal officials—Bill Bennett and Rod Paige—hump a national test for US schools. Not surprising, but likely the leading edge of the next battle in defense of public schools.

Why We Need a National School Test

No God Left Behind — Why Not?

In a commentary on Inside Higher Ed, William G. Durden, president of Dickinson College, argues that since schools have NCLB and now colleges and universities have their own accountability plan from the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, that it’s time for an accountability initiative for the faithful.

…In the nation’s current zeal to account for all transfer of teaching and insight through quantitative, standardized testing, perhaps we should advance quantitative measurement into other areas of human meaning and definition. Why leave work undone?

I suggest, for example, that a federal commission propose an accountability initiative for those of faith (not such a wild notion as an increasing number of politicians are calling the traditional separation of church and state unhealthy for the nation). This effort should be titled No God Left Behind. The federal government would demand that places of worship, in order to be deemed successful, efficient and worthy of federal, state and local tax-support exemption, provide quantitative evidence of the effectiveness of their “teaching.” (Places of worship are not unlike colleges and universities in that they are increasing their fund-raising expectations — their form of “price” — because of increasing costs.) The faithful, in turn, would be required to provide quantitative evidence of the concrete influence of their respective God upon behaviors within a few years of exposure — say four years…

“Our commodity is these children…”

Teachers at a Sacremento elementary school have voted to work 3 extra weeks this year for free (25 minutes extra per day), in an effort to raise test scores.

Rich Gibson explains why this is a wrong-headed idea:

“Our commodity is these children, and it’s every day and right now and every moment counts,”she said.

In pacified areas, people become instruments of their own oppression.

So, test scores, which measure parental income, race, subservience, and to a limited extent, nationality, measure the worth of the commodity, a child, in which the teacher invests time, and hence to be a more valuable commodity as a teacher, the logic would be that more time would mean more value, by its very nature. So, we shall see what kind of human value this piece-work investment yields. Maybe they will get a raise.

It is an interesting play on the creation of surplus value, which, at base, is this (from Ollman):

The capitalist buys the worker’s labor power, as any other commodity, and puts it to work for eight or more hours a day. However, workers can make in, say, five hours products which are the equivalent of their wages. In the remaining three or more hours an amount of wealth is produced which remains in the hands of the capitalist. The capitalists’ control over this surplus is the basis of their power over the workers and the rest of society. Marx’s labor theory of value also provides a detailed account of the struggle between capitalists and workers over the size of the surplus value, with the capitalists trying to extend the length of the working day, speed up the pace of work, etc., while the workers organize to protect themselves. Because of the competition among capitalists, workers are constantly being replaced by machinery, enabling and requiring capitalists to extract ever greater amounts of surplus value from the workers who remain.

Paradoxically, the amount of surplus value is also the source of capitalism’s greatest weakness. Because only part of their product is returned to them as wages, the workers cannot buy a large portion of the consumables that they produce. Under pressure from the constant growth of the total product, the capitalists periodically fail to find new markets to take up the slack. This leads to crises of “overproduction”, capitalism’s classic contradiction, in which people are forced to live on too little because they produce too much.

Here’s a more complete explanation from Ollman, along with a nice cartoon that sums it up.

When teachers adopt the language of the market, children as commodities, and students as they grow begin to see themselves as shoppers, not students, only those who have an interest in unreason, and inhumanity will make gains. Well, those people, and union bosses…..

The myth of capital is that the worker shows up on a job, and makes a fair exchange, money for labor. What lies behind that myth is that most people are born with no capital, while a relative few own and hold power, so the exchange is not fair at all, in that the worker will starve without work, on the one hand, and the worker will never get paid the full value of his or her labor, on the other hand. Moreover, force and violence in the form of the state will be used against workers who resist—all in the name of democracy.

The above was, after all, a democratic process, was it not? The union approved it, the teachers begged for it. The bosses and press love it.

I wonder if the kids–the commodity– got to vote on this……

best r

Kegs banned; no one happy (Of course, not)

iPods might be more popular than beer on campuses these days, but when Fairfield University decided to ban all kegs and beer balls from campus they upset everybody…students and townies alike.

The new policy, spelled out in Fairfield University’s 2006-07 student handbook, states: “No student, regardless of age, is permitted to be in possession of kegs, beer balls, common containers over 64 ounces or equivalent quantities of liquor anywhere on campus.”

The Connecticut Post reports that residents of Fairfield Beach, an off-campus neighborhood where many students live, are now concerned about raucous student parties in the hood.

And Fairfield student Dan Stanczyk, summed up the student side of the problem saying, “We’re not in favor of it. A keg is easier than carrying many 30-packs and cheaper.”

Hard to argue with that!

Report Blasts Teacher-Education Programs as Outdated and Low-Quality

While it’s hard to argue with the many of the basic claims this report makes about the quality of teacher education, the suggested solutions—which include judging teacher education results based upon the standardized test scores of teacher education graduates and shifting the focus of ed schools away from an arts and science research model—are wrong-headed.

Here are two stories about the Levine Report.

(1) Inside Higher Ed: New Critique of Teacher Ed

(2) Report Blasts Teacher-Education Programs as Outdated and Low-Quality

By PIPER FOGG

Most of the nation’s teacher-education programs are failing teachers, with outdated visions and embarrassingly low standards, concludes a report issued on Monday by Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and former president of Teachers College at Columbia University.

The report, “Educating School Teachers,” was released by the Education Schools Project, which Mr. Levine directs. It blasts faculty, admissions, and graduation standards, and calls curricula irrelevant, at a majority of teacher-education schools.

The schools have “not kept pace with changing demographics, technology, global competition, and pressures to raise student achievement,” a news release on the report says.

The report is the second in a planned four-part series, and is based on responses to a survey sent to 1,206 heads of American schools and departments of education, 5,469 education-school faculty members, 15,468 education-school alumni, and 1,800 principals of elementary, middle, and high schools. Response rates for the groups ranged from 34 percent to 53 percent. The research also included case studies of 28 schools and departments of education.”Any teacher-education program can be successful and there’s no excuse for them not to be,” said Mr. Levine in an interview on Monday. It will simply take “will,” he said. “It doesn’t cost anything to improve quality standards.”

The report calls for several steps to improve teacher education, including making student achievement in kindergarten through 12th grade the primary measure of the success of such programs, as opposed to teachers’ licensure scores. Achievement should be measured by gauging K-12 students’ progress from the start of school through high-school graduation, to determine what kind of direct impact a teacher-education program’s graduates are having in the classroom, the report suggests.

Five-year teacher-education programs that require four years of undergraduate study, including general-education courses and a major, followed by a year of study in how to teach the major subject, should be the norm, it recommends, and the number of programs at selective research institutions should be expanded.

The report also calls for giving accreditors a chance to revamp their system, and if they can’t make the necessary improvements, the current accreditation system should be scrapped, the report says. Mr. Levine advocates encouraging states to establish common, outcomes-based requirements for certification and licensure.

Already the report has raised hackles. While the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education agrees with some of the suggestions, it balks at the idea of doing away with the current accreditation system. “We would not support wiping out 50 years of forward progress in improving the quality of preparation programs,” said Sharon P. Robinson, the group’s president, in a written statement. Instead, she said, that progress should be built upon.

She also rejected the suggestion that programs be expanded at what she called “high-cost, highly selective, elite institutions that attract few teacher candidates.” Instead, she advocated what she called the more “inclusive” approach of improving quality at the less selective institutions, which train more of the nation’s teachers.

Arthur E. Wise, president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, defended its accrediting process in a written statement. He said that the report ignores the fact that the council’s standards “are so demanding that many institutions have failed to meet them.” He also said that Mr. Levine’s report acknowledges that teachers from institutions accredited by his group pass licensing exams at a higher rate than other teachers do, and that students of teachers from accredited institutions have improved in mathematics and science more than other students have.