Young People to the Fore!!

It is too often said that young people today are _______________________ (I let you fill in the  blank!)  Many in the older generations say that they just don't get it or they don't do it like 'in the good old days.'   Well, for the most part I think that is rubbish.    I find most of the young people I work with do give a damn!!  Below is a photo of over 100 Christmas gifts purchased and wrapped by the members of Hinsdale Central's Habitat for Humanity Club.    These gifts made their way to John Hay Elementary School in Chicago yesterday.    Thank you for helping to bring some joy to the children at John Hay!!!

 

Urgent Plea - Aid to Mayfield Schools!!!

 For those who are curious about giving direct aid to students and families in the Mayfield Independent Schools, who have lost their homes, I have direct contact with personnel who need housing for the kids and their parents. Schools Count is providing gift cards to stay in hotels, many 25 to 30 miles from Mayfield. Simply go to www.schoolscountcorp.org and hit donate. I will get the Holiday Inn and Best Western cards in the mail tomorrow. Many thanks for your consideration and responding to this urgent need. Sincerely, Dick Flesher

Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door - Part 4

 I'll try to keep this as simple as possible.   Over the last 40 years vouchers have been proclaimed as just the tonic needed to promote school choice and cure the alleged problems with the American education system.   Vouchers were to be earmarked to assist private schools.

Many states have said that public funds earmarked for public schools are not to be used to support private education though proponents of vouchers have fought vigorously to change said laws.   The federal legislation in the form of the Blaine Amendment finally said 'no' to public funds supporting private education.

The critics found a way around Blaine, they created neo-vouchers!!    This is a system where a supporter of private education gets a tax credit on their tax form (which reduces their taxes and the funds the state would receive) and the credit is accrued to a non-profit connected to a private school.    The non-profit, in turn provides a scholarship to the private school student of the tax payer who received the tax credit.

No funds are actually moved around in the above system but such a procedure can certainly make it more enticing to send a student to a private school rather than a public one.    In my view, just another of the many ways public education can be undermined.

Dick

Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door - Part 3

 Let me share some of the comments made by some of the wolves that may shed some light on what is passed off as failing public schools/education.   All of these comments, to a certain degree, can and do shape the public's perception of the quality of education in America and where we should/will go from here according to the critics.

Betsy DeVos had this to say..."So much has changed and our lives are better because of it."    She went on to say, in my view without seeing any connection to the progress she asserts, "So why is our education system so far behind the curve?"   

The list of prominent wolves is long and former Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, did his part to harm schools.   Act 10 not only stripped teachers and other public employees of their collective bargaining rights but it slashed $2 billion in aid to public schools.

Bryan Caplan, an economist at George Mason University's Mercatus Center (the Koch Brothers help to fund this), had this to say about the funding of education.  "Government should stop using tax dollars to fund education of any kind."

People may think that public education isn't under assault but the slow trickle of criticism seems to be gathering steam and many of the people with real power and money are aiding in this cause.

Dick

'A Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door' - Part 2

 A Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door begs the question...just who or what is the 'wolf?'   In some ways that's a complicated question in and of itself.  Why?   Well, because there are actually many actors portraying the 'wolf' and for a variety of reasons.

Let's start here.  The goal of the 'wolf' (wolves) is to change the face of public education in America.   The end game is to privatize the system.   As I said the reasons are many.   More on that in the days to come.

Back to the question of who is the 'wolf?'   The wolf has many faces; conserative leaning groups; ALEC, thinks tanks (Heritage, Cato and others), and a new and vocal proliferation of groups heavily funded by the likes of the Koch Brothers and none other than the former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.    In some ways this all got going 75 years ago by a leading economist of the day, Milton Friedman.

Yes, Friedman, in the 1950's argued that the free market ought to be the one to deliver the system of public education.   These are individuals who make no secret that they want funds to move away from public education, as we know it, to a whole menu of other types of education institutions.

Thanks,

Dick

A book for all Educators and supporters of Public Education

 Okay, so my blog title is a trifle long!!!    But I have a suggestion of a book regarding the dismantling of public education and I'd like educator and non-educators to give it serious consideration.    The Jack Schneider and Jennifer publication is titled 'A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door.'

Though I'm just 50 pages into the text the book discusses the nearly 75 year effort to privatize public education through grants, vouchers, tax credits and more.    The whole idea is get, what critics of public education declare, wasteful and unwanted spending off of the backs of taxpayers.

The critics of public education, who want to privatize education in America, have all sorts of alleged reasons for the failure of public education and the need to privatize.    Their argument is multi-faceted; wasteful spending, union control, too much bureaucracy, poor results and more.

Over the next few days (perhaps even weeks) I'll further discuss the current state of affairs in the struggle to maintain our public education while many forces are aligned behind striking at the heart of the American public education system.

Dick