Group items tagged

"This is a game about power, and I think you have a vacuum on one side," he said. "She's concluded - and I think with some wisdom - that there's really no countervailing force that is well-funded, is well-organized. What I think she wants to build is an organization that can really step up and amass political support and play hardball."

This article fits well with our topic this week. It reviews how the Myths that society accepts is doing away with accessing the American Dream- stability, education and access to wealth. "To paraphrase the words of the late Clifford Geertz, one of the great anthropologists of the 20th century, myths are stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Powerful narratives based upon fiction -- not fact -- myths shape our perception of the world. They create frameworks for our behavior. They are impervious to logical or factual critique. As such, myths are powerful political tools that the powers-that-be have long used in their attempt to control social behavior."

This is really about the politics of higher ed., but it's an issue that's near and dear to me and my colleagues in the School of Education.

Discusses the use of reinvigorating the field of study of democracy within the classroom to actualize democracy in the educational system.

Chapter: Teacher Unions and School Board Elections is very interesting when looking at self-interest in the political realm

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we're a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we're more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Details about research on the impact school performance has on how people vote for school board members. The authors conclude "If voters do not cast out incumbents when local school performance is poor, they forfeit that opportunity. As debate continues over components of NCLB, policymakers should consider whether it is realistic to assume voters will in fact use the polls to drive school improvement."

Local (US District Court) vs. NCLB legislation (US Dept. of Education): A case study/policy analysis examining how federal law plays out on the local level. A school system in Richmond County, Georgia found difficulty implementing NCLB because of conflict between NCLB and school desegregation policy. This was the cause for the federal-local political disagreement.

Political obstacles and governance discussed within this article which is a survey study of 46 superintendents.

Reduction in direct government activities-->more opportunities for students. Really?

During a 2009 speech, President Obama promised $12 billion for community colleges. But they never saw any of that money because the president couldn't sell his plan to Congress.

Obama requested $77.4billion for education. The latest republican cuts included reductions in Pell Grants and other education line items.

Always tricky when the chief state school officer takes on the governor...

"Good governance has 8 major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society."

"This week has witnessed the emergence of a new Washington Consensus, apparent in President Obama's education-obsessed State of the Union address, a bipartisan conference call with key Senate leaders, and a supportive column by the country's most widely read conservative."

These discussions are interesting. Mr. Finn and company seem to only see things through a particular paradigm. It is surprising, but it is interesting.

"we see a society built around profit and monetary gains where the major force driving educational institutions and their enrollees is money; pure profit and economic factors for the majority" "As a result of the uncontrollable turn that modern society has taken in terms of our emergence in a contemporary world built on profit maximization and survivalist economics and materialism, and propulsion toward a future of uncertainty for which we must gather wealth by any means necessary, the degree of competition among us in all walks of life and on all platforms has dramatically increased, and the workplace or proscenium upon which the dramatis personae of economic theories; firms, households, and governments must play, has turned into the battleground where technological advancement, increased knowledge, and the need for more specialized and skilled workers have driven us to commoditize learning opportunities in the form of training and education at an alarming rate. The rate of consumption which the market demands of education and training - knowledge and skills demand and consumption, has left schools, colleges, and universities competing among each other in desperate and even despicable ways, such that education in the form of mere training and book-scanning that the majority offers, has become just another "player" and card in Capitalism's game and race to the bottom of the consciousness funnel."

Online educational law library Links to free online cases

Does this article assume that all parents have the wherewithall and the resources to navigate this terrain?