Public Schools

Schools Should Not Reopen With CoronaVirus Pandemic Raging In Much Of America!

Ronald 12 Comments

It is sadly clear that President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and other Trump Administration figures have no concern about the potential loss of human life in this CoronaVirus Pandemic.

All that they are concerned about is the reelection of Donald Trump, so to hell with senior citizens, children, and everyone in between!

They have never shown concern for human life, ironic for an administration and a Republican Party that is called “Pro Life”, but only really for women to be forced to have children when they become pregnant, forcing women to be parents after working to deny contraceptives to avoid pregnancy, and working to destroy abortion rights permitted under Roe V Wade in 1973.

So what the Republican Party means is protect every fetus, but once that fetus is born, to hell with any government responsibility to protect life and health, as they work to deny millions of Americans basic health care, as they have been on a ten year mission to destroy ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, without offering any alternative!

When Betsy DeVos talks about a “low” level of victims among children from potential infection of CoronaVirus, she is saying that some human lives, of any age group, are dispensable!

What a damned nerve of a super wealthy woman who never went to public school in her life, has never known anything but privilege, and has shown no concern for public education or children!

If some human lives are dispensable, how about her life, that of her super wealthy, privileged family?

And while we are at judging that some people’s lives and deaths, including children, are acceptable as statistics, why not Donald Trump, his children and grandchildren, instead of ordinary Americans who are now struggling in the midst of a second Great Depression, with no empathy or sympathy or consideration by the disgusting First Family, all of them!

While this pandemic is expanding, no way should schools reopen as normal, despite the reality that remote education is not preferable if conditions were normal, but they are far from that!

It is difficult on parents who need to work and have tight circumstances regarding physical space and the need to educate, but no one ever said being a parent is meant to be easy. Millions of people will suffer in this coming school year in many ways, but above all, survival and good health come first!

The Wealthy And Corporations Love Trump, Most Pro Business Since Calvin Coolidge, But The Great Depression Came After Coolidge!

Ronald 3 Comments

The stock market has surged since the election of Donald Trump, and has hit the 20,000 mark and now the 21,000 mark, a 15 percent increase.

And why not? This nation, and its clueless masses, worship wealth and opulence over principle and ethics, sorry to say!

The wealthy elite and the corporations love what Donald Trump represents—massive tax cuts for the top one percent promised, and the end of most regulations of corporations in all fields of the economy.

This is already the most conservative President, just in pledges and promises, that we have seen since Calvin Coolidge nearly a century ago.

Even Ronald Reagan was not able to do so much so quickly, or pledge to do, as Donald Trump has been pledging to the elite wealthy.

Meanwhile, for the average American, and the blue collar whites who voted for Trump, they are not yet aware of the scam being perpetrated, as they lose their health care, their protection from environmental calamity, and their social safety net that they receive in greater numbers than minorities often have.

No longer can they get a lower interest rate on mortgages, or a greater overtime pay at work, or protection from being victimized by those who advise them on retirement investments.

Public schools will be harmed; gays and transgender people will be discriminated against in an open fashion; civil rights violations will not be investigated; and civil liberties of all of us will be undermined by a lawless, corrupt administration which is taking advantage of gullible citizens who thought a narcissistic billionaire, who has always treated his workers, contractors, and tenants with disdain throughout his life, could be trusted.

While the wealthy and corporations celebrate Trump, expect that we will have the same result we had under Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover–the coming of the Great Depression; and the same results we had under George W. Bush, the Great Recession.

Remember also we had great economic recessions under Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s; under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the 1970s; and under Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in the 1980s and 1990s.

The way we get out of economic depressions and recessions is to elect Democrats—Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy. Lyndon B. Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, with FDR and Obama being the most crucial Presidents in taking us out of the two greatest economic downturns of the past hundred years–1929 and 2008!

60 Years Since Brown V. Board Of Education: Segregation Still Reality In Many Areas!

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Sixty years ago, the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, unanimously ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

The reaction was massive resistance, both in the South and also in many Northern communities.

Later Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s gave the government the ability to enforce the end of segregation in all areas of public life, but in schools, the movement toward integration succeeded in some ways, but failed in the sense of promoting equal educational opportunity.

Many state governments continued to promote unequal spending and facilities provided to urban schools, as compared to suburban schools, and this continues today.

Young people have learned to accept each other, despite racial differences, and society has become much more integrated, but still a tone of racism, and a desire to revive the old segregation through new, devious methods still prevails.

And of course, despite having an African American President in Barack Obama, there is still great division and controversy over everything racial. We are not in a post racial America!

So while some progress has been made, there is still a great sense of disappointment in the reality of much segregation that still exists today, and is still encouraged in many political circles!

58th Anniversary Of Brown V. Board Of Education Case: Most Powerful Decision Of Supreme Court In 20th Century!

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Today marks the 58th anniversary of the unanimous Supreme Court decision, Brown V. Board Of Education, mandating the end of public school segregation of the races.

No decision of the Supreme Court in the 20th century has had the impact and longevity that the Brown case brought the nation.

This nation is vastly different as a result of this case, which was brought about by the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, and the courageous battle in the courts by future Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, who argued the case for seven year old Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas.

Many African Americans have benefited from the decision, and a growing middle class has emerged, but even now there are many black children who are denied equal access and facilities, and attempts in many states to resegregate public schools has become a growing problem.

So the battle for civil rights continues, a never ending struggle, since there are always evil forces who wish to set back progress, and deny access to equal educational opportunities in the states and counties of the nation.

How America Is “Socialist”, And We Would Not Want It Any Other Way!

Ronald 4 Comments

Many Americans are under the false assumption that “Socialism'” is a bad thing, and that it is the same thing as the former Soviet Union, or Castro’s Cuba, or Communist China, or Communist North Korea.

This is pure ignorance, and instead, one should look to the many democracies in Europe, who have “socialist” aspects of their political and economic systems.

But even beyond that, think about what it would be like if we did not have “socialism” in our political and economic system.

How would we like to do without the following:

1, Social Security
2. Medicare and Medicaid
3. The Post Office
4. Public Schools and Colleges and Universities
5. Libraries
6. Water Treatment Systems
7. Recreational Centers, including Gyms, Parks, Beaches
8. National Parks
9. Public Transit Systems, Trains, Subways, Buses
10.Police, Firefighters, Sanitation Services, Public Hospitals
11.Military Services and Protection
12.Labor Protections
13.Food and Drug Regulations
14.Environmental Protections
15.Financial Institutions Regulations
16.Transportation Safety Regulations
17.Housing Regulations
18.Energy Regulations
19.Military Veterans Protections
20.Homeland Security Protections

If one believes that all of the above should be privatized, as some conservatives and Republicans advocate, then we have a basic misunderstanding of what the best government is: a mixed socialist and capitalistic system in the public interest, instead of a business atmosphere which puts profits and business techniques above human beings and their welfare! Quality and cost efficiency require a combination of capitalism with socialism!

Cheers To Actor Matt Damon For Strong, Inspired Defense Of The Teaching Profession!

Ronald Leave a comment

Actor Matt Damon, one of our leading figures in film for the past decade and more, has come out in strong support of the teaching profession, delivering a masterful speech at a gathering of educators held in Washington, DC on Saturday.

At a Save Our Schools March in the capital, Damon denounced those who say that giving tenure to teachers promotes laziness, and said teachers are what they are because they LOVE teaching, certainly not for the low pay and terrible conditions of work that many face, with little backing by administrators, parents, and the politicians in many states who abuse teachers and show lack of respect for their profession!

Damon’s own mother is a teacher, and the actor made it clear that what he became and his level of success is due to the dedication of teachers who inspire their students and have often a greater effect on them than their own parents!

Damon criticized standardized testing as stifling originality, creativity, and curiosity in students, and bringing unnecessary stress and tension to young people, instead of encouraging them. The job security of teachers should not be based on such tests, which unfortunately, is now the case in many states, particularly those governed by Republicans!

Damon also endorsed PUBLIC schools, which were his experience, and said millions of Americans support their teachers and will always have their back.

As a lifelong educator, this strong statement thrills me, and reinforces why I have been an educator, preferring to educate the young, than just make tons of money backing evil corporations who have no concern for their workers and the American people, and only worship money and things, not the rights of people to a dignified life and decent treatment at work!

Parental Censorship Of Public School Dictionaries And Books Unwarranted!

Ronald 2 Comments

Lately, there have been crazy stories about a single parent intervening in various public school districts around the country and insisting that dictionaries and books be withdrawn from the curriculum and library, because of something seen as promoting sex.

In one case in California, a parent protested when it was discovered that a Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary included the word and definition of “oral sex”.

In a Virginia district, the Diary of Anne Frank, the best literature dealing with the Holocaust, was temporarily removed from the curriculum because one parent did not like that there was evidence in the updated edition of Anne Frank’s growing sexual awakening at age 14.

Why do administrators allow a single person, a parent, who is uptight about sexual matters, to dictate to the school and district what should be allowed to be read and utilized? Since when are most parents qualified to judge what is a good educational experience or appropriate sources?

Do we allow people in other professions to be told how to run their field of expertise by parents or the general public? NO, and it must not be the policy of educators and school districts to cater to every parent who has prejudice or narrow mindedness toward minority groups, or uptight attitudes about sexuality. These parents have no right to decide what everyone else must see or hear or read.

If they have that much objection to the public schools and wish to shelter their children from the real world, these parents have the privilege to withdraw their children from the public schools and enroll them in religiously based schools, or home school them. But it must be a firm NO to the idea that these single examples or even multiple examples of interfering parents should have the power to promote censorship!