Listen now | Back to school! Bright-eyed youngsters are now back in our public classrooms, filled with questions about the world around them. Questions like: What happened to our school library, and where did our librarians go?
We need to get away from our "one way to go, college bound" approach to education. Particularly in an age of AI, sometimes a career where you actually have to BE somewhere and physically DO something is a good alternative.
But we also need to be aware that when there are bad actors, this can be manipulated to make students subject to industrial slavery.
Texas sounds more and more like the world of Orwell's novel "1984". Has that book been banned yet? It should be required reading in high school. The warning it sends has been fulfilled and exceeded, and we should beware: the dumbing down of America is ongoing. The corruption of language described in that book should set off alarm bells; it sounds so disturbingly familiar. Texas may soon become like Nazi Germany - or like Russia, China, and North Korea. Other states may follow. The danger is real. Be woke, and be proud!
What is next? I fear that just as Hitler ordered massive book burnings so will these sick, desperate megalomanic republicans will start book burnings to hold their political power, just like Hitler. Maybe the republicans should change their elephant mascot to a swastika?!
In your inimitable way, you have put the horrors of this situation in a nutshell. A kind of monumental and solid resistance has to be made, and the public has to be part of it. I'm amazed at the passivity of many in the education establishment, but of course so many are in danger of losing their jobs. Let's hope your native state will revolt and dispatch Greg Abbott and all his sick sycophants. I think he must hate everybody and want to hurt, hurt, hurt.
Thanks, Jennifer. I confess I'm not on the streets myself, at this point, but Alabama hasn't yet (they're starting) gotten to the truly Fascist point quite yet. With abortion they have, but not libraries so far. When they try to undermine Birmingham's schools and excellent library system, I think I'll get me a big sign and get out there.
I'm from Wisconsin. I love many things about my home state, but I'm embarrassed that this is where the parasitic voucher school scheme hatched. It has been nothing but a disaster for our public school system. Wisconsin was once know for our outstanding public schools (The first Kindergarten began here!) and then the conservatives got in power and we all know how they hate public education.
Anyway, we must work hard to get rid of this unconstitutional voucher school scheme. If it's not in your state, work hard to keep it out.
If every student were to be given the same number of vouchers to use for their curriculum it could revoultionize the public system so each student could pursue their individual interests, a curriculum to develop their talents, with guidance in school as 4H projects did for my daughter. Now Federal funding is all about attendance in the building and that was deadly during covid-19
Kirk Bangstad of Minocqua, owner of Minocqua Brewing has a PAAC which is suing the State of WI or the Educ Arm that controls Voucher Funding in this State. He has hired lawyers anxious to take this to court. I think that may be next month. But of course it takes more funding than he has already raised. Look it up and donate, if nothing else. We absolutely need to get rid of the voucher program. I'm in my 80's and I don't like my taxes going to fund some kids entrance into private school. My kids all went to public school and did very well. But then that was before Scotty demonized the teachers with Act 10. WI lost a lot of good teachers after that. There are a lot of nasty things I'd like to see befall the Republicans. Sadly, most of those things are criminal!
You're 100% correct. And yes, I've been following the news about Minocqua Brewing Company and have donated to its PAC. We have to keep up the fight to protect our public schools.
Frankly the Biden government should consider sending in the National Guard to protect Texas schools from these vicious, racist segregationist attacks on librarians and students. This should be a lesson that there is no appeasing these corporate stormtroopers.
As an educator and Mom this is the scariest move yet to demonstrate totalitarianism on our children and their beliefs. This one move needs a movement against it big time.
What country are we living in? Is this the United States of America where we declared our independence from autocracy....where we developed rules of government so that we had checks and balances, were we promised liberty and justice for all? Those were the ideals I thought we established and the words were available to us, for one, through the libraries. and when we wanted to research, if anyone felt so inclined, we asked a librarian for assistance which was gladly given. My school library taught me how to look up where I needed to go to learn what I wanted to know, helped me research my assignments, and master the Dewey Decimal system.
So, where are our American student going to go to get that knowledge and background so they can function in our.
It ain't just the GQP moralists, it's also the religious crazies that can't be allowed to seize control of not just the libraries, but the public schools themselves. It's like whack-a-mole; you smack 'em down at one location, and next thing you know, they've slithered in somewhere else......
...is the title of J.K. Toole's wonderful book; a phrase totally appropriate for the current right wing cabal. Their obvious goal is to bring back the C.S.A. Never mind that their cause deserved to be lost. Never mind that the rest of the country, including Huston and every other TX metropolis, and the rest of the world for that matter, understand we live in the 21st century.
What would a revived Confederacy look like? Cotton isn't king anymore, but they'll go for Robber Baron III, IV. Descendants of the 1890s elite families who instituted Jim Crow and noticed that educated peasants did pesky things like organize interracial Populist alliances, form labor unions, and vote.
Can't have that. Dumb 'em down so that the lower classes accept what is already the case in places like MS and AL--the lowest educational levels, shortest life expectancy, poorest health and healthcare, highest infant mortality rates, worst industrial pollution impacting residential neighborhoods, greatest wage gap between workers and CEOs, lowest minimum wage, etc.
These dunces forget that even when teaching slaves to read and write could mean the death penalty, Black people figured out how to learn anyway. And were somehow aware of distant events. How do they plan to manage info in the contemporary world where the net connects us all?
Their heritage of hypocrisy would be amusing if the effects on the young, the poor, and BIPOC people weren't so potentially deadly. The antebellum South screamed "states rights" until slaves escaped north; then they insisted on the reprehensible Fugitive Slaves Act nationally. They're all for small, localized government and object to big government interference until it doesn't go their way.
A Confederacy of, by, and for a tiny minority elite. One that isn't all that smart or they'd realize not everyone they consider beneath them can be intimidated.
I appreciate your insight into so many areas.
So much of this is about intent.
We need to get away from our "one way to go, college bound" approach to education. Particularly in an age of AI, sometimes a career where you actually have to BE somewhere and physically DO something is a good alternative.
But we also need to be aware that when there are bad actors, this can be manipulated to make students subject to industrial slavery.
GO UNION.
And I thought DeSantis was intent on destroying public education. Abbott is a monster!!
Reading a book called Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. This reminds me of how Hitler took over Public Education in Germany long before WW2.
This is the very kind of thing that Timothy Snyder writ about in his book titled Tyranny, Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.
“Don’t Comply in advance” “Defend Institutions” “Stand Out” “ Believe in Truth” “ Be as courageous as you can”.
Texas sounds more and more like the world of Orwell's novel "1984". Has that book been banned yet? It should be required reading in high school. The warning it sends has been fulfilled and exceeded, and we should beware: the dumbing down of America is ongoing. The corruption of language described in that book should set off alarm bells; it sounds so disturbingly familiar. Texas may soon become like Nazi Germany - or like Russia, China, and North Korea. Other states may follow. The danger is real. Be woke, and be proud!
What is next? I fear that just as Hitler ordered massive book burnings so will these sick, desperate megalomanic republicans will start book burnings to hold their political power, just like Hitler. Maybe the republicans should change their elephant mascot to a swastika?!
In your inimitable way, you have put the horrors of this situation in a nutshell. A kind of monumental and solid resistance has to be made, and the public has to be part of it. I'm amazed at the passivity of many in the education establishment, but of course so many are in danger of losing their jobs. Let's hope your native state will revolt and dispatch Greg Abbott and all his sick sycophants. I think he must hate everybody and want to hurt, hurt, hurt.
I agree. Where are the people on the streets?
Thanks, Jennifer. I confess I'm not on the streets myself, at this point, but Alabama hasn't yet (they're starting) gotten to the truly Fascist point quite yet. With abortion they have, but not libraries so far. When they try to undermine Birmingham's schools and excellent library system, I think I'll get me a big sign and get out there.
Good for you. I live in France and as I am sure you know, we are always on the street protesting.
There's poor coverage in the corporate-controlled US media, but you inspire me!
Good to hear this.
Not covered in the newspapers
Sometimes it is.
I'm from Wisconsin. I love many things about my home state, but I'm embarrassed that this is where the parasitic voucher school scheme hatched. It has been nothing but a disaster for our public school system. Wisconsin was once know for our outstanding public schools (The first Kindergarten began here!) and then the conservatives got in power and we all know how they hate public education.
Anyway, we must work hard to get rid of this unconstitutional voucher school scheme. If it's not in your state, work hard to keep it out.
If every student were to be given the same number of vouchers to use for their curriculum it could revoultionize the public system so each student could pursue their individual interests, a curriculum to develop their talents, with guidance in school as 4H projects did for my daughter. Now Federal funding is all about attendance in the building and that was deadly during covid-19
Kirk Bangstad of Minocqua, owner of Minocqua Brewing has a PAAC which is suing the State of WI or the Educ Arm that controls Voucher Funding in this State. He has hired lawyers anxious to take this to court. I think that may be next month. But of course it takes more funding than he has already raised. Look it up and donate, if nothing else. We absolutely need to get rid of the voucher program. I'm in my 80's and I don't like my taxes going to fund some kids entrance into private school. My kids all went to public school and did very well. But then that was before Scotty demonized the teachers with Act 10. WI lost a lot of good teachers after that. There are a lot of nasty things I'd like to see befall the Republicans. Sadly, most of those things are criminal!
You're 100% correct. And yes, I've been following the news about Minocqua Brewing Company and have donated to its PAC. We have to keep up the fight to protect our public schools.
Frankly the Biden government should consider sending in the National Guard to protect Texas schools from these vicious, racist segregationist attacks on librarians and students. This should be a lesson that there is no appeasing these corporate stormtroopers.
Fuck
As an educator and Mom this is the scariest move yet to demonstrate totalitarianism on our children and their beliefs. This one move needs a movement against it big time.
What shall we do?
Get out on the streets?
What country are we living in? Is this the United States of America where we declared our independence from autocracy....where we developed rules of government so that we had checks and balances, were we promised liberty and justice for all? Those were the ideals I thought we established and the words were available to us, for one, through the libraries. and when we wanted to research, if anyone felt so inclined, we asked a librarian for assistance which was gladly given. My school library taught me how to look up where I needed to go to learn what I wanted to know, helped me research my assignments, and master the Dewey Decimal system.
So, where are our American student going to go to get that knowledge and background so they can function in our.
A less blatant, incremental version of the Chinese "education" of the Uyghurs.
Will there be any teachers left in Texas? Or just Nazi enforcers?
It ain't just the GQP moralists, it's also the religious crazies that can't be allowed to seize control of not just the libraries, but the public schools themselves. It's like whack-a-mole; you smack 'em down at one location, and next thing you know, they've slithered in somewhere else......
A Confederacy of Dunces
...is the title of J.K. Toole's wonderful book; a phrase totally appropriate for the current right wing cabal. Their obvious goal is to bring back the C.S.A. Never mind that their cause deserved to be lost. Never mind that the rest of the country, including Huston and every other TX metropolis, and the rest of the world for that matter, understand we live in the 21st century.
What would a revived Confederacy look like? Cotton isn't king anymore, but they'll go for Robber Baron III, IV. Descendants of the 1890s elite families who instituted Jim Crow and noticed that educated peasants did pesky things like organize interracial Populist alliances, form labor unions, and vote.
Can't have that. Dumb 'em down so that the lower classes accept what is already the case in places like MS and AL--the lowest educational levels, shortest life expectancy, poorest health and healthcare, highest infant mortality rates, worst industrial pollution impacting residential neighborhoods, greatest wage gap between workers and CEOs, lowest minimum wage, etc.
These dunces forget that even when teaching slaves to read and write could mean the death penalty, Black people figured out how to learn anyway. And were somehow aware of distant events. How do they plan to manage info in the contemporary world where the net connects us all?
Their heritage of hypocrisy would be amusing if the effects on the young, the poor, and BIPOC people weren't so potentially deadly. The antebellum South screamed "states rights" until slaves escaped north; then they insisted on the reprehensible Fugitive Slaves Act nationally. They're all for small, localized government and object to big government interference until it doesn't go their way.
A Confederacy of, by, and for a tiny minority elite. One that isn't all that smart or they'd realize not everyone they consider beneath them can be intimidated.
About Le Pen-- so say we all.