Teachers had hope when President Biden chose Miguel Cardona to be education secretary, an educator, that he’d be different from the billionaire corporate shill, protector from grizzly bears, and school choice proponent Betsy DeVos. There’s still hope for that, but there are also reasons to wonder. Cardona’s reactions to the Covid crisis seem eerily like […]
15 Ways to Help Teachers During Covid, Instead of Turning Them Into Scapegoats and Making Them Quit
Teachers are continually being made into scapegoats over a virus not under their control. Here’s a list of classroom problems from the beginning of the pandemic. Here’s a checklist on how to quit scapegoating teachers and help them instead. Suggestions from teachers, parents, and students, especially teachers currently teaching, are welcome. 1. Doctors Since the […]
Fears and Confusion About In-Person School Going Into 2022.
It’s impossible to avoid the news involving Covid confusion and fear surrounding schools and safety for children, teachers, and staff entering the New Year. The looming question is whether K-12 in-person schooling is safe. It’s presumptuous to tell teachers not to be afraid. Teachers want to keep their students safe. They don’t want to get […]
Charters and Vouchers to Destroy Virginia’s Public Schools Will Involve Questionable Data Collected on Children
Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin is wasting no time setting the wheels in motion to destroy public education in Virginia, considered the fourth-best public school system in the country. If he manages to do this, it will add to America’s already ominous future of free public schooling, school ownership shifted to big business instead of constituents. Most […]
School Safety Solution: Bring Back Homerooms, Only BETTER, to Know and Support Students
School districts might devise solutions to understand students better. Here’s one suggestion. Bring back a more personalized homeroom with smaller student groups (10 to 15 students) along with an adult mentor for at least 20 minutes each day. Students need smaller groups to get to know each other and feel supported to understand there’s no […]
Driving Teachers Out! The Longtime Plan to End A Great Profession
The pandemic has been rough on teachers, but there has for years been an organized effort to end a professional teaching workforce by politicians and big businesses. In 1992, The Nation’s cover story by Margaret Spillane and Bruce Shapiro described the meeting of President H. W. Bush and a roomful of Fortune 500 CEOs who […]
A Great Profession: Consider Teachers’ Needs
During this troubling time when we should be helping each other through one of the roughest patches we’ve faced as a nation, teachers have become scapegoats, blamed for everything involving social change and Covid-19. Teachers tried to protect themselves and their families during the pandemic and worried about protecting their students and now they’re blamed […]
Want to Rethink Education? It’s Time to Take Back Kindergarten!
Since the pandemic, there’s much talk about rethinking education and this includes the early years of schooling. Most parents just want their schools reopened safely and schedules back to normal, but corporate reformers want to see even more changes made to schools than seen with No Child Left Behind (NCLB)! The October edition of KAPPAN, […]
Universal Preschool Cookie-Cutter Pressure: Head Start’s Troubling Framework
There is no such thing as a “developmentally appropriate curriculum” for three- and four-year-olds. Common sense should tell us that. ~Dr. Peter Gray, The Case Against Preschool in Psychology Today. Universal preschool might better be called daycare, a program for young children to socialize, have free play, and experience lovely learning-rich experiences before school. It […]
America Cannot Build Back Better and Address Equity If Crumbling, Dangerous School Buildings Are Ignored!
Our public schools should be safe, welcoming places, that support the work of teachers, cherish students, and provide a climate and atmosphere conducive for learning. Our public schools should be the pride of our nation! We are all to blame for not caring enough to demand great public schools for all of our children, a […]