Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, August 16, 2014

8-16-14 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week


Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
Schooling in the Ownership Society


Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk 
Schooling in the Ownership Society







Militarization vs. the Network Society
I was deeply moved yesterday evening, to be standing with more than a thousand fellow Chicagoans, hands raised in a gesture of solidarity with the family of Michael Brown and the courageous people of Ferguson, MO. Similar demonstrations are taking place in dozens of cities and on university campuses.GAZA, MO...Coming on the heels of the Israeli assault on Gaza, the events in Ferguson, after the po

AUG 14

Waking up to a not-so-new American morning
"Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; ...or the right of the people peaceably to assemble" -- 1st Amendment, U.S. Constitution “A riot is the language of the unheard.” -- Dr. M.L. KingThis is supposed to be the 1st day of school in Ferguson, MO. Instead, the St. Louis suburb is shaken after another night of protests.— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorn

AUG 13

Lazy-Ass Reporters (LARs) on top of Karen's vast real estate empire
Karen Lewis leads Rahm by 12 points in the polls. Desperation time.After reading the "expose" in today's Sun-Times, one couldn't be blamed for thinking that poor Rahm's re-election campaign is really in trouble. Not only is he trailing even Mickey and Mike in the latest polls, but his meager $10M war chest is dwarfed by the vast real estate empire of none other than potential challenger

AUG 12

Quinn losing to the worst person in the world. Why?
Workers need more than a $1.75 raise.Mimicking former MSNBC great Keith Olbermann, I'm willing to go out on a limb a say that billionaire Bruce Rauner is the worst person in the world. And few would disagree, although Pat Quinn's running mate Paul Vallas may have a lock on second place. While Quinn proudly takes credit ("I was born for this...") for slashing the pension benefits of the s

AUG 11

Weekend Quotables
NEA Pres.-Elect Lily Eskelsen GarcíaAs educators, we believe in good testing. Almost every student in America will confirm that most teachers are neither strangers to, nor enemies of, tests. But great teachers know the difference between tests that help students and tests that harm students. -- AJCPresident ObamaThe United States is not going to be the air force of Iraqi Shiites or any other facti

AUG 08

Corks pop on Clark St. with a bump in reported test scores
They're jumping for joy and popping the corks down on Clark St. Why? Test scores for students in grades 2-8 reportedly showed some improvement in both reading and math. However, only seventh- and eighth-graders met national reading averages. About 51.5% of elementary school students are performing at national norms in reading and 49% in math, compared to around 46% in both categories in 2013.If th


Rhee finds her true calling at Scotts Miracle-Gro, killing many birds with one stone.
Michelle Rhee has decided to make a new start. After formally changing her last name to Johnson (she's married to Sacramento Mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson), Rhee has announced her departure from StudentsFirst for Scotts Miracle-Gro. It looks like the hedge-fund school reformers and power philanthropists are growing tired of Rhee and have decided to pass the union-busting torch on to Camp

AUG 06

Rahm's Walgreen cronies now say they're not moving HQ to Switzerland
Wesson oils RahmINVERSION -- Rahm's union-hating pals and campaign funders at Walgreen's now say they won't re-incorporate in Switzerland as planned. The re-incorporation — in which a company’s headquarters relocates overseas for tax purposes — is called a corporate inversionWith political pressure mounting from the White House down, Walgreen Co. is poised to announce Wednesday that it will keep i