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Education is Not the Answer

Dean Baker Jacobin Magazine
Everyone deserves a great public education, but better schools alone can’t fight inequality.

Tidbits - April 3, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - U.S. Military Policy, Foreign Policy and Aggression; Public Education and New York's Segregated Schools; Obamacare; Bernie Sanders for President - exchange on electoral politics and tactics; Trade Policy; Venezuela; Congress and the 1%; Pope Francis; poverty; Announcement - Call for Tributes and Reflections: The Life and Work of Rod Bush - San Francisco - Aug. 18, 2014

Most Segregated Schools in the Nation: NY

John Kucsera Civil Rights Project
Public school students in the state are increasingly isolated by race and class as the proportion of minority and poor students continues to grow.

Do We Need Public Education?

Beatrice Lumpkin Citizen Action Illinois
If we think privatization through to its logical conclusion, it becomes clear that the school closings and massive spread of private charter schools is more than an attack on public education. It is an attack on the whole idea of education for all. And sadly, it goes beyond education to the destruction of whole communities.

Tidbits - March 20, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Tony Benn; Labor organizing; BDS and American Jews; Seniors; Mayor de Blasio; Education - Charters, Testing, Children's Literature, Adjuncts; Real Irish American history; Keystone XL; Neil deGrasse Tyson on Cosmos; Announcements: GLobal Protests Against Racism and Fascism - this Saturday; Cecily McMillan Trial Update; New books/resources - New Labor in New York; Living Wage Calculator; Getting Back to Full Employment; Truth About Three Mile Island

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De Blasio Pushes a 9-Year Contract for Teachers

Steven Greenhouse The New York Times
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is pushing for what would be the longest-ever contract with the teachers’ union: a nine-year deal that would let the city stretch out potentially huge retroactive pay increases. A nine-year deal for teachers would actually date to Nov. 1, 2009, when the union’s contract expired. But it would extend for another four and a half years — after Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, would face re-election in 2017.

Tidbits - March 13, 2014

Portside
Summary - Reader Comments - Big Lie about Mayor Bill de Blasio and Charters; Ukraine; Disgraceful Rejection of Debo Adegbile; Salt of the Earth - Sixty Years and Still So Vibrant; Attack on Public Schools; Member-to-Member Harassment; NAFTA Scorecard; Vermont Public Bank; Women in Labor History; 25th Anniversary of the Web; Today in History - Senate Approves Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

The Big Lie about Mayor Bill de Blasio and Charters

Diane Ravitch Diane Ravitch's Blogs
The question before the Mayor is whether he will continue to fund a dual school system–one sector able to choose the students it wants–and the other sector serving all. He is trying to have it both ways, and it doesn’t work. He gave the charter lobby almost everything it wanted, and they still came after him as if he had given them nothing at all.
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