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Tidbits - May 29, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Cecily McMillan; Prison Labor; William Worthy; Syria; Timothy Geithner and Wall Street's Bailout; College Debt; U.S. Subversion in Latin America; Venezuela; Announcements - This Weekend - Left Forum (May 30 - June 1) - Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice; Raising America's Pay - Launches June 4; Meet UnionWiki; Call for Papers - Fighting Inequality: Class, Race, and Power

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Separate and Unequal: The Charter School Pedestal The Public Can’t Reach

Trymaine Lee MSNBC
Critics say that charter schools—publicly funded but run by private organizations—are being used as a means to privatize public education at the expense of the vast majority of students. They say the charter movement is a Trojan-horse riding under the guise of school choice, used as an instrument to break teachers unions.

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.

How to Reverse a Slow-Motion Apocalypse - Why the Divestment Movement Against Big Energy Matters

Todd Gitlin TomDispatch
Climate Change crossroads - Super-Typhoon Haiyan, possibly the strongest such storm ever to hit land; Australia, elected a climate-change denialist as prime minister is experiencing its hottest year on record; the rest of the world is living through the seventh warmest year on record. And...young activists organizing a growing campaign to pressure universities and colleges to divest from the giant energy companies, to change the mood and calculations of our moment.

Students Are Hooking Up! (Like Their Parents Did)

Erin Brodwin Scientific American
Students today “hook up” no more than their parents did in college. It seems college students are talking more than acting—at least when it comes to sex.

Message to Graduates 2013 and 1968 - Hopes, Struggles, Huge and the Biggest Debt Ever

Robert Reich, Phil Izzo
Cynicism or struggle? Cynicism is self-fulfilling prophesy. The generation of 1968 fought - America changed. The changes didn't come easily. Every positive step was met with determined resistance. But we became better and stronger because we were determined to change. Today to make progress, to prevent slipping backwards - will require no less steadfastness, intelligence, and patience than was necessitated before. Graduates today are the most indebted - ever.

Hundreds of Thousands March for 'Free Education' in Chile

Jon Queally Common Dreams
The Chilean student movement roared back to life on Thursday, with organizers and media outlets reporting that hundreds of thousands of people joined students in the nation's streets calling for a free and quality education for all.

What You Need to Know About the Indiana University Strike

James Cersonsky and StudentNation The Nation
Though Indiana University's March Madness is over, a generation of gutting and restructuring has left Hoosier country on its feet. This Thursday and Friday, the university will be the site of a statewide strike.
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