Funny you should ask, but yes, I am sitting in my local public library charging all of my devices because yet again, north central New Jersey is without power. I really thought we had escaped this because the snowstorm hit on Wednesday and we kept our power throughout the driving snow and falling branches. But on Saturday morning we heard a bang, and then the lights went out. And the heat. And the (well) water. At least we can still cook on the gas stove. A large pork shoulder butt for pulling. What else would you expect a nice Jewish boy to be cooking on a Sunday afternoon?
But that's not what I came to talk about. Came to talk about power. So while we wait for more snow on Monday night and Tuesday, let's muse about the power shift that is on its way.
Young people are ticked off and they want the power over their lives that previous hordes of young people have fought for. The power to be safe. The power to shake the status quo, as in the power of the NRA to dictate their view of the Second Amendment, which is that it's inviolable and any slight change in gun laws is an egregious violation of American rights. Enter Florida. Raising the minimum age to purchase a gun is a good step. Worked with alcohol; why not guns? The NRA's argument is that denying a 19 year old a gun is akin to taking away guns, which, as we know, is the argument that all far-right gunsters use to beat back any regulation. If Florida can pass gun control laws, then most any state can. The question is whether they will.
Related to that is the proposed student walkout on Wednesday in response to the Parkland shooting. Under normal circumstances, schools in the leafy NJ suburbs would balk at letting students lead a disruption in the school day. This time, though, administrators are bending to the will of the vocal majority and are making accommodations so that both students and teachers can express their concerns and rights and fears and hopes that the country will finally make some common-sense changes. Students are leading this, and that's the beauty of it because they need to be heard. So much for this being an uninvolved, frightened, self-centered group of young men and women. That the right wing media wants to paint them as dupes and fakes tells you all you already knew about the credibility of the right wing media.
And what about the teachers? In West Virginia they didn't make the mistake that Senator Susan Collins made when she voted to keep the government funded in return for a scheduled vote on Dreamers, only to be sold out by Mitch McConnell. No, the teachers didn't go back to school after the promise of a wage gain; they waited until the legislature actually gave them one before ending their protest, defying their state and local union leadership.
In short, enough is enough. Destroying public worker unions has resulted in the most heinous abrogations of the commitment that a progressive, democratic republic is supposed to make to the workers that ensure that students are educated and that government services are delivered effectively and equally. We are truly at the point where Ronald Reagan's warning that the government is the problem is having its most noxious effect.
I have to laugh, and cry, at the gazillion gigabytes of words and pictures devoted to the idea that our present government is somehow run by populists. It is not. It is run by know-nothings who are shifting even more money to themselves and hoping that the poor rubes who voted for them won't notice or will be bought off by $40 or $50 dollars more per week in their paychecks. Meanwhile, government workers are vilified for not getting things done with the reduced resources that those in power would like to reduce and defund even more.
The backlash is already here and it's being lead by people who are supposed to do as they are told. Clearly, that's not happening anymore.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Sunday, March 4, 2018
If the Children Are to Lead, They Have to Vote
You'll excuse me if I'm somewhat skeptical, but all this talk about how the young people of this country are going to lead us into a new era where the adults have failed seems vaguely familiar. Many older Americans had the same feelings when the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1971 and they braced themselves for a new generation of activists who would change the way this country was run.
Instead, they gave us the Reagan Revolution which, by the by, coincides with a precipitous decline in the fortunes of the middle class, an explosion of money at the top of the income scale, and racial, economic and educational inequality that has resulted in a lost generation of African-American men and a coarsening of public discourse as a direct result of the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.
In other words, the mythical bar in on the floor, ready for anyone with a half-considered idea to walk confidently over it.
Ok, Ok, maybe that wasn't fair or was a bit dark. After all, the baby boom cohort has given us technology that was only a dream 40 short years ago, which has revolutionized work, entertainment, grammar and the speed at which society hurtles forward. We have better food, more of it, and at lwer prices than we;ve ever had it. Is it any wonder that we're gaining weight? We also have more breweries in this country than at any time since the 1880s. So we got that going for us.
And here comes the new youth. Hello and welcome. While the rest of us boomers get older, and I am shockingly aging at the rate of one year per year, the country seems to be getting younger and younger. This is natural. This is good. This works for me.
But I am not yet convinced that it will mean that meaningful change is close at hand.
First, the new young people will need to register to vote on or before their 18th birthday depending on their state's law. Then they will need, and this is the big one, to vote. In every election. Every one. Without fail. I haven't missed an election...ever. Not ever. I voted in person, by absentee ballot and by mail-in ballot. They can too. It's easy. And fun.
And not just voting in presidential elections. Young people need to vote in local state and Congressional elections as well. This is how to transfer the energy and emotion into policy and representation. It's a lesson in civics. Which we don't require much in schools these days? Connection? Anyone? Anyone?
It will be difficult to maintain the present energy until November, but that's natural. The initial awakening will settle down into organizing and spreading the message. Then the real slog comes in the fall when people will need to go door-to-door and get out the vote. But we have a good start. The energy is building and so is the outrage over the senseless violence that has now invaded schools.
To make a change, though, young people must register and vote. No Excuses.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
Instead, they gave us the Reagan Revolution which, by the by, coincides with a precipitous decline in the fortunes of the middle class, an explosion of money at the top of the income scale, and racial, economic and educational inequality that has resulted in a lost generation of African-American men and a coarsening of public discourse as a direct result of the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.
In other words, the mythical bar in on the floor, ready for anyone with a half-considered idea to walk confidently over it.
Ok, Ok, maybe that wasn't fair or was a bit dark. After all, the baby boom cohort has given us technology that was only a dream 40 short years ago, which has revolutionized work, entertainment, grammar and the speed at which society hurtles forward. We have better food, more of it, and at lwer prices than we;ve ever had it. Is it any wonder that we're gaining weight? We also have more breweries in this country than at any time since the 1880s. So we got that going for us.
And here comes the new youth. Hello and welcome. While the rest of us boomers get older, and I am shockingly aging at the rate of one year per year, the country seems to be getting younger and younger. This is natural. This is good. This works for me.
But I am not yet convinced that it will mean that meaningful change is close at hand.
First, the new young people will need to register to vote on or before their 18th birthday depending on their state's law. Then they will need, and this is the big one, to vote. In every election. Every one. Without fail. I haven't missed an election...ever. Not ever. I voted in person, by absentee ballot and by mail-in ballot. They can too. It's easy. And fun.
And not just voting in presidential elections. Young people need to vote in local state and Congressional elections as well. This is how to transfer the energy and emotion into policy and representation. It's a lesson in civics. Which we don't require much in schools these days? Connection? Anyone? Anyone?
It will be difficult to maintain the present energy until November, but that's natural. The initial awakening will settle down into organizing and spreading the message. Then the real slog comes in the fall when people will need to go door-to-door and get out the vote. But we have a good start. The energy is building and so is the outrage over the senseless violence that has now invaded schools.
To make a change, though, young people must register and vote. No Excuses.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
Sunday, February 25, 2018
NRA? Forever. NEA? Not Ever. The Destruction of Public Education
West Virginia Teachers are on strike.
Students are being shot in schools.
The Secretary of Education self-assesses herself a B+ or A- on her first year of work.
Boston University is the latest college to forgive students who are disciplined if they walk out of school on March 14 to demonstrate for school safety.
The president and the NRA want teachers to carry a gun in school.
This is the state of education today.
In a way, this doesn't surprise me. After all, I lived through 8 years of Chris Christie and the Know-Nothings bashing teachers, ridiculing our concerns and generally creating a toxic environment for all public workers. Now that we're living with the greatest worst president in the history of our country, it would make sense that we have the best anti-education leaders in our history making decisions that make little common sense and absolutely no education sense.
West Virginia is just another example of anti-union states paying teachers so little that they have to get second jobs just to maintain a middle class existence. This is what happens when ideologues take away the power of workers to bargain collectively or to have a say in their work environments. It speaks volumes that teachers believe they have to strike because it goes against everything that effective educators believe, which is that we need to be in the classroom educating children. To decide that you have to be out of the classroom with a picket sign is a sign that the state government has gone too far.
And it could, and likely will, get worse. On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could severely cripple unions that represent public workers. The Janus case would allow people to opt out of, or not join, a union, and thus not pay a dime, but would require the union to still bargain on behalf of that employee. This would place an undue financial burden on unions, but the real effect, and what the right wing has wanted for decades, is the end of public worker unions. The right believes that management is always right and that they should make all decisions regarding financial and employment matters.
Which then brings us to the Secretary of Education. Her self-assessment is the reason why educators don't allow or encourage...self-assessment when it comes to grades. I have no doubt that Secretary DeVos believes she's doing a fabulous job when in fact she is not. She wants to have all education decisions revert to the states, but that will only bring us back to the wildly different standards and achievement levels that led us to A Nation at Risk. Allowing 50 different sets of education standards is a terrible idea because it does not guarantee every child a quality education.
And a quality education seems to have missed those politicians, from public and private schools, who recommend arming teachers and vilify students as actors who are in thrall to Democrats when the GOP is in thrall to the NRA. The president, in fact, has adopted all of the NRA talking points, but none of the National Education Association. Need I say more?
It's clear that proponents of arming teachers have not really thought through the ramifications of such a move. How would the guns be stored? What about liability? What happens if a gun goers off accidentally or doesn't go of at all? What if a students gets possession of a teacher's gun? What kind of environment are you creating when guns saturate schools?
But all of those questions pale in the presence of the fact that public money, and lots of it, would be going to something that has nothing to do with education. If there's money available for weapons training, why not use it for curriculum, professional development, or paying teachers a livable wage so they don't have to go to their second job after school?
There is no way that students can adequately learn in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, but that's exactly what would happen if we introduce more guns into schools. Armed security guards? That would be fine, but not teachers. That would lead to tragedy.
This administration has shown that American cultural norms are subject to the whims of lobbyists, piles of cash and fealty to the president. The result will not help children, education or the nation.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
Students are being shot in schools.
The Secretary of Education self-assesses herself a B+ or A- on her first year of work.
Boston University is the latest college to forgive students who are disciplined if they walk out of school on March 14 to demonstrate for school safety.
The president and the NRA want teachers to carry a gun in school.
This is the state of education today.
In a way, this doesn't surprise me. After all, I lived through 8 years of Chris Christie and the Know-Nothings bashing teachers, ridiculing our concerns and generally creating a toxic environment for all public workers. Now that we're living with the greatest worst president in the history of our country, it would make sense that we have the best anti-education leaders in our history making decisions that make little common sense and absolutely no education sense.
West Virginia is just another example of anti-union states paying teachers so little that they have to get second jobs just to maintain a middle class existence. This is what happens when ideologues take away the power of workers to bargain collectively or to have a say in their work environments. It speaks volumes that teachers believe they have to strike because it goes against everything that effective educators believe, which is that we need to be in the classroom educating children. To decide that you have to be out of the classroom with a picket sign is a sign that the state government has gone too far.
And it could, and likely will, get worse. On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could severely cripple unions that represent public workers. The Janus case would allow people to opt out of, or not join, a union, and thus not pay a dime, but would require the union to still bargain on behalf of that employee. This would place an undue financial burden on unions, but the real effect, and what the right wing has wanted for decades, is the end of public worker unions. The right believes that management is always right and that they should make all decisions regarding financial and employment matters.
Which then brings us to the Secretary of Education. Her self-assessment is the reason why educators don't allow or encourage...self-assessment when it comes to grades. I have no doubt that Secretary DeVos believes she's doing a fabulous job when in fact she is not. She wants to have all education decisions revert to the states, but that will only bring us back to the wildly different standards and achievement levels that led us to A Nation at Risk. Allowing 50 different sets of education standards is a terrible idea because it does not guarantee every child a quality education.
And a quality education seems to have missed those politicians, from public and private schools, who recommend arming teachers and vilify students as actors who are in thrall to Democrats when the GOP is in thrall to the NRA. The president, in fact, has adopted all of the NRA talking points, but none of the National Education Association. Need I say more?
It's clear that proponents of arming teachers have not really thought through the ramifications of such a move. How would the guns be stored? What about liability? What happens if a gun goers off accidentally or doesn't go of at all? What if a students gets possession of a teacher's gun? What kind of environment are you creating when guns saturate schools?
But all of those questions pale in the presence of the fact that public money, and lots of it, would be going to something that has nothing to do with education. If there's money available for weapons training, why not use it for curriculum, professional development, or paying teachers a livable wage so they don't have to go to their second job after school?
There is no way that students can adequately learn in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, but that's exactly what would happen if we introduce more guns into schools. Armed security guards? That would be fine, but not teachers. That would lead to tragedy.
This administration has shown that American cultural norms are subject to the whims of lobbyists, piles of cash and fealty to the president. The result will not help children, education or the nation.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
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