Elia's Whistle Stop Education Tour

Education Commissioner Elia is in WNY touting the very state exams that she would not allow her own children to take.

Her goal – stop the Opt Out Movement from growing. Last year 20% of the eligible grades 3-8 population were exempted by their parents from taking the tests. How many students spoiled their tests because their friends weren't taking them? We'll never know because once a test is written on, it can be scored. And it counts against the school.

Let's remember the purpose of these tests – To show that public schools are failing to educate our children. This way the government (federal) can force the school to be privatized under the various capitalist written education laws - No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top (or Bottom as opponents call it), and the Every Student Succeeds Act (aka Everything Stays the Same Act. It just re-codifies NCLB and RTTP).

After years of horrible tests that students were forced to take, Elia is on a whirlwind whistle stop to to “gain our trust back” because there have been “significant changes made.”

Right.

And Santa Claus is real. I know this because the Easter Bunny told me so.

There will be fewer questions. Exactly six.

There will be exactly one less reading passage.

All students will have unlimited time to sit and take the test.

Over twenty teachers have previewed the questions and sent back bad questions until they were written correctly. Whatever that means. We'll still find errors when we administer the tests.

About 65% of the questions will be made public this year. The goal will be 100% in the near future.

The tests will be graded faster (by non educators and on a curve) and the results sent back faster. Still no word on how to make any sort of use of the results. The state hasn't come up with that yet.

Test scores won't count against a teacher's evaluation until 2019. (Suggestion – How about never?)

So, we are still having tests that have no academic value being administered to students that don't want to take them and graded by non-educators for teachers that have no guidance on how to use the information.

Right.

I'm all for high standards for students.

I believe every child can learn and achieve.

I also believe we are turning students off from learning by pushing these tests on them.

I hear it every day in class: Do we have to know this for the test?

It's never: When will I use this in life?

Isn't that what school is supposed to prepare students for?

Define "Terrorism"

What makes a person or a group a terrorist? A letter to the editor in today's (March 31, 2016) Buffalo News accuses the owners of Burning Books – a bookstore in Buffalo's west side – of being terrorists because in the past one of the owners – Nathaniel Buckley– used to be a media messenger for the Earth Liberation Front.

The ELF is known for destroying SUV lots, science labs, etc in the name of stopping the environmental destruction that the vehicles caused. They were also opposed to animal testing and stood up for animal rights.

They are accused of causing millions of dollars of damage.

From a civil rights point of view – the FBI needs probable cause in order to get a warrant for surveillance. And remember – all Buckley did was act as a messenger for the group. He has done nothing as of late that can be a cause of concern. He does exercise his First Amendment rights by hosting speakers that highlight environmental concerns (according to the BN.)

Let's think about something though

Let's look at Hooker Chemical (among other groups) that buried toxic chemicals in the Love Canal region of Niagara Falls. That cost over a million dollars to clean up (and the area may still be contaminated) in the late 1070's and 1980's. The chemicals caused birth defects and cancers, polluted groundwater, and ruined house and property values. Is Hooker Chemical a group of terrorists?

Cigarette companies has evidence from way back in the 1930's and 1940's that smoking cigarettes causes cancer. The science is very clear and exact on this. And yet the cigarette companies fight (to this day) the accusation that their product kills people. Over a million men, women, and children have died as a result of smoking or breathing second hand smoke. We could go into the effects of second hand smoke and the millions of dollars of damage that has been caused to people by breathing second hand smoke emphysema and other breathing disorders. Does that make cigarette companies and their PR machines terrorists?

Exxon Corporation had evidence back in the early 1970's that burning fossil fuels would cause global warming and climate change. How many millions of dollars of damages and how many people have died from the increased power and frequency of hurricanes and tornadoes? Hurricane Katrina damn near destroyed New Orleans and look at what Hurricane Sandy did to the US. We can go into the Pacific Rim and look at the hurricanes that have slammed into the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Japan, Bangladesh, India, and the many island nations. Look at the island nations that are threatened by rising sea levels. Tuvalu for starters.

Look at the drought in Africa, the Middle East, the Great Plains and other areas of the world. Look at the millions of dollars in damage that global warming and climate change has done to our food supply and aquifers. Exxon isn't alone in this knowledge. BP and others knew about this as well. Does this make the oil companies and their executives terrorists?

An article in the April 18, 2016 issue of The Nation spells out “Global Warming's Terrifying New Chemistry” - the dangers of methane gas leaks. These can be mostly tied to fracking and the faulty technology used in the practice. Then again, go live around a fracking well and notice the air pollution, water pollution, loss of property values, and sickness that people suffer from. These wells can not be safely drilled and used. And yet the companies keep drilling them. Science shows that methane is a more dangerous compound for global warming that other forms of air pollution and the fracking industry knows it. Look at all the economic damage that the fracking wells are causing in the communities where they are being drilled and used. Does this make fracking companies terrorists?

British Petroleum and the Moncado Well. (Include Halliburton and other companies in this.) They knew the well was dangerous. Greg Palast exposed the danger based on an identical incident in Azerbaijan (I believe. I know it was one of the former Soviet Republics.) They knew what they were doing and the accident was worse and pretty much destroyed the Gulf Coast. (In spite of what you see in TV advertising, there are places that you still can't go. Armed guards keep you out.) Plus there are traces of oil and Corexit – a chemical dispersant so toxic that it was banned in the UK – in seafood from the Gulf. It can't be eaten. How many hundreds of millions of dollars in damages? Are BP & Company terrorists?

Merck Corporation was forced to pull Vioxx and Bextra off the market after they killed 50,000+ people. They deliberately told their sales representatives to promote the drugs as safe for treating conditions that the FDA did not approve the drug for. And their research showed that the drug was unsafe. They lied to the FDA and with held the information that would have kept the drugs off the market. Is Merck a terrorist organization? They deliberately killed 50,000 people.

I can go on – Monsanto & Dow with Agent Orange (How many US Veterans died from Agent Orange poisoning? Go to Vietnam and look at the areas where it was sprayed.) I'm confident there are many others.

And yet these organizations, that have killed many times more people than ELF and done millions more in damages are not called terrorists.

They are called capitalist organizations and the listed effects are just the price of doing business.

So, if ELF would have made a profit from their actions on Wall Street they would have been OK?

Color me confused by what makes a person or a group a terrorist organization.

NYS hopes to Undercut the Opt Outs

Governor “Status” Cuomo and Co are holding their collective breaths as they wait for the new round of testing to begin. They are concerned, as they should be, about the parental Opt Out Movement – those parents that do not want their children taking useless tests that tells no professional educator anything useful about a student's abilities.

So Cuomo and Co have decided to modify the tests this year in hopes of co-opting the Opt Out Movement.

The changes are:

1. Fewer Reading Passages: To be exact, One (that's 1) reading passage less. So what? If you want to know how well a student reads, ask them what they read in their free time, if they have any free time with how parents schedule student's lives now, or if they read at all. And how much they read. A student that doesn't read much is potentially not a good reader. (Or doesn't have access to a library or books. Another tragedy to discuss on another day.)

2. Fewer Multiple Choice Questions: That will amount to six (that's 6) fewer questions. Questions that are usually poorly written and can have the answers challenged. I don't get multiple choice questions in life, or at they are not spelled out that way. (I wish they were based on my last disastrous date.)

3. Unlimited Time: Yes, you read that correctly. Unlimited time to take a test that students will blow through in about half an hour. (That's thirty (30) minutes. They will spend the rest of the required seat time staring around, doodling on the test booklet, or taking a nap.) I have had only one (that's 1) student take the full allotted time for an exam. At that he didn't finish it because he struggles with reading and his IEP does not have “Tests Read” as a modification.

4. The company formerly known as Pearson, the UK owned test corporation, is administering its last exam. It is being handled by a US company, Questar ASSessments. (For now. I have not researched to see who owns it. You know, like how Disney owns ABC? That explains their crappy happy go lucky movie style news).

This next part I have problems with and I think that anyone with half a brain will automatically see why:

5. Teachers are helping to select the test questions.

6. Teachers in the future will have a seat at the table writing the tests.

(I will wait a moment for that to sink in before I rip it to pieces like a chainsaw on balsa wood.)

This is a mistake by the teachers.

First: It implies that the tests are worthwhile. They have no value whatsoever. There is no professional research that shows that these types of tests show anything about a student's abilities. Any teacher will tell you that a good student can have a bad day and a bad student can guess lucky. (I went to school with a student that took a Latin quiz by flipping a coin. 10 questions – He scored an 80. Did he know the content?) Do these tests show that students know the content or skills? And can anyone prove that these tests are the best way to assess these skills? Not in professional literature they can't.

Second: Having the teachers help write the tests is like having the death row prisoner sitting at the table and having a choice in how they are going to be executed. Teachers and their unions (the AFT, the UFT, and NYSUT) must remember the purpose of these tests – to show that public schools are failing to teach students. By using the test scores to show that students are failing to learn, the private charter school companies are hoping to take over the schools. This means firing all the teachers (HEY UNIONS – THIS MEANS NO MORE UNION! THINK ABOUT IT.), hiring new teachers (or the old teachers back at lower pay and fewer benefits), and stuffing their pockets with our tax dollars while students get less of an education than they received before.

So, what should teachers and parents do?

Teachers need to tell students that they are nor required to take the tests.

Parents need to opt their children out of all mandated state exams (grades 3-8).

And if the politicians decide to punish the schools for not having the required number of students take the exam, remind the politicians that they serve at our will and they either do as we say or we will give them a one (that's 1) way ticket home and a little boycott of whatever business that they decide to work at. Remember – this is a capitalist society and money talks. The 1% aren't going to bankroll people out of power, so let's put a little fear in them.

And let's put into office politicians that will listen to us.

“Status” Cuomo is only doing this because his next election is two (that's 2) years away and he needs to butter up the voters to vote for him and not the opposition. Remember – he had to fight for the Working Families Party line last time and NYSUT refused to endorse him.

And remember – These exams don't count for teacher evaluations until 2019. The year after the next election.

Want to guess how he wants to get revenge on the teachers and unions if they don't support him next time?

Note: Pardon the sarcasm. I had to read a test mod today and it involved a ton of numbers in words and I had to clarify for the student when I was reading a number versus a word that sounded like a number. (For vs Four. Two vs Too vs To.) That and if a politician happens to read this, I want to make sure they can understand it.

Beware of Republicans Bearing Gifts

In several upcoming special elections that Governor “Status” Cuomo has the ability to call for the Republican(t)s are openly saying that the $15 raise in minimum wage is going to be an issue.

Whether they support it or not, there is significant support for the $15 NOW movement in NY and the Republican(t)s know it.

So, how do they deal with it and why should the working class be concerned?

The Republican(t)s could go for a phased implementation over a period of 10 years that would basically see the raise in wages mean nothing because whatever gains are made would be wiped out by inflation.

And we need to remember what inflation really is – it is the capitalist class demanding more profits from the working class. So the producers have to raise prices on everything to meet the demand. It's not like the product is any better. It's just more expensive and potentially made with cheaper ingredients or materials to make the increase in profits possible.

The Republican(t)s could pull a NRA (That's National Restaurant ASSociation) job – as done by Mr 9-9- 9 of the last election cycle, Herman Cain, and get certain classes of workers exempted from the increase. Herman Cain and the NRA worked to have waiters and waitresses, now known as “food servers,” exempted from the pay increases. So back in 1986 when I started working they made $2.35 an hour. Same now. If there was an increase, it was so menial as to be inconsequential. (I remember waitresses crying because they busted their butts working a shift because they needed the money for rent or bills and didn't make enough.)

Who would the Republican(t)s get exempted from the increase? Minors (anyone under 18)? Food Servers? Farm workers? Who would be their sacrificial lamb? Who would be thrown under the bus for the sake of a few votes?

The $15 NOW is popular across the state and the Republican(t) know it.

The working class needs to keep their eyes and ears open and watch what is being done in the halls of power in Albany.

So, first, register to vote. The special elections will be held in November. No vote, no voice.

Then, make sure you vote, either in person or by absentee ballot.

After all the dust an smoke settles, make your voice heard in phone calls, letters, visits to district offices, whatever it takes to let those in power that there will be no games this time. $15 NOW means now.

And there will be no sacrificial lambs.

Actually, we could sacrifice Wall Street and the Banks.

If I remember my Old/Jewish Testament properly, and ancient history, it was ok to sacrifice a fatted calf.

And they are pretty fat if you ask me.

Look Behind the Curtain

We all remember the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” Perhaps you've read the book by Frank Baum. Perhaps you've even gone to Chittenango, NY (Read the spell checks on that name) to see all the tributes to the local boy gone big.

We all remember the scene where Toto pulls back the curtain and the big wizard is shown to be this small man. All the special effects and he is really…..

So it is with the “Parent Power” school board movement. In principle, I like the idea. It sounds very good. In the different districts a parent is running for the Buffalo School Board. As opposed to some of the sitting candidates, they actually have children that are in the Buffalo CSD and not some elitist private school. They have something real at risk – the future of their child's education.

Now, I agree with their idea – They want the best possible school system for their children. They aren't some sort of elitist that is going to tell the people of Buffalo how to run their schools and then put their children elsewhere,

So, why the Oz opening?

In the Buffalo News article, as in any newspaper or magazine article, you have to read to the end.

In the second section of the article (Page A2), in the second to last column at the bottom we find that three of the candidates (at least, possibly more) are being supported by “Grassroots.” An innocent sounding name if there ever was one. And positive sounding too, given the nature of the candidates.

My concern? Grassroots is the organization that is run by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

His agenda? Like NYC, he wants mayoral control over the school system.

No more democratically elected school board (which gave Buffalo Carl PaladiNO!). Instead all of the board members would be appointed by the mayor and serve at his discretion.

So basically, it is a back door attempt by the Mayor to take over the school district.

So, the people of Buffalo are caught between a rock and a hard place. They have a group of people that want to privatize the district and hand their hard earned money and their students' educational future to private charter schools – where they have no voice in how the school is run or anything that goes on. Or they can have their school run by an elected mayor who will put people in charge that cater to his personal agenda. So if he wants to privatize the schools, there is nothing to stop him.

What the people of Buffalo need to do is wake up to what is going on and see how the political and economic (mis)leadership are trying to destroy whatever democratic stakes they have in how their schools are run and how their children are educated.

The people of Buffalo need to stand up for democracy and democratic control over their schools.

Anyone that advocated privatization – from the Superintendent to any School Board member needs to be removed and replaced by someone that will keep the schools under public control.

Let's face the facts: There is little to any proof that private charter schools are any better than public schools. They can remove troublesome or failing students and send them back to public schools. Public schools have to take and educate all students that enter their doors.

This School Board election is about the control over the future of their children's lives- They need to vote against privatization and privatizers and for those people that want to strengthen public education.

What of Social Studies

The March 2016 Monthly Review is an extra length (72 page) issue on education that I think people need to read. One article that I have been thinking about is “Testing and Social Studies in Capitalist Schooling.”

Of key note: There are no Common Core(TM) standards for Social Studies. None. Zippo. So does it need to be taught? There is the old adage, if not almost a truism, those that forget history are condemned to repeat it.

Well, if you are not taught history, then what?

As a history major in college and amateur historian (I've never published), I am appalled at social studies textbooks and curriculum.

In NYS, it is almost taught as part of reading and English Language Arts in the early elementary levels. It does become it's own class eventually, but it falls into memorizing names, dates, and that type of droll information that means pretty much nothing. (anything to kill a passion for learning.)

There is a little history – the “Great Man” theory – which believes that events revolve around great people and if that person is not present, pretty much no event. We needed George Washington for the Revolutionary War. (Thomas Paine really). The “Founding Fathers” were critical to the development of democracy in our country (Really? Read the Madison Papers). And so on.

Basically we need someone to save us or do that one great thing in order for history to move on. And this someone is usually a Western European white male. On occasion a (pardon the language) “token” female, African American, Asian, or Hispanic will be mentioned, but they are (as always and in) the minority. So students learn about Susan B Anthony, Helen Keller, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Booker T Washington, Martin Luther King, Caesar Chavez, and others, but only in passing and without the attention of the great white male. And then what we are taught about them is so scanty and only what fits the capitalist agenda. (No one knows that Helen Keller was a socialist or that MLK spoke out against the Vietnam War.)

Another trend that I find disturbing in the writing of Social Studies books is called “literary non-fiction.” And is it sounds, it is very cheesy and is more appropriately termed “historical fiction.” They re supposed to be historical works “written in an engaging manner.” The works that I have seen (I will dig up & post the titles) all qualify as historical fiction. They are based on historical events – the authors just take liberties with the writing – adding characters to make it more interesting, creating dialogue where there is no record of what was specifically said, etc.

A friend of mine teaches Participation in Government – a senior level class. She has basically no guidelines from the state on what must be taught. She must make clear that China is bad (get ready for the next war), but other than that – nothing. On Election Day 2015 and on “Super Tuesday” she had her classes (they are ½ year classes) do to iSideWith.com and take to quiz to see what candidates the aligned up with and what parties they were similar to. The students found it interesting. Whether or not it leads them beyond the 2 capitalist parties will be interesting. (OK – one student tested very high for the Socialist Party USA & he is starting to get vocal about socialism. One of 100 something.)

But I digress from the article. The article's authors talk about how, since there are no standards, will Social Studies disappear?

In a way it already has in New York.

Ninth & Tenth grade Social Studies classes are about preparing for the Tenth Grade Regents exam.

Eleventh grade Social Studies has been called a glorified Regents Prep class. Students are taught more US History in Seventh and Eighth grade.

In Twelfth Grade they have a semester of Economics – a cheerleader class for capitalism and half a year of US Government. And I already wrote about Government class.

When I was in college in the 1980's and early 1990's I Was told by more than one professor to forget everything I was taught about (whatever class they were teaching) because it was wrong in more ways than they can explain.

So, what are we as socialists to do?

We need to preserve history as a class and as a method to help people see the truth of the situation we are in.

We need to get people to read Lies my Teacher Told Me about how textbooks are written to support the capitalist agenda.

We need them to read We the People so that they get a Marxist history of the American state.

We need them to read A People's History of the United States and all the spin-off versions so they get beyond the elitist version of history that they have been force fed throughout their education. (And get over the idea that students don't like to read. Students that I give the Zinn book to almost always finish it and love it.)

We need to preserve history and get them to read more of it.

Opting Out - Opinions & Opportunities

In this month's Monthly Review (with it's focus on testing) there is an article on the two opinions on whether parents should opt their children out of the tests.

Interesting – the two opinions are within a union and reflect the differences between the union (mis)leadership and the rank and file. (BTW: Socialist Action has published many articles on this conflict and I also believe a few pamphlets. Not specifically on teacher unions but on the union movement in general.)

“ShouldNew York City Teachers Support Opt Out?” discusses the conflict between the two viewpoints.

There is the point of view of the teachers – the people in the trenches that have to deal with the students, the parents, the administrators, and face the firing squad (metaphorically and literally) if students fail to improve on the government mandated exams. The loss of teaching time, the stress the students face because of the exams, and other issues are discussed.

The other side is, in my opinion, disconnected from the reality of testing. Completely disconnected. Their jobs in the union leadership are basically secure, unless the union folds. (Do they think about that?) I wonder how many of them (if any) are still teaching in the classroom at least part time, if not full time. Are any? Do they even know beyond the typical talking points what teachers are even going through during exam time? Or are they so shielded in their Ivory Tower?

As a teacher, would I opt my children out (if I had any)? Yes. I have yet to see an ounce of legitimate research (peer reviewed) that shows these tests have any value or merit. And my challenges and requests for such literature (and searches for) have turned up nothing. Even colleges are dumping the SAT and ACT because their value is questionable.

Now, to bring this from NYC to the state, and to the local school district. I asked my union president what is NYSUT doing (now) to fight against the use of the exams in teacher evaluations?

The response: Nothing. Because Governor “Status” Cuomo has removed the use of the tests in teacher evaluations, NYSUT is going to wait until 2019 to take any action.

That's three years too late.

The battle against the use of these exams needs to start now because the opponents of teachers and public education are going to use the test results against us now.

The tests this year are being changed – fewer questions and unlimited time for all students – and everyone that is looking to privatize public education is going to use these changes and the results (whether they go up or down) to attack teachers.

So we need to start working against these tests and their illegitimate use now.

And the union (mis)leadership, with their job security intact, will advise us to do nothing until 2019. Three years after our opposition has started their next offensive.

The teachers unions and the public needs to stand against these exams and oppose the use of taxpayer dollars for purchasing them.

Instead the public needs to demand that we look at educational systems and methods that really work and help all students achieve. We need to look at portfolio assessments – which show all of a student's work, not just one type – and better curriculum and standards that relate to the real world of learning and life.

Until then we will still see students dreading school and all the opportunities that education is supposed to offer.

Relaying a Rant on Barbie

This week has been busy for me with doctor appointments almost every day and any time I've tried to sit down an get ready to blog the phone rings and something comes up.

One call was from a friend that had a co-worker go in for breast cancer treatment. That's what the call was about. And all the males in the office decided to show solidarity for a day by visiting her & wearing a bra. (They also paid to do this – donating the money to help her with medical co-pays and whatever else she needed. Imagine that one ladies – guys paying to wear a bra.)

His phone call about the bra he was wearing was humorous (in a way) and yet -as a capitalist (card carrying Republicant) – he struck on an number of women's rights/feminist issues. This was ironic and in a way hilarious.

I will "attempt" to relay his various comments here.

First he went boobs to the wall about the cost of a bra. (I can't reasonably say “balls to the wall. That's not what goes in them.) Even a cheap bra was pricey to him. He wasn't going to wear a bra when he visited except he was at a co worker's house whose daughter was in the know & suckered him into getting measured. (Actually she's an attractive Type-A female. She's got it & knows how to use it. And the guy gets nothing in the end but an expensive credit card bill for a night on the town, not her. Go figure.) He was about her size so she grabbed one and loaned it to him for the afternoon. No cost, no complaint.

Except for the under-wire. Exactly whose idea was it to stick wire in a bra? If it's uncomfortable for a male, how much more for a female? And it's not like breasts have no nerves in them?

And the band (?) around the middle of his chest that constricted his breathing. He does martial arts and works out, so he's in tune with breathing. Except the band makes this more difficult. And he was only wearing it for a few hours. Think about all day.

And even more infuriating to him was the fact that the bra made him look like he was a guy with man-boobs. He's cut & flat. The bra made him almost a B-Cup with all the push-up material and padding. So from having nothing – a simple bra gives him small breasts?

And then the stupid straps kept falling down no matter how they were adjusted. (As if, right ladies?)

And he carried on. And any female that is reading this is probably laughing her butt off and could tell us males so much more that we don't know and need to (most likely).

Aside from all that – here's the ironic part: he started talking about how oppressive and uncomfortable the bra was and how artificial it was (I know, preaching to the choir). Women's breasts (a particular weakness of the males of the species) are not these perfectly rounded pieces of flesh that defy the laws of gravity when the bra comes off. They have different shapes, firmness, and hang when the bra comes off. And unless they have been surgically altered, which I have heard is less than comfortable, they are far from what we see on the Hollywood screen or in various pornographic magazines.

And his question to me was (minus the profanity) “Why do women wear these torture devices?”

Because society expects them to?

Because capitalist fashion dictates that they do?

Because …..

And he kept on going off on women's clothing and how much women have been turned into “Barbie© Dolls” by the fashion industry. Even the so-called office feminists dare not defy the laws of fashion.

And he went off on the the different types of underwear that are designed to shape a women's butts to look a certain way. Also all the complaints in the office about pantyhose and how miserable it is to wear (runs, etc).

I was personally wondering what all he really wore that day.

And after the phone call was over – I did a ton of laughing to myself hearing a conservative talk like a feminist – I started thinking about a “so called” feminist that I work with and how, for all her enlightenment and women's advocacy, she is nothing more than a slave to the capitalist fashion industry.

What's the latest fashion in shoes? She has several pairs.

What's the latest in dresses and skirts? She has it.

Make-up? She does it.

She's gone gray – except for the hair coloring that she does. And a student looked at all the chemicals in hair color, read up on the Material Safety Data Sheets for them and wondered how did the FDA approve this for use? The number of cancer causing chemicals, even though in low doses, that were in the hair coloring, perfume, and make up was horrifying.

And we wonder about cancer rates in women. What price for beauty?

And women smear it all over themselves to meet some artificial standard of beauty.

And one of my good friends in college was totally blind and had a beautiful girlfriend that he eventually married. He said he saw her real beauty. Everyone else was deceived by the packaging. Then again, he was also an excellent judge of character because he wasn't distracted by the “wrapper.” (His words, not mine.)

So, here we are in March – Women's history month.

And we are supposed to be celebrating all that women have done throughout history.

And all that they have achieved.

Let's remember what they have not achieved – freedom from someone else's opinion of what beauty is.

And until they achieve this, they will never truly be free.

And the pot is calling the kettle what?

So President Obama visited Cuba and had the audacity to criticize the Cuban government about its treatment of political prisoners and Cubans of African descent.

Huh?

On what planet?

Considering what the US has done to Cuba, Central America, and South America over the  years.

Some background on Cuba: Its population is about 66% African and mixed race.

Its leadership is about 70% white.

It has universal health care, a literacy rate of 99% according to the UN.

Does t have problems? Yes it does.

Some questions about the flagship of democracy – the United States:

What percentage of Americans are of African descent?

How many of them live in poverty?

How many of them go to sub standard schools? (Ones that you would not want to go to? Leaky roofs, outdated library materials, dilapidated gym, no art or music classes, etc.)

How many of them are literate and performing at an age appropriate grade level?

What percentage of them are going to wind up in the prison /criminal injustice system before they die?

How many are on death row or have been executed and later found to be innocent?

How many people of African-American descent are gunned down by the police every year?

(I hear it all the time about black on black crime. How many whites get gunned down by police every year?)

How many African Americans are living in poverty and don't have enough food to eat?

Or have access to any form of medical care – be it a physician or dentist – when they need it?

Or – better yet – use it for preventive care: annual physicals and 6 month dental check-ups?

How many unemployed African Americans are there in this country?

Or underemployed – they are working in a menial job and yet with the correct training they could be managing a business, be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc?

How many African Americans are are in government? Congress? On the Supreme Court?

How many are denied the right to vote because they lack the proper ID? Or they have a criminal background? Or have a name that is similar to someone that has a criminal background?

(Read Greg Palast about this. Robert Kennedy Jr collaborates with Greg on this issue.)

Let's talk about political prisoners.

Let's talk about: Mumia Abul Jamal.

Let's talk about the Black Panther Party.

Let's talk about the Angola Three (and the others that are not in the news).

Let's talk about Leonard Peltier.

Let's talk about the American Indian Movement & the rights of First Nations peoples.

Let's talk about CointelPro – the FBI surveillance program that began back in the 1920's under J Edgar Hoover and continued to spy (illegally) on Americans until its cover was blown in the 1970's. It was replaced by the NSA, which gathers up more information on Americans than the KGB did.

Who lives in a police state and is denied their rights?

A little clarification here please?

And then there is the media – broadcast and print.

I see nothing about the 3^rd parties in any of the American media – Nothing on the Green Party, various socialist parties, or even the Libertarian or Constitution parties (both right wing organizations. The Libertarian party has the Koch family as founders. Finding it too difficult to build an insurgent party, they turned around and bought the Republican Party instead.)

Isn't it the job of the media to inform us of all our choices, not decide what they want us to know and then misrepresenting that to us? (Read up on FAIR and Project Censored.)

So, President Obama went to Cuba and criticized the country for what?

This is a picture perfect case of the pot calling the kettle black.

And we sent the perfect spokesperson to do it.

Testing Revolt

This month's issue of Monthly Review is a special (with extra pages) issue on education in America and the opt out movement that has sprouted up against it.

Interestingly enough – the whole testing movement has its genesis in the Republican party and the opt out movement has a base in the TEA Party (there are other groups that are opposed to testing as well). Ironic that the TEA Party is complaining about government over reach when their party is the one responsible for the over reach. Go figure?

Monty Neill has a great article called “The Testing Resistance ans Reform Movement.” It will be available on-line for the remainder of March 2016 and then to subscribers via password afterwards.

In it he chronicles the history of the testing movement and why it was created – to segregate education into haves and have nots (or don't deserves – my opinion based on my reading of his article. There are people that deserve a quality education and those that need to be shuffled off into wage slave jobs).

Testing – from IQ tests and the various other tests administered K12 to the SAT and ACT appear to me to be forms of population control (via fear – if you are afraid of doing poorly, you won't take the exam and, thereby, shortchange yourself) and of gate keeping – the SAT and ACT cost a significant amount of money to take. You may be smart, but if you can't afford the exam fee (and now the picture ID), you can't take the exam and are kept out of higher education.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (R3T) were both means by which the two capitalist controlled parties – the Republicans and Democrats – could force school districts to be privatized. One of the key issues with modern education is that it is a $550 Billion industry that Wall Street makes no money off of. If it is privatized, then stock can be issued and there's the money for the 1%. So all these tests were imposed with the intent of forcing states to turn schools over to private entities that could make a profit. They didn't have to be any better – they just had to be private. NCLB could force schools to be privatized by means of poor test scores. R3T used a carrot – the Federal government would give the states money if they privatized the worst districts. Stick and carrot. Same results.

After protests against all the testing formed, the capitalist's pawn in power – President Obama – signed into law the ESSA – Every Student Succeeds Act. Anyone that actually read the legislation calls it the “Everything Stays the Same” Act because it only “softened” the requirements of NCLB and R3T. It did not remove them.

The Common Core State Standards – private standards with no teacher input – were also released during this time and a great deal of opposition broke out because of them. More I think because conservatives hate President Obama (who is black and I hear of very few conservatives and Republicans that aren't in some form racist.) Make it a white Republican president releasing them and I think the response from conservatives would have been different.

Of course parents and taxpayers did not like hearing that their children were performing poorly on exams that had no educational merit or meaning, so resistance started cropping up in the form of test boycotts. (I wonder how many parents sent their children to religious schools or turned to home schooling in response to the tests. I have not seen any studies on this, though they achieve almost the same goals as NCLB and R3T – the destruction of public education. Almost all home school curriculum is purchased from private corporations, so there's profit in that.) Oregon dropped the MAPS testing. NYS had over 240,000 students opt out of testing last year (2014-2015 school year). Other states had similar results.

So we have resistance to the exams – parents, students, teachers, in their various organizations, They lack one thing – Organization. There are a number of different groups in different states that have mounted successful attacks against all the testing that is being forced upon the students. They lack a central leadership that can coordinate their work so that these wasteful and mistaken exams can be canned.

Those opposed to the destructive tests that turn students off from education need to have the leadership of their groups come together to organize their actions against testing. That's their main weakness. It's like herding cats.

And they need to look at what Lenin did in the lead up to the Russian Revolution of October (or November – depends upon your calendar) 1917. He was able to link together the different groups that were opposed to bourgeois rule under the Bolshevik flag (remember “Peace, Land, and Bread”? It joined together soldiers, workers, and farmers together against the Russian version of the 1%.) and bring and end to the disastrous monarchist led – capitalist state.

Those that are opposed to the privatization of education need to do the same thing. They need to join together under a common tent that will link all their actions together for a successful revolution.

And if we can do it in education, where else can we do it?

Which side of her mouth?

NYS has a new Chancellor of the Regents: Betty A Rosa. She has the responsibility of leading the Board of Regents through the current testing crisis that it is facing – 240,000 opt outs form the mandated exams last year. (Hopefully it grows this year.)

Here's the problem for the Board of Regents: She would opt her own child out of the exams.

Or at least “seriously consider it.”

As a teacher and someone that is held accountable for student performance on these exams (that no one can tell me of any research that supports or proves that they have any value) – why would she do that?

They – the Board of Regents – have made the exams shorter. Not as many questions on the exams and they are hoping in the next year or so to get them sown to two daze rather than three daze of testing. (Look at the students' faces after the exams – that describes them perfectly.)

The time limit has been removed – students have unlimited time to sit and stare at the questions and answer them (or not). Not that I have ever had a student use the full time. (I think one special ed student used all the regular time and his full extended time, as per his IEP modifications. That is one out of who knows how many in the past five years that I have had to administer this mess of a test.)

And the company formerly known as Pearson that has changed its name since being purchased by another company in the UK is no longer responsible for administering the test. (I have yet to see a news source get this correct. If I can find the memo… You know how that goes.) They are still writing the exams – an American company is administering the exam and having it corrected. Of course the results will be returned over the summer without any information that will be useful to help teachers improve their instruction for students. And parents will get a score that means nothing to them.

The Regents now admit that the Common Core Learning Standards and testing were poorly rolled out. More like terribly. Teachers had very little training in the new standards and if the teachers are not comfortable with what they are teaching, it will reflect in student grades and achievement. Plain and simple.

And teachers are not going to have the exams be a part of their annual evaluation until 2019. I have a few teachers in my school that are looking at the “25 by 55” retirement rule and saying “Yes – we are going to retire before 2019.” This means that the tests will be administered by a crop of brand new teachers that will have little to no experience in the exams. Get ready for test score crash. Which is what the Regents want – poor test scores so that they can begin to force the wholesale privatization of public schools.

So what has changed?

Not much

And why should we trust these exams?

We shouldn't.

Parents need to opt their students out of the exams – the ELA and Math exams in April and the Science exam in June. If enough students are opted out, then the state can do nothing meaningful with the data collected and we can begin to force a real discussion on fixing education in NY and America,

So which side of her mouth is Regent Rosa going to speak out of?

I wish she'd clarify.

Capitalists Hate Capitalism

It seems that capitalists hate capitalism – or at least an aspect of it.

And that aspect is competition.

Competition from the solar energy industry is set to cost the electric companies in the realm of $2 billion. This competition is from roof mounted solar panels. It seems that all these people that want to save the planet are threatening the energy industry to the point where they are planning on cutting electrical production because solar is producing so much.

And, for those not in the know, the solar panels on people's houses generate electricity for the electric company. The owner of the house that has the panels receives credit from the electric company according to an equation: house usage – electric generated = electric bill. In some cases this electric bill runs negative – meaning the solar panel owner receives a credit on their bill that can be used against future electric bills. In some (rare) instances the electric company actually cuts a check for the panel owner. More likely it is going to be a credit.

And the impact of this is killing electric company profits. I think the only reason some CEOs are worried is that profitability affects their salary. For some, this might mean a pay cut.

Of course we all know how capitalist corporations solve a crisis like this – cut workers, worker salaries worker benefits, retiree benefits, and you get the picture. The people at the bottom pay the price for the people at the top's failures.

Anyone ever think that those pencil pushing desk jockeys in the plush offices are workers too? If they aren't, then what are they and why are they getting paid? Just a thought.

In any event – the other worry is that with a loss of the power generating plants comes a loss of electrical generation. Especially on days with low to no sunlight. Think December 21^st.

Germany is already suffering from this problem and is working to try and solve it. Arnie Gunderson – of nuclear power whistle blowing fame – has a quote that goes to the effect that we can't figure out how to deal with nuclear waste but we need nuclear power because we have no idea on how to store electricity generated from solar and wind power. Or something to that effect. I know I have it wrong. He's just pointing out the stupidity of the nuclear energy argument.

Elon Musk – of Tesla auto fame – has been working on a house battery for storing electricity from solar and wind power. Evidently he has made all his company's work on the project open source – free for the taking, developing, and producing.

So we have a problem and a potential solution. Solar panels (or wind turbines) and Tesla house batteries. Generate it, store it, and use it.

Is the technology perfect yet? No. I'm old enough to remember vinyl (making a comeback!) and 45's. Then came the 8 track tape (with that annoying fade out and click in the middle of a song. Anyone else have an air guitar solo ruined by that?). That was solved by the cassette tape. (Anyone else have an air guitar solo ruined by their cassette being eaten by the tape player because nobody told you how to clean and demagnetize them?) Then came the digital audio tape (the 8 track of digital sound) that never had a chance because the CD came out. Now we have mp3 players.

And my point is that technology evolves, hopefully for the better. And we need the 8 track tapes to help us get to the next level of growth. (And better air guitar solos.) We are going to run into development problems and glitches – vinyl and CDs can crack and get scratched, tapes get eaten and are susceptible to magnets, mp3 players sound quality isn't that great and need to avoid magnets and computer viruses, and anything portable needs batteries or to be charged. (Anyone else have an air guitar solo ruined because their mp3 player ran out of powewr?)

So capitalists need to look at the system that they have been fighting for and realize that they have been planting the seeds of their own destruction for years now. They can either get with the program – work on producing (non-nuclear) green energy on a continual basis – or get out of the way and let some one else lead.

Marx & Engels gives us an idea as to what will happen.

Check the Manifesto.

Updates to the Web Sites

Updates to the Web Site.

I am adding a Socialist Literature page – different from the Socialist Studies.

Socialist Studies is for serious theory.

Socialist Literature is the page for socialist fiction.

Who knows - It might have an appeal.

As I get more links to socialist literature,  I will add it.  

And if I can get it with downloads (legally) all the better.

Authors need to live too.

 

Also, under the Links, I am adding 4 book stores:

1. Burning Books in Buffalo

2. Mayday Books in Minneapolis. A couple of fellow socialists work there and the owner gives a good discount.

3. Rust Best Books

3. Talking Leaves Books

Support the local stores when you can.

Forcing a Change

I have a Barnes & Noble Nook. The old one with the funky corner that has the hole in it. I was never sure what to do with that hole. (OK. Get your mind out of the gutter.) Was I supposed to put something through it to act as a lanyard or wrist strap?

Not sure.

And now B&N wants me to upgrade to a new device and they are trying to force into it.

Because of profitability problems with the Nook line (or something) B&N turned the Nook line over to Samsung for production and maintenance. So all the old Nooks have to go.

And ever since they spun the line off my old faithful e-reader has been less and less faithful.

It's been slower to start up. It's been slower to respond to swipes, taps, whatever. And this morning when I hooked it up to my laptop to transfer some files, the laptop did not even recognize it.

I'm at a bit of a loss here. But not really, I hope.

Microsoft tried the same thing with Windows 10. I had Windows 7 (I think). All I can remember is that I ate up a ton of data with updates and anti-virus protection. I would actually take it to work to do the updates and anti-virus so that I would not kill my data plan. On weekends I went to the public library to do the updates.

Then a friend of mine switched it over to LINUX (Mint edition). My data usage has dropped immensely. My anti-virus updates isn't. (I will admit that I have not figured out Clam-TK yet. Then again, he tells me that there are very few viruses that affect Linux. Still, I am going to figure it out.)

So, I'm wondering what to do with the tablet that the capitalist corporation wants me to upgrade from. Actually I am past the upgrade date where I can get any credit from them. Still – it's frustrating that it doesn't work the way it used to. So reliably and better than an Amazon Kindle.

So I am looking into open source software that I can have put on the Nook and re-purpose it like I did to my laptop. I paid to have the work on the laptop done – If anything went wrong, my friend knew how to fix it.

And open source has many similar programs that work just as well as the corporate programs. I just need to kick the programmers a few bucks. Most of the programs are free. They just ask donations.

So, anyone know of open source coding for tablets?

I bought it to be an e-reader for my Marxist literature more than anything else.

That and to read cheesy comic books and graphic novels.

A tree knight as a super hero?

Who was smoking what when they wrote that?

Then again, it's called science fiction and fantasy for a reason.

Update:  I succumbed to capitalism and got the new Nook (by Samsung).  It's a data hog with all the updates that it needs.  I killed 1.5 Meg of data on my data plan working on it yesterday.

So I'm at my public library updating it, the blog,  and trying to figure it out.

It's also a battery hog,  as Samsung products seem to be.  I think they are in cahoots with the energy companies.

Hopefully I figure this thing out.

And all for $199 I received a tablet, free anti-glare screen, and protective cover.
And to think that they are still making a profit on the sale.

Grumble.

Update April 2 2016

So the tablet updated the OS while I was reading my email yesterday and killed my data plan.
1 Meg (almost) for the update.  Lolipop. Who names these things?

So here I am looking  for hot spots so that I don't kill off what little data I have .
Grumble.

And on a Sunday the only choices are local restaurants with bad coffee.
i'm down in the south towns visiting and not a lot around.

Blah.

Socialist Science Fiction

A while ago I asked about fiction that could be used to spread socialist ideas. It took me a while to find some (and I am finally getting caught up onMonthly Review. It's pretty good).

So here is a list of 50 Science Fiction Works that Every SocialistShould Read. And only read the Ayn Rand so that you know what the opposition is thinking. She really isn't that great of a writer. And for someone that was so opposed to the government, she had no problem collecting Social Security or using government health care to treat her cancer.

And an author to dig into is: China Miéville. (According to MR.)

The article I read on him is “Socialism and Fantasy: China Miéville'sfables of race and fantasy.”

Evidently his trilogy – Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council are worth a read.

The City and the City is supposed to be quite popular on colleges because it is shorter than your average novel.

So I looked into China's writings and settled on Dial H for Hero. Something about a "cheesy" comic book caught my eye.

Then again, I have never read a comic book where a winged horse takes out a group of criminals with a pile of #2.

And the cops complain about having to arrest the criminals because they just had their uniforms washed.

So look at the list and start reading something.

Maybe it'll be convincing to somebody.

China Mieville @ Wikipedia

China Mieville's Official Publisher Page