Category Archives: education
Labor Membership Boosts Incomes, Families And Economy
“A new report presented by the Center for American Progress co-authored with economists Richard Freeman and Eunice Han is only the latest look at how labor unions enable working people to do better. The report, “Bargaining for the American Dream: What Unions do for Mobility,” looks at “economic mobility” and “intergenerational mobility” and finds that mobility is better where unions are strong….
“The study found that areas with higher union membership demonstrate more mobility for low-income children:
● Low-income children rise higher in the income rankings when they grow up in areas with high union membership.
● An increase in union density is associated with an increase in the income of an area’s children – as much as or more than high school dropout rates.
● Children of non-college-educated fathers earn more if their father was in a labor union….”
Black Arts: The $800 Million Family Selling Art Degrees and False Hopes
Academy of Art University expose:
“…Stephens has plenty to celebrate. Since taking over as president of the family-owned Academy of Art University more than two decades ago, she’s transformed the 86-year-old for-profit institution from a regional operation into America’s largest private art university. Under her watch enrollment has skyrocketed from 2,200 to 16,000, generating an estimated $300 million in annual revenues, heavily subsidized by federal student loans. The Stephens family has turned that pile of art-school tuition into one of the largest real estate empires in San Francisco, with more than 40 properties in prime areas, including a historic former cannery on Fisherman’s Wharf and a 138,000-square-foot office building steps from City Hall. In all, the real estate is worth an estimated $420 million, net of debt, and the family pulls in tens of millions of dollars each year leasing these buildings back to the Academy of Art for classrooms and dorms….”
More at Forbes
Seattle Teachers Vote to Strike
More at Seattle Education
Safe Schools for Transgender and Gender Diverse Students
Check out the National Association of School Psychologists’
Position Statement on Safe Schools for Transgender and Gender Diverse Students
College Accreditation Agency Is Unfair, Rife With Conflict
California Assemblymember Phil Ting’s excellent editorial on new legislation he introduced to rein in the abuses of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), which voted to revoke the accreditation of City College of San Francisco while giving Heald College a passing grade:
“California needs AB 1397 because the status quo is indefensible. The bill requires the commission to make its meetings public and to stop taking public comment after voting on accreditation. It establishes a strict conflict-of-interest policy to ensure independence and objectivity. Finally, it establishes a right for colleges to appeal sanctions.”
More at Sacramento Bee
Art Display Pulled From Maryland School After Complaints
“Honors students at Oxon Hill High School were given an assignment to create a display that shows what social justice means to them. The exhibit was in the school’s lobby for weeks. It was taken down on Monday.
The display featured a white police officer reading an obituary section. Next to that was a figure of a black man in a blood-stained shirt with his hands up.”
More at Fox 5
John Waters Is a Lifelong Trigger Warning
“My whole life has been a trigger warning.”
“Go out in the world and fuck it up beautifully.”
From this video of John Waters’ 2015 Commencement Address at the Rhode Island School of Design:
Education Advocates Call for Accreditation Reform
Another protest on June 6 and promises of legislative action against ACCJC and its ridiculous decision to effectively shut down City College of San Francisco:
“Legislators and education advocates Friday called for curbs on the powers of college accreditors, who they accused of targeting City College of San Francisco while allowing violations by the for-profit Heald College to go unchecked.”
More at Bay City News
North Carolina Teacher Omar Currie Reads His Class Gay Fable After Third-Grader Is Bullied
“Omar Currie, 25, teaches third grade at Efland-Cheeks Elementary School in Efland, North Carolina. Three weeks ago, Currie overheard some of his students calling one of their male classmates “gay” and “a woman.” Instead of sending the bullies to the principal’s office, Currie took a different approach: He read his class King & King, a children’s fable by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland that features a same-sex romance.”
More at Huffington Post