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"None of the world's problems will have a solution until
the world's individuals become thoroughly self-educated."
— R. Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983]
"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind are convinced
that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth."
— Aristotle [384-322 B.C.E.]
"True liberal education requires that the student's whole life is radically changed by it."
— Allan Bloom
"The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women
who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done."
— Jean Piaget [1896-1980]
"Only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual."
— Jean Piaget [1896-1980]
"The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."
— Abraham Lincoln [1809-65]
"Higher education in America is designed to fashion plowshares into doorstops."
— G.E. Nordell
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
— Nelson Mandela [1918-2013]
"The mind is not a receptacle; information is not education. Education is what remains after the
information that has been taught has been forgotten."
— Mortimer J. Adler [1902-2001]
"The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see."
— Alexandra K. Trenfor of Bogotá, Colombia
"Education is only half the battle against poverty. The other half is opportunity."
— Micah S. Hackler
"Don't just teach your children to read . . . Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything."
— George Carlin [1937-2008]
"Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe"
— Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
        
Selected Books on the Subject of Education
Education Film Festival at Magic Lantern
"National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent"
[U.S. Department of Education Report October 1993]
online text version at Dept. of Education
Working Minds 'WMail' ezine essay #6: "How We Learn" [Jan 2001]
U.S. English, Inc. [est. 1983]
American Library Assn. [est. 1876]
The National Mobilization for Great Public Schools
National Education Association
PBS/Merrow Report "First To Worst" TV program [now on DVD]
National P.T.A. {Parents & Teachers Assn.} [est. 1897]
National Assn. of Gifted Children
Teach for America [est. 1990]
A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students
Chris Davison's Intellectual Capitalism website
Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [est. 1920]
School Success Info website
Teachers Count: Learn a thing or two
National Science Teachers Assn. [est. 1944]
National Center For Family Literacy [est. 1989]
Standard Deviants educational products:
on DVD or
on VHS
evangelical brain-washing exposed in the movie "Jesus Camp" [2006]
Forum on Educational Accountability
Alliance for Excellent Education [est. 2001] of Washington, DC
The Phi Beta Kappa Society [est. 1776]
The American Scholar quarterly [published by the Phi Beta Kappa Society since 1932]
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design [est. 1963], 1600 Pierce Street in Denver, Colorado
Read & Succeed Program
Tutors with Computers
Educn Innovation Laboratory at Harvard headed by Roland Fryer
U.S. Federal Student Aid website
Student Nation members blog {hosted by The Nation Magazine}
StudentsFirst education nonprofit [est. 2010] founded by Michelle Rhee
Fire Science Online [est. 2011 & ad free] - public service education & career resources
Student Debt Crisis [est. 2012] website - your one-stop hub for student debt issues
Forgive Student Loan Debt campaign [est. 2009]
Monte Zucker Education - photo & cinema classes worldwide [est. 2005] based in Maryland
All Nurse Job Descriptions - your nursing career guide [est. 11/2017] is based in Alaska
Core Knowledge Foundation [est. 1986] based in Virginia
official website •
Wikipedia
founder E. D. Hirsch, Jr. [b. 1928]
browse books at Amazon •
Wikipedia
Lexile measures are being used across schools in all 50 states and abroad
Wikipedia •
Lexile website •
MetaMetrics, Inc. [est. 1984] website
"We Are The People We've Been Waiting For" [New Moon TV, U.K. 2009]
FREE DVD available at the official website, shipped worldwide !!
        | Major League Hacking [est. 2013]
entry at Wikipedia worldwide Local Hack Day is on December Third |
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    | Kansas publisher Haldeman-Julius [1919-76] placed full-page ads in pulp magazines and on the backs of comic books for a complete high school education for only $2.98, delivered C.O.D., circa 1928; the sixty listed booklets averaged 60 pages each, and the selections are interesting, and so they are listed here in detail • "Sixty volumes, 3,485 pages, 825,000 words"
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Indianapolis Star news story September 2016 I.T.T. Technical Institutes shuts down
       State and federal investigations into ITT began in 2002. ITT currently faces fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and a lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It has been under investigation by at least 19 state attorneys general.
       ITT has operated for about 50 years, running more than 130 campuses across the country. It offered on-campus and online classes in business, nursing and health sciences, electronics, and information technology. Last year, ITT generated $850 million in revenue, about $580 million of which came from federal student loans.
       In Indiana, six ITT campuses closed. On Tuesday, its headquarters off U.S. 31 in Carmel was dark and locked, its parking lot empty.
article by IndyStar reporter Stephanie Wang; IndyStar reporter James Briggs contributed to this story. |
Tampa Bay Times news story August 2015 "Failure Factories"
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posted September 2012
       The U.S. Department of Education decided to privatize the TEACH Program (website www.teach.gov) and filed notice for proposals in April 2011; Microsoft, Inc. won the competitive bidding in February 2012; the converted website - now www.teach.org - went online in July 2012. The dual intention of the prograsm is to recruit new people into the teaching profession, and also to get new and experienced teachers around the country hired at a school. |
posted June 2012
       "There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live. Surely these should never be confused in the mind of any man who has the slightest inkling of what culture is. For most of us it is essential that we should make a living . . . In the complications of modern life and with our increased accumulation of knowledge, it doubtless helps greatly to compress some years of experience into far fewer years by studying for a particular trade or profession in an institution; but that fact should not blind us to another – namely, that in so doing we are learning a trade or a profession, but are not getting a liberal education as human beings."        — James Truslow Adams [1878-1949], circa 1929 |
In January of 2012, the fascist Board of Education in Tucson, Arizona banned the entire Xicano & Ethnic Studies curriculum from the school district. To prove their power, they sent goon squads into classrooms and pulled the books out of the hands of students and off of library and classroom shelves, then boxed them up and sent them to a secret location. Particular attention was given to seven books, with the full list adding up to 50 written works that apparently threaten the anti-democracy side – plutocrats, oligarchs, the One Percent – in the escalating real-life Class War here in America. Various responses are already occurring, including the Librotraficante movement to purchase the banned books elsewhere and smuggle them back into Arizona. Authors of these banned books include Rodolfo Acuña, Sherman Alexie, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, Junot Diaz, Paolo Friere, Dagoberto Gilb, Rodolfo 'Corky' Gonzales, Winona LaDuke, Elizabeth S. Martinez, N. Scott Momaday, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Wm. Shakespeare [1564-1616] {no kidding!}, Henry David Thoreau |
McClatchy News Wednesday 18 January 2012 "Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom... The National Center for Science Education ... announced on Monday that it will launch an initiative to monitor the teaching of climate science and evaluate the sources of resistance to it." |
Time Magazine, January 2010 "U.S. schools rank 32nd internationally in math scores, tenth in science and 12th in reading." |
Los Angeles Times Saturday 29 May 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-23]        Widespread scientific illiteracy has left most Americans defenseless against pseudoscientific babble. The real problem is that many of these people vote. For fun, ask the next college-educated professional you meet to explain where liquid hydrogen, a proposed auto fuel, comes from and why it is not a "source" of energy. While most high school students in the 1950s could easily explain this, we have dumbed down our educational standards in math and science so far that public policy is now at risk. A population that believes in telepathy, fat-burning diet pills and a 10,000-year-old planet Earth is unable to evaluate anything objectively.
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Los Angeles Times Wednesday 24 September 2003 California Section / Letters to the Editor [page B-12] Bad Behavior in Schools        Re "The Real Learning Barrier," editorial, Sept. 19 [see below]: I wish every school board member, administrator, teacher and parent could see the results of the Public Agenda poll that determined disruptive classroom behavior is the greatest impediment to a learning environment in schools. After 17 years in elementary and middle school classrooms, I know this to be true. I've concluded that teachers are afraid of administrators, administrators are afraid of parents, and parents are afraid of their kids.        Suzanne Harris        Los Angeles, California Friday 19 September 2003 California Section / Editorials The Real Learning Barrier        Opponents of the school accountability movement complain about the time that standardized testing takes away from instruction. But a new nationwide survey shows that teachers are far more vexed by the time and effort they spend trying to tame unruly classrooms than they are by tests. How can they hope to meet improvement goals when some students' behavior makes it hard for everyone else to learn?        Even more interesting, the survey by the nonprofit Public Agenda found that students were almost as bothered as their teachers by rude classmates. And more than 40% of both groups said teachers spent less time teaching than trying to quell disruptive behavior ranging from threats of violence to rudeness and classroom clowning.        Even college professors report increasing behavior problems, with students showing up late and carrying on cellphone conversations during lectures. The University of Arizona has started showing classroom behavior videos to its freshmen. Employers report that the boorish behavior has extended into the workplace.        Research shows that orderly, well-disciplined schools prevent unruly behavior rather than just react to it. They have principals who walk the campus regularly, rather than holing up in an office. They train teachers in classroom management. They set clear rules and ask students for ideas about what these should be. They treat students and parents warmly.        Principals and top officials at these well-run schools give teachers the authority to discipline kids and support them when they do it, the studies find. They don't give in to complaining or threatening parents without good reason.        New York City schools this fall are making a fresh attempt at restoring classroom discipline. A new discipline code in the district is both flexible and clear. The district has set up learning centers, in partnership with community groups, for chronically ill- behaved students. The idea is to keep them from wrecking things for the kids who want to learn, while addressing whatever is causing the bad behavior. Time will tell whether this works, but at least officials at high levels are no longer just placing blame. |
Los Angeles Times Sunday 26 August 2001 Main News Section [page A-34] Diploma Statistics Indicate U.S. Education Is Passing and Failing Census: A record number of people have completed high school, but only 75% of young adults have. |
Los Angeles Times Tuesday 14 August 2001 California Section / Letters [page B-12] Private-School Behavior Fostered by Parents        Re "Private Schools Lose Ground in Hiring, Keeping Teachers," Aug. 8: I would like to share why I left the private school arena to teach in the public schools. It had nothing to do with money, although now that you mention it, I am going to earn $15,000 more this coming year. It had everything to do with private-school parents and their conviction of entitlement.        When I joined the teaching force, I entered with enthusiasm, creativity and a drive to communicate with children. Little did I know that when parents pay $12,000 to $25,000 a year for their elementary student's education, I would be taught many lessons. A Westside mother spat in my face because her "brilliant" (her word) son was doing multiplication drills in class. She felt he was beyond them. His test scores proved he was not. I was asked by the parent of a fourth-grader if I felt her daughter was Ivy League worthy. I was told to "grade creatively" by a weak-kneed headmaster bowing to the pressure of a particularly affluent member of the parent body. At times, parents pay so much for a child's education that they feel it is not necessary to be a parent who teaches. The best teacher cannot help a child to read if the lessons end at the afternoon bell. And the worst teacher cannot stop a child from learning and loving the act of learning when that love is cultivated at home. It makes me weep to see bright children having such spoiled behavior modeled for them. You cannot buy an A. The private sector did not lose me because I needed more money. It lost me because the parents need a timeout.
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Los Angeles Times Sunday 13 May 2001 Main News Section [page A-13] Crumbling Rural Schools One Step From 'Disaster' [small excerpt]       Nationwide, at least 25,000 schools need major repairs or outright replacement, the General Accounting Office found in 1995. The National Education Assn. estimates that it would take $322 billion to adequately repair, build and wire schools across the country – with an estimated backlog of $23 billion in California alone.        But in few places is the shortfall as keenly felt as in rural America, where economic decline and a population shift into the cities have left small towns with little money to support their schools – and the fear that they may become ghost towns if they allow the schools to close. |
Los Angeles Times Saturday 5 May 2001 Metro Section / Voices [page B-9] Youth Essay: This Is Why We Can't Read The following open letter was signed by the Los Angeles High School seniors in teacher Kevin Glynn's advanced placement government and economics class.        We are tired. So tired.        Many of us are up before dawn, rubbing sleepy eyes as we trudge toward buses that, if they do not first pass us by, carry us to distant destinations long before most of you are awake. Once at school, some of us wolf down a tasteless cafeteria meal before classes begin; others head to the vending machines to buy junk food before the bell rings at 7:35 a.m.; most of us listen to our stomachs growl until 11:15 a.m. when we burst through classroom doors to forage what we can in the half-hour break we have before we grab heavy backpacks (as there are not enough lockers) and are herded back to classrooms by security personnel barking orders through bullhorns. Maybe there was time to go to the bathroom (remembering to bring our own toilet paper), maybe there was time to play (probably not).        Three more classes until the last bell rings our redemption at 3:05 p.m. We surge past the gates, past the guards, heedless of traffic, some toward home, some toward work, some to be swallowed up by the vast city that surrounds us.        Education seems to be the issue in America this year. President Bush has declared it his No. 1 priority. Every educational expert, professor, psychologist, politician and pundit seems to have something to offer why we, the benighted objects of such wisdom, can't read, write, calculate or assimilate. Despite all the scratching of so many wise heads, nobody seems to be able to figure out what the problem is. Low expectations? Bilingual education? Standardized testing? Lack of accountability?        You, the adults out there, remain clueless. The real problem is that you have not asked us. As far as we are concerned, the reasons are simple and the solutions are clear. If only you would listen.        School begins too early. Most of us start the school day tired. We need our sleep. How can we be expected to learn anything when many of us are working when most of you are shuffling around in your pajamas? Start school at a reasonable hour.        We need a decent breakfast. We also need guidance and encouragement. This cannot be done in the dark rushing out the door.        How can you blame us for doing poorly as students when you are doing poorly as parents? You should insist on the right to be good parents. If your employers complain when you have to go to a parent-teacher conference, tell them that most juvenile crime and delinquency would disappear if only the adults would take charge of their children.        Build more schools. It is hard to learn when you have no desk to sit in much less no text-book to read. If you say that education is important, then prove it. We don't need more strip malls, video arcades, food courts, or movie theaters for our future. There are already more than enough of those. Instead, we need room to grow physically, mentally and spiritually.        Not only do we need more schools but we need schools we can be proud of. We do not like the current model of industrial-style education, where schools are kept open year-round, day and night, to "optimize and maximize" the facilities for a "better return on investment."        As a result the buildings are exhausted and falling apart from constant use. The custodians can never keep up. Give us a school in good shape, with trees and grass instead of concrete and broken glass and most of us will try to take care of it, to make it a place that we will want to come back to and support rather than try to get away from as soon as we can.        Building more schools to meet the increase in student population coupled with a return to the traditional calendar would give everyone a chance to relax, talk things out over the summer and get ready for September together.        Set a good example. How can you tell us that education is important when you spend most of your time in front of the television? How can we do our homework when you want us to do chores instead and then get mad at us for poor grades? Why do you want us to try harder when you have given up on yourselves? Let's see you reading a book once in a while. Let's hear you talk about current events at the dinner table rather than rushing off to watch television. Take us to a museum instead of a movie. Call our teachers, go to conferences, bug the principal. We can't do it alone.        Do the right thing. We'll trust you to do your job, and if you do, then you can trust us to do ours. After all, you're the adults in this situation. You're the ones who got us into this mess. It's up to you to get us out. |
Los Angeles Times Sunday 4 February 2001 SoCal Living Section / Letters [page E-3] Politicians Ignoring the Real Problems With Our Schools        As a college professor who has worked with high school teachers (most of whom have left the profession) for 30 years, I can say unequivocally that "A Witness to the Decline in Teaching" by Mary McNamara (Jan. 29) and Robert Knox's letter (Metro Letters, "Bush School Proposal: Teach Basics and Text," Jan. 29) demonstrate more insight into what needs to be done in our nation's schools than anything that has ever come out of the mouths of politicians, including President Bush.        Knox's point that parents need to reevaluate their own responsibilities to their children's education is one ]that] the politicians have largely ignored. Why? The answer is simple: Parents are also voters. It's much easier to demagogue against the public schools to gain votes than to address the real educational problems, which are largely centered in attitudes developed in the home. Holding teachers accountable for what happens in students' homes is analogous to holding physicians accountable for their patients who eat excessively, refuse to exercise and ruin their health in various other ways. If physicians' salaries were based on how healthy or unhealthy our entire population is, we would soon see a widespread exodus from the medical profession.        Something very similar to this is happening in our schools. Midwestern rural communities already cannot staff their classrooms with qualified teachers, and other parts of the country are facing similar shortages. (Nationwide, we will soon need close to 3 million new teachers.) If McNamara and Knox were in charge of educational reform, we would see real progress because their proposals would immediately address the most serious problem in K-12 education: the exodus of qualified teachers from our nation's classrooms.        Bush's program, which myopically limits accountability to teacher-school accountability, will only drive more teachers out of the profession, make it impossible to recruit new teachers, and eventually close our public schools because there will be no one willing to work in them.        Dennis M. Clausen        Escondido, California |
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