LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. Winner 2013 Webby Awards for Best Political Website
May 19, 2013

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     chris hedges     economy     elizabeth warren     politics     robert scheer
Most Read

Truthdigger of the Week: Sen. Angus King

Letter From Birmingham Jail

The Lotto Symbolizes the False Promises of Barracuda Capitalism

'SNL': Stefon's Farewell Features Anderson Cooper

Chilling: Arctic Tundra ‘Will Turn to Forest’

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
Act of Congress
Daily Rituals
The Girls of Atomic City

Digs

Truthdig Bazaar more items

 
Tags

Tag: Education


Image via Shutterstock

The Triumph of Progressivism: Graduation 2013 and 1968

Many of you soon-to-be college graduates are determined to make the world a better place. But many of you are cynical about politics. “What chance do we have against the Koch brothers and the other billionaires?” you’ve asked me. “How can we fight against Monsanto, Boeing, JPMorgan and Bank of America? They buy elections. They run America.”

Posted on May 14, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock image of students raising hands.

Do the Charter School Hustle

Since I’m a public school teacher, everybody always asks me what I think about charter schools. You got an hour?

Posted on Apr 24, 2013 READ MORE



Henry Giroux

Angela Davis: Education and the Meaning of Freedom

Occasionally we meet the unsullied images, history and legacy of intellectuals who symbolize a rare combination of civic courage, political commitment and rigorous scholarship. Angela Davis is one of those exemplary individuals.

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 READ MORE



Glyn Lowe Photoworks (CC BY-ND 2.0)

A Tax Day Plan for Righting the Republic

If we had a government capable of honoring the collective desire for more jobs, smaller deficits, more education funding, reduced reliance on fossil fuels and Medicare and Social Security benefits preserved, our future could be guaranteed at tax time in no time.

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 READ MORE



Original photo of test-taking from Shutterstock

Testing on Humans

Never mind, data is good, data is great. It can’t hurt to give the tests, right? Oh, but it can, it really can.

Posted on Apr 2, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock/School test

The Test Score Racket

It is time to acknowledge that the fashionable theory of school reform—requiring that pay and job security for teachers, principals and administrators depend on their students’ standardized test scores—is at best a well-intentioned mistake, and at worst nothing but a racket.

Posted on Apr 1, 2013 READ MORE



Graduation cap and cash image via Shutterstock

The Growing Burden of College Fees

Student fees have been something of a known irritant for years, often criticized as a kind of stealth, second tuition imposed on unsuspecting families. But such fees are still on the rise on many campuses. And though their names can border on the comical—i.e., the “student success fee”—there’s nothing funny about how they can add up.

Posted on Mar 31, 2013 READ MORE


City Schools

Share
Posted on Mar 30, 2013 READ MORE



LINUZ90 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Violence of Neoliberalism and the Attack on Higher Education

Higher education must be understood as a democratic public sphere—a space in which education enables students to develop a keen sense of prophetic justice, claim their moral and political agency, utilize critical analytical skills, and cultivate an ethical sensibility through which they learn to respect the rights of others.

Posted on Mar 27, 2013 READ MORE



Ryan M. (CC-BY-SA)

Education: Poverty Is the Crux of the Problem

If income divide is at the root of current public education deficits, that chasm must be narrowed by reducing the factors that perpetuate poverty.

Posted on Mar 26, 2013 READ MORE


Malala Yousafzai

Share
Posted on Mar 21, 2013 READ MORE


Revenge of the ‘Dirty Girls’

Back when I was a freshman in high school, a senior made a short documentary about a group of extremely young feminists in my class who were dismissed as “dirty girls.”

Posted on Mar 15, 2013 READ MORE



Screenshot

History Textbook in Louisiana Voucher Schools Gets Political

Louisiana taxpayers are footing the bill for certain students in the state to go to private schools that are teaching some pretty “questionable” things.

Posted on Mar 11, 2013 READ MORE



AP/dapd/Berthold Stadler

Rethinking Black History Month

The modern civil rights movement occurred long before millions of Americans were born, but many participants and observers are still available to recount their stories.

Posted on Feb 28, 2013 READ MORE



jeff_golden (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The School Security America Doesn’t Need

Outrage over the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre may or may not spur any meaningful gun control laws, but you can bet your Crayolas that it will lead to more 7-year-olds getting handcuffed and hauled away to local police precincts.

Posted on Feb 27, 2013 READ MORE


Schools

Share
Posted on Feb 24, 2013 READ MORE



James Bowe (CC BY 2.0)

Your Guide to the Sequestration Horrors

On March 1, the $85 billion collection of budget cuts known as the sequester could wipe out federal programs at such varied places as national parks, the Pentagon and the FBI. Hidden among those cuts are reductions in services that are crucial to Americans’ everyday lives—education, health care and jobs. The Guardian tells us what to expect.

Posted on Feb 22, 2013 READ MORE



Daveybot (CC BY 2.0)

College Stadium to Be Named After Private Prison Company

Florida Atlantic University’s new 30,000 seat football stadium will bear the name of its sponsor, GEO Group, the second-largest private prison operator in the U.S.

Posted on Feb 21, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Jamie Martin

Lawmaker Pushing Anti-Abortion Bill Claims Babies Are Organs

The GOP isn’t known for being the party of science—far from it, in fact—so when one of its own reaches a new low in scientific stupidity, it’s worth noting.

Posted on Feb 18, 2013 READ MORE



German Spies’ Sex for Secrets Replaced by Free Love

The location of a former training camp where Stasi operatives were taught to retrieve secrets through sex now houses a free-love commune; filibuster reform was blocked and now, for the first time in history, a secretary of defense nomination has been filibustered; meanwhile, Al-Jazeera has been accused of developing a political agenda since the Arab Spring. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Feb 18, 2013 READ MORE



flickr/mtsofan

When Republicans Were Problem Solvers

We interrupt this highly partisan and ideological moment with some contrarian news: President Obama is not the only politician who thinks that expanding access to pre-Kindergarten is a good investment.

Posted on Feb 17, 2013 READ MORE


Nothing Self-Made About Me

I disagreed with former President George W. Bush on many things. But on one issue, I admired him greatly: He was wise enough to marry a teacher and a librarian.

Posted on Feb 10, 2013 READ MORE



Flickr/Adam Jones

Colleges Suing Poor Students Over Loan Defaults

“The increase in the amount of defaulted loans among poor students comes as President Barack Obama says he wants to expand access to college for working-class families and increase funding for the Perkins program,” Bloomberg reports.

Posted on Feb 5, 2013 READ MORE


Malala Yousafzai Vows to Keep Fighting in First Interview After Taliban Attack

In her first video statement since she was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban in October over her support of girls’ education, the 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl says she will continue the campaign that led to her being attacked.

Posted on Feb 4, 2013 READ MORE



John Scalzi (CC BY 2.0)

Should Taxpayers Be Funding Private Schools That Teach Creationism?

We’ve pushed standards, testing and accountability for public schools, so why shouldn’t private institutions receiving taxpayer money have to meet those same requirements?

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 READ MORE


Armed Teachers

Share
Posted on Jan 22, 2013 READ MORE



Screenshot

School’s Supposed Advice for 13-Year-Old Bully Victim: Get a Breast Reduction

“The lady on the phone said they could transfer my daughter and said her boobs were so large she will always get teased,” the teen’s mother said. “And the only suggestion she had for me is to have my daughter get a breast reduction.”

Posted on Jan 21, 2013 READ MORE


Teachers

Share
Posted on Jan 14, 2013 READ MORE


Watch: Teacher Delivers Incredible Lecture to Students on Meaning of Life

High school teacher Jeffrey Wright has turned his own life experience parenting a special needs child into a lecture that profoundly impacts his students’ lives. “When you start talking about physics, you start to wonder, ‘What is the purpose of it all?’ he says. “Kids started coming to me and asking me those ultimate questions.”

Posted on Jan 9, 2013 READ MORE


Beacon

Share
Posted on Jan 8, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham

Truthdigger of the Week: Malala Yousafzai

The Taliban tried to kill 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai because people listened when she said they didn’t have to bow to the intimidation of violent, ideological extremists.

Posted on Jan 5, 2013 READ MORE


Teachers and Guns

Share
Posted on Jan 4, 2013 READ MORE


NRA School

Share
Posted on Jan 4, 2013 READ MORE


Arming Teachers

Share
Posted on Dec 23, 2012 READ MORE


Football

Share
Posted on Dec 21, 2012 READ MORE        



Guns, of Course, but What About Mental Illness?

Although gun policy is certainly important to talk about in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy, mental illnesses may be more crucial to discuss; President Obama fed the loyal Susan Rice to the sharks for the same reasons he’s both feared and admired; meanwhile, education is becoming a commodity rather than a right thanks to the neoliberal agenda. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Dec 17, 2012 READ MORE



Flickr/Earlham College

Ground Zero in the Land of Opportunity

Right at the point when they are most needed, our second-chance institutions are being severely threatened. Across the country, community colleges, adult schools and literacy programs are reporting record enrollments at the same time they have to trim staff, classes and services.

Posted on Dec 12, 2012 READ MORE



Flickr/Mays Business School at Texas A&M University

Who Should Go to College?

The college-for-all versus occupational training debate is typically focused on structural features of the K-12 curriculum and on economic outcomes with little attention paid to the intellectual and emotional lives of the young people involved—their interests, what has meaning for them, what they want to do with their lives.

Posted on Dec 9, 2012 READ MORE



Jules Antonio (CC BY-SA 2.0)

NYC Students Defend Free Higher Education

After the president of one of the last tuition-free universities in the United States announced that it would begin charging fees for graduate programs, 11 students occupied a campus building to “demand that the school reaffirm its commitment to providing free education” and a revision of the university’s management style.

Posted on Dec 4, 2012 READ MORE


School Funding

Share
Posted on Nov 9, 2012 READ MORE


Education

Share
Posted on Oct 29, 2012 READ MORE



dave_mcmt (CC BY 2.0)

Big Money Is Behind Charter Schools in Washington State

Voters in Washington state will have a chance to direct public funds toward private bank accounts if they adopt an initiative to create charter schools this November. Who are the bajillionaires behind the campaign?

Posted on Oct 25, 2012 READ MORE



lilyrhoads (CC BY 2.0)

The Neoliberal Attack on Education

The democratic mission of public education is under assault by a conservative right-wing reform culture in which students are viewed as human capital in schools that are to be administered by market-driven forces.

Posted on Oct 17, 2012 READ MORE



20th Century Fox

When Parents Stand Up for Kids and Corporations (Video)

Concerned parents in the new film “Won’t Back Down” use an educational “trigger” law to exercise their democratic right to forfeit any influence they might have over their children’s education.

Posted on Sep 27, 2012 READ MORE



Kash_if (CC BY 2.0)

American Drones Make Education in Pakistan Impossible

Young minds in northwestern Pakistan are among the less obvious casualties of drone strikes led by the United States in that region. A pervasive fear of death and injury and the need to take care of injured relatives and orphaned children stand between untold numbers of Pakistani youths and their education.

Posted on Sep 26, 2012 READ MORE


Standing Up for Teachers

Teachers are heroes, not villains, and it’s time to stop demonizing them.

Posted on Sep 18, 2012 READ MORE



AP/M. Spencer Green

Chicago Teachers Strike After Union Talks Break Down

For the first time in 25 years, tens of thousands of teachers are hitting the picket lines in the nation’s third-largest school district after contract talks ended without resolution.

Posted on Sep 10, 2012 READ MORE



AP/Kin Cheung

No Brainwashing in Hong Kong, for Now

Hong Kong has backed off from plans to administer “moral and national education” amounting to the “political indoctrination” of children, withdrawing a 2015 deadline for schools to begin teaching the subject.

Posted on Sep 8, 2012 READ MORE



Female Official in Costa Rica Fired for Racy Video

Karina Bolanos, a vice minister in Costa Rica, was let go after a video of her claiming her longing to her lover while clad in underwear was made public on YouTube; Americans apparently throw away nearly half of their food; meanwhile, a 15-year-old used the Internet to create an advanced cancer test. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Aug 25, 2012 READ MORE



Flickr/Donkey Hokey

How You Personally Could Get Screwed by Paul Ryan

Are you poor? Female? A student? A veteran? Planning on growing old? Zach Woods of “The Office”? Well, congratulations! If Mitt Romney is elected president, then you’re definitely going to get screwed by his running mate Paul Ryan! Click below to find out how.

Posted on Aug 13, 2012 READ MORE


View older articles:  1 2 3 >  Last »

View the most popular tags overall?

Newsletter

sign up to get updates


 
 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.