Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

US Education Quality Lags Far Behind World Standards. WHY?

More evidence that reveals that those who rule this nation are more concerned about "schooling" the US citizenry instead of "educating" us.

"Schooling" is only about giving a person enough book knowledge to function as a BurgerKing cashier or a glorified secretary within a department store or the finance industry. It discourages- no... hates a person who can think critically and ask questions. It defines that person as a "problem" that requires either psychiatric drugs or some form of incarceration and social isolation.

"Education" is about developing a person's intellectual and creativity skills as far as possible. It encourages- no... demands critical thinking skills. It demands that a person see study as an integral part of their life's ongoing experience.

The news report below is another indication on how deep those who rule Capitalist America have underdeveloped the public education system.

Just look at the case of the selection of a second noneducator to head up the nation's largest public school system. Clearly it's not about "education." It's about CONTROL and PROFITS. When you create a "schooling" system of public education, there is no need for an educator to oversee it. So, Mayor Bloomberg is not in error to appoint Ms Cathie Black to chancellorship: the NYC public education system is not concerned with educating our children because

(1) there are no jobs inside the US for millions of "educated" youngfolk,
(2) there is profits to be made from the privatizing of public education in these times of multiple capitalist crises, and...
(3) the youth being "schooled" are primarily Black and Brown and have limited intellectual capacity anyway.

Join the Coalition for Public Education/Coalicion por La Educacion Publica (CPE-CEP) and help us bring into existence a truly FREE public education that EDUCATES our Children grounded in democratic neighborhood control thru direct parental-educator-student decision-making powers.

Afterall, Education- Dictator Bloomberg notwithstanding -is a HUMAN RIGHT!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

The Coalition for
Public Education

Coalición por la
Educación
Pública

Who We Are
What We
Want

The Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública is an independent, non-sectarian, and non-governmental organization with short, middle and long-term educational and social goals. We believe that education is a human right and we want to ensure that New York City public schools are places of learning in which all stakeholders (parents, students, educators, non-pedagogical staff, administrators and the community) are engaged in a democratic process to provide a free and quality education to all its students, from Pre-school to College.

Our coalition is based on antiracist/antisexist democratic grassroots organizing concepts and not based on the idea that any one individual, politician, union leader, or political messiah will save us.

Our coalition will participate in election campaigns but will focus on mass action as a primary vehicle for social change.

Therefore, we will organize the distribution of leaflets, mass rallies, forums, civil disobedience, petitions, referendums, web-based actions, economic boycotts, and other grassroots tactics. We also understand that we are not alone in struggle and that we must unite with other groups and individuals who support democracy, self-determination and the empowerment of our communities.

What We Want:

I. A Peoples' Board of Education

II. Local control of our Public Schools not Mayoral Dictatorship!

III. Better Public Schools not Charter Schools!

IV. Power to Parents, Students and Educators!

V. Implementation of a mandatory Antiracist Curriculum!

VI. Recruiting educators from our neighborhoods to achieve racial parity!

VII.Money for Education Not War!

VIII. OUR Schools = Neighborhood School Control!

NYC EDSTATS You Can Use

New York City Schools by the Numbers

By John Tarleton
www.indypendent.org

$12.5 billion: Annual New York City Department of Education (DOE) budget (2002)

$21 billion: Annual New York City DOE budget (2009)

1,719: Number officials employed by the DOE central administration in June 2002

2,442: Number of officials employed by the central administration as of November 2008

2: Number of DOE officials earning more than $180,000 per year in 2004.

22: Number of DOE officials earning more than $180,000 per year in 2007.

5: Number of DOE public relations staffers in 2003.

23: Number of DOE public relations staffers in 2008.

944: Number of contracts approved by DOE in 2008, at a total cost of $1.9 billion.

20: Percentage of contracts that exceeded estimated cost by at least 25 percent.

$67.5 million: Annual budget of Project Arts, a decade-old program that was the sole source of dedicated funding for arts education. It was eliminated in 2007.

86: Percentage of principals who said in a 2008 poll that they were unable to provide a quality education because of excessive class sizes in their schools.

100,000: Number of seats DOE plans to provide for charter school students by 2012.

25,000: Number of seats DOE plans to build under 2010 to 2014 capital plan.

66,895: Number of K-3 school-children in classes of 25 or more during the 2008-09 school year.

15,440: Average number of seats per year built during the last six years of the Rudolph Giuliani administration.

10,895: Average number of seats per year built during the first six years of the Bloomberg administration.

27.2: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2001-02 who were Black.

14.1: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2006-07 who were Black.

53.3: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2001-02 who were white.

65.5: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2006-07 who were white.

76: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Latino students in 8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) in 2003.

75: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic students in 8th grade ELA in 2008.

77: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic 8th graders in math in 2003.

81: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic 8th graders in math in 2008.

54: Percentage of New York City public school parents who disapproved of Mayor Bloomberg’s handling of education, according to a March 2009 Quinnipiac poll.

Sources: New York City Council, New York City Comptroller’s Office, New York Daily News, New York Post, Eduwonkette, Quinnipiac Institute, Black Educator, Class Size Matters, New York City Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein.