“Let’s Take Apathy Out To The Shed And Shoot It In The Face” – MOC #45 by comedian Lee Camp

I love this guy.  Not for anyone who considers politeness and civil discourse to the only mode of political engagement.   Go get ’em Lee.

 

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Class, Family Income, Higher Ed: Infographic

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Our working conditions = Students’ learning conditions

Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (and Seth Khan): a great defense of small class sizes and reasonable working conditions, as well as a solid critique of Bill Gates and the like who try to influence educational policy, while having never taught a day in their lives.

Peter Smagorinsky writes:

I don’t know of a single person who decided to go into teaching in order to raise test scores. Most of them want to make a difference in kids’ lives, a goal that requires, above all, good working conditions. If you want great teachers, then provide great working conditions so that half of the profession doesn’t quit within the first five  years, which is what is presently happening.

One working condition that matters is having class loads that enable the sorts of rich teaching and learning that make the day feel worthwhile for students and teachers and that make working outside class manageable.

The superficial teaching and learning that follow from overcrowded classrooms will never attract or help retain the great teachers that these great policymakers envision.

Read the whole piece here.

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Kathy Walsh of UW, Madison on WI state politics and unions

At NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, you can listen to an interesting interview with Kathy Walsh, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, on how “the partisan fight over public union rights is changing the culture of the state.”

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