Dollars & Sense articles from March 1998

Dollars & Sense archives from March 1998

School reform and the attack on public education.(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... The official education reform movement is part of a corporate and government attack on public education. Its goal is not to raise the expectations of our young people but to narrow, stifle, and crush them. Look at some typical reforms: *...

The budget is balanced! - Not.(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... Rejoice, rejoice, the deficit is gone - three years before the 2002 deadline set by the balanced budget agreement! So says Bill Clinton's proposed budget, which predicts that in fiscal 1999 the federal government's deficit would fall to zero, and...

In the shadow of Kodak. (Eastman Kodak Co.'s effect on Rochester, New York)(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... "Deferring to 'Great Yellow Father'" was the title The New York Times gave to its November 17, 1997 whitewash of Kodak's actions in Rochester, New York. In the article, subtitled "Kodak Workers Say Layoffs May Be Necessary Medicine," the Times'...

Tests and money: where does U.S. public education stand?(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... If you want a seriously through-the-looking-glass experience, try being a progressive and a teacher - in a charter school no less - looking at the hugely divergent perspectives on the state of public education in the United States voiced by the...

Under funded schools: why money matters. (includes related article on Kentuck's school financing reform program)(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... The assault on public education is picking up steam everywhere, with conservative forces embarking on a pincer movement that would make General Patton proud. On one flank, in state legislatures across the country and the U.S. Congress, the right...

'To raise a village': education for the community. (El Puente Academy and Cypress Hills community schools in New York, New York)(includes related article on parent activist Marjorie Suarez)(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... The investment banker paces in front of an economics class at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice in Brooklyn looking dapper in an orange tie and grey suit. He covers the marker board with names - Nike, the Gap, various nations - and a...

Do vouchers improve education? (Chile's educational vouchers)(includes related article on the use of school vouchers in the US)(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... The Bernardo O'Higgins public school is three blocks from downtown Calama, Chile, a few miles from the world's largest open-pit copper mine.There are a thousand pupils in its eight grades. "Thanks to MECE [the Ministry of Education's school...

Charter schools expand: will they encourage public school reform? (includes related article on how charter schools operate)(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... WILL THEY ENCOURAGE PUBLIC SCHOOL REFORM? U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley addressed the first national charter school conference last November, praising such schools for serving as laboratories for new educational methods. Riley cited...

The new corporate university: higher education becomes higher training.(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... This past fall I gave a talk on "The Future of Academic Labor" at Hampshire College, a western Massachusetts private institution of some 1,200 students with a reputation for alternative higher education. Although students attend courses, much of...

Ezekiel's Cafe. (Covenant House's Regional Training Center facility in Greenwich Village, New York)(Special Issue: The Great Schools Debate)
March 1, 1998... New York's Greenwich Avenue looks like most other commercial strips in tony Greenwich Village. Fancy boutiques, restaurants and book stores line both sides of the street and visitors get the distinct impression that they have just entered an...

Making Sense of the Media: A Handbook of Popular Education Techniques.
March 1, 1998... Although you would not know it by reading the newspaper, progressives have devised some original ways to reform education - without resorting to prayer in the schools or dressing students in uniforms. One well-known idea comes from Brazil, where...