Well they're back at it again. We reported on this a few months ago but broken promises by Chilean politicians have motivated students to re-mobilize and push the government until it actually delivers the critical funding and student representation that was promised back in June.

An Our Education student leader, Montserrat Martinez, recently left her school in San Antonio to go live in Chile. I've been in touch with Montserrat over the last weeks and she's given some interesting eye-witness accounts. I thought I'd share her observations from Chile, which I think do put things in perspective here.

"I´m in Chile... everybody is doing strikes. I mean, all the government´s departments, such as the Educational Department (high school students), the Health Department (medical field, not the doctors, but thier helpers), the Post Office, the Museums, etc... EVERYTHING!

All of them are asking for their salary... Everything is much worse than in the USA. Here the poor people live miserable poor. And the middle-class is like the American poor class."

Thanks for sharing, Montserrat. We should be fortunate for what we have because it could be a lot worse!

Posted by Aaron Tang at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I laughed out loud, quite literally, when I read this story. And then I nearly cried.

If you missed the fleeting attention it received in the national news media, let me recap it for you. Bill Crozier, a candidate for Oklahoma’s State Superintendent of Education, has done the unthinkable in a race for a position where he (one can only presume) would seek to take on responsibility for the future of Oklahoma’s children. He’s declared that, were he to be elected to the state’s highest education office, his recommended policy response to the recent flurry of school shootings in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Colorado wouldn’t be to partake in sensible conversation about gun control. It wouldn’t be to create a statewide program to assist schools in funding and maintaining stronger security measures. And neither would it be to take the shootings as a sign to invest in improving the state’s early and primary education with the goal of stamping out the cause of these school violence incidents at their root. No, Mr. Crozier’s policy response would be to arm Oklahoma’s children with thick, outdated textbooks and teach them how to use the books to defend themselves against bullets fired by intruders.

I’m not making this up.

There are bell-weather moments in a nation’s history when critical events occur and compel us, clearly, towards major action to ensure the wellbeing of our people: Pearl Harbor, the Russian Sputnik launch, Bull Connor’s beat-down tactics against non-violent Civil Rights protestors in Alabama, and 9-11 each sparked dramatic political and social responses.

To be sure, the recent run of school shootings doesn’t rise quite to the same volume of importance as these moments in our history. But the fact that a candidate can run for State Superintendent of Education and issue this proposal with a straight-face just might.

Do we need any better symbol for the way that our politicians have unabashedly, undeniably, and unbelievably placed children on the back-burner of political priorities than Mr. Crozier? At a time when a US teenager drops out of high school every 30 seconds and where US children lag further and further behind our international counterparts in key subjects (24th out of 29 developed nations in math and problem solving in 2003 – chapeau, Poland and Iceland, you’ve bested us yet again), Mr. Crozier’s taken the time to submit a video of tests he’s performed personally for how old science textbooks are better than math textbooks at stopping ammunition fired from a handgun.

What, specifically is wrong with this picture? Aside from everything in your gut instinct, let me make a few observations:
1.) The idea that thousands of Oklahoma voters will support this kind of person to make key decisions affecting their own children is absolutely disconcerting.
2.) The day when Mr. Crozier or any other candidate suggests that US soldiers be issued old textbooks to defend themselves will never occur. But if there is one thing that is as important as our armed forces, it is our children… and yet we consistently pay them short shrift. Believe me, our nation is wealthy enough to make both our servicemen & women AND our children the best-prepared and highly-trained in the world.
3.) The clear inference to be drawn by Mr. Crozier’s position is that it is more important to protect the rights of gun owners to assault rifles than it is to offer that degree of increased security for the lives of our children. If you think that’s disturbing, you might also support change to this document, which holds the same priority to be true (hint: how many times is the phrase “right to bear arms” mentioned in it, compared to the word “education”).

I’ll stop there – but encourage you to add your thoughts on why Mr. Crozier’s proposal is a perfect symbol of everything wrong with our nation’s priorities. And I hope you join us in the fight to demand much, much better.

Posted by Aaron Tang at 01:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First the state of Massachusetts outlawed fluff(ernutters), and now a city in Massachusetts has outlawed the game of tag. Isn't it bad enough that childhood obesity rates are at an all time high? Now you want to do your part to eliminate a game whose entire purpose is to run around and get exercise. What am I missing here? As if by outlawing one "dangerous" game, you prevent kids from inventing a newer, better, more dangerous version of the game. It almost seems like a dare or even worse: a double dog dare.

I get it now, they just want students to start thinking outside the box beyond the tag.

Posted by Ethan at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looking for a good time to run your Our Education Petition Drive in your school this fall? Look no further than the week of Nov 13 – 17, “American Education Week”!

Every year, the National Education Association chooses a week in mid-November for the entire nation to think about and rededicate itself to making our schools the best that they can be. This year, the theme of American Education Week is an extremely appropriate one for you to run your school-wide petition drive: “Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility”!

So if you haven’t picked a week to run your petition drive yet, talk with your group members and your teacher-advisor NOW and get everyone committed to running the drive during the week of November 13 – 17! And if you are looking for an easy way to get your principal to approve your drive, telling him or her that you’d like to run your petition drive as a school project in support of “American Education Week” would be a great way to get it!

Posted by Aaron Tang at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Center for Community Change just released a report with a number of student stories in it about the "educational aftermath" of Hurrican Katrina in New Orleans.

You can download the report here. Suffice it to say that the report has some very strong things to say about the federal government's plan for rebuilding schools in the city. Check it out and feel free to post here with any thoughts...

Posted by Aaron Tang at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congratulations to Alan Moore from Hawkinsville, GA, the winner of Our Education’s Facebook group naming contest! Following Alan’s suggestion, Our Education just created a new global group named:

“I Went to a Public School… and it had Issues”

PLEASE take a moment to join the group at http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=2211361454 if you went to a public school that had problems that should have been addressed, but weren’t. (Overcrowded classrooms? Broken Facilities? Adults who didn’t care about the students? If you have some great stories, join the group and post them on the wall!) And feel free to take a moment to invite your friends too!

Did you go to a private school because your town or city’s public school had these same kinds of problems? We’ve created a group for you, too, called “I Would Have Gone to Public School… if it hadn’t had Issues” – and you can join it to support the cause at http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=2211011654 .

Thanks to everyone and we hope to see you in one of the groups!

Posted by Aaron Tang at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you who think Aaron and I don't post often enough or for those of you who just have a voracious appetite for content written for young people by young people, you might want to sit down for this: Our Education, The Magazine is now online! Stewarded by the eminently talented duo of Usha Chilukuri and Jerel Bryant, this portion of the site will feature regularly updated content, including a monthly book review(!), that will delve deeply into the issues that students like you care about.

So check out Yale students, Amy Rothschild's review of Jonathan Kozol's latest book and Sam Slavin's reflections on being a middle school teacher.

Interested in writing an article? Contact Our Education's editor-in-chief.

Posted by Ethan at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't think this post's title makes any sense at all, so here's what you need to know:

If you are on Facebook.com and have half a heartbeat, you probably are aware of the recent rise in popularity of pro-social facebook groups having to do with important causes such as the genocide in Darfur. Global groups like this (and others) are amassing thousands of members rapidly because of clever names and important causes. Given this, Our Education is hoping to draw on the power of Facebook to spread the word about our national petition campaign to make high quality education an American right, and we’re looking to YOU for help in coming up with a name!

So, here’s a chance for you to actually do something productive on Facebook by being creative and helping with an important cause: come up with the name for the new global Facebook group that Our Education will create next week! And if your group name is selected, you will receive a $100 cash prize as a token of our appreciation at Our Education!

The only requirements for the group name are as follows:

1.) It must be catchy / provocative enough to inspire thousands of students to join the group. This could involve incentives in the name (i.e. for every X number of students who join the group or sign the petition, something will happen), it could involve some cool capstone event (if X number of students join the group / sign the petition total, then Our Education or someone will do something cool), or it can be just a very catchy name that inspire people to join in.

2.) The group name must contain appropriate language.

Entries are due to OurEd1@gmail.com by midnight (EST) on Sunday at the end of this week, October 8th. After we select the group name we’ll make the group and send you the link so that you can join and invite your friends!

Posted by Aaron Tang at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Normally, when brothers argue, the worst thing that happens is not that bad: bruises, hurt feelings—maybe one or both brothers gets grounded. But only under rare circumstances does the national news media cover a sibling rivalry. It’s rarer still when that brotherly rivalry has implications on a national election cycle… and when millions of American children stand to be affected.

So the stakes are higher than ordinary for the president and the governor of Florida as they squabble—somewhat publicly—over the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and it’s impact on youth.

Their difference of opinion has been a long time in coming, with many of the provisions of NCLB in stark contrast to Florida’s A-Plus Plan. Among the more consequential distinctions include NCLB’s usage of pass/fail proficiency standards compared to the A-Plus Plan’s A-F grading system; the federal plan’s use of only punishments and not rewards; inconsistency about what qualifies a school as ‘failing’ or ‘succeeding’ under the different laws; and the A-Plus Plan’s greater reliance on progress measures of student success (though the federal law is making progress on this front). Said Governor Bush about NCLB’s requirement that 100% of students be proficient in reading, math, and science by 2014, “Perfection is not going to happen. We’re all imperfect under God’s watchful eye, and it’s impossible to achieve it.”

Why is this important? For starters, the public nature of Jeb’s comments could provide much needed fodder for the Democratic Party on a critical election issue during the coming mid-terms. What’s more, the Florida governor’s political future could be direly affected as he, too, seeks to build a reputation as an education governor.

But more important than anything else is the implications that America’s youth stand to suffer when NCLB comes up for reauthorization in 2007. While many insiders—or so our sources tell us—seem to think that there will be little collective stomach among legislators to tackle the law until ’08 or later, it seems certain that change is in the air. Whether the changes are to strengthen the law (by moving towards a national standard, for instance, as prominent individuals from both parties are proposing), change the way in which the law measures progress from a proficiency standard to a growth model, or re-think the sticks-over-carrots nature of the accountability system, the whole education policy world is bracing itself for some serious debates.

Our only hope? That during these discussions, students are actively engaged in talking about what makes sense and what works and doesn’t work. Because as much as the Brothers Bush and their political legacies are affected by the debate’s outcome… no one is affected more than the students themselves.

Posted by Aaron Tang at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)