Sunday, January 15, 2012

Ah, Global Competition

Global competition is often sited as the stimulus for the mind numbing arguments that we NEED standardized education or the sky will fall.

Here's a sample of what that globalized competition looks like:
and here's the backstory:
"And I say to her, you seem kind of young. How old are you? And she says, I'm 13. And I say, 13? That's young. Is it hard to get work at Foxconn when you're-- and she says oh no. And her friends all agree, they don't really check ages. The outside companies do have inspections, but workers told me Foxconn always knows when there's going to be an inspection. So what they do then, they don't even check ages then. They just pull everyone from the affected line, and then they put the oldest workers they have on that line.
You'd think someone would notice this, you know? I'm telling you that I do not speak Mandarin. I do not speak Cantonese. I have only a passing familiarity with Chinese culture, and to call what I have a passing familiarity is an insult to Chinese culture. I don't know [BLEEP] all about Chinese culture. But I do know that in my first two hours of my first day at that gate, I met workers who were 14 years old, 13 years old, 12."

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Mic Check: Occupy the DOE

Here's a web site that announces a national action to opt out of high-stakes, high-stress testing.
 We are requesting to everyone that this remain a PEACEFUL occupation with NON-VIOLENT actions.
Be sure to click the link and read the guidelines carefully.  Given how the Obama administration has perversely botched education policy in this country, the very idea that people are still smart enough to protest is heart-warming.