Making federal education policy a joke

The antics of the US Secretary of Education would be funny if they were a Saturday Night Live skit.

Oh wait...that already happened...let me rephrase that. It would be great if they were JUST a Saturday Night Live skit.

Alas, it's not a joke. Even in an administration as whack as this one, I still can't get over someone in that position who was never a student in any public education institution and who wants to defund the Special Olympics, have bigger class sizes and fewer teachers, and who is devoted to the idea of paying for private schools public money.

I keep hoping for a "Just kidding!" announcement but I don't think one is forthcoming.

Get ready to defend public education. Again.

Republican leaders in the WV legislature unveiled their legislative priorities for the coming session. Some of these are welcome, such as raising pay for teachers and other public employees, making community college and vocation training more broadly available and improving the Second Chance for  Employment Act.

Others, mostly having to do with public education, fall into the "not so much" category. Included in that are another round of business tax cuts to the tune of $140 million; charter schools, which drain resources from public schools; and "school choice," another word for privatization.

If you want to gear up for the next round, check out this Washington Post story on the drive to privatize education in the US. And  here are some great talking points to use in the weeks ahead.

Here we go again...

Department of Corrections

In yesterday's post, I meant to link this article about the tragic killing of James Means, an African-American teenager who was called "another piece of trash" by the white man who killed him. Here's the corrected link. Sorry about that.

Meanwhile, here's more bad news about Trump's apparent secretary of education.

Finally, as wretched as things seem, here's a little less heavy news story about a Swedish holiday custom that involves a giant straw goat. Whatever else can be said about them, straw goats are probably easier to deal with than the real thing.

Bring back child labor?

I used to think that I should devote my few remaining days on this earth to the noble cause of changing West Virginia's state motto from "Mountaineers Are Always Free," which doesn't really fit anymore, to "You can't make this **** up."

I'm starting to think that may need to be done for the nation instead. We are, after all having pluribus troubles with our unum.

Here's one example, which is particularly ironic or sad for those familiar with labor history. From the earliest days of the republic, a major demand of working people and the labor movement has been for free public education. Another key demand from long ago was the abolition of child labor. So it's just peachy that the Trump administration's pick for education secretary is someone devoted to torpedoing public education though vouchers and privatization. AND she's served on the board of an organization that celebrates the virtue of child labor.

Here's another cheer for child labor from a similar think tank that talks about how exciting mining can be for kids.

The picture above comes from the 1907 Monongah mine disaster, one of many that occurred in West Virginia. The official death toll was over 360, but nobody knows for sure. In the absence of child labor laws, it was customary for some miners to bring their boys to work with them. We'll never know how many children died in the disaster.

I guess some people find that exciting.