Why did I receive this from Ann Arbor?

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Someone Got a Call Home

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BBCX365: Art For Every Day

Salon has a piece up about this amazing design project by a college student looking to create posters for every day of an entire year… all based off of BBC news articles.

They are beautiful reminders of how turbulent, amazing, and deeply interesting this last year has been. You can find the entire project HERE.

Link

US Debt “Crisis” LINK

Trip0li LINK

The Annoying Voucher Debate

According to my numbers this boat would be the size of a thimble, thus dumb.

Governor Jindal is moving forward with an ambitious education reform agenda in Louisiana, which, unfortunately, includes a focus on vouchers to send kids in public schools to private schools. His push for vouchers, partially funded by my favorite Michigan conservatives – the DeVoses, is shielded by his argument that parents ought to have maximum choice in the education market. Private schools, his agenda argues, must be in the mix for there to be true school choice.

I disagee with the entire idea of vouchers. I strongly believe that if you play with public money you must play by public rules, which is something I do not really believe private, religious schools in Louisiana are willing to submit to. Regardless of this belief, I do not believe that the voucher debate is anything the proponents or oponenets of education reform ought to spend any amount of time on. The fact stands that there are not enough seats in private schools in Louisiana to support a large surge of public school students, thus making this entire issue moot.

The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops estimates that there are only about 1,000 seats for students opting to take a voucher and attend private schools. Under Jindal’s plan nearly 380,000 students will be eligible, which means only .003% (using my real complex math) of students will find seats in private schools. The entire idea that vouchers will play a large role in the education market place is merely a stick thrown into important discussions by those certain factions pushing for and standing against reform in Louisiana education.

Where TFA and the Marines Meet

Education Next recently posted this interview with David Gergen, advisor to many presidents, discussing the motivations of young, liberal Teach For America Corps Members and how they interact with unions. He points out a central tension between a TFA CM’s liberal pro-union beliefs and their participation in a program that many teachers unions see as a battering ram against job security. He argues that TFA CMs of 2012 are not looking for job security, high pay, and health benefits as considerations 1, 2, and 3 immediately out of college. Instead, he argues thats TFA CMs are more interested in having an interesting job that is changing their world in a meaningful way.

Another interesting point he makes is that pre-911 the Marines were facing a serious lull in recruiting. They addressed this problem not by lowering the bar to admission, but rather raising the bar and making the Marines even MORE selective. They saw a huge increase in high quality, energetic recruits immediately after these changes were put into effect. Many education reform advocates have emphasized the need to increase the prestige of teaching and the quality of teachers entering the profession.

What Gergen is pushing on is something I have experienced myself.  I come from pro-union Michigan where my political beliefs were forged in union halls. Since joining TFA my views have adapted into believing that unions, although important, must also adapt to the changing education landscape. More importantly, the experience teaching has informed and changed my views of education reform in ways that no class or political campaign could have ever done.

Sexy and Cute

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Last night’s dinner featured a chili-rubbed skirt steak with polenta. The steak was excellent, but the real surprise of the entire meal was the outstanding stir-fry vegetables made from a vegan cook book called Clean Food. This is the second recipe I have made out of Clean Foods that is so good I would consider going vegan.

Just kidding.

Also, watched Crazy Stupid Love, which comes highly recommended. We had one complaint though, Ryan Gosling had an over-the-top, ridiculous New York bro accent that seemed strangely out of place in the grand scheme of everything.

Cup Meet Hand

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