Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

• The Best and the Brightest Led America Off a Cliff
• Higher ed should aspire to higher purpose
• Teaching to Student's, Not Industry's, Needs

Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, TheAtlantic.com

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Will Shapira

Holt/Times Books

Personally, as a student of a private liberal arts college in Minnesota, I’m shocked to hear the classroom spoken of as something to be removed from the education process rather than something to be enhanced.

Aaron Sinner, Minnesota 2020

On his “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” appearance, Governor Pawlenty suggested a way to save money on higher education through the implementation of new technology.  Pawlenty’s plan assumes that teachers are still using the old ways of thinking about education, which have been replaced, in many cases, with teaching methods far more effective at preparing students for the future.

The governor’s suggestion goes like this: “Is there another way to deliver the service other than a one-size-fits-all monopoly provider that says, ‘Show up at nine o’clock on Wednesday morning for Econ 101’? Can’t I just pull that down on my iPhone or my iPad whenever the heck I feel like it from wherever I feel like, and instead of paying thousands of dollars can I pay a hundred ninety-nine for iCollege?”

All across the nation, schools have adopted draconian "zero-tolerance" policies that treat children like criminals and turn schools into prison-like environments.

Richard Cohen, Southern Poverty Law Center

It's not right for a 6-year-old boy to be handcuffed and shackled to a chair by an armed security officer because he "acted up" in school. But that's exactly what happened at the Sarah T. Reed Elementary School in New Orleans. In keeping with our work to reform the abusive juvenile justice system in the Deep South, we've filed a lawsuit against the school district to stop the brutal and unconstitutional policy of chaining students who break minor school rules.

Our client, J.W., is a typical first-grader. He's just four feet tall and weighs 60 pounds. He enjoys playing basketball, being read to by his parents, coloring and playing outside with friends. But his school treated him like an animal. Within one week, he was twice forcibly arrested, handcuffed and shackled to a chair for talking back to a teacher and later arguing with a classmate over a seat. The amount of force used on J.W. was simply ridiculous and, predictably, inflicted severe emotional distress. Shockingly, this level of punishment is official school policy. We're not just fighting for the rights of J.W., but for all the students at Reed Elementary.

Let’s find a way to put real diversity into community college teaching/learning experience… From the board room to the lounges, the corporate ethic we have embraced has muzzled the diversity we cheerily profess. Having a compass, a mission, a plan to guide our way is fine. Do we have to be corporate citizens?

Drs. Jeffrey Ross and Jann M. Contento, Axis of Logic

What is the community college? Does much of daily community college behavior and practice mimic the secondary school experience? Do community colleges aspire to have equal reputations—and legacies—as four year colleges and universities? Should community colleges reconsider how they are perceived through the eyes of their K-12 and 14-16 colleagues?

We believe a fundamental dissimilarity exists between the cultures of community colleges and the cultures of four-year colleges and universities. Understanding this variance in culture may help better explain the current “identity crisis” expressed by many observers of today’s community colleges.

More...

• It's really just pitiful that it looks like Arizona is going to get McCain back as their Senator for another six years and that the fact that J.D. Hayworth is completely corrupt didn't arise as more of a problem for him in their state with his primary challenge to McCain.
• We Can’t Afford War

Heather, Crooks and Liars

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski

Arizona's first debate for the Republican primary race had a few memorable moments but none summed up the Republican Party's view on what is "pork" and what they consider their priorities on spending than than this bit by John McCain. Spending for teachers, it's pork, but we need to keep that military industrial complex going and make sure that the people "making those wonderful missiles"... the "job creators", have their taxes cut.
"Wonderful missiles"...

I can't believe he said that, but he did. I can't think of a single reason to call missiles "wonderful" unless you think dropping bombs on people's heads is a "wonderful" thing. There's an argument to be made for "necessary" for civil defense which I'm not going to get into the weeds on here since IMO we're over-armed to a ridiculous extent for what's actually necessary for civil defense and have been for some time now, but "wonderful"?