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Voting and The State of the Union

13/5/2020

 
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The United States is hailed by the rest of the world as its most successful democracy. Yes, we are guaranteed great freedoms and we are the most diverse superpower.  But, according to iNK author, Elizabeth Rusch, we have a long way to go to become "a more perfect union."   Her new book, You Call This Democracy? How to fix our government and deliver power to the people, is an eye-popping exposé of all the ways the wealthy oligarchs have gained overarching power and what can be done by young people to fix it.   

 The premise of democracy is one person, one vote, majority rules. Simple, no?  That is true for all elections in the United States save the one for president and vice president, which is determined by electoral representatives.  But there's more, Rusch reminds us: Four times, in our history, popular vote  winners lost the presidency. Then she explains not only why but how this can be corrected, not by doing the impossible and adding another amendment to the constitution, but by another method entirely called the "National Popular Vote" interstate compact.    In her highly readable book she says:
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          "The compact will take effect once states representing a total of 270 electoral
             votes--the number needed to win the presidency--have signed on.  The endeavor
             is two-thirds of the way there, with just seventy-four more electoral votes needed. 
             Efforts are afoot in a dozen or so states, which could get the tally to the magic 270."

 Wow!  I learned something new.  And I continued to learn, in subsequent chapters, about  specific problems stymieing many voters from making their vote count.  These include: geographically redistributing  party votes (gerrymandering), under-representation of populous states in the Senate, dark money influencers (lobbyists and legal contribution loopholes), lying with impunity for politicians, voter suppression, votes denied to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, where Americans are stateless, and more.  

But this book is not just a litany of woes.  As Rusch says in her introduction:

         "I admit, working on this book often made me angry--even outraged--when
           I saw clearly how some aspects of our democracy hurt fellow citizens.  But my
           research has made me hopeful, too.  Countless people, young and old, are
           already working to form a more perfect union......this book is, ultimately,
           a book of solutions."

Elizabeth Rusch, whose work I know from her many accurate and accessible science-related children's book, (sometimes on the same subjects that I, too,  have explored) is extremely qualified to give me a civics lesson. (What ever history and civics I know has come to me independently of my formal education.) She first became interested in politics from an eighth-grade trip to the U.S. Senate.  She has a master's in public policy from U. C. Berkeley and has served as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow in the U.S. Senate.    In keeping with her target audience of young adult readers, she has also established an interactive  website:    https://www.youcallthis.com/ where they can find actionable items in their own states.  

You Call this Democracy? is a how-to book for saving what is valuable in our country and a practical, actionable guide to young people who are tasked with creating a brighter future out of the immense challenges we now face in the wake of this pandemic.  

It is a timely and very valuable addition to home libraries of teen-agers and their parents.

When Rules Get in the Way

3/8/2019

 
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In the simplest terms, we Americans call ourselves a democracy that is "of the people, by the people and for the people." The act of voting establishes our power. So, just how well are we doing?

In in 1787, after the colonies had won independence from the tyranny of Great Britain, they sent delegates to Philadelphia to "frame" the rules for the citizens of our new nation.  The result is the Constitution of the United States of America-- a four page document with 4,591 words, including signatures.  Over the years, another 3,048 words have been added in 27 Amendments.  But according to iNK author Cynthia and her husband, Sandford Levinson, authors of  271 page book for the YA audience,
Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today,  following our Constitution, as it is written, has its problems.  These are not unlike the work that a playwright has to do on a script  after the actors start reading it.  The questions about such texts are: What works and what doesn't?

For those who don't know much about the Constitution, it is defined by the Levinsons as "an agreement that describes how an organization is governed.  It is different from a collections of laws.  The purpose of a constitution is to determine who makes the laws, how those decision makers are chosen, how long they serve, and what powers they have......it is intended to help a group of people accept leadership and reduce friction.  That's the idea at any rate."

Each chapter starts with an incident  or event that conflicts with  or has no obvious resolution within the Constitution as it is written.  Outlining the problem and its resolution requires the attention of the reader.   This is a challenge for its YA audience, and even for adult readers who think they know a thing or two (like me!).  The Levinsons have broken down the problem into eight parts beginning with a Preamble (which means "walks before" and a Post-amble (backmatter, including a timeline, notes, etc.).  It is a book to guide study in a course on civics.  It should be digested bite by bite and be required reading for students who have ambitions for careers in public service in politics, law enforcement, and justice.

The Levinsons chose the words "Fault Lines" for their title because:
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"The metaphor of fault lines come from geology and refers to shifting tectonic plates beneath the earth's surface that can cause rumbles ranging from mild vibrations to catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis. Architects safe-guard residents in these zones by construction buildings that can withstand shaking.

"But what if you lived in a building that got a C on an earthquake safety test?  Assuming you decided not to move, you'd want your home shored up.  That's what we believe the Constitution needs--reinforcement.  And it's up to all of us to provide it.."


The book ends with a debate between the authors (who are also husband and wife) who disagree on what we should do next.  Both Levinsons do agree that the Constitution needs to be fixed.  They each have ideas on how this is to be done. 

Their conversation is a model for civil discussion that is supposed to take place on the floors of Congress as well as classrooms around our country. 

The updated paperback revision of this book is available now.  
   


What’s a New School Superintendent to Do?

30/7/2018

 
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The “School Reform” movement is characterized by a top-down, disruptive administrative process bent on privatizing public education.  It includes charter schools (start-up schools using public funds with little or no financial oversight thus becoming ripe for corruption and other forms of failure) and voucher programs (where public funding is siphoned off so that students can go to private schools). It has had a great deal of criticism from Diane Ravitch, who aggregates reports of successes and failures in support of public education, a necessary institution for our democracy.

Last week I attended a conference sponsored by November Learning (BLC2018) which is focused on children and how to help them learn effectively.  Jonathan P. Raymond was one of the speakers.  His new book Wildflowers: A School Superintendent’s Challenge to America got my attention.  As an author, I don’t know much about school administration.  Raymond followed Rudy Crew as the superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) in August of 2009 to December of 2013 with 46,000 students of which 75% had family incomes below the federal poverty line and spoke more than forty different languages.  It was also the period where the State of California was in its sixth straight year of budget cuts to school districts.

Raymond moved to Sacramento with his family and entered his three children in the public schools.   Then he spent the first hundred days visiting every school in his district, sometimes as many as three a day.  He came armed with a vision of educating the Whole Child— “head, heart, and hands”—a philosophy that looks at children as individuals and addresses issues of readiness to learn (like good nutrition), and reaches out to the parents and community as partners in this vision.  He identified the six worst schools and decided to make them a priority.  He hired insiders, with proven value, to become part of his team. He is anti-standardized testing and is profoundly influenced by John Dewey and the contemporary formidable educator Linda Darling-Hammond.  All of these things made me sympathetic to his journey.

There was one aspect of Jonathan P. Raymond’s preparation for this job, however, that gave me pause.  Raymond briefly summed up his early career as a lawyer and politician who became a Broad Fellow at the Broad Academy for ten months in preparation for an administrative job in education.  Diane Ravitch offers this post on some of what the Broad Academy has done and what it stands for.  His belief in educating the Whole Child and his experience of the Waldorf school progressive education overrides some of what he learned from Broad.   Here’s what Raymond says about “school reform” and teachers:

“It’s no secret that some people in the so-called “school reform” movement are at war with teachers’ unions, and whether they intend it or not, are perceived as being at war with teachers themselves.  What I learned in Sacramento and keep learning as I move forward personally and professionally, is that no effort to transform a school or a district can succeed without recognizing the dignity and worth of teachers [italics, his] through appropriate compensation, opportunities for professional development and positive collaborative working conditions.”

He also said:

“The Broad Academy did me no favors with it came to union relations.  ‘People who come from outside education are more used to working in performance culture versus entitlement culture,’ Broad’s director told The Sacramento Bee when my appointment was first announced.  Disparaging hard-working educators by calling them ‘entitled’ is not how I would have set the table. “

His last chapter, “Solutions: Five Keys to Reimagine Schools,” puts leadership in the center with input from students, teachers, and community resulting in compromise in which all factions have buy-in.  He is at odds with the entrenched top-down organization that is a tradition in most districts.
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Jonathan P. Raymond’s title Wildflowers is a metaphor for the potential of all children to find a way to bloom when they encounter the proper nurturing environment for the special idiosyncratic germ within them.  This is a passionate, thoughtful book that can bring vision and hope to our public schools.  




An Abusive Relationship

19/7/2018

 
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credit: Michael Vadon/Wikimedia Commons
I don’t write political opinions.  I try to stick to subjects on which I’m well informed.  I watch news and opinion shows from people who have done their homework.  And I live in a political bubble in the Northeast, where I find agreement with my horror at the behavior of the current occupant of the White House from strangers on the line for movie tickets.  We all marvel at the blindness of his “base” and the spinelessness of the Republican members of congress.  What can I say that will shed some new light on this phenomenon?

As a scientist, I like to simplify a situation.  Instead of trying to figure out why Trump’s base is so steadfast and loyal to someone who is clearly mendacious, manipulative and just plain mean, let’s look at the one-on-one relationship between an abusive spouse and his target. 

The behavior of the abuser is well documented.  Check out the 21 Warning Signs of an Emotionally Abusive Relationship.  How many of these behaviors does the president exhibit towards the press, his wives, our allies?  What do all the abused have in common so that they enable this behavior to continue?

Abusers and bullies are often quite charming when they want to be.  That’s why unsuspecting potential victims fall in love.  They are seduced by courtship behavior, which validates them and gives voice to their own frustrations and inadequacies.  It makes them feel special.  Trump throws them red meat and keeps up the courtship in his campaign-style rallies.  This emotional connection stands up to all sorts of transgressions.  A dairy farmer in Nevada, who sells milk to a local cheese manufacturer who sells to European clients, sees bankruptcy on the horizon as her buyer’s market is shutting down because of tariffs.  The empty promise of a wall goes unfulfilled.  Children are torn from their parents.  Yet they stick with him.  It’s hard to admit that you’ve been blind-sided (gas-lit) by love.

Abusive relationships have a way of wearing down the abused so they can’t or won’t see a way out.  As the abuse gets incrementally worse and more obvious day by day, the abused double down on the excuses that keep them in the relationship.  I was once in such a relationship.   I had been a competent, kind and generous person who was reduced to hand-trembling when putting a plastic liner into a garbage can because my abuser had told me I didn’t know how to do it correctly.  That was the point at which I suddenly had a moment of clarity: this situation was ludicrous.   I looked at all my accomplishments and thought, “Who cares how I put the liner in a garbage can!” Full stop.  I knew I had to get out of my situation and I knew I needed help to do so.  Extricating myself to start a new life was the hardest thing I ever did.  It was also the making of me. 

There are many good people who voted for Trump who don’t see their Fuhrer clearly.  He has seduced them into believing that he “alone” can save them and they are blind to the hole he is  digging to bury them.  The beauty of a democracy is that we the people have our own salvation in hand.  It’s called the vote.  It’s called civil discourse.  It’s called the greater good.
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Trump followers ignore their wake-up-America-call at our peril. It can’t come soon enough.  But Trump has unlimited inventiveness to show us his hollowness.  You can see it in Melania’s eyes.  And she’s still there.  

Putting Citizenship Back in the Curriculum

8/4/2018

 
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Eric Liu, founder of Citizen University and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American identity program. Photo by Vicki Cobb
On April 7, 2018, I returned to Teachers College, Columbia University for their Academic Festival, a celebration of the mission of this premiere graduate school founded on the principles of John Dewey as stated on the wall over the  TC reception desk: 
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photo by Vicki Cobb
The title of the keynote address by Eric Liu was "Teaching Civic Power." It was a rousing reminder that, as Dr. Liu quoted Sandra Day O'Conner: " 'Compulsory public education was instituted in the country in the first place to create citizens,' not wage workers, not customers, not capitalists, but citizens capable of governing themselves and their country." He believes that all teachers, no matter what subject, are also teaching civics through their own behavior.  He also recollected that in 1814, 25 years after the founding of the United States, John Adams said, "There never has been a democracy yet that has not committed suicide." 

On the up side, Liu said,
 "The United States today is not quite suicidal but it is definitely in a state  of self-inflicted fragility."  This is not a recent phenomenon but has been growing over the last forty years  "of erosion of common purpose of the leaders of both parties and .....of devaluation of public education in general and civic education in particular." 

We the people have ceded our collective power (the capacity to make people do what you would have them do)  over the years to special interests, to those who have wealth and to corruptive influences.  According to Liu, "Power doesn't so much corrupt as it reveals character."  The good news is that Eric Liu is optimistic about the future:  

 "Despite the sickness of the body politic right now, let me tell you why I am so hopeful.   In part, to be honest, it is because of the man who currently occupies the White House. After all, he alone, as he likes to say, he alone has sparked the greatest surge of civic  engagement this country has ever seen. Millions of Americans are stepping off the  sidelines and participating. .... People are swarming like antibodies to a virus … the immune system of the body politic is now kicking in.  The goal now has to be civic renewal—we need a new network of mutual aid, civic, social and moral character."  


How this can be done is by returning to the principles of John Dewey who believed that learning comes, not just from books, but by doing.  Eric Liu embodies these principles and he is speaking to wake us up. Thus the teacher, the writer, and the citizen of a democracy are all  practicing acts of faith, where learning and the thriving of a democracy become true through our best practices.
It will come, according to Dr. Liu, with the "savvy realization that we're all better off when we're all better off."

 
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I'm expressing my gratitude to the inimitable John Dewey.

     Vicki Cobb

    *Award-winning author of more than 90 nonfiction books for children, mostly in science.
    *Former Contributor to the Huffington Post
    *Founder/President of iNK Think Tank, Inc.
    *Passionate advocate for the joy of learning for every child and teacher.


    Disclaimer: All opinions, typos, and grammatical errors are my own,  especially small word omissions which I often don't notice in my fervor.  

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