Kids Versus Parents - Who Wins and Why?

Too frequently, Adult Schools have been pitted against K-12 schools, as if the populations they serve are utterly separate entities, with utterly separate needs and agendas. 

This competition is framed as war for the same precious and/or dwindling resources. 

Because we are a culture that claims to value the family, the kids generally "win."

In fact, Adult Schools and K-12 schools serve the same families.  Educating children and parents empowers families faster than educating only parents or only children.

Which brings up the questions: 

Hit the link to see them.

The Battle for Adult Education in California: Historical Context

From left to right,
Bruce Neuberger,
George & Kristen Pursley
Cynthia Eagleton

At the 2015 Network for Public Education Conference in Chicago, Kristen Pursley, Bruce Neuberger, and I presented a panel entitled, "The Battle for Adult Education."

The Conference was deep and powerful.
An AEM post on the conference is coming soon. 

Cuts and reform in California Adult Education are part of a larger puzzle affecting every piece of Public Education in the US.  To understand what is happening in Adult Education in California - and to influence it in a positive direction - we need to understand what is happening elsewhere - and we need historical context.

Historical context is what Kristen provided at our panel discussion.  Kristen is a lead ESL teacher at West Contra Costa Adult School.  She is a founding member of COSAS - Communities Organized to Support Adult Schools, a group that formed in response to the cuts six years ago and has met weekly since.   She authors the Save Your Adult School blog, a priceless repository of facts and insight about Adult Education. 

Click the link to see her powerpoint:

From the "Things That Are Disturbing" File: David Perdue and Adult Education



Robert Reich, on his Facebook page, shares:

 

“I spent most of my career” outsourcing jobs, said David Perdue, a business executive who’s running for Senate from Georgia in one of the closest-watched and tightest races in the nation. "This is a part of American business, part of any business. Outsourcing is the procurement of products and services to help your business run. People do that all day." He blames America’s jobs losses instead on “bad government policies: tax policy, regulation, even compliance requirements. It puts us at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world.”

David Perdue is a Commissioner on the National Commission on Adult Literacy.   He is also CEO of the Dollar General.  And as of November 5, he's a U.S. Senator from Georgia.

There are two big organizations that help shape Adult Ed policy on the national level, NCAL (the National Commission on Adult Literacy), and NCL (the National Coalition for Literacy).

They aren't only the shapers, of course.  Grassroots groups, Teachers Unions, Legislators, Think Tanks, Academics, there are many.  But these two groups definitely have an impact and they work on the national level, which is important. 

More and more, things are flowing in a top down and federal sort of way - Common Core, College & Career Readiness, these are changes flowing from DC.  California is and isn't embracing these changes.  We are a big state with an economy stronger than most of the world's countries.  California doesn't say yes to everything.  It sometimes does things its own way and until the Crash of 2009, it had much stronger and better Adult Education than most states which it funded with its own money - unlike many states.  All that in mind, it is still 1 of 50 states united under a Federal Government which has been changing public education in a number of significant ways.   And where California isn't saying "yes" to changes suggested by the Federal Government, it's making its own changes.  All in all, in California and everywhere else in these United States, public education is changing.

None of that, in and of itself, is good or bad.  It is change.  As always, we need to be awake to what is changing, look it over closely in light of the big picture, and then consider how the changes do or don't benefit our people.  If and where we think the changes are beneficial, we need to nurture and encourage those changes.  If and where we consider them harmful, we need to take steps to arrest the bad and begin the good.

Back to our story, the similarity of the names and acronyms - NCL and NCAL - makes it hard to remember which is which but it's important to try.  They are different in some important ways.  I won't try to detail the differences here.  I'll doing so to my "List of One Hundred Posts I Need to Write."

I will note that NCL and NCAL are similar in an important way.  Both have received big funds from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.  History of NCL here.  History of NCAL here.

From the "Adult Ed Reform" post on the Alliance for California Adult Schools Blog:

National Commission on Adult Literacy - The Council grew out of two background assessment and planning projects carried out in early 2001. Funding for that work came from Harold W. McGraw, Jr., The Ford Foundation, and The Carnegie Corporation. One project assessed the status and lingering problems of adult literacy, following the work of the Business Council for Effective Literacy (BCEL); the other explored the feasibility of establishing a blue-ribbon commission on adult literacy. Both projects developed lengthy research and action agendas, and the rationale for them. CAAL was formed to build on that foundation, including the work of BCEL, its predecessor organization.  Chairman of NCAL, David Perdue (Dollar General Literacy Foundation)


I created my own powerpoint on Adult Ed Reform for the Grassroots Summit last summer in June 2014 but have yet to post it on this blog.

One thing that is always strange and interesting to me is the involvement of Dollar Stores in Adult Education.  Both of the big Dollar stores have been involved in Adult Ed philanthropy/policy (Dollar General and Family Dollar).  Dollar General - David Perdue's company - is now in pursuit of Family Dollar so we may be down to just one horse in the race very soon. 

On the one hand, I can see that a Dollar Store corporation would understand the struggles of people who, because of poverty, are very likely to shop at Dollar Stores.  Poverty has a strong connection with lack of education.  And yet, the fact that David Perdue, CEO of Dollar General, considers outsourcing something to be proud of... Wow, how does this work?  How does outsourcing connect with a place to buy cheap stuff made by people working very hard jobs probably without a lot of work and safety rules connect with Adult Education?  If you are providing people with a place to buy cheap stuff and you are sending jobs overseas, what kind of education might you suggest would be best for the country?

Who benefits?  That was the question that drove my own powerpoint on Adult Ed Reform and I suppose at some point I should post it here.

In the meantime, I wanted to be sure you knew about Mr. Perdue.

You can put it in your "Things That Are Disturbing" file where it will hopefully compost into "Great Ideas For How to Increase Democracy and Public Engagement in Great Public Education."

Such things do happen.

From this...

...to this... It happens!

Minds and Hearts of Our Own

The budget crisis that devastated Adult Education and nearly wiped out K12 Adult Schools left many school buildings, which once served thousands of Adult School students, empty.  Or to put it another way, the budget crisis freed up a lot of real estate.

Now that crisis is over - sort of.  We are in the planning stages for the new Regional Consortia system.   This is the new system where K12 Adult Schools, Community Colleges, Jails & Prisons, and any other Adult Ed providers will work together in their regions to decide what Adult Ed is needed and who needs it and who will provide it.

In 2015, there will be 500 million dollars for these Regional Consortia.

In the meantime?  There is some freed up real estate. 

And what happens to freed up real estate?  Good question.

In National City, a city on the US side of the border with Mexico, maybe some renting out of the space to Alliant International University, a private university, making for what could be called the privatization of public education.

Or not.

Click the "read more" link to learn more.

La Escuelita - The Little Engine That Could

Oakland Adult School once served over 20,000 people.

They created their own wonderful CBET material - Sharing English - a terrific DVD series to help families learn how to help their children succeed in school, use the public library, participate in community life, and build good health physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Now Oakland Adult School is but a few classes.

La Escuelita Family Literacy is one of them.


La Escuelita Family Literacy in REd for Unity Adult Education

And they are the little engine that could.

Hit the "read more" link to learn why.

Perspective: Bruce Neuberger

Bruce Neuberger is a long-time ESL teacher at both our school, San Mateo Adult School, and at CCSF (City College of San Francisco).

Bruce is one of the few teachers who has the unique perspective of working within both systems.

Note:  In most of California, Adult Education is delivered through high school districts.  This is the case at SMAS.  But in some areas - such as San Francisco - it is delivered through the community college district.

Also:  Gov. Brown would like to have all adult education delivered through only the community college systems.   In general, the Adult Education community, and many people in the community college system, and the Legislative Analyst Office, do not think this is a good idea.

Bruce spoke at the CCAE Bay Section Conference this past Saturday, Feb 23rd.

(Bruce is seated at the center of the table.

Dr. Bob Harper is at the podium.)

Here are his remarks:

This has been quite a year.  Last spring we were embroiled in a struggle that was greatly heightened by the realization of just how many hundreds of thousands of people were lost to adult schools across the state – victims of so-called flexibility.  And then, faced with the devastating prospect of the Weighted Student Formula we worked to defeat that. At San Mateo adult school we held a press conference in June to denounce it and try to reach a broader public ear.  And no sooner had that threat diminished some, than the other school where I teach, Community College of San Francisco was put on Show Cause status, by the ACCJC, the educational equivalent of a mafia hit squad – a private accreditation agency partially funded by the Lumina Foundation, and overseen by people connected to the for-profit education industry.  (The ACCJC is authorized to operate by the U.S. dept. of education and overseen by a National Advisory Committee -- NACIQI National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity --  whose vice chair, Arthur Rothkopf was senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 2005 to 2010 and board member of the Educational Testing Service, Inc.  The NACIQI panel includes the president of the University of Phoenix, the largest for profit college in the U.S. ) 

In both these situations it’s been very gratifying and uplifting to see the way people have come forward together, the teachers, staff and administrators at San Mateo, supported by the eloquent and really moving testimony of many students speaking to the importance of adult schools, how it changed and enriched their lives. 

The Wheel Turns

It's been an amazing year.

This time last year, things didn't look good.  Adult Ed was hardly on the map of the public's mind.

This made it easy to slice and dice it when the state faced a budget crisis.

And hard to explain what Adult Ed is and how it is funded - which is darned complicated, anyway.

In such a situation, we always have choices.

We can give up.  Life is hard and people are stressed and good things are hard to save and do and create.

Or we can stand up.

Jack Gerson on the Privatization of Education

As promised, here is the video of Jack Gerson's appearance at the San Mateo Adult School last Tuesday.

His appearance was hosted by the AFT Teachers' Union, Local 4681.

This is very powerful information and definitely worth viewing and reflecting upon.

It's our state.  Our culture.  Our people.  Our future.

What do we want?

Presentation on Privatization Wed Oct 17

Reminder:

Wednesday, October 17th, from 3:30 to 5:00 pm, at the San Mateo Adult School, in Room 42, there will be a presentation and discussion on the privatization of education hosted by the Teachers Union AFT Local #4681.

Jack Gerson will speak on the subject and field questions.

Click here to read the full post on the subject.

If you can't make the event, you can catch it on video later.  We will post it here.

You can also watch this video, which includes Jack Gerson and others speaking on the same topic.

More Than A Game

Prop 30

Prop 38

Prop 32

What do those propositions have in common?

Besides the fact that they are all somehow related to education - Props 30 and 38 being different ways to fund it and Prop 32 affecting Teachers' and all other Unions - they have something else in common.

A sister and a brother with a lot of money from their father.

Charles Munger, Jr - who is spending a lot of money to defeat Prop 30 and promote Prop 32.

And Molly Munger - who is spending a lot of money to promote Prop 38.

They are the children of Charles Munger, the billionaire vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

And for the record, Molly is the daughter of Charles' first marriage and Charles Jr. is the oldest son of his second marriage.

Here are a few articles about what is coming to be known as "The Munger Games."

"Prop 30 Backers Worry That Munger Is Preparing To Attack."

Matier and Ross's Bit Entitled "Torpedo To The Bow."

It's confusing, isn't it?

One thing we can take away from all this is this fact:

It takes a LOT of money to raise money for schools.

Why is that?

The Privatization of Public Education - Presentation & Discussion

The AFT Teacher's Union, Local # 4681    Presents:

A Presentation & Discussion on
the Privatization of Public Education

Wednesday, October 17, 3:30 PM

San Mateo Adult School, Room 42

789 E. Poplar Ave, San Mateo, CA 

The San Mateo Adult School is next to San Mateo High School,

between Humboldt and Delaware

Presenter:   Jack Gerson, 30 year Oakland high school teacher (now retired), member of the Oakland Education Association, writer and speaker on education issues, one of the leaders of the Lakeview Elementary school struggle to prevent the closure of Oakland schools. 

Note for those who can't attend:

We will be videotaping the events - and will post the video here.

Also:  Consider forming your own discussion group to discuss the following questions and any other questions that come up for you around the topic of public versus private.

Some of the questions posed by Adult School teachers: 

Who are the major players in the privatization movement, and what evidence is there to show what they are doing?

How do you answer those who say, public schools are not all good & charter schools are not all bad.  

What do you say to parents who send their kids to charter schools because the public schools are not doing a good job for their children.

Are there progressive charter schools?      How much privatization is too much?

What can you do when the desired benefits of public education begin to slip away? 

We are playing catch-up to a well-orchestrated hijack of public education. How do we ever catch up to their well-organized coalition and strategy?  

How do we fight against something labeled "reform" without coming off as naysayers only defending the status quo?

We've been thrown on the defensive. How do we take reform in a positive direction as opposed to a negative one?  How do we take the offensive in demanding what we know is right for students and the community?

How do we generate the public will for the funding to support public education at a much more adequate level?

Are there better arguments against austerity than general statements such as we are a rich state or corporations don't pay their share?

What's the difference between a charter school and a magnet school?

Unseen Casualties

Teacher David Doneff wrote this excellent article,

"Unseen Casualities of the Budget War:  California Adult Schools,"

which Danny Weil published in The Daily Censored.

The article does a superb job of explaining what is happening and why, as well as the larger ramifications of where we're headed unless we make the choice to change direction.

Coming to the Surface

This article from Labor Notes, "Chicago Teachers Raise the Bar", makes a very astute observation about something happening not just in Chicago, but all across this nation, and very definitely right here in California.

As the article states, the strike was really about conflicting views about education.

In a crisis, everything comes to the surface.  In Chicago, here in California, and all over this country things are coming to the surface.  We can see things which until now, either through our own lack of attention or because they were hidden, we couldn't see before.

This is our chance to observe and consider what we see.

What are the factors at work here?

What are the values underlying the conflicting perspectives?

What is important to us, as individuals and as a culture?

What do we want for the future and what are we willing to do to see that become real?

Keep those questions in mind as you read through this article and as you consider the current state of affairs in California.

Chicago Teachers Raise the Bar

Theresa Moran

|  September 19, 2012

The Chicago Teachers Union has done the seemingly impossible. At a time when teachers are attacked on all sides, they led a strike that challenged every tenet of the corporate agenda for overhauling education. Photo: CTU.

The Chicago Teachers Union has done the seemingly impossible. At a time when teachers are pilloried in the press and attacked by Democrats and Republicans alike, Chicago teachers walked out for seven days in a strike that challenged every tenet of the corporate agenda for overhauling education.

Though on paper the strike was about teacher evaluations, in fact the battle was waged over conflicting visions of public education.

Educate Yourself

Here are some good articles to bite into.

Thank you, Teacher Bruce, for sending these along.

As Chicago's Teachers Head Toward Strike, Democrats Turn On Their Union, by Teresa Moran.

Slate's review of Jonathon Kozol's latest book, Fire In The Ashes, Twenty Five Years Amongst the Poorest Children in America."

(What do poor kids have to do with Adult Education?  Well, for starters, they usually live with adults.  Often adults who need more education.  Not the mention the fact that when kids drop out of high school they become... that's right... adults who need Adult Education - GED and High School Diploma and Job Training programs.)

From Scott H. Boyd:  The Spread of Neoliberalism in US Community Colleges:  TQM Accreditation, "Consumers," and Corporate Sponsored Non-Profits, p. 42. 

(Why that one?  Because Adult Ed is partly run through Community College districts, as it is at City College of San Francisco and is known as "non-credit."  Also because something is happening to education...  at community colleges and adult school and all over and we need to pay attention and be sure this is what we want happening.  And if it isn't, we need to speak up and change things to the direction we want it to go.)

Your Call:  The State of Public Higher Education in California.  Radio program.  Click to listen.

How Much Trouble Is Trouble Worth?

From the New York Times, comes this recent article, "Enrollment Off in Big Districts, Forcing Layoffs," which details the connection between charter schools and trouble in public education.

Some might say that the increase in charter schools is a result of trouble in public education and they have their points.

But ultimately, the question we must ask ourselves is:

Do we or don't we want a healthy public education system?

And given the fact the all branches of our public education system - K-12, Adult Education, Community College, State College and University - are sickened,

Is it worth the trouble it will take to restore our system to health?

Trouble - that's the real issue here, isn't it?

There is trouble in our educational system.

And it will take cause us some trouble - some effort - to repair it.

It might not be "fun." 

It will be meaningful.  There will be reward in both the work and the result.

But some of the work will be difficult.

And we are a culture that has come to forget the joys to be found in work.

We seek our joy elsewhere.

In distraction.

But work there is to be done and the question is how and where we do it.

If we don't, our troubles will worsen and eventually, there won't be enough distraction to relieve us of the pain they will cause us.

So let's think of what we really want.

A sound public education system with the mission to serve everyone and create a thriving economy, a healthy community, and a high level of civic particpation?

Or an expanding for-profit education system that doesn't have a mission to serve everyone?

If you are interested in learning more about the privatization of education, you can attend the upcoming Labor Fest workshop:

Who is Behind Privatization of Public Education?

July 29, Sunday, 10:00 AM  -- Free
518 Valencia  - near 16th St, in San Francisco  

Education, Privatization, Bill Gates, Broad, KIPP, Pearson And The Gulen Schools
A massive national and international organized plan to privatize education has been implemented over several decades. Billionaires, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation and the Pearson corporation among others, have infiltrated hundreds of governmental bodies including school boards, city councils and our local, state and regional governments. They seek to turn our education system into a profit center worth tens of billions of dollars. This also includes the Gulen Islamic cult led by Imam Fethullah Gulen, which runs the largest chain of charters in the United States funded by public money.  We will also look at the criminal conflicts that have allowed politicians to personally benefit from using their public positions to profit from their votes and actions. This forum will look at how this has come about, who did it, how it is affecting us and who is profiting from it at the cost of public education and finally how to stop this attack on our public education system.

Speakers:

Madeline Mueller, Professor SF City College, AFT2121

Susan Miesenhouse, CFA CSU Longbeach

Kathleen Carroll, Lawyer and Whistleblower At Commission On Teacher Credentialing

Bruce Neuberger, AFT 4681 San Mateo Adult School

Sharon Higgins, Researcher and Blogger On Charters, Parents Across America

Sponsored By United Public Workers For Action  www.upwa.info