I remember how it was -- JR
UC Berkeley law professor urges firms to not hire his ‘antisemitic’ students
A Berkeley law professor is warning future employers to not hire his students — accusing some of them of being antisemitic in an opinion piece published Sunday.
Steven Davidoff Solomon, who teaches corporate law at the University of California, Berkeley, alleged that some of his students at the college promoted hate towards Jews and therefore should not be given jobs in an op-ed he penned for the Wall Street Journal.
“My students are largely engaged and well-prepared, and I regularly recommend them to legal employers,” Solomon wrote. “But if you don’t want to hire people who advocate hate and practice discrimination, don’t hire some of my students.”
The educator, who advises the Jewish law students association, lobbed the serious accusation at his students after nine campus groups adopted a rule last year banning pro-Israel speakers at events.
Berkeley’s Law Students for Justice in Palestine drafted the bylaw stating the organizations wouldn’t invite speakers “that have expressed interest and continue to hold views, host, sponsor or promote events in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel and the occupation of Palestine,” and asked other student groups to sign on to it.
The student organization said the amendment aims to stop the spread of Zionist beliefs and protect “the safety and welfare of Palestinian students.”
But many on and off campus said it was antisemitic and exclusionary.
“It was rightly criticized for creating ‘Jew-free’ zones,” Solomon said in his opinion piece.
“You don’t need an advanced degree to see why this bylaw is wrong. For millennia, Jews have prayed, ‘next year in Jerusalem,’ capturing how central the idea of a homeland is to Jewish identity,” the professor added. “By excluding Jews from their homeland—after Jews have already endured thousands of years of persecution—these organizations are engaging in anti-Semitism and dehumanizing Jews.”
Another 11 student groups subsequently adopted the bylaw, according to Solomon.
“They didn’t include Jewish law students in the conversation when circulating the bylaw,” he wrote. “They also singled out Jews for wanting what we all should have—a homeland and haven from persecution.”
Palestinians, however, often advocate for the same thing, a homeland and haven from persecution, themselves as they live under a blockade by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza — the latter of which has been called “an open-air prison” by some human rights organizations.
Still, Solomon called the Berkeley students’ behavior “shameful” and claimed it made the horrific Oct. 7 Hamas attack on innocent Israeli civilians possible.
“The student conduct at Berkeley is part of the broader attitude against Jews on university campuses that made last week’s massacre possible,” he said. “It is shameful and has been tolerated for too long.”
Solomon called on potential employers to “treat these law students like the adults they are” during the recruiting process.
“If a student endorses hate, dehumanization or anti-Semitism, don’t hire him. When students face consequences for their actions, they straighten up,” he wrote.
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NY Legislature approves 5 new NYC charter schools following state accord
State regulators approved the applications to open 5 new charter schools in New York City over the next two years — following a Post campaign that pressured state lawmakers to ease the cap that blocked expansion.
The five new schools — Bed Stuy New Beginnings Charter School 2, Central Queens Academy Charter School II, Haven Charter High School, Kwenda Collegiate Girls Charter School and MESA Charter High School 2 — had been on hold since 2019 because of the rigid limit set in state law.
“These were five strong applications for new charters when they were first approved back in 2019 and even stronger – and needed more today,” Joseph Belluck, chairman of the State University of New York Trustees’ Charter Schools Committee, said in a statement Monday.
“Parents in these districts, some of which are within the most economically disadvantaged in NYC, are clamoring for a high-quality education option in their area and we’re confident these new schools will provide just that. These are applicants with a strong track record, that come from the communities they wish to serve and that have thoughtful plans to deliver innovative, rigorous academic programs to children and young adults that need them most,” he said.
SUNY is one of the two authorities that review, approve and reject charter school applications, along with the state Education Department/Board of Regents.
Two of the five schools — Central Queens Academy Charter School II and Bedford Stuyvesant Charter School 2 — will open in August, 2024. Central Queens Academy will eventually serve grades K to 8 and Bed Stuy Charter grades K to 5.
Math, Engineering, and Science Academy Charter High School 2 will open in August 2025 and serve students covering the heavily Asian and Hispanic neighborhoods in southwestern Brooklyn’s District 20. It will seek to replicate the successful MESA HS in Bushwick.
The Haven Charter High School will open in August 2025 and serve students in the south Bronx and northern Manhattan and focus on career and technical education programs.
In April, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature approved a law as part of the state budget that paved the way for 14 new charter schools to open in the Big Apple’s 5 boroughs, and 8 others outside the city — 22 in total.
The deal was only agreed to following a grueling political fight with anti-charter teachers’ unions and their allies in the Legislature.
Hochul’s initial plan would have removed a state cap of 275 within the five boroughs and allow for the reissuance of so-called “zombie” licenses from shuttered schools.
But Democrats who control the state Senate and Assembly rejected that proposal, following fierce opposition from the United Federation of Teachers.
An accord was reached allowing the 22 “zombie” charters to be reissued to new schools, with Hochul agreeing to have the state pick up the entire tab for the cost.
The Post published a series of stories showing the academic success of charter school stories, whose students often outperform those in traditional public schools.
The state law allowing charter schools was approved in 1998 by then-Gov. George Pataki and the sector’s educators and backers are celebrating the 25th anniversary.
There are now 142,500 students enrolled in 274 charter schools throughout the five boroughs – roughly 15% or one of every six public school students.
https://nypost.com/2023/10/16/5-new-nyc-charter-schools-approved-following-state-accord/
****************************************Our Public Schools Are a National Disaster
Perhaps what’s most distressing about the latest collapse in high school test scores is that no one seems to be very distressed.
You’ve probably heard the news that ACT scores have fallen for the sixth straight year. Our high school kids are less equipped for a job or college than at any time in three decades.
Why isn’t anyone in Washington or anyone in our $800 billion education bureaucracy sounding the alarm and declaring this a national emergency? It certainly puts our national security, our technological superiority, and our economic prosperity in grave danger.
Instead of outrage, it is almost as if Americans have become anesthetized to bad news about our kids.
One theory is that Americans feel about their local schools as they do toward Congress: They love their own representative but think the rest of the members are corrupt and incompetent.
Yes, there are some excellent public schools, and yes, there are thousands of great teachers. But I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is one of the wealthiest counties in the country, and we had to pull our kids out of the public schools because they were so bad—and because they shut down during COVID-19.
I shudder to think what’s going on in the Baltimore schools down the road.
Exactly 40 years ago, the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued its findings on the state of the schools in its 1983 report entitled “A Nation at Risk.” Here was the grim conclusion: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”
The nation never paid attention. If you think I’m blowing one bad report out of proportion, the National Assessment of Educational Progress report that came out earlier this year found similarly dismal student performance in the public schools. Reading and math proficiency collapsed over the past four years in part because of the teachers unions’ insistence that public schools stay closed during COVID—a national act of child abuse.
The left obsesses about income inequality and the gap between rich and poor. Yet they are so captive to the teachers unions that they do nothing about what is arguably the most regressive policy in the United States: our failing public school system. The decline in test scores is only half the story. The other part of the story is that the biggest declines in learning and achievement are among the poorer families.
I’m the furthest thing from an education expert, but I have had five kids. It’s pretty clear that three essential components to an enriching education are discipline in the classroom, high expectations, and a classical curriculum. This isn’t that complicated. It’s not like solving a Rubik’s Cube.
Today, most public schools fail all three of these standards.
California recently announced it is going to make climate change a standard part of the school curriculum. Really? They are going to scare the bejesus out of kids with a propaganda campaign telling them the world is coming to an end. Why don’t they just try phonics so kids can read?
The school blob’s pitiful response to this abject failure to teach is to call for more money. We’ve tried that for 40 years. Spending per student in the public schools after adjusting for inflation is up 50 percent in 30 years, which almost entirely inversely correlates with the continual test score slide.
The one glimmer of hope is the burgeoning school choice movement in the United States, which allows the dollars to follow the students and parents to choose the best schools for their kids—public, private, Christian, Jewish, or whatever works. Ten states this year have expanded school choice.
Meanwhile, the teachers unions argue with a straight face that school vouchers would hurt the public schools. Have they seen the test scores? How could they possibly get worse?
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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