Friday, June 19, 2020


President Trump Calls School Choice the Civil Rights Issue of Our Time

Yesterday President Trump unveiled his Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities. His comments were not limited to law enforcement. Rather, he spoke holistically about how to improve communities through investment, school choice, and economic improvement.

“In order to make real progress on public safety, we have to break old patterns of failure. Many of the same politicians now presenting themselves as the solution are the same ones who have failed for decades on schools, jobs, justice, and crime.”

He then articulated how his administration had taken a multi-faceted approach to uplift minority communities:

Criminal justice reform through the First Step Act
Long-term funding for historically black colleges and universities

Expanded affordable healthcare options

Opportunity Zone legislation to encourage jobs and investment in poor urban and rural communities

Lowest minority unemployment rates across the board and pledged to do it again post lockdown

Then he discussed his administration’s support for school choice. “School choice is the civil rights statement of the year, the decade and probably beyond. Because all children have to have access to quality education. A child’s zip code in America should never determine their future.”

Adding school choice to the election talking points and highlighting the administration’s stalwart advocacy for it gives the campaign the perfect wedge issue and the perfect foil.

For a wedge issue, according to the group Democrats for Education Reform, the party is split along both racial and generational lines about school choice.

Joe Biden: "When we divert public funds to private schools, we undermine the entire public education system. We've got to prioritize investing in our public schools, so every kid in America gets a fair shot. That's why I oppose vouchers."

This is a clear difference between the campaigns that can be capitalized on. Democrats have traditionally received about 94% of the donations from the nation’s two largest teacher’s unions. Both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers oppose vouchers and other school choice programs.

The Democrat party line is going to remain that dumping more money into failing public schools is the solution. Because that’s worked out so well to this point.

Because of the race and generational divide regarding school choice, this may help President Trump with younger black voters who already approve of him at higher rates than expected:

The data collected from April 2-May 13 by the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape project, an initiative that conducted weekly surveys of thousands of potential voters for nearly a year, found that 29% of percent of black voters ages 30-44 and 21% ages 18-29 have a “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” view of President Trump. This compares to just 14% of black voters 45-64 and 9% of those 65 and older.

Trump has also selected an issue with the perfect foil. Namely, America’s worst mayor, New York City’s Bill de Blasio. To resolve the racial disparities in New York’s top public high schools, de Blasio has implemented radical restorative justice policies that have made struggling schools less safe. His School Diversity Advisory Group has also proposed eliminating all selection criteria for these magnet schools.

Meanwhile, one of the most successful charter school systems resides right in his backyard. Success Academy Charter Schools operate on a pure lottery for admissions and take students from some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City and surrounding areas.

Teaching 17,000 students across 45 locations, Success Charters are the seventh-largest district in New York State. They enrolled approximately 1 in 60 public school students in New York City in 2019. They also outperformed every school district in the state on New York State exams. Smaller districts that were far less diverse with much higher average household incomes did not even come close.

Yet in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s New York, the Success Academy Charters have to get petitions signed and to try and force him to increase classroom space. Or hold rallies on the city hall steps to get adequate space in Queens. Even when faced with significantly underutilized school buildings, de Blasio wouldn’t budge.

If the nation’s worst mayor had two synapses that fired effectively, he would be inviting the administration of Success Charters to fix his broken inner-city schools. Instead, he makes it more difficult for them to operate effectively and installs public school policies that lower the bar behaviorally and academically for students to achieve some lofty goal of equity.

It is a tragedy for New York City students and effective education. By elevating Success Academies’ success and the challenges they face from a radical Democrat mayor, the Trump campaign can accomplish two goals. First, providing a best practices educational model for other inner-city charges to follow. Second, it would give a megaphone to the parents and administrators of Success Academies to talk about the difference school choice has made in the lives of the students.

The holistic approach to community improvement outlined by President Trump is the correct one. It is also a direct counter to the radical calls to defund and dismantle police departments. Through reasonable law enforcement reform and elevating an issue like school choice in the campaign, it is an argument that can be won in time for November.

SOURCE 







UK: Oxford college wants Rhodes statue removed

A recommendation will be made to remove the statue of 19th century colonialist Cecil Rhodes from an Oxford University college, its governing body says.

Oriel College has been under pressure for several years from the #RhodesMustFall campaign, which argues the statue glorifies racism and is an insult to black students.

"First, this is a moment for celebration," said Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, a South African graduate student at Oxford and #RhodesMustFall campaigner.

The campaign was reinvigorated by the global wave of anti-racism protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and on June 9 a large demonstration took place outside the college.

In Britain, the Black Lives Matter protests have ignited a debate about monuments commemorating the nation's imperialist past.

Rhodes, a mining magnate, was a central figure in Britain's colonial project in southern Africa, giving his name to Rhodesia, present-day Zimbabwe, and founding the De Beers diamond empire.

He expressed racist beliefs and implemented racial segregation measures that paved the way for apartheid.

A student at Oriel in his youth, he endowed the Rhodes Scholarships, which have allowed more than 8000 students from around the world, including former US President Bill Clinton, to study at Oxford.

The governing body of Oriel said it would launch an independent commission of inquiry into the issues surrounding the statue, to which it would recommend that it be taken down.

Oriel said the commission would examine the Rhodes legacy and how the college's present commitment to diversity could "sit more easily with its past".

The #RhodesMustFall campaign began in South Africa in 2015, culminating in the removal of a statue of Rhodes at Cape Town University. But Oriel said in 2016 it would keep its own statue as "an important reminder of the complexity of history".

SOURCE 





Australian University to admit students in 2021 even if they don't get a High School result this year due to coronavirus disruptions

Almost any scholastic aptitude test is a better filter for tertiary success than final exam results anyway.  Just an IQ test would exclude most of those unlikely to succeed.  Even parental income or parental attainments would make a good rough filter

A whole lot of factors can influence final High school marks so they have never been an efficient entrance criterion.  They are used because they are seen as "fair".  Good riddance to them as long as some other filter is used to keep out those unlikely to cope at university.

I suspect that they will in fact accept anyone who applies and can pay.  That would be most unfair to the less able


Another Australian university has announced it will accept year 12 students impacted by the coronavirus lockdown even if they don't obtain an ATAR score.

Swinburne University will offer an ATAR-free pathway to its most popular courses for all students that finish high school in 2020.

Students will be able to enrol in bachelor degrees such as business, science, design, arts, engineering and media, with just a recommendation letter from their high school confirming they meet the minimum English requirements.

In normal circumstances there are a limited number of places for each university course and students' ATAR scores determine whether they will secure an offer of enrolment in their chosen field of study.

Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Chris Pilgrim said although the transition from high school to university is always challenging, year 12 students have 'faced a year like no other' and deserve a shot at university even without an ATAR.

'We know that students in 2020 continue to rise to the occasion and achieve exceptional results, and that completion of VCE remains of utmost importance, Professor Pilgrim said.

'But we also understand it has been a unique year of study for many and we want to support students to continue their studies into 2021.'

Universities across Australia are experiencing a massive decline in profitability as the number of international students plummets due to COVID-19 border closures.

Foreign students make up about one third of Swinburne's total revenue and their absence this year means the university expects to see a deficit of $51million.

In 2021 and 2022, they've flagged losses totalling $101million.

Overall, the Australian university sector is bracing for a $16billion retraction over the next four years.

'We guaranteed them over $18 billion worth of funding as part of our COVID-19 package, and we'll continue to talk with the sector about increases in demand and how we best can meet those,' education minister Dan Tehan told ABC Radio National.

'We'll continue to work with the sector to make sure that this demand can be met ... Understanding, of course, that there are, huge, huge demands on the Budget at the moment, and we've got to make sure that everything we do is done in a very sustainable way.'

'We have to remember, that the international education sector provides 250,000 jobs to this nation, and we want those jobs back as we grow our economy, as we come out of the coronavirus pandemic,' Mr Tehan said.

Swinburne will begin offering university places for 2021 as early as August.

SOURCE  




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