Your essay must be five paragraphs long, with an introduction, three body paragraphs containing your strongest arguments, and a conclusion. You do not have a choice in your position: you must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!The text of a 10th grade english assignment pushing students to offer their suggestions on why the Nazis were right, or as I like to call it, “instant dismissal from your teaching job.” What an awful idea. The Albany, NY school district, where the assignment originated from, is working hard to make amends to the local Jewish community as well as to students and parents; the teacher faces a reprimand and possible firing.
I’m not a sixth-grader. I’m not a lawyer, but after 20 years, I’ve been up close and personal to the Constitution. I have great respect for it. … It’s fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it. Just know I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve passed on a number of bills. I’ve studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well-educated, and I thank you for the lecture.Sen. Dianne Feinstein • Responding to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who Sen. Feinstein believed was giving her an unrequested/undesired lecture on the U.S. Constitution and the wording used in its creation. The conflict arose during a heated debate between the two on a gun control bill (sponsored by Sen. Feinstein) which would ban the sale and manufacture of more than 150 types of military weapons, and was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. source
Ridiculous Story of the Day: A California high school student set up a sting operation to catch a locker thief at Linden High School, only to discover one of her teachers was actually the one guilty of taking students’ money. Naturally, after she showed the footage to her principal, he asked her to delete the footage. Yes, really. (ht Gawker) source
President Obama just called for increased spending on infrasture, speficially saying he’d move to make necessary repairs on the scores of under-maintained bridges throughout the country. He also called to make pre-school available to every child in America: “Every dollar we invest in early childhood education can save seven dollars later on, …Let’s do what works, and make sure none of our kids start the race of life already behind.”
Speaking in English, Malala said she wanted to “serve the people”.
“Today you can see that I’m alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone and today I can speak and I’m getting better day by day.
“It’s just because of the prayers of people, because all the people - men, women, children - all of them have prayed for me.
“Because of these prayers God has given me this new life and this is a second life.
“I want to serve the people and I want every girl, every child, to be educated and for that reason we have organised Malala Fund.”
Yousafzai nearly died after being shot in October while campaigning for the rights of education for young girls. She has been receiving treatment in Birmingham, England, since the incident.
Edit: Paypal account has been corrected.
Donations can be made via paypal to melissa-harmeyer@uiowa.edu! If asked, please mark the purpose as being a donation or other to stop your donation from being taxed on Melissa’s end. The other option is gofundme, however, its fees include a few dollars from every donation which is why paypal is preferred.
Octavius Lamb was the student of Melissawrites. When she learned the news of Octavius’ death she wrote this post. Her school recently learned that there would be no funeral or proper burial, and Melissa has asked me to get Tumblr’s help:
Hi PPT,
I hate to reach out to you especially under these circumstances, however I don’t know anyone with a stronger voice.
As you read, one of my students was killed on New Year’s Day.
This is a student who was a leader in JROTC and student government at school. When I student taught at the school I am currently now employed at he started a petition to help get me hired. He once reported that someone stole a pop from a fundraiser to me. He was a good and honest young man.
His family cannot afford to give him a funeral. His mother is homeless, his sister (another former student of mine) just had a baby at 17 and is living with her boyfriend, his other brother (and yet another former student) is locked up for the next 15 years. This young man was his family’s only hope, as mentioned on my blog he had a full-ride to school and turned it down to take a job (as a dishwasher of all things) to help provide for his family. He was not gang affiliated.
As a school we are attempting to provide a funeral for him, because if we don’t, no one else will. If the funds are not raised in time he will be given as what’s known as a pauper’s funeral in Chicago which leave him with an unmarked grave and no service. He doesn’t deserve this.
I’m turning to you to see if you can help me put out a blast to raise the funds for this incredibly sad event. I know that you do so much in the Tumblr world, however I don’t have nearly the followers that you do. I hate having to turn and beg for something like this, but if you could help in any other way, it would really mean the world to me.
Thanks so much,
Melissa
Melissa, there’s no need to beg. This is how a community helps one another.
Melissa is under a very, very tight timeline. Her principal meets with the family on Monday. The cost of the funeral and burial is $5,000. Melissa’s goal to raise is $1,000 before Monday morning. I am hoping we can exceed it.
Donations can be made via paypal to melissa-harmeyer@uiowa.edu!. If asked, please mark the purpose as being a donation or other to stop your donation from being taxed on Melissa’s end. The other option is gofundme, however, its fees include a few dollars from every donation which is why paypal is preferred. Melissa realizes this means asking for a considerable amount of trust, but I can vouch for her honesty.
Even the smallest of donations will help. Octavius Lamb deserve a fair-well worthy of the life he lived. I believe that the magic and love of Tumblr can help accomplish this. Please show Melissa the same love and support you’ve shown me over the years. Spread the word, reblog (and reblog again) — using the text post so it shows all the info), post it on facebook, tweet it, and tell your mother.
Thank you.
Here’s a signal boost for this, all.
In Massachusetts, good education no longer means higher income, and lower-income residents are falling behind. Above is a graphic from Reuters’ comprehensive in-depth report on the topic, part of its “Unequal State of America” series.
It will change the way you think. What they are teaching is inherently spiritual, it’s just inappropriate therefore in our public schools.Encinitas, Calif. mother Mary Eady • Discussing why she pulled her children out of a yoga class taught at the Encinitas Union School District, out of a belief that the classes would indoctrinate her children in an Eastern religion. Eady and other parents are considering lawsuits to stop the program. So yeah, there’s that.
Palestinian children return to school for the first time since Israel’s latest attack on Gaza but not all students made it back. Sarah Al-Dalou had to be excused from class as she — along with 9 other members of her family and 2 neighbors [graphic] — were killed by an Israeli airstrike when F-16 fighter jets reduced their house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza to rubble.
A sign now occupies her seat instead, calling her a ‘martyr’. She is one of over 30 children killed by the Israeli Army during their week-long assault on the blockaded coastal enclave, with 161 Palestinians dead in total.
(Photo source: @mohammednazmi)
Bottom photo: Palestinian children return to school in January 2009 after Israel’s massacre in Gaza, named ‘Operation Cast Lead’, when over 300 children were killed by the Israeli Army, and 1,400 Palestinians in all.
Signs replaced the once-occupied seats at al-Fakhura School in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza; names of victims written under the word in red: ‘Martyr’, 24 January, 2009.
(Photo credit: Anja Niedringhaus / AP)
It’s incredibly difficult to try to see from the perspective of these children — sitting in class with just placards beside them, where friends used to be.
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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I believe that we simply can’t have a setting where the teachers’ unions are able to contribute tens of millions of dollars to the campaigns of politicians and then those politicians, when elected, stand across from them at the bargaining table, supposedly to represent the interest of the kids.Mitt Romney • Calling for a ban on political contributions by public teachers’ unions, which he further denounced as an “extraordinary conflict of interest.” If implemented this would, of course, come at nearly the full detriment of the Democratic Party, a fact Romney acknowledged only jokingly: “I don’t mean to be terribly partisan, but I kind of am. In the case of the Democratic Party, the largest contributors to the Democratic Party are the teachers unions.” source
I am so thrilled that people are going back. Everyone is looking forward to seeing their kids tomorrow.Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teacher’s Union • Announcing the end of the strike which captured national attention for the past week, and which will mark the return of some 350,000 Chicago-area students to their regular public school schedules. The vote to end the strike was held following agreement on a new three-year contract. Central to the standoff were arguments over teacher evaluations and firings — Mayor Rahm Emanuel sided with advocates for merit-based (tethered to test scores) evaluations of educators, but in the end had to drastically weaken those plans to come to terms with the union. The CTU isn’t exactly giddy abut the deal, either, with Lewis calling it “…not a good deal… but the deal we got.” In other words, everybody sounds to be feeling, at best, mildly unhappy with the bargain, if relieved at the resolution. source
They’re not happy with the agreement. They’d like it to be a lot better for us than it is.Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis • Discussing the union’s decision not to vote on the contract placed in front of them. Also among the concerns: The possibility of 120 school closings in the next few years. The decision means that teachers will remain on strike until at least Wednesday.
BuzzFeed knows how to create traffic from thin air. (Related: This Chicago teachers’ strike deal is actually a pretty serious story, kids.)
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