‘It’s Un-American for Children to Not Be Able to Get an Education’

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/01/30/its-un-american-for-children-to-not-be-able-to-get-an-education/

‘It’s Un-American for Children to Not Be Able to Get an Education’

by James Parks, Jan 30, 2007

In his State of the Union address, President Bush called for reauthorization the No Child Left Behind Act but did not mention that children in New Orleans whose lives were devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are being left further behind because his administration and state and local officials have bungled the recovery effort.

Just last week, 300 New Orleans school children were shut out of schools and denied an education they badly need because the city says it doesn’t have enough space or teachers. So, instead of studying in classrooms, 300 students are sitting at home waiting for space to open up in schools. All the while, more students are coming into the city daily as families who left after Katrina are beginning to return home.

What makes the lockout of school children even more outrageous is that the city’s school enrollment is less than half of pre-Katrina levels and there are thousands of unemployed school teachers in the city who lost their jobs or were forced to retire when local officials closed schools to gut the teachers’ union. Shortly after Katrina, some 4,900 public school teachers, mostly members of the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO)/AFT, and 1,900 support staff were forced to retire or just lost their jobs.


Maria Alexander says children in New Orleans have a right to a decent education.

A broad coalition of unions, civil rights, religious and community groups is demanding the city, state and federal governments bring the city’s teachers and school professional staff to the table so they can help create a quality school system.

Brenda Mitchell, president of UTNO, says 17 months is more than enough time for officials to get their act together and provide a decent education for children:

It is a public outrage and criminal that the student victims of Hurricane Katrina are not only being left behind, they are also being shut out and denied the educational foundation that they so urgently need to start to rebuild their lives after Katrina.

It’s un-American for children to come into a place and not be able to get an education.

The policymakers need the voice of the teachers and the school employees at the table. We could tell them what’s really happening in the schools.

FULL story at link.

[katsy]

1. By extension...

it's un-American to allow privileged children a higher quality education than our inner city schools can offer

it's un-American to wage wars of aggression, including trade wars

it's un-American to ignore the plight of the poor and homeless

it's un-American to not take care of our seniors and let them live their lives in a dignified manner

it's un-American to allow corporations steal, through bankruptsy games, the pensions of their employees

it's un-American to pollute our environment

it's un-American to deny high quality healthcare/prventative care to anyone

republicants are un-American.

[KamaAina]

2. Not to brag or anything, but I was on this when it was LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2701784&mesg_id=2701784

then again, I find myself reading the Times-Picayune "cat box liner" before the Honolulu papers these days...

[maxsolomon]

3. "un-american" is a phrase that turns my stomach

presupposes a "unique" american character different from that of the rest of the planet.

is it not "un-bolivian" also?

[Igel]

4. I had a Russian professor who waxed eloquent on the

notion of 'un-American.' He'd ask the class if the word 'un-American' meant anything, and usually about half the class would say it did.

He'd start off with "anti-Soviet", and all the various things that were anti-Soviet. Then he'd try for a definition of 'anti-Soviet', usually 'whatever the Soviet government and the KP SSSR say it means ... today."

He'd proceed to name all sorts of different things, and ask the class if they were 'un-American', sometimes getting a nod of assent from one or two students, before winding up with the question, "So what *does* un-American mean?" Then he'd conclude that the single word has 200+ million divergent definitions--unlike 'anti-Soviet', which had a single, albeit variable, definition per the Soviet government. Therefore 'un-American' means nothing, because when a single word has 200+ million divergent definitions, it's meaningless.

His point isn't flawless. But it's close enough to handle lots of cases.