School Privatizers Are Leaning Hard Into the Culture Wars
A billionaire-backed network of free-market fundamentalists is ginning up controversy over “wokeness” in American schools with an ulterior motive: to demolish public education.
35 Articles by: Nora De La Cour
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Nora De La Cour writes about education and has worked in public schools in a variety of roles.
Education Reformers Are Waging a War on Play
For decades, education reformers have proposed academic performance, measured by standardized testing, as the solution to inequality. It doesn’t work, and it’s losing Democrats votes. But most important, it’s costing kids the opportunity to learn through play.
Paraeducators Are Critical to the Classroom — and They Make Poverty Wages
School districts are facing a dire shortage of paraeducators, making it impossible to provide services to which students are legally entitled. For the good of paraeducators and students alike, it’s time for fair compensation.
“Lunch Ladies” Are Tired of Being Underpaid and Overlooked
Cafeteria staff make learning and healthy development possible by providing balanced meals to kids who otherwise might not get them. In return, they bring home some of the lowest earnings of the generally underpaid K–12 workforce.
School Bus Drivers Make School Possible. They Deserve Better.
Current pay and benefits for school bus drivers are grossly incommensurate with their incredibly challenging, multifaceted work. When they’re exploited and mistreated, drivers and kids both suffer the consequences.
Last Year’s Longest Strike Just Ended in Victory
After spending most of 2021 on the picket line, nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, are returning to work. Their strike holds two lessons: health care corporations will erode standards infinitely for profit, and worker solidarity is the only way to stop them.
The Great American Teacher Exodus
Chronic disinvestment in public education, a corporate reform model that punishes student poverty, and the pandemic’s disruption of school life are making it impossible for teachers to do the job they love. Many educators are reaching their breaking points.
Alabama Miners Are Still on Strike After 8 Months
The courts have attacked their right to picket, and the company has engaged in a campaign of misinformation. But 1,000 union miners in Alabama are still on strike after eight months, fighting for decent compensation and humane work schedules.
Striking Massachusetts Nurses Won Key Demands. They Say Management Is Retaliating.
Nurses in Worcester, Massachusetts, have been on strike for months. Now Tenet Healthcare, which owns Saint Vincent Hospital, has agreed to improve staffing — but the health care company is refusing to give striking nurses their old jobs back.
For-Profit Remote Learning Is a Disaster for Students and Teachers Alike
The pandemic taught us two lessons: in-person learning is optimal, and remote learning is sometimes necessary. We should improve public digital learning infrastructure, or else private companies will corner the market and use it to undermine public education.
Platform Capitalists Are Turning Customers Into Managers in Disguise
From customer review platforms like Yelp and Ziosk to the ratings prompts built into gig-work apps like Uber and DoorDash, consumers are increasingly encouraged to monitor and assess workers. That’s free managerial labor for capitalists.
1,100 Union Miners in Alabama Are Now in Their Fifth Month on Strike
More than 1,000 union miners have been on strike in Alabama for months, resisting a company that puts its shareholders over workers’ well-being. Yet the political establishment remains conspicuously silent — showing again they have little regard for the working class.
Union Nurses in Massachusetts Are Waging the Longest Current Strike in the US
The longest active picket line in the US is in Worcester, Massachusetts, where over 700 union nurses are entering their third month on strike. Their chief demand: safe staffing for patients.
On Education, Joe Biden Is Making Sure “Nothing Will Fundamentally Change”
Joe Biden has the power to eliminate federal student debt, make colleges and trade schools tuition-free, and end high-stakes testing. We just passed his 100-day mark. He hasn’t done any of it.
The Fight to Organize Amazon Is a Fight for Racial Justice
Jeff Bezos joined Black Lives Matters’ calls for racial justice last year. But Amazon workers in the majority-black town of Bessemer, Alabama are trying to unionize — and Amazon has fought them tooth and nail.