Happy Birthday, Helen Keller

 

Photo from Wikipedia

This amazing woman was born today 132 years ago.  She is most famous as being the deaf and blind girl that learned how to communicate when she was taught by Annie Sullivan (also an amazing woman, and one of my inspirations as a special education teacher).  This was story was famously depicted in the play and movie, The Miracle Worker.  Keller went on to college, and would eventually become the first deaf and blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Picture of Keller (left) and Annie Sullivan (right) from Spartacus Educational

As amazing as her story is, it is only part of the story.  Historically, she is simply by most known as a deaf and blind woman who could talk and become educated.  What most people don't know is that throughout her adult life, she spent her time traveling the globe as an activist.  Among other things, she campaigned in for Women's Suffrage, Labor Rights, and was member of the anti-war movement in the lead up to World War I.  She was even a member of the Socialist Party of America.  That's right: Helen Keller was a Socialist.

Photo from Huffington Post

As Education Professor Ruth Shagoury points out in a recent piece on Huffington Post, most people don't know the real history of Helen Keller (but should):

If I were creating Hero trading cards for Helen Keller, I would include her passionate work for women's voting rights, and against war and corporate domination. And I'd include her courageous quotes where she asks tough and impolite questions: "Why in this land of great wealth is there great poverty?" she wrote in 1912. "Why [do] children toil in the mills while thousands of men cannot get work, why [do] women who do nothing have thousands of dollars to spend?"

Sounds to me like the mother of today's Occupy Movement.

From publishers like Scholastic Teaching Resources -- which uses her life events to "give children practice reading a timetable" by asking insipid questions such: "How can you use the first two dates to figure out Helen's age at the time she got sick?" -- to St. Aidan's Home School pages, which encourages teachers to show "the Disney version of the The Miracle Worker," the information on-line portrays the same individualistic and socially empty Helen Keller myth.

It takes a little more digging, but I encourage parents and educators to turn to resources like the small press book Helen Keller from Ocean Press's series Rebel Lives, which includes excerpts from her writings on disability and class, socialism, women, and war, or the fine young adult biography Helen Keller: Rebellious Spirit by Laurie Lawlor. It's time to share with children Helen Keller's remarkable adult life. As a defiant rebel, she could be a true hero for 21st century activists.

Indeed, schools should teach about Ms. Keller (her whole biography).  She is an excellent role model for all students: girls, boys, disabled and non-disabled.  Helen Keller is a truly remarkable figure, both for overcoming her adversity, as well as her dedication to social justice.

Videos for Martin Luther King Day

In the past year, the prevalence and importance of protest has gained traction like no other time in at least 20 years, and perhaps longer.  On this Martin Luther King day, let us remember the importance of King, not only as a Civil Rights leader, but as a protestor against injustice of all types.  As important as the message of racial equality, he also stood up against economic inequality and unjust wars. 

"Absurd" Education Proposal by Newt

 Picture from Polk County GOP

Newt Gingrich has a history of saying stupid things.  Here is a new one that I found on a NYT blog post generously titled "From Gingrich, and Unconventional View on Education".

In poverty stricken K-12 districts, Mr. Gingrich said that schools should enlist students as young as 9 to14 to mop hallways and bathrooms, and pay them a wage. Currently child-labor laws and unions keep poor students from bootstrapping their way into middle class, Mr. Gingrich said.

“This is something that no liberal wants to deal with,” he told an audience at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard on Friday, according to Politico.

“You say to somebody, you shouldn’t go to work before you’re what, 14, 16 years of age, fine,” Mr. Gingrich said. “You’re totally poor. You’re in a school that is failing with a teacher that is failing. I’ve tried for years to have a very simple model. Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.”

 AFT President Randi Weingarten puts it very simply:

“Who in their right mind would lay off janitors and replace them with disadvantaged children — who should be in school, and not cleaning schools,” Ms. Weingarten said. “And who would start backtracking on laws designed to halt the exploitation of children?”

UPDATE:

Newt apparently had some other things to say about children working outside of school as well:

He added, "You go out and talk to people, as I do, you go out and talk to people who are really successful in one generation. They all started their first job between nine and 14 years of age. They all were either selling newspapers, going door to door, they were doing something, they were washing cars."

"They all learned how to make money at a very early age," he said. "What do we say to poor kids in poor neighborhoods? Don't do it. Remember all that stuff about don't get a hamburger flipping job? The worst possible advice you could give to poor children. Get any job that teaches you to show up on Monday. Get any job that teaches you to stay all day even if you are in a fight with your girlfriend. The whole process of making work worthwhile is central."

The former House Speaker acknowledged that it was an unconventional pitch, saying, "You're going to see from me extraordinarily radical proposals to fundamentally change the culture of poverty in America and give people a chance to rise very rapidly."

To be fair, there is something to be said about young people getting jobs that helps to instills a sense of hard work, and appreciate what they earn.  Even if that means working for lower-wages, and doing more physically laborious tasks.  That are what jobs for younger people (who are being primary supported by parents and guardians) are supposed to be like. 

I hope that some of the ideas Mr. Gingrich is proposing, however, doesn't mean he wants to alter child-labor laws, as some are suggesting.   I also hope that Mr. Gingrich isn't simply suggesting that working as a child means that one will automatically rise out of poverty.  The primary causes of poverty are numerous and complex, and it is going to take a lot more than kids learning the meaning of hard work to combat it.

Corporate Whining: As American As Apple Pie

This graphic says it all:

 

 Photo from Mathematiques Noir

This Labor Day, Thank Unions

 

Picture comes from the blog Boiled Over

Today is Labor Day, a day where workers across the country get a well-deserved day off for all of the hard work they have done.  Of course, this doesn't count the millions of Americans work at a fast-food restaurants, major chain businesses, retail stores and other non-emergency sectors of industry that are open today.  This is a pretty unfortunate fact when considers the type of backbreaking work they often do, along with the low wages and lack of benefits they receive. They deserve the day off as much as anyone.  But I digress . . .

What most people don't realize (or forgot if they ever did) is that the history of Labor Day is rooted in the struggles of the American labor movement of the late 19th Century.  Labor Day, at it's core is a celebration of Unions.

"But why should we be grateful to unions," one might ask.  In fact, this is the type of question I get all of the time when I talk about my support of unions to friends and family.  They either see unions as unnecessary, a nuisance for workers and workplaces, or some combination of the two. Let me be the first to admit that there are (and have always been) unions that are either poorly run, fight for the wrong issues, or are just plain corrupt. That doesn't mean that the overwhelming majority of unions are that way.

As for the necessity of unions, it may not seem like unions are relevant given the decline of unions over the last 30 years (which, by the way, can be directly related to the decline of the American middle class).  But just as most individuals don't realize unions are behind the creation of Labor Day, most people don't realize that it was that gave workers so many rights and priveledges that benefit all American's today.  Here is an excerpt from the Big Corporation blog:

Let's get one thing straight...

Employers and Corporations did not feel generous and decide to give you two days off every week to have a social/personal life. (We now call them weekends). Corporations did not just feel like being nice one day and give their employees paid vacations. CEOs didn't get together in a board room and say "Let's give our employees more rights at work" or "Maybe there should be laws to limit our power over an employee".

Virtually ALL the benefits you have at work, whether you work in the public or private sector, all of the benefits and rights you enjoy everyday are there because unions fought hard and long for them against big business who did everything they could to prevent giving you your rights. Many union leaders and members even lost their lives for things we take for granted today.

Still curious how a Union has benefited you?  Take a look at this list (also from the Big Corporation blog), which lists what Unions have fought for, and won, through their activism:

1. Weekends
2. All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
3. Paid Vacation
4. FMLA
5. Sick Leave
6. Social Security
7. Minimum Wage
8. Civil Rights Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
9. 8-Hour Work Day
10. Overtime Pay
11. Child Labor Laws
12. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
13. 40 Hour Work Week
14. Worker's Compensation (Worker's Comp)
15. Unemployment Insurance
16. Pensions
17. Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
18. Employer Health Care Insurance
19. Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
20. Wrongful Termination Laws
21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
22. Whistleblower Protection Laws
23. Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
24. Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
25. Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
26. Sexual Harassment Laws
27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) 
28. Holiday Pay
29. Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
30. Privacy Rights
31. Pregnancy and Parental Leave
32. Military Leave
33. The Right to Strike
34. Public Education for Children
35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
36. Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States

This Labor Day, we as Americans need to be thankful for all of the good that Unions have done.  Unions may have their flaws, but we all need to recognize just how important they are for American workers. And after Labor Day, we need to stand up and fight for the relevancy and existence of Unions (just as they have been doing in Wisconsin).  In addition, we should support efforts for workers all of the country to create their own unions.  It's a tough battle, especially in these times when so many people don't even have a job to begin with; but it's a necessary battle.  Please do not take for granted the rights that American workers have, or they will slowly be lost.  Unless we fight for what is right, American workers will suffer the consequences.

I am Proud To Be in a Union!

 

Make no mistake about it, what is going on with the protests in Wisconsin is a very BIG DEAL!  

OK, so it is not as dramatic as what is going on countries like Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, and Tunisia.  Some have wanted  to compare Governor Walker to Mubarak or Gadafi, and compare the protests in Madison to the protests Tahrir Square.  These are not the same thing.  Not even close.  Anyone who compares Walker to Mubarak, or Hitler, or any other dictator are blowing things way out of proportion.  And no one who is protesting in Madison is risking their lives like the people protesting in Northern Africa or the Middle East.

Now that I have that out of the way, let's get back to the point that what is going on in Madison is still a BIG DEAL!  Make no mistake, what Governor Walker is trying to do is more than just a save money in the Wisconsin budget.  It is not as if the public-employee unions in Wisconsin are just being selfish, and aren't willing to compromise. Everyone understands these are hard times for state budgets, and the unions in Wisconsin have acknowledged this.   But what Walker is trying to do is bust the public-sector unions in the state of Wisconsin.  

This story is not only about the future of unions in Wisconsin, but it is also the beginning of a greater battle for the future of unions in the United States.  By no means are unions perfect, and I will not pretend that every union that has ever existed has fairly represented the interests of it's members.  Indeed, I will not pretend that I don't have some issues with the union I belong to.  Nonetheless, I understand that the value of unions are too important, and I am still damn proud to be a member of a union.  All things considered, unions are really the only groups left of any relative influence in our political process that can claim to stand up for the interests of working Americans, and not big business.  

 Why are unions so important?  Well, here is a video put out a few years ago by a group in Australia regarding some of the things unions have fought for over the years.  Some of what is discussed are exclusive to Australia, but a number of these things exist in the United States as well because of unions.

Last week, Rachel Maddow did a piece on her show about why the story in Wisconsin is so important to the future of labor, and why unions are so important to our republic, both now and throughout modern American history. 

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 Finally, I recommend this piece by Paul Krugman on the situation in Wisconsin.  Here is an excerpt:

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we’re a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we’re more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Given this reality, it’s important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.
You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.
There’s a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America’s oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

As I am writing this, I worry that someone who comes across this piece might think I am writing some type of left-wing propaganda.  Yes, I am a proud liberal, and I am sourcing two very prominent American liberals in this post (Maddow, Krugman).  But please, if you are reading this, I hope you will look at the bigger picture of what is going on with this story, regardless of what your politics are.  This is one of those issues that is beyond left and right.  It is more than a state budgetary matter.  It is about the influence of big business and corporations, and the future of working class Americans.  Whatever your politics are, if you are a working American, I ask you to understand the importance of this story.  Then, Get Mad!  Then, Get United!