This blog brought to you by someone from one of those grey states.
More info: Sexuality Education Policies by State
I was a bit surprised to see that I also grew up in a grey state. But, besides letting parents opt out and having changed to abstinence-based, apparently Virginia lets local school boards totally decide the curriculum now. No way that could go horribly wrong… :/
Not at all surprised that it’s gone way downhill since I was in school, though, with the way the political climate has gone in the meantime. It was actually fairly comprehensive and scientifically accurate 20 years ago.
(Source: sexandhealthandshit)
cultural genocide in North America
So much pain and wrongness came out of the “boarding schools”. But this attitude is not limited to them…
Diabetic high school girl beaten by police officer & arrested…for falling asleep in class
May 9, 2013A student who was arrested and beaten for falling asleep at school is now suing an Alabama city, its police department and some school employees for civil rights violation, battery and negligent supervision and hiring. After the diabetic student fell asleep while in a room reserved for “in school suspensions,” a school police officer slammed her face into a cabinet and then arrested her. The incident occurred at a high school in Hoover, Alabama.
Ashlynn Avery, who has diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea, was suspended for cutting class, and had to sit in the in-school suspension room. While she was reading “Huckleberry Finn,” she dozed off. First, the in-school suspension supervisor walked over to her cubicle and struck it, which caused the cubicle to hit Avery’s head, according to the lawsuit. She woke up, but soon fell back asleep. The supervisor, Joshua Whited, then took the book from her and slammed it into the student’s chest.
Avery was then told to leave the room, according to the complaint, and police officer Christopher Bryant followed her. Bryant slapped her backpack, and then “proceeded to shove Ashlynn face first into a file cabinet and handcuff her,” the complaint states. While in the car, Avery vomited. She was taken to a hospital and had to wear a cast as a result of her injuries.
“Ashlynn required follow-up care to her shoulder, arm, and wrist, Ashlynn also required extended mental counseling for trauma caused by the defendants,” the lawsuit states. The Averys are seeking “compensatory and punitive damages for civil rights violations, battery and negligent supervision and hiring,”.
The case is another example of abuses committed by school police officers. Activists have long decried the “school to prison pipeline” which disproportionately affects communities of color. A PBS factsheet, as the Courthouse News Service notes, states that “70 percent of students involved in ‘in-school’ arrests or referred to law enforcement are black or Latino.”
“When police (or ‘school resource officers’ as these sheriff’s deputies are often known) spend time in a school, they often deal with disorder like proper cops — by slapping cuffs on the little perps and dragging them to the precinct,” wrote Chase Madar in the wake of the Newtown massacre. The school shooting in Connecticut has sparked more calls—from both Democrats and the National Rifle Association—for more police officers in schools.
How the British say, “Sitcho Right Wing Ass Down.”
It’s also great to hear about living history from the people who lived it because, if you just read history textbooks, you’d be forgiven for thinking that women didn’t lead anything in the UK until Thatcher came along.
The Speaker was well versed in the book of “Bitch, You Tried It.”
And the lady giving that speech, Glenda Jackson, MP?
Welp!
FFFFFFFFF MR. SPEAKER THAT WAS A SICK BURRRNNNN!!!!!!
hooooooo shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit
listen i never make it through more than like 2 minutes of a video because, attention span, but i was transfixed through all of this, because that’s what happens when an alum of the royal shakespeare company(!!!!) decides to lay the smackdown on someone awful. and omg, the speaker at the end, it’s, just, this was exquisite.
magnificent
OH SNAP!
I have a few *minor* points to add: Mental institutions are horrible places and *no one* should be forced to be in one, but mental institution or homeless are not the only 2 options and if that’s the only choice your society can come up with UR Doin It Wrong.
I’m in the USA, but the situation in schools is so true here too. If you’re not in the wealthy parts of town - then paper, markers, and the like are rationed, and you often need to arrange fundraising yourself to get enough.
So…
I’m finished with University for the semester! My last final was on Thursday morning, but it’s taken me a while to get back to being relatively recovered.
^_^
Courses really take a lot out of me. Like there’s parts of me that are just now waking up again after 3 months of disassociation and pain. And my heart is doing normal things again. :) It’s mostly because (almost) everything in college is dependant on writing and language, which I can do but it takes tons of extra effort (aka Spoons).
But I’m still working over the winter break - but honestly I’m looking forward to it. And it seems like a break to me. I’ve never had a job that burned me out.
So here is the point I’m coming to. Anyone who says “How can you do well at a job when you can’t even do well in college” or “school prepares you for the real world” is talking BS. School and the rest of the world require totally different sets of skills - heck, two different jobs can require almost the opposite set of skills from eachother.
Anyway, looking at a situation and being able to make it better doesn’t have to work the same way as writing an essay.
I know we’re all sick of politics. And, I want to make it clear that this is NOT a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, etc, specific issue. This is something that will affect ALL Californians no matter your political party.
If you live in California…
Signal Boosting for my California followers to look this stuff up.
For my Arizona people: Prop 204 does a similar thing - puts a whole bunch of money towards Education.
That’s what schooling generally is, I suppose. It’s a period of regimentation and control, part of which involves direct indoctrination, providing a system of false beliefs. But more importantly, I think, is the manner and style of preventing and blocking independent and creative thinking and imposing hierarchies and competitiveness and the need to excel, not in the sense of doing as well as you can, but doing better than the next person.
Noam Chomsky, The Chomsky Reader (via radioheadofficial)
(Source: perscientiamlibertas)
Senator’s phone numbers at the link.
Or if you can’t call - consider e-mailing your Senator - the more people that put pressure the better.
Senator’s e-mail can usually be found by google-ing their name.
re: President Obama’s executive order granting administrative relief to DREAMers/DREAM Act eligible students
If you meet the necessary requirements for the deferred action process, in 60 days when the official forms come out,…
