Center for the Study of Jobs & Education in Wisconsin and United States
www.jobseducationwis.org Welcome to the Center - Director Dennis W. Redovich Redovich@execpc.com Reports and commentaries are available by clicking on the titles from 295 to 59 below. Most of these commentaries and reports have been posted on www.EducationNews.org
Educational Consultant and Public Speaker (414)421-1120
Dennis W. Redovich retired
as Director of Research, Planning and Development from the Milwaukee Area
Technical College in 1991 after 28 years of service. He served as Assistant or
Special Assistant to four presidents of MATC (Emeritus President Parkinson and
Presidents Ramsey, Taibl and Slicker) 1969 to 1991 He has taught chemistry and
math at three Wisconsin high schools (Clinton, Wilmot, Whitefish Bay) and
chemistry at MATC, UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University. Education:
B.S. University of Wisconsin-Madison 1955, M.S. University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 1960, M.A.T. Indiana University 1963, Ed.D. Marquette
University 1971.
Click to order book published -The Big Con in Education: Why must "all" high school graduates be prepared for college? By Dennis W. Redovich universe Inc. July 2005
The following reports and commentaries are available by clicking on the titles below
295 Wisconsin
Projections of Employment 2006 to 2016: Education and Training
By Dennis W. Redovich June 2008
The great numbers of high paying jobs of the future that are claimed to
require college graduation and high academic skills for all high school students
are a hoax. The majority of the jobs of the future in Wisconsin and the United
States are low or average paying jobs that require short term or moderate-term
on the job training and do not require high-level academic skills in any
academic areas, particularly in higher mathematics.
294 What is the Rationale for Requiring Higher Mathematics Proficiency for All K-12 Students? By Dennis W. Redovich March 2008
Higher mathematics, except as an extremely important college entrance requirement, may be the most insignificant academic subject taken by students in elementary and secondary schools. Higher mathematics proficiency is not important for everyday living nor is it required for more than 90% of jobs. But high stakes mathematics testing and higher mathematics course requirements are being used to retain students in lower elementary grades and prevent students from graduation from 8th Grade and high school. Why is testing math proficiency more important than any other academic subject, other than reading, at every level of K-12 education?
293 The 400 Richest Americans in 2007: The Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer and United States Education is the Scapegoat By Dennis W. Redovich February 2008
291 United States Employment Projections 2006-2016 By Dennis W Redovich January 2008
This report consists of an analysis of the top 203 occupations in the United States in employment projected for 2016 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics November 2007. As shown in Table I below, these 203 occupations are projected to total 135,884,000 employment in 2016, or 81.7% of total employment (166,220,000) in all occupations in the United States projected for 2016.
290 United States Occupations Projected with Largest Job Growth 2006-2016 By Dennis W. Redovich January 2008
The 30 occupations with the largest projected job growth 2006 to 2016 in the United States shown in Table I “account for about half of all job openings due to growth: 8.1 million of the projected 17.4 million job openings (total for all occupations)”
289
Math & Science Employment and Employment Projections by Required Education
and Training Levels in the United States 2006-2016
By Dennis W. Redovich December 2007
This is the first of a series of Center reports that will be prepared from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U. S. Employment Projections 2006-2016 published in the Monthly Labor Review November 2007.
288
Nobel Prizes in Science: U.S. Science Education the World’s Best
The United States leads the world in technology, scientific research and the quality of its scientists because U.S. science education is the worlds best. From 1950 to 2007 Americans have won 208 or 57% of the 363 Nobel Prizes awarded in Medicine, Physics and Chemistry.
287
Just Another Big Con: The Crisis in Mathematics and Science Education
What is the rationale for all United States high students passing three advanced courses in math and science to receive a high school diploma? What is the rationale for “all” high school graduates satisfying the requirements for admission to a four-college program? There is none!
286
Summary-Wisconsin Technical College System 2006 Graduates By District
By Dennis W. Redovich August 2007
The Wisconsin Technical College annual follow-up reports reflect the reality of employment in the State of Wisconsin and the U.S. and not the hype from the universities and business interests about the so-called high tech jobs of the future, the new information based economy and the shortage of educated skilled workers that is reported in the popular media. The data in this report for each of the 16 WTCS Districts was obtained from the WTCS System, Madison Wisconsin.
285
Milwaukee Area Technical College 2006 Graduate Follow-Up
Milwaukee
Area Technical College numbers of graduates by program and enrollments by
instructional divisions were obtained from the Wisconsin WTCS System. The
summary table 1, Summary 2006 Milwaukee
Area Technical College Graduate Follow-Up (pages 2 to 5) was prepared
from data provided by the Wisconsin WTCS System.
284 Wisconsin Technical College System Graduate Report 2006 By Dennis W. Redovich May 2007
The Wisconsin Technical College annual follow-up reports reflect the reality of employment in the State of Wisconsin and the U.S. and not the hype from the universities and business interests about the so-called high tech jobs of the future, the new information based economy and the shortage of educated skilled workers that is reported in the popular media.
283
The Spurious Shortage of Knowledge Based Workers in Wisconsin
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel April 2007 article, “Regents to revise admissions” and subsequent articles indicated that the University of Wisconsin System Regents had agreed to accept race as one factor in admissions to all UW System universities. The objective is to increase the numbers of minorities admitted to the UW-System. There would be no change in using academic achievement as the most important factor in admissions at all UW-System universities.
282
The Top High Schools in Wisconsin 2003 to 2006
The May 28, 2006
Edition of Newsweek, lists the “The Top 100 High Schools” in America in
2006. The rankings of the top 1,253 of 27,468 public high schools in America
have been ranked according to a ratio devised by Washington Post education
writer Jay Mathews. Fourteen of the top 1,253 public high schools in America in
2006 are located in the State of Wisconsin (Table I) and fourteen of the top
1,200 in 2005 (Table 2) and thirteen of the 1,061 in 2004 (Table 3) and
nine of the top 804 public high schools in 2003 (Table 4) that had a
ratio of 1.000 or above were located in Wisconsin. Milwaukee
Rufus King was overwhelmingly the top rated high school in Wisconsin in 2006
2005, 2004 and 2003. The Milwaukee Public Schools as a District are often
labeled “failing schools” without challenge by the Milwaukee media, Choice
school politicians and the business interests.
281
What is the Rationale for Requiring Higher Math and Science for
All?
By Dennis W. Redovich April 2007
What
is the rationale for all Wisconsin and United States high school students
passing three advanced courses in math and science to receive a high school
diploma? What is the rationale for “all” high school graduates satisfying
the requirements for admission to a four-college program? There is none!
280 Just Another Big Con: The World is Flat in a Global Information Based Economy By Dennis W. Redovich- Original April 2006 Revised January 2007
The motivation for this piece is the book; The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, N.Y. Times foreign affairs columnist. The book has been on the bestseller list for 93 weeks (January 2007) and was number 1 on the list for numerous weeks in 2005 and 2006. The false conclusions stated in this book that claim American public education is failing, particularly in math and science education, have been highlighted in the media without challenge. President Bush and all the 2008 presidential contenders, Republican and Democratic repeat the hogwash claims of a crisis in American education.
279
An Evaluation of the Education Week Quality Counts 2007:
278 Milwaukee Area Technical College Graduates 2003 to 2006
By Dennis W. Redovich March 2007
Milwaukee Area Technical College numbers of graduates and by program and enrollments by instructional divisions were obtained from the Wisconsin WTCS System. The analysis of MATC 2003 to 2006 graduates in this report and the six tables in this report came from data provided by the Wisconsin WTCS System
277
Milwaukee Choice Schools 2006-2007
The State of Wisconsin in 2006-07 is projected to spend $110.5 million on 124 approved City of Milwaukee Choice schools. The 2006-07 MPCP state aid amount is the 2005-06 $6,351 per student increased by $200 to equal a $6,501 maximum voucher amount per student for 2006-07. “Milwaukee Public School Board President Joe Dannecker said that $7.6 million of the $16.5 million increase in the amount of property tax to be collected for schools this year is due to the voucher program, and that each voucher student increased property tax collections by $447, while each MPS student increased collections by $91.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 11/21/06 p.9A)
276
Nobel Prizes in Science: U.S. Science Education the World’s Best
The United States leads the world in technology, scientific research and the quality of its scientists because U.S. science education is the worlds best. From 1950 to 2006 Americans have won 206 or 58% of the 357 Nobel Prizes awarded in Medicine, Physics and Chemistry. In October 2006, Americans were awarded all five of the Nobel Prizes for science achievement.
275
Wisconsin Employment Projections 2004-2014: Top 100 Occupations in Wisconsin And Summary of
Wisconsin 2004-2014 Employment
Projections
274 The
400 Richest Americans: Jobs and Education in the United States
By Dennis W. Redovich
September 2006
Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans in 2006 consists exclusively of people worth $1 billion or more. As a group, the 400 are worth a record $1.25 trillion compared to $1.13 trillion last year. The media highlights the richest American each year, Bill Bates a Harvard dropout, who increased his wealth from $51 billion to $53 billion from 2005 to 2006 However the media ignores America’s richest family, five Walton’s who have a combined Wal-Mart fortune of $77.9 billion in 2006.
273
Wisconsin Employment Projections 2004-2014: Job Titles Requiring Math and
Science Education By
Dennis W. Redovich September 2006
This report is the second of three reports the Center will prepare analyzing the Wisconsin Projections 2004-2014 of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. This report analyzes the occupational job titles that typically require higher math and science education. Less than 5% of jobs in Wisconsin and the United States require higher math and science preparation.
272
Wisconsin Projections of Employment 2004 to 2014: Education and Training
The great numbers of high paying jobs of the future that are claimed to require college graduation and high academic skills for all high school students are a hoax. The majority of the jobs of the future in Wisconsin and the United States are low or average paying jobs that require short term or moderate-term on the job training and do not require high-level academic skills in any academic areas, particularly in higher mathematics.
271
Jobs and Education: The Big Hoax in Wisconsin and the United States
By Dennis W. Redovich
August 2006
269 The 2005 Output of the Wisconsin Technical College System By Dennis W. Redovich May 2006
The Wisconsin Technical College annual follow-up reports reflect the reality of employment in the State of Wisconsin and the U.S. and not the hype from the universities and business interests about the so-called high tech jobs of the future, the new information based economy and the phony shortage of educated skilled workers that is reported in the popular media.
268
The Best High Schools in the State of Wisconsin
2005
By Dennis W.
Redovich May 22, 2006
267
Just Another Big Con: Jobs and Education in the United States: United States
Employment Projections 2004-2014:
There is an impending job crisis in the United States, fallaciously attributed to failing American education.
267A Math & Science Employment in the United States 2004-2014, Top 30 Job Titles in Numbers of Workers Employed 2004 and Projected to 2014 By Dennis W. Redovich April 2006 (Revised June 2006)
This report is Part 2 of and a continuation of commentary and report 267 Just Another Big Con: Jobs and Education in the United States: United States Employment Projections 2004-2014:
266 Just Another Big Con: The World is Flat in a Global Information Based Economy By Dennis W. Redovich April 2006
The motivation for this piece is the book; The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, N.Y. Times foreign affairs columnist. The book has been on the bestseller list for 50 weeks (April 2006) and has been number 1 on the list for numerous weeks in 2005, including the month of October.
265 Just Another Big Con: A Review of Achieve Inc.2006 Report, “Closing the Expectations Gap”, 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of High School Policies with the Demands of College and Work By Dennis W. Redovich February 2006
The words con, deceive, mislead, misinform and bogus can
appropriately be used to describe the Achieve Inc. report, “Closing the
Expectations Gap”, 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of High School
Policies with the Demands of College and Work. The February 2006 report provid
264A
Just Another Big Con: The Crisis in Mathematics and Science Education
263
Brief Review of the Absolutely Useless Education Week’s Grading of the States
Quality Counts 2006 By Dennis W. Redovich January 2006
The Education Week January 2005 Quality Counts 2005 is divided into two sections. “Financial Evolution” examines the special theme of this year’s report and the “State of the States” section. The State of State section provides State Report Cards and State Profiles of education policy for each state.
262
Summary of Presentation at Meeting of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors
Committee on School Reform: The War Against the Milwaukee Public Schools
The MPS District was one of the best large urban School Districts 1937 to 1951 when I attended MPS schools and it is one of the best large urban districts in the U.S. in 2006.
261
Corporate Greed: Global Corporations Outsourcing High Tech Jobs for Cheap Labor
While Bashing American Education
By Dennis W. Redovich December 2005
The United
States is the uncontested leader of the world in scientific research in respect
to published accomplishments, Nobel Prizes, volume of research and expenditures
on scientific research. The United States is the leader of the world in
technology and the unchallenged leader of the world in the global economy. The
United States dominates the world because of its educational systems, including
K-12 public education, post-secondary colleges and universities that produce the
most highly educated, productive and successful workforce in the world.
259
Wal-Mart and Public Education: Corporate greed in the United States and
the world By
Dennis W. Redovich November 2005
In
the United States today,
over 500 times what their employees earn. The result is that the top 1% in the
U.S. now owns more wealth than the bottom 95% and we have by far the most
unfair distribution of wealth and income in the industrialized world.
258B White Paper:: UW and WTCS Graduates By Dennis W. Redovich November 2000
The Center for the Study of
Jobs and Education in the State of Wisconsin has done an analysis of the
graduates of the UW-Madison 1990 to 2000 and UW-Milwaukee 1989 to 1999 from data
obtained from their web sites and from the UW-Madison Department of Student
Tabulations. The analysis includes trends in numbers of graduates by School and
College and by major. Special attention was given to majors related to high tech
job related fields such as computers, science and math and biotechnology.
258
Public Education and University Research
By Dennis W. Redovich October 2005
Prologue: University research is claimed to be the panacea for the nation’s education, and economic problems and the creation of high paying jobs. In Milwaukee the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the business interests claim that increasing research funding to UWM alone will create significant numbers of new employers and high paying jobs in Milwaukee. Public education and poorly educated workers are used as the scapegoats for all of Milwaukee’s social, economic and employment problems,
257 Dennis Redovich 'Takes Five' His views of education policy aren't conventional From the Oct. 13, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Call Dennis Redovich a contrarian. The retired Milwaukee Area Technical College researcher is a passionate advocate for views that challenge the main thrust of education policy-making today.
256
Greed, Selfishness and Moral Arrogance are Weapons of Mass Destruction for the
Big Con in Education
In the United States in 2005, greed, selfishness
and moral arrogance are being used as weapons of mass destruction against public
education and public health and social services. Tax breaks for the rich,
corporate welfare and no increases of taxes of any kind, regardless of need, are
of the highest priority for the holier than thou politicians and electorate of
the United States.
255 United States Job Crisis By Dennis W. Redovich September 2005
There is an impending serious economic and job crisis in the United States and Wisconsin. The economic conditions of the 1930’s and the maldistribution of wealth are being replicated in a high tech and so-called information based global economy.
254
INTERVIEW with Dennis W. Redovich
Author The Big Con in Education Why
must “all” high school graduates be prepared for college?”Copyright 2005
Dennis W. Redovich
253 Just Another Education Con: Higher math requirements for “all” k-12 students and high school graduates By Dennis W. Redovich August 2005
The math wars and the bashing of American public education over test scores on standardized math tests are nonsense and are much ado about nothing. The claimed math crisis in the United States by public school critics is based on insignificant standardized test scores and bogus analysis of international math test results by country.
252
Why must all high school graduates be prepared for college?
By Dennis W. Redovich July
2005
The inspiration for this piece is a July 13 Education week article, “Dual Enrollment Spanning the Border Between High School and College—And Reshaping the Landscape of Public Education” By Piedad F. Robertson.
The
State of Wisconsin in FY2004 is projected to spend at least $76.2 million on 115
approved City of Milwaukee Choice schools, 45% of this amount ($34.3 million)
will come from state aids deducted from the Milwaukee Public Schools state aid
and the rest ($41.9 million) will come from the state general fund. The 2003-04
MPCP state aid amount is the 2002-03 amounts of $5,783 per student increased by
$99 to equal $5,822 per FTE
250
The 2004 Output of the Wisconsin Technical College System
By
Dennis W. Redovich May 2005
The Wisconsin Technical College annual follow-up reports reflect the reality of employment in the State of Wisconsin and the U.S. and not the hype from the universities and business interests about the so-called high tech jobs of the future, the new information based economy and the phony shortage of educated skilled workers that is reported in the popular media.
248
Choice Schools in Milwaukee and the War Against Public Education
By Dennis W. Redovich May 2005
247
The Crisis in American Mathematics Education: Much Ado About Nothing
By Dennis W. Redovich May 2005
The
inspiration for this piece is an April 27, 2005 Education Week article, The
Real Scandal in American School Mathematics, by Anthony Ralston. Anthony
Ralston is a professor emeritus of computer science and mathematics at State
University of New York at Buffalo. He lives in London England.
245
Insane too mild a term for high states testing in mathematics By Dennis W.
Redovich March 2005
The inspiration for this piece is an article, Math Emerges as Big
Hurdle for Teenagers, H.S. Improvement Hinges on Critical Subject by Debra
Viadero, Education Week, published March 23, 2005.
A few quotes from this article that follow illustrate the insanity of
high stakes testing in math prevalent in the United States in 2005. The
writer’s comments about high stakes testing and requirements in math follow
the quotes.
244
The Continuing Fallacious Belittling of American Public Schools
By Dennis W. Redovich March 2005
The writer has been reading newspaper articles and commentaries or reports that claim that American K-12 public schools are failing and that public schools of the “past” were superior to current public schools since the1960s. The specific time period when schools were better (the 40s, 50s, 60s 70s etc.) or the valid factual data that proves them better are never stated. The continuing fallacious total belittling of American K-12 public schools in 2005, without any exceptions, is unbelievable.
The Phony Intellectualism of Diane Ravitch By Dennis W. Redovich September 2000
243
Proposed High School Reform in the United States is Based on Hogwash
By
Dennis W. Redovich March 2005
The great numbers of high paying jobs of the future that are claimed to require college graduation and high academic skills for all high school students are a hoax. The majority of the jobs of the future in Wisconsin and the United States are low or average paying jobs that require short term or moderate-term on the job training and do not require high-level academic skills in any academic areas, particularly in higher mathematics. 242 Message to Washington: Eliminating Successful Programs Won’t Make them Stronger Why the Carl Perkins and the Adult and Family Literacy Programs Must Be Saved By Paul Gabriel With a preface by Dennis Redovich February 2005
The war against public education in the United States is being callously waged, using useless high stakes standardized tests as weapons, by the Bush Administration. And now the opponents of public education have targeted vocational education and the Perkins Act for vocational education for devastation. It is unbelievable and appalling because there is absolutely no rational reason for national high stakes academic testing for vocational or K-12 public education in the United States.
The
weapons of mass destruction of the economy of the U.S. are greed, self-interest
and moral arrogance. They are being used as weapons of mass destruction against
public education and public health and social services. Tax breaks for the rich,
corporate welfare and no increases of taxes of any kind, regardless of need, are
of the highest priority for the holier than thou politicians and electorate of
the United States.
239
Commentary on Jobs and Education in the United States
The
writer will spend the next few months updating and revising his book “The Big
Con in Education” in an effort to get it published. It said by critics and
some friends of Dennis Redovich that he repeats the same points over and over
again in his writings. And that is true. The reason being that the critics and
enemies of public education in the United States of all persuasions keep
reiterating the same criticisms of public schools over and over again and the
popular media keeps reporting them without serious challenge.
238
An Evaluation of Education Week’s Quality Counts 2005 Report: Financial
Evolution
By Dennis W. Redovich January 2005
The Education Week January 2005 Quality Counts 2005 is divided into two sections. “Financial Evolution” examines the special theme of this year’s report and the “State of the States” section. The Center’s evaluation of the “Financial Evolution” section of Quality Counts 205 is presented in this commentary. The report was found to be inadequate because the report completely ignores the primary reason for large increases in K-12 education expenditures, business operational costs and state and local expenditures, which is healthcare insurance for employees and retirees.
188 Education Week’s Grading of the States Quality Counts 2004 Receives a Grade of F By Dennis W. Redovich January 2004
237
Part II School Reforms in the United States: Charter Schools are a Hoax
236
Part I School Reforms in the United States:
Standardized Testing, Charter Schools and High Standards For All are a
Hoax
The
use of K-12 public schools as the scapegoat for any current or envisaged future
social, economic and employment problems of the United States has reached a
culmination in the 21st Century.
This is a continuation of the never-ending disparagement of American K-12
public education in the 20th Century.
235
Unbelievable International Math Testing and the War on Public Education
One of the primary weapons used in the war against American public education is the spurious analysis of standardized test results of any kind on any academic subject that can be construed to show that K-12 schools in the United States are failing. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 math test is an excellent example of a ridiculous test that has absolutely no validated proficiency levels to assess the abilities in math of 15-year olds from 41 countries.
234 The War Against the Poor, Lower Middle Class and Public Education in the United States By Dennis W. Redovich December 2004
Grandpa and Grandma Redovich enjoyed a grand Thanksgiving holiday with the families of their son and four daughters that includes sixteen grandchildren ages’ 3 months to 17 years. Grandpa is very confident that all sixteen grandchildren will prosper in life like their parents and grandparents. But the economic future of the United States in the near future is frightening. The most vulnerable to an economic depression in the United States are the elderly and poor and lower middle class adults and children. And it has nothing to do with public education.
233
What is the Rationale for Requiring Higher Mathematics Proficiency for All K-12
Students?
By Dennis W. Redovich November
2004
Higher mathematics,
except as an extremely important college entrance requirement, may be the most
insignificant academic subject taken by students in elementary and secondary
schools. Higher mathematics proficiency is not important for everyday living nor
is it required for more than 90% of jobs. But high stakes mathematics testing
and higher mathematics course requirements are being used to retain students in
lower elementary grades and prevent students from graduation from 8th
Grade and high school. Why is testing math proficiency more important than any
other academic subject, other than reading, at every level of K-12 education?
232
The Wars of the World and the United States in the 21st Century
The United States national government under George W. Bush is an active participant in a military world war against terrorism, a world economic war for economic superiority and a war against public education in the United States.
231
The War Against Public Education and the War for Economic Superiority in a
Global Economy By Dennis W. Redovich
November 2004
230
The Myths of the Global Economy and Job Evolution in the United States
By Dennis W. Redovich
November 2004
The myths of the high tech, high skill and high pay jobs of
the future have survived and flourished since the 1960’s.
The
New Economy is the fiction of the economists and the casino royal players on
Wall Street. The most frequent business media story line from the
1960’s to the 2000s is that there is an impending serious skilled worker
shortage in the 21st Century because it was projected with certainty
that the number of high skill jobs would significantly increase and the number
of high skill worker retirees would eventually exceed the number of new workers.
Unbelievably, the myths of the 1960’s are still being highlighted without
challenge by the media in 2004.
229
What is the Big Con in Education?
There is no crisis in education in Wisconsin or the
United States; there are problems that require immediate attention. There
is an impending serious economic and job crisis in the United States and
Wisconsin. The economic conditions of the 1930’s and the maldistribution of
wealth are being replicated in a high tech and so-called information based
global economy. The majority of the jobs of the future in Wisconsin (2002 to
2012) as well as the United States will be in short-term on the job training
(one month or less) or moderate length on the job training (one to twelve months
with informal training) jobs. The great majority of jobs do not require above
average academic skills, most particularly in mathematics.
The
great numbers of high paying jobs of the future that are claimed to require
college graduation and high academic skills for all high school students are a
hoax. The majority of the jobs of the future in Wisconsin and the United States
are low or average paying jobs that require short term or moderate-term on the
job training and do not require high-level academic skills in any academic
areas, particularly in higher mathematics.
227
Nobel Prizes in Science: U.S. Science Education the World’s Best
By Dennis W. Redovich
October 2004
The United States leads the world in
technology, scientific research and the quality of its scientists because U.S.
science education is the worlds best. From
1951 to 2004 Americans have won 191 or 56% of the 342 Nobel Prizes awarded in
Medicine, Physics and Chemistry. In October 2004 the Americans were awarded six
of the eight Nobel Prizes for science achievement. The country of citizenship of
Nobel Prize winners in 2004 is; Medicine: American 2, Physics: American 3,
Chemistry: American 1, Israel 2. (See page 2 Nobel Prizes in Science 1951 to
2004)
226
The Big Con in Education: Public schools are being used as scapegoats for the
economic and social problems of the United States By Dennis
W. Redovich October 2004
There is an impending serious economic and job crisis in the United States and Wisconsin. The economic conditions of the 1930’s and the maldistribution of wealth are being replicated in a high tech and so-called information based global economy. As will be shown in this report, the majority of the jobs of the future in Wisconsin (2002 to 2012) as well as the United States will be in short-term on the job training (one month or less) or moderate length on the job training (one to twelve months with informal training) jobs. These jobs are often lower paying jobs that do not require high academic skills or higher education.
225
Wal-Mart: The ultimate of corporate
greed and selfishness in the United States and the world By Dennis W. Redovich October 2004
In the United States today,
CEOs of major corporations make over 500 times what their employees earn. The
result is that the top 1% in the U.S. now owns more wealth than the bottom 95%
and we have by far the most unfair distribution of wealth and income in the
industrialized world.
224
Analysis of Milwaukee Charter Schools 2003-04 Wisconsin Comprehensive 3rd
Grade Reading Test Results By
Dennis W. Redovich September 2004
The author’s analysis of the reading proficiency levels of Milwaukee Charter schools, including instrumentality and non-instrumentality Charter schools established by the Milwaukee School Board, Charter schools established by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the City of Milwaukee concludes the following. It is impossible to compare the quality of instruction of “all” Charter schools to “all” regular public schools based on the average test scores of any size sample of schools. Valid evaluations can only be made on “individual” Charter schools or regular public schools that include student characteristics and multiple measures of academic achievement. Designating any school to be a Charter or Choice school does not make the school superior to any public school. Regular MPS public schools compare favorably to Charter schools on State of Wisconsin tests.
221
Job Growth Hype and Reality: Analysis of August 2004 BLS Employment Report by Dennis W. Redovich September 2004
The Bush administration, the business interests and the stock market entrepreneurs have been boasting about U.S. job gains in the last few months to enhance their own greedy self-interests. The media is unquestioningly reporting the BLS monthly employment reports as if the gains after several years of job losses are significant and that an impending job boom is imminent. It is nothing but hype. Reality is that the recent gains in employment are a blip of a majority of lower quality jobs in an economy that will continue to be stagnant and lose and gain jobs in economic cycles.
220
The Big Cons (Lies) in Education Are Alive and Well in the U.S.
"In order
for somebody to undertake a Big Lie, they must first believe Niccolo
Machiavelli's premise (in "The Prince," 1532) that the end justifies
the means.” (The end goal
of critics of American education is the privatization and obliteration of public
education, a government monopoly) “Two steps were necessary to promote a
Big Lie so that the majority of the people in a nation would believe it. ----
The first was to reduce an issue to a simple black-and-white choice that
"even the most feebleminded could understand." “The second was to
repeat the oversimplification over and over. If these two steps were followed,
people would always come to believe the Big Lie.” (What Would
Machiavelli Do? The Big Lie Lives On, Thom Hartmann CommonDreams.org)
219
Just Another Big Con: Charter schools are better than public schools anytime and
anywhere
By Dennis W. Redovich August 2004
The inspiration for this piece is the hysterical critical reaction to a August 17 NY Times article about an American Federation of Teachers analysis of NAEP charter school achievement data (which is presented in the same way NAEP results are typically reported) that shows charter school students mostly under perform and sometimes score about as well as regular public school students. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, the creator of the Texas miracle that turned out to be a scam, says with no evidence that the AFT study is flawed. Flawed may be too mild a term to describe some of the pro-charter and anti-public school research done by well-fed conservative think tank researchers. .
218
A review of the Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian book, “Why is Corporate America
Bashing Our Public Schools”, Heinemann 2004
217
Job Growth and Education: Hype and Reality in the United States
By Dennis W. Redovich
August 2004
216
Greed, Selfishness and Moral Arrogance and the War Against Public Education By
Dennis W. Redovich August 2004
The inspirations for this piece are two major July 31 national media stories about the American economy, “Federal deficit to hit all time high of $445 billion this year”, and “Economy slows to 3% GDP growth”. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ($10.5 trillion or $10,446 billion in 2003) is not growing as fast as the rate of growth of the national debt (6%) to more than $7 Trillion dollars ($7,000 billion) at the end of FY 2004. (U.S. Treasury July 2004) The interest on the national debt that has been declining since 2000, ($361 billion) to $315 billion in FY 2003 and $275 billion in FY 2004 only because interest rates are at record lows. (www.publicdebt.treas.gov/, July 2004)
215
Education Trust Analysis of Vocational Education Perkins Bills:
NOT GOOD ENOUGH is Baloney By Dennis W. Redovich July 2004
An Education Trust article posted
on EducationNews.org on July 23, 2004 “Current Perkins Bills: NOT GOOD
ENOUGH” is the inspiration for this piece. The Education Trust says, “Right now, the federal program (known as “Perkins”) is
at best ambiguous and ambivalent about the need to ensure that vocational
education programs integrate strong academics along with more narrow technical
and vocational skills.”
All high school
graduates – regardless of whether they plan to enter college or go directly
into the workforce – need strong reading, writing, and math skills.
These bedrock skills of lifelong learning are an absolute necessity for
our future citizens, soldiers, and workforce.
Baloney! Nothing
could be further from the truth!
214
Wisconsin Third Grade Reading Results 2003-04, Milwaukee Public Schools and
Milwaukee Private Charter Schools By
Dennis W. Redovich July 2004
Since 1989, the Wisconsin Reading Comprehension Test (formerly called the Third Grade Reading Test) has been administered annually at grade 3 to help school districts identify students who may need additional assistance to improve their reading comprehension skills. Beginning in 1998, while continuing to identify students who may be in need of remediation, the test also identifies advanced, proficient, basic, and minimal reading performance levels. Since 2001-02 the Wisconsin Reading Comprehension Test has been administered to UWM and City of Milwaukee Charter Schools.
213
United States Science Education Is the World’s Best
The critical rhetoric from the
business interests and their hired hand consultants and economists about
American workers at all levels of education and skill has been going on forever.
The business media in the 21st Century, as it has forever, reiterates
the complaints of employers about the quality of American workers and the
shortage of so-called skilled workers without serious challenge. .
212
Job Growth and Education: Hype and Reality in the United States
The Bush administration, the business interests and the stock market entrepreneurs have been boasting about U.S. job gains in the last few months to enhance their own greedy self-interests. The media is unquestioningly reporting the BLS monthly employment reports as if the gains after several years of job losses are significant and that an impending job boom is imminent. It is nothing but hype. Reality is that the recent gains in employment are a blip of a majority of lower quality jobs in an economy that will continue to be stagnant and lose and gain jobs in economic cycles.
By Center Advisory Board Member Daniel Pryzbyla July 2004 (Posted www.EducationNews.org 7/5/04)
Dismantling government public services and replacing them with privatization has never been a secret of Republican neoconservatives. Still, feeding at the taxpayers’ trough uses lots of deception.
American public education and workers are increasingly being used as scapegoats for the social, economic and employment problems of the United States. Outrageously, public education alone has been designated as responsible for alleviating “all” of the serious social, economic and employment problems of the United States. The following statements summarize the absolute nonsense that is printed everyday in the American media.
210
Top 206 Job Titles for Employment in the United States in 2012
209
Jobs and Education and Irrational School Reform
American public education and workers are increasingly being used as scapegoats for all of the social, economic and employment problems of the United States. Unbelievably, both liberal and conservative critics of public schools from the universities, business interests and government claim there is a crisis in K-12 education and drastic school reforms are required in “all” K-12 school systems for “all” students. The bashing of schools is an American tradition. Unfortunately, in the 21st Century too many school reforms are irrational, are harmful to poor students and are based on false premises.
207
Job Growth and Education: Hype and Reality in the United States
The Bush administration, the business interests and the stock market entrepreneurs are boasting about U.S. job gains in the last few months to enhance their own greedy self-interests. The media is unquestioningly reporting the BLS monthly employment reports as if the gains after several years of job losses are significant and that an impending job boom is imminent. It is nothing but hype. Reality is that the current gains in employment are a blip of a majority of lower quality jobs in an economy that will continue to be stagnant and lose and gain jobs in economic cycles.
206
No Child Left Behind Act and High Stakes Proficiency Testing is a Scam
By Dennis W. Redovich
May 2004
What is the rationale for requiring that all public 3rd to 12th grade public school students in the United States score at a “proficient” or advanced level on reading and math by the year 2014? (This excludes limited English proficient and special needs students) What is the rationale to severely sanction schools who receive NCLB Title I funds if they fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP)? A school can fail if a sufficient percentage of all its students or its students in any one defined group—low income, limited English proficient, racial ethnic minority (African American, Hispanic Asian, Native American Indian), or students with disabilities – do not reach the proficient level in either math or reading, or if it does not test 95 percent of its students in any category.
205
Closing the Achievement Gap: School Reform is Not a Panacea
204
The Never Ending Bashing of the Milwaukee Public Schools
By
Dennis W. Redovich May 2004
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel education reporters and editorial writer Gregory Stanford consistently belittle the quality of the Milwaukee Public Schools whenever possible. Unfortunately, the primary source of information about the Milwaukee Public Schools available to the citizens of the Milwaukee Area, State of Wisconsin and the United States is the only major newspaper, the Journal Sentinel.
203
Rethinking and Devastating High School Vocational Education
By Dennis W. Redovich May 2004
The war against public education in the United States is being callously waged, using ineffectual high stakes standardized tests as weapons, by the Bush Administration and conservative foundations such as the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and numerous others. And now the opponents of public education have targeted vocational education and the Perkins Act for vocational education for devastation. It is unbelievable because there is absolutely no rational reason for national high stakes academic testing for vocational or K-12 public education in the United States and to require that “all” high school vocational students enroll in and pass high-level academic courses
202 The 2003 Output of the
Wisconsin Technical College System
The Wisconsin
Technical College annual follow-up reports reflect the reality of employment in
the State of Wisconsin and the U.S. and not the hype from the universities and
business interests about the so-called high tech jobs of the future and the
phony shortage of educated skilled workers that is reported in the popular
media. The
data in this report comes from state reports such as the annual Wisconsin
Technical College Graduate Follow-up prepared by WTCS Board staff that is one of
the finest in the U.S and is a source of data for this report. The “2002-03
Graduate Follow-up “April 2004, (www.wtcsystem.org
Publications) reflects only those students who graduate.
201
Commentary on “Losing Our Edge” A New York Times Op-Ed
One of the most unintelligent, if it isn’t the worst, Editorial page Op-Ed column on American education I have ever read is “Losing Our Edge” by Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times. (April 22, 2004) Unbelievably in this piece, Friedman equates a conceived crisis in American K-12 science education and the percentage of U.S. college graduates with science and engineering degrees with the war on terrorism.
201A-
China and the Big Con in Education
I returned from an eighteen
day People to People visit to schools and sights in five cities of China on
October 19, 1999. I presented my Big Con piece in Beijing at the Beijing Normal
University and Government Beijing TV taped an interview. I discovered, as I
suspected, that the big con in education is a worldwide phenomenon.
200 Just Another Big Con in Education: The President's New Job Training and Education Initiative By Dennis W. Redovich April 2004
EducationNews.org posted on Tuesday
April 6 a background briefing by senior administration officials on the
President Bush’s new job training and education initiatives for high schools,
higher education and the U.S. training workforce system. The information about
the administrations new job training initiatives in this article comes from this
briefing and articles in various U.S. newspapers.
199 A Brief Review of the Rand Report -The 21st Century at Work: Forces Shaping the Future Workforce and Workplace in the United States Reviewed by Dennis W. Redovich Apr2004
The
Rand Corporation report,
The 21st Century at Work: Forces Shaping the Future Workforce and
Workplace in the UnitedStates By Lynn A. Karoly and Constantijn Panis
is posted on EducationNews.org,
Previous Commentaries and Reports
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
”What are the forces that will continue to shape the U.S. workforce and
workplace over the next 10 to 15 years? With its eye on forming sound policy and
helping stakeholders in the private and public sectors make informed decisions,
the U.S. Department of Labor asked RAND to look at the future of work. The
authors analyze trends in and the implications of shifting demographic patterns,
the pace of technological change, and the path of economic globalization.”
198
Jobs and a High School Education in the United States: The 1930s to the 21st
Century By
Dennis W. Redovich March 2004
There is an impending serious economic and job crisis in the United States and Wisconsin. The economic conditions of the 1930’s and the maldistribution of wealth are being replicated in a high tech and so-called information based global economy. Incredibly, a manufactured crisis in American K-12 public education has been used since the 1980s to label failing K-12 public schools as a scapegoat for all the social, economic and job depression problems that already exist in poor areas of the United States, such as the central City of Milwaukee.
196
Gerald W. Bracey: The Defender of Public Education in the United States
By Dennis W. Redovich March 2004
Gerald W. Bracey is a member of the advisory board of the Center for the Study of Jobs and Education in Wisconsin and the United States. Dr. Bracey is the greatest defender of public education and one of the most knowledgeable and courageous educational researchers in the United States. The defenders of American public education, like Bracey, are few in number because those who dare challenging the great numbers of negative reports and commentaries on American education prepared by well financed writers from the conservative foundation think tanks, big time corporations like IBM and prestigious universities like Harvard, are subject to the strongest of censure. Being antischool is where the money is. There is little funding available for those not critical of schools and the popular media has very little interest in stories that present a positive view of American schools.
195
The Big Con in Education in the United States
The title of this piece is the title of a book I am
writing that I hope to have published later in 2004 by a publisher who is
currently reviewing my proposal. The use of schools and workers as scapegoats for our nations social and
economic problems is the big con. Public schools have been bashed by
politicians, “the business interests”, and learned elite forever. Bashing
public education is a nation wide United States phenomenon in the 21st
Century.
194
The Perpetual and Preposterous War Against American Public Education By
Dennis W. Redovich March 2004
Critics of American public schools use education as the scapegoat for all of the social and economic problems of the United States. The panacea for all of the problems of our urban and poor rural areas including, crime and incarcerations, poverty, jobs, housing and family stability and teen age pregnancies is increasing the number of college graduates and demanding that every student meet the requirements of college entrance in order to earn a high school diploma. Higher education and increasing levels of high school education and standards for graduation will automatically create jobs, higher incomes, and lower crime and increase family stability. Nothing could be further from the truth!
192
Jobs and Education: The Spurious Education Crisis in the United States
This blanket assertion has been constantly repeated for more than 20 years, “typical high school graduates in the U.S. are not prepared for college or for the workplace and the quality of American public education is declining”. This spurious statement is most often made without any valid research based evidence or relevant and valid statistics. The popular media will gleefully print the assertion that there is a “crisis in American public education” from almost any organization, without serious challenge.
191
The Big Lie: American public school education is failing and there has been
little or no improvement of the education of blacks in the United States in 50
years
By Dennis W. Redovich February 2004
189
American K-12 Public Schools Are Being Used as Scapegoats for the Economic and
Social Problems of Milwaukee and the United States
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in January 2004 is running a series of major front page articles regarding the unanimous 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregating students in public schools by race denied black children their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. The Journal Sentinel says the civil rights movement wrought enormous change to America's laws and public schools. “Yet 50 years later, most African-American children in Wisconsin remain far behind whites in education, jobs, housing, safety and family stability - further behind, in some measures, than in any other state. Why, in a Northern state with a progressive tradition, have we seen so little progress after so much time?”
187
Milwaukee Public Schools and the Media
The
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blindly supports without reservation City of
Milwaukee and UW-Milwaukee Charter schools and the Milwaukee voucher program.
And they consistently demean the exemplary Milwaukee Public Schools and their
teachers in their editorials. Absolutely no credible evidence is ever presented
for the criticisms of the MPS School District in Journal Sentinel editorials.
186
Jobs and Education in the United States
There
is an impending serious economic and job crisis in the United States and
Wisconsin. The economic conditions of the 1930’s and the maldistribution of
wealth are being replicated in a high tech and so-called information based
global economy
185
Christmas 2003 and the Economic Future of the United States
184
Funding Public Education: It’s All About Money, Health Care is Where the Money
Is By Dennis W. Redovich December 2003
Why are local, state and national business and political leaders labeling, without differentiations, K-12 public education as failing? It is all about money! Tax revenues spent for public schools are clearly labeled on property tax bills and in State budgets so that all are aware that public schools are a major expenditure for local and state taxpayers. Those of property and income wealth do not wish to pay increasing taxes of any kind for poor children in public schools, regardless of need. Outrageously, public schools are used as scapegoats for the serious social and economic problems of the United States on the local, State and national level. Public school teachers and schools must contend with serious social and economic problems they did not create.
183 There
is No Rationale for High Stakes Testing for Promotion in Elementary Schools or
for High School Graduation, Labeling Public Schools as Failing Schools and
Creating Private Choice and Charter Schools
By Dennis W. Redovich December
2003
American public education is a system unique in the world
that produces the most productive workers (Germany and Japan are about 80% as
productive as American workers) in the world.
The
United States is blessed with the finest scientists, engineers, engineering and
science technicians, computer systems workers, health workers and educators in
the world. Less than 5% of United States or Wisconsin workers “might
require” higher math and/or science education knowledge for their jobs. What
is the rationale for requiring all children to meet arbitrary standards in math
to be promoted one K-12 grade level or graduate from high school?
There is none!
182
Choice Schools in
Milwaukee 2003-2004
The
State of Wisconsin in FY2004 is projected to spend at least $76.2 million on 107
approved City of Milwaukee Choice schools, 45% of this amount ($34.3 million)
will come from state aids deducted from the Milwaukee Public Schools state aid
and the rest ($41.9 million) will come from the state general fund. The 2003-04
MPCP state aid amount is the 2002-03 amounts of $5,783 per student increased by
$99 to equal $5,822 per FTE
182A A
Review of the Evaluation of the
The February 2000 Evaluation of
the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program by the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau
is not an evaluation. It is a descriptive report on the history of the Milwaukee
Choice Program and the current status of the program.
181
Poverty and Accountability in the Milwaukee Public Schools
180
The Greed and Self Interests of American Universities
Like Corporate America’s CEO’s and business interest organizations, too many American university administrators and faculty use American public school systems as convenient scapegoats for the social and economic problems of the United States. The motivation for too many in Corporate America and the universities to criticize K-12 public education is the same, greed and self-interest.
179
Jobs and the Big Con in Education
The 11/7/03 headlines on the front pages and business sections of the nation’s newspapers read like the New York Times feature article published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Job surge a signal of faster recovery”. The number of jobs increased from 130,006,000 to 130,132,000 (126,000 or 0.1%) and unemployment decreased from 6.1% to 6.0% from September to October 2003 and was described as unchanged by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its publications.
178 The Greed, Avarice and Deceptions of Corporate America: Money is too precious to waste on the public education of the children of the working poor By Dennis W. Redovich November 2003
Corporate America funds a war on public education in the United States through its conservative foundations and so-called think tanks. Corporate America has manufactured a spurious crisis in American education using millions of dollars to proliferate lies and deceptions about the foundation of our great democracy, American public education. An academically challenged media reiterates the garbage of Corporate America about public education without serious challenge. The reason is the greed and avarice of Corporate America, which includes the American media. Money is too precious to waste on the public education of the children of the working poor!
Prof..
Hoxby expounds the fundamental beliefs of school
choice zealots: (1) Choice schools create competition with the public schools
and as a consequence, prods school reform. (2) School reform is responsible for
any improvement in academic achievement (3) Public schools that improve in
academic achievement create reforms solely because of competitive forces and (4)
Schools designated as choice or charter schools inevitably are superior to
ordinary public schools. There is
absolutely no evidence that these beliefs have any truth in fact. Like a big
lie, these unproven beliefs have been repeated for the last ten years in
Milwaukee
177
Wal-Mart: The ultimate of corporate
greed and selfishness in the United States and the world
By Dennis W. Redovich October 2003
176
The Deceptions of Small School Development in Milwaukee
The
Milwaukee Public Schools are participating in a Metropolitan Milwaukee
Association of Commerce project funded by the Gates Foundation for $17,250,000
that is based on deceptive and unproven background information about MPS high
schools. The project entitled, A NEW VISION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION: SMALL SCHOOL
DEVELOPMENT IN MILWAUKEE is a ruse to provide money to create 10 new small
Choice high schools outside of the MPS system and an enrollment expansion of
2,000 students in Milwaukee Choice high schools. There is absolutely no evidence
presented by the MMAC to justify an expansion of small high schools outside of
MPS schools.
175
Nobel Prizes in Science: U.S. Science Education the World’s Best
By Dennis W. Redovich October 2003
The United States leads the world in
technology and the quality of its scientists because U.S. science education is
the worlds best. From 1951 to 2003
Americans have won 185 or 55% of the 334 Nobel Prizes awarded in Medicine,
Physics and Chemistry. In October 2003 the United States won five of the seven
Nobel Prizes for science achievement. The country of citizenship of Nobel Prize
winners in 2003 is; Medicine: American 1, Great Britain 1, Physics: American 2,
Russia 1, Chemistry: American 2.
The United States is the uncontested
leader of the world in scientific research in respect to published
accomplishments, Nobel Prizes, volume of
research and expenditures on scientific research. The United States is
the leader of the world in technology and the unchallenged leader of the world
in the global economy. The United States dominates the world because of its
educational systems, including K-12 public education that produces the most
highly educated, productive and successful workforce in the world.
174
There is no rationale for private Choice Schools in Milwaukee outside of MPS
private Partnership schools: The expansion of small Choice high schools in
Milwaukee is just another big con
It is unbelievably ironic
and a paradox that the City of Milwaukee, where the exemplary Milwaukee Public
Schools have developed since the 1970’s a unique system of public school
choice, including small private Partnership schools is also the Mecca of the
anti-public school movement and private school choice outside of MPS, including
religious schools. The anti-public school movement has been successful in
defaming highly commendable MPS schools and their teachers. How is it possible
that a School District that for 30 years has provided more choice of schools
than any in the U.S. or the world can be the Mecca of private school choice?
173 Much Ado
About Nothing: The continuous waste of millions on K-12 math instruction that
could be used for significant programs for improving academic achievement of
poor students
The
inspiration for this commentary is the awarding of Milwaukee $20 million dollars
by the National Science foundation “to improve training of math teachers in
the city--- and hopefully boost low math scores in Milwaukee Public Schools”.
The grant was discussed in a 9/27 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article; “MPS
gets money for math teacher training”. The grant is an example of many
millions I have observed wasted on math instruction reforms in the United States
since I taught math in high schools more than forty years ago. The primary
beneficiaries of millions for these reforms are higher education schools who
dream up the reforms and staff who administer and work in them.
172
The Big Con in Education in the United States:
Every student must achieve at the highest academic standards to graduate from
high school and to be employable in a family living wage job.
When I attended excellent public elementary and high schools in Milwaukee, 1937 to 1951, students were tested annually in elementary school in reading and basic skills using tests such as the Iowa Basic Skills. The purpose of the tests was to identify individual students with learning difficulties and to identify specific curriculum areas that needed overall improvement. Students were socially promoted and there was no high stakes testing for promotion or graduation. High School and 8th Grade graduation rates were lower than in 2002 and students were allowed to leave school at age 16 and go to the Milwaukee Vocational School one day a week until age 18.
172A
NCLB: “Who’s on first. What’s on second. I Don’t Know is on third.”
By Daniel Pryzbyla
(Posted on EducationNews.org Sept. 19,2003)
170
Universities are sometimes business enterprises operated for the profit of their
administration and tenured faculty
The
research universities in the United States have become business enterprises
competing for hundreds of millions of funding from the business interests who
use the universities to increase their profits. Universities also compete for
hundreds of millions of funding from foundations and government agencies. State
governments are in deficit and are reducing the revenues given to state higher
education institutions. The priority of university administrators and tenured
faculty is revenue from any source for research that is too often insignificant
and of no value to students or society. It is a big money game played by the
universities that costs students thousands of dollars in additional tuition and
extra years trying to earn a degree of any kind.
169
The Stealth Depression in Milwaukee and the War Against Public Education
By Dennis
W. Redovich September 2003
168
Jobs and Education: The Technology and Higher Math Con Never Dies
167
Poor children are being destroyed in a manufactured crisis in education as a job
depression creates the conditions for an impending economic depression in the
United States.
By Dennis W. Redovich August 2003
The
United States and the industrialized world are moving from small growth recession
economies toward economies in economic depression. The emphasis in this piece is
to highlight the unbelievable attack on public education, lead by the President
and some of the largest corporation CEO’s in the United States.
They imply that K-12 public education is a cause of our economic problems
and that improving academic achievement can be a major solution of economic and
employment problems in the United States..
The
United States since 2001 is in a growth recession economy with job market
depressions that will lead eventually to a serious economic depression.
Significant declines in consumer demand for manufactured goods and
services in the United States and the global economy will result from the loss of jobs and
income. Outrageously, politicians and the business interests have used public
education in the United States as the scapegoat for economic development and job
growth in the United States forever. The
elements are in place for an eventual economic depression in the United States
that will be described in future Monday pieces with statistical evidence, not
political hype.
165
Another Big Con: Mayoral Control of Public Education
By
Dennis W. Redovich August 2003
It
is outrageous that Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin politicians and the
Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) use the exemplary
Milwaukee Public Schools as scapegoats for the economic and social problems of
Milwaukee. Political and business leaders are responsible for creating jobs and
economic development but they shamelessly put the onus on MPS teachers and
administrators who are expected to do academic miracles with poor academically
disadvantaged children from economically disadvantaged families.
164
The Hypocrisy of Milwaukee Choice and Charter Schools
Critics
of public education such as the business interests (MMAC), Milwaukee Mayor John
Norquist and university professors from numerous institutions funded by millions
from conservative foundations have labeled the Milwaukee Public Schools as
“failing schools”. This label is based solely on district average statewide
WKCE reading and math test results and dropout rates. Nothing could be further
from the truth! Milwaukee is one the finest urban school districts in the United
States that serves students from a large majority of economically disadvantaged
minority families with at least 17% of its students identified as needing
special education and/or English proficiency instruction.
163
Wisconsin Third Grade Reading Results 2002-03, Milwaukee Public Schools, City of
Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee Private Charter Schools By Dennis W. Redovich July 2003
There
is absolutely no question that MPS schools are far superior to eight of the nine
private Milwaukee Charter schools on the 3rd grade Reading test and
the statewide 4th and 8th Grade tests. Outrageous is too
mild a term to label the Milwaukee Public Schools as failing schools. Nothing
could be further from the truth!
162
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Partisan Critic of the Milwaukee Public Schools
and Supporter of Milwaukee Choice Schools
The
partisan mouthpiece for the exaltation and expansion of school choice in
Milwaukee is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Many millions in private funding
from the Bradley Foundation, other conservative foundations and the business
interests in Milwaukee and the United States fund bogus research prepared by
elite academic think tanks and political donations for MPS school board members
that support private religious and secular choice schools in Milwaukee.
The business interests at the highest levels at the national, state and local level have been major critics of universal American public education since the 19th Century. It is observable since the 1950’s that nationally the Business Roundtable and numerous CEO’s of the largest and most prestigious corporations in the U.S. and Wisconsin have been shockingly using American public education and local urban school districts as scapegoats for the economic problems of the United States.
160 Hypocrisy and Stupidity in Milwaukee By Dennis W. Redovich July 2003
The hypocrisy of the Milwaukee business leaders, UW-Milwaukee, Mayor Norquist and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is incomprehensible. They fail to address and take responsibility for the serious social and economic problems of the City of Milwaukee’s working poor families and individuals. The Milwaukee Public Schools are labeled as failing schools and are used as scapegoats for alleviating the serious social and economic problems of people in Milwaukee that the schools did not create.
159.
Increasing the Percentage of College Graduates in the United States is Not a
Solution to the Impending Job Crisis in the United States and the World
By Dennis W. Redovich June 2003
The
United States and the world is on the verge of a continuous job depression, that
will perpetuate high unemployment and staggering under employment of the most
highly educated workforce in the history of the world. The U.S. workforce has
lost 2.5 million jobs in the last two years. The so-called high tech jobs of the future have declined at
least 12%. Educational attainment of employed U.S. workers in 2002 and
projections of jobs by education and training to 2010 indicate there is a glut
of college graduates required for jobs in the U.S. and the world. (See education
and job statistics starting on page 2)
158
A Brief 2003 Synopsis of The War Against The Milwaukee Public Schools
By Dennis W. Redovich June 2003
It is unbelievably ironic and a paradox that the City of Milwaukee, where the exemplary Milwaukee Public Schools have developed since the 1970’s a unique system of public school choice, is also the Mecca of the anti-public school movement and private school choice, including religious schools. The anti-public school movement has been successful in defaming MPS schools and their teachers. How is it possible that a School District that for 30 years has provided more choice of schools than any in the U.S. or the world can be the Mecca of private school choice? Big time money from conservative foundations
157 The Continuing War Against the Milwaukee Public Schools By Dennis W. Redovich June 2003
The war against the Milwaukee Public Schools began in 1990 with the initiation of private Milwaukee Choice schools and is aggressively being waged in 2003. The war continues to be financed by the business interests and conservative foundations that contribute to MPS school board members who are traitors to public education and state legislators, who represent in most cases wealthy Republican school districts outside the City of Milwaukee, but incredibly include Choice zealot Mayor Norquist of Milwaukee
It is unbelievably ironic
and a paradox that the City of Milwaukee, where the exemplary Milwaukee Public
Schools have developed since the 1970’s a unique system of public school
choice, is also the Mecca of the anti-public school movement and private school
choice, including religious schools. The anti-public school movement has been
successful in defaming MPS schools and their teachers. How is it possible that a
School District that for 30 years has provided more choice of schools than any
in the U.S. or the world can be the Mecca of private school choice?
Big time money from conservative foundations nationwide like the
Milwaukee based Bradley Foundation, great political power since the 80s like
that from Mayor Norquist of Milwaukee and Governor Thompson of Wisconsin and the
blatantly biased editorials and reporting of the only major Milwaukee newspaper,
The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, are the answer.
I could not believe the
sincerity of Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher of the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee that is shown in a July 14 Milwaukee Journal Crossroads
commentary, “Milwaukee Partnership Academy stays the course”. She says in
this piece,” Recall that on May 13, the MPA announced a broad based com
154
Greed, Selfishness and Moral Arrogance are Weapons of Mass Destruction in the
United States
The
true weapons of mass destruction are greed, selfishness and moral arrogance. In
the United States in 2003, greed, selfishness and moral arrogance are being used
as weapons of mass destruction against public education and public health and
social services. Tax breaks for the rich, corporate welfare and no increases of
taxes of any kind, regardless of need, are of the highest priority for the
holier than thou politicians and electorate of the United States.
153
University Hype and the Jobs of the Jobs of the Future
What is the
rationale for requiring all high school students to complete the requirements
for entrance into a four college in order to graduate from high school, and in
some states pass an academic graduation test? The hype and propaganda about the
manufactured crisis in K-12 education and the need to produce more college
graduates because the so-called knowledge based jobs of the future require
higher education including math and science for all students and workers has
been continual since the 1960s. It is a political hoax perpetuated in
self-interest by universities and politicians. Nothing could be further from
reality! Let’s look at the hoax first and then discuss reality later.
152
Government
spending for education, health and social welfare is better for the economy than
tax breaks for the rich.
Sacred
profits and the accumulation of great individual wealth rather than the welfare
of people is the priority of the business interests of the U.S. and the world.
The greed and selfishness of corporate America, and too many American
politicians and naïve self-interested voters is unbelievable. Corporate
welfare, tax breaks and special privilege for the rich and comfortable are on
the top of the agenda for too many local, state and national politicians feeding
at the corporate political campaign troughs.
152A
Wisconsin Employment by Standard Industrial Classifications
By Dennis W. Redovich
151
Just Another Big Con in Milwaukee: Funding Ten New Private Small High Schools
Outside of the Milwaukee Public Schools for No Rational
A big con is being planned and getting ready for
execution in Milwaukee that will provide at least $6 million for useless
planning and at least $2 million to initiate 10 new small private Milwaukee
Choice High schools. At least 2,000 students will be taken away from MPS high
schools. The 10 new Choice schools will eventually be operated using State
funding with absolutely no accountability to Wisconsin taxpayers.
150
The 2002 Output of the Wisconsin Technical College System
The WTCS follow-up reports reflect the
reality of employment in the State of Wisconsin and the U.S. and not the hype
from the universities and business interests about the so-called high tech jobs
of the future and the phony shortage of educated skilled workers that is
reported in the popular media.
149
“Rethinking Vocational Education” is Unintelligent Nonsense
148
Top 185 Job Titles for Employment in the United States in 2010
147
Just Another Big Con in Education in the United States: Every student
must achieve at the highest academic standards to graduate from high school and
to be employable in a family living wage job. (Posted EducationNews.org 8/26/02) By Dennis W. Redovich
The
use of schools and workers as scapegoats for our nations social and economic
problems is the big con. Public schools have been bashed by politicians, the
business interests and learned elite forever. Bashing schools is a national
phenomenon and is not confined to a few states like Texas and New York or a few
cities like Cleveland and Milwaukee in the United States. Too
many people, including educators, public officials, university professors and
conservative think tank con artists feeding at the trough, have conceived the
con. And it is gleefully perpetuated without question by an academically
disadvantaged media without serious challenge.
145 Jobs and
Education: Stupid is too mild a term for the math and science mania in the
United States that is harming poor children for no rationale reason
By Dennis W. Redovich April 2003
144
Madness is too mild a term for the child abuse of children utilizing high stakes
standardized test scores as weapons in the war against public schools
By Dennis W. Redovich March 2003
There
is absolutely no accountability for computer-aided instruction.
Like Big Oil, Big High-Tech companies
are accountable for nothing when high profits are at stake. And the computer and
equipment manufacturers for the Internet and networking are making billions in
the Big Education business. No standardized testing to measure increases in
academic achievement are necessary, only hype.
141
Preface - Jobs and Education: The Big Con in Education in the United States
By Dennis W. Redovich March 2003
140 The Education and Economic Policies of the United States: Greed and Selfish Self-Interest Prevail By Dennis W. Redovich March 2003
The
change in government philosophy in the 1980s that has been venerated by George
W. Bush is frightening. Government is inefficient and bad and privatization
leads to competition that is efficient and good economically (and good for
education) for everyone is the dogma of too many political leaders since the
1980s. The greed and selfishness of corporate America and too many American
politicians, most notably President Bush is unbelievable. Corporate welfare, tax
breaks and special privilege for the rich and comfortable are on the top of the
agenda for too many local, state and national politicians feeding at the
corporate political campaign troughs. One hundred Billion dollars or more for a
war in Iraq that may result in many thousands of innocent casualties and include
American military is said to be based on a just moral right. Money and the
business interests control government policy, rather than the public good. Money
is too precious to waste on the working poor, and disadvantaged children for
health care and education or senior citizens for Medicare and Social Security.
139
K-12 Public Education Teachers and Systems: Scapegoats for the Social and
Economic Problems of Milwaukee and the United States
The business interests and too many university administrators have formed
alliances that are utilizing K-12 education teachers and systems as the
principle scapegoat for the social and economic problems of the United States,
including the City of Milwaukee. A manufactured education crisis has been
created in Milwaukee to serve the self-interests of
the business community and the politicians who serve them. As the famous
Editor H. L. Mencken wrote, “Politicians are forever inventing crisis so that
they can be perceived to save the electorate from the invented crisis.”
The media, most notably the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cooperates fully
with the business interests and gleefully reports the manufactured crisis in
education, particularly in the Milwaukee Public Schools, because it is in their
view a good story.
137 What is the
Rationale for Requiring Higher Math for “All”?
136
The Manufactured Crisis in Math and Science Education
By Dennis W. Redovich February 2001
135
Jobs and Education: The Devastation of Secondary School Vocational Education in
the United States
The
war against public education in the United States is being callously waged,
using useless high stakes standardized tests as weapons, by the Bush
Administration and unscrupulous conservative foundations such as the Thomas B.
Fordham Foundation and numerous others. And now the opponents of public
education have targeted vocational education and the Perkins Act for vocational
education for devastation. It is unbelievable and appalling because there is
absolutely no rational reason for national high stakes academic testing for
vocational or K-12 public education in the United States.
134
Jobs and Education, Greed and Selfishness: The Economy and Job Markets of the
United States and the World are in Recession for the Foreseeable Future
The
United States in the year 2003, has settled in to a period of stagnant job
growth, a stock market depression and a growth recession economy that is
reflected in the economies of the entire global economy. The global stock
markets continue to fall and stagnate, led by Japan, which has declined, from
30,000 in the 1980’s to the 8,000’s in 2003. There is absolutely no evidence
that the bull markets of the 1990’s will ever return; the bubble has burst on
stocks and jobs. Stock prices will fluctuate up and down as big time speculators
make money on the fluctuating prices and other investors, large and small, lose
faith in the casino royal stock market and the greed, selfishness and corruption
of the corporate world and get out. Uncertainties such as the threats and costs
of war just make things worse and mask the very real economic problems of the
United States and the entire global economy.
133- A New Fad for
Improving Graduation Rates, From Large to Small:
I have read carefully the 26-page report (“From Large to Small” Strategies for Personalizing the High school, Adria Steinberg and Lili Allen, Jobs for the Future Boston MA 02110), and found it to be of absolutely little pragmatic value. The eight strategies described for moving from large to small and the 5 C’s for effective learning environments are useless academic rhetoric. This report is typical of too many educational research reports that I have read that have come from the university academic community over the last fifty years. But this is a report that may be the basis for a Milwaukee Public Schools proposal for millions of dollars from the Gates Foundation to improve academic achievement and the MPS graduation rate by creating small schools within or independent of large schools. Large to small is just another education fad.
132
Jobs and Education: The Big Con in Education Reform in Texas and the United
States By Dennis W. Redovich January 2003
The word con has many
meanings including, deceive, misinform, trick, bamboozle, dupe bilk and
hoodwink, all of which are appropriate in describing the hype about jobs and
education and the jobs of the future. The word con does not mean conspiracy.
There is no conspiracy in the statements following in the next paragraph, just
common everyday ignorance that are the basis for useless school reforms that
include stupid standardized testing, that are harmful to K-12 students
nationwide, that are used for no rational reasons.
130 No Child Left Behind
“They’re at the starting gate. They’re off!” How can it be thoroughbred racehorses breaking from the starting gate run on a more “equal playing field” to be competitive than students taking state-mandated graduation tests and No Child Left Behind high-stakes tests? Politicians and education brain trusts need more horse sense.
129
Education Week’s Grading of the States Quality Counts
2003
Receives a Grade of F
An evaluation of
the of the seventh annual Education Week report on public education in the 50
states, Quality Counts 2003, by the Center for the Study of Jobs & Education
in Wisconsin and the U.S. gave a grade of F or unsatisfactory to the report.
Quality Counts 2002 released in January 2002 and Quality Counts 2001 released in
January 2001 also was rated an F by the Center. (See Education Week’s Grading
of the States Receives a Grade of F www.jobseducationwis.org
report 66 and 67) The Education Week report Quality Counts is useless for
comparing the quality of education by state. It is unbelievable and incredible
that anyone, including the media, could take the comparisons of states for
Standards and Accountability seriously.
127
Jobs and Education and the Big Con
“Jobs and Education and The Big Con” is the proposed title of a book I have begun writing. The book will include an analysis of the historic relationships between jobs and education and projections of employment from 2000 to 2010 for the United States by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and projections for the State of Texas by the Texas Workforce Commission and the State of Wisconsin by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. The Texas and Wisconsin projections 2000-2010 will not be published until February 2003 and the book will not be completed until midyear 2003.
126
The Bashing of K-12 American Public Education Never Ceases
125
Jobs & Education and the Big Scam in American Public Education
The
use of schools and workers as scapegoats for our nations social and economic
problems is a scam used by politicians, the business interests and public school
critics of many persuasions, from conservative to libertarian, to destroy public
schools, as we know them. When
economic times are good, schools are blamed for a so-called “skilled worker”
shortage that hinders economic growth. When economic conditions are bad and
unemployment rises schools are blamed for too many high school dropouts and not
preparing students properly for post secondary education which is said be
absolutely essential for a majority of jobs now and in the future. Nothing could
be further from the truth.
124
The Sacredness of Academic Testing
In this secular age, many conservative thinkers who
think of themselves as rational and urbane have put their faith in the idea of
infallible high stakes academic testing and elimination of social promotion as
piously as they put their faith in religious beliefs. It is only right and just that students, who are not able to
achieve at a sacred proficient or above level, not be promoted on schedule to
the 9th grade from 8th grade and with no exceptions, not
be allowed to receive the most holy standard high school diploma.
123
The Sacredness of Money
By Dennis W. Redovich December
2002
The
change in government philosophy in the 1980s that has been venerated by George
W. Bush is frightening. Government is inefficient and bad and privatization
leads to competition that is efficient and good economically (and good for
education) for everyone is the dogma of too many political leaders since the
1980s. The greed and selfishness of corporate America and too many American
politicians is unbelievable. Corporate welfare, tax breaks and special privilege
for the rich and comfortable are on the top of the agenda for too many local,
state and national politicians feeding at the corporate political campaign
troughs in 2002. Money and the business interests control government policy,
rather than the public good. Money is too precious to waste on the working poor,
and disadvantaged children for health care and education or senior citizens for
Medicare and Social Security.
By Dennis W. Redovich November 2002
How
can supposedly intelligent and educated people (many with advanced graduate
degrees, including U.S. political and education leaders at the highest levels)
be so dim-witted about the teaching of mathematics, science and standardized
testing? They advocate senseless high stakes testing and elimination of social
promotion based on standardized testing that is destroying poor children for no
rational reasons. An intellectually challenged popular media gleefully
perpetuates the war, without challenge, against public education by well-funded
Machiavellian organizations and political and business leaders that erroneously
use K-12 public education as a scapegoat for the social and economic problems of
the United States.
120 Math
and Testing Mania in the United States: Much ado about nothing, Destroying poor
children, Insane is too mild a term
How can supposedly intelligent and educated people (many
with advanced graduate degrees) be so stupid about the teaching of mathematics
and standardized testing? The math wars are much ado about nothing.
But even worse is the fact that stupid high stakes testing and
elimination of social promotion based on standardized testing is destroying poor
children for no rational reasons. Insane is too mild a term for the math and
testing mania in the United States! An academically disadvantaged popular media
gleefully perpetuates a meaningless war of irrelevant words, and a naïve public
believes the nonsense rhetoric.
118
Universities and High-Tech Jobs in a Knowledge Based Economy: Hype and
Propaganda, Reality and the Truth By Dennis W. Redovich October 2002
The
hype and propaganda about the manufactured crisis in K-12 education and the need
to produce more college graduates because the so-called knowledge based jobs of
the future require higher education including math and science for all students
and workers has been continual since the 1960s. The terminology may change,
information based and high tech jobs are now knowledge-based jobs in a knowledge
based global economy. Nothing could be further from reality.
99 Charter and Choice Schools in Milwaukee: Lies and Hypocrisy By Dennis W. Redovich July 2002
117
Deceptions, Bogus Education Research and Choice Schools
A
Deception: Jay P. Greene’s Milwaukee Graduation Rate
By Dennis W. Redovich October
2002
Jay P. Greene and many others who are well funded
by conservative think tanks such as the Manhattan Institute expound the fundamental
beliefs of school choice zealots: (1) Choice schools create competition with the
public schools and as a consequence, prods school reform. (2) School reform is
responsible for any improvement in academic achievement (3) Public schools that
improve in academic achievement create reforms solely because of competitive
forces and (4) Schools designated as choice or charter schools inevitably are
superior to ordinary public schools. There
is absolutely no evidence that these beliefs have any truth in fact. Like a big
lie, these unproven beliefs have been repeated for the last ten years in
Milwaukee
57 Choice Schools in Milwaukee 2001-2002 By Dennis W Redovich October 2001
The State
of Wisconsin in FY2002 is projected to spend at least $59.7 million on 107
approved City of Milwaukee Choice schools, 45% of this amount ($26.9 million)
will come from state aids deducted from the Milwaukee Public Schools state aid
and the rest ($32.8 million) will come from the state general fund. In September
2001 the total headcount enrollment of 101 schools with enrolled students was
10,739 up 1,101 from 9,638
in September 2000. The State of Wisconsin has allocated $5,553 per full time
Choice student for the 2001-2002 school year. What is the rationale for funding
6,575 (61.2%) of choice students in 65 religious schools and 4,164 (38.8%) in 36
private schools (that may teach sectarian beliefs) without any evaluation of the
curriculums or academic achievement of the students attending these schools?
105
Interview with Susan
Ohanian
Author WHAT HAPPENED TO RECESS AND
WHY ARE OUR CHILDREN STRUGGLING IN KINDERGARTEN
103 An
Analysis of Third Grade Reading Skills in Milwaukee
The
inspiration for this commentary and report is my annual analysis since 1994-95
of the State of Wisconsin 3rd Grade Comprehensive Reading Test
results for the Milwaukee Public Schools. In 2000-01 and 2001-02 MPS student
reading skills can be compared to 3rd grade students in private Milwaukee
Charter schools sponsored by the City of Milwaukee and Charter schools operated
by the for-profit Edison Schools sponsored by the education experts from the
UW-Milwaukee. My findings are that MPS schools continue to do an exemplary job
of teaching reading in the 3rd grade and that Charter schools need to
improve significantly in order to reach the reading proficiency levels of
average MPS schools
96
Private
Health Care in the United States is a National Disgrace
78 The
Hypocrisy of Phyllis Schlafly
71 The
Big Con in Education in Texas and the United States