Yeah, it’s long, but it’s worth watching when you’ve got an hour to spare — probably especially if, like me, education is not your specialty. Because the whole roundtable is only secondarily about what Hillary intends to do to get those votes; it’s almost entirely about how a bunch of teachers and administrators and high school-slash-college students do their best to get the education they need to make a living going forward. (Including a side note that one of Hillary’s first jobs in politics, in the 1970s, was going door to door to find children with disabilities who’d been left out of the educational system entirely, because those who “couldn’t keep up” were considered disposable.) And I hope there are people who’ll watch this and think about how they could use the various strategies discussed (vocational certification, college credit for high schoolers, community colleges, Pell grants & work-study) to improve their kids’ or their own chances. Call me a dreamer!
From the Politico article:
… Taking her place at a folding table with seven students and educators here at Kirkwood Community College, Hillary Clinton re-emerged in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state where she suffered a painful defeat in 2008, striking economic populist tones and vowing not to take the state for granted…
For Clinton, letting other people do the talking made for a low-risk launch strategy. She took only one question from the press, commenting on her “great drive across the country” and saying that she was having “the best time” and is “running to be the champion for Americans and their families.”…
A more substantive rollout — she promised “very specific policies over the weeks and months ahead” — is expected to begin next month with her first big rally and speech…
Origuy
But what did she eat for lunch? What did she wear? These are the questions that CNN wants answered!
gene108
You make it sound like Hillary has not always been a tool of Wall Street and the Military Industrial Complex…
Heads maybe exploding.
Ohio Mom
The reason Hillary could go door-to-door with children with disabilities in the 1970s was that it wasn’t until the very end of the 1970s that the first federal law was enacted recognizing the right of all children with disabilities to a free, appropriate public education.
The idea being, law in general has to treat everyone the same and if there is a law saying typically-developing children must attend school, then children with disabilies must also attend school.
I’m told that before the federal law, Ohio parents were forced to sign papers saying they didn’t mind if their kids didn’t get to go to school, and then they were given little cards, the size of a credit card, saying their child had been excused from school, in case an authority ever asked why the kid wasn’t in school. A “get out of jail card” as it were.
Like many civil rights, it was a hard battle to get it recognized. The foot soldiers were the moms. In the years since, the art and science of teaching children with the full gamut of learning differences has taken off. Our concept of what children with disabilities are capable of has expanded tremendously.
Ironically, the biggest current threat to children with disabilities continuing to receive the education they are entitled to is the school “deform” movement and its not-so-secret agenda of privatizing as much of the public school system as possible. Private schools generally don’t serve children with disabilities.
The irony comes from the fact that, as I regret to say, Obama has been a big supporter of school deform and that movement has made major strides in the last seven year. I hope to high heaven Hillary will be different. I’m going to carve out some time for this video.
(gets down from soapbox)
Ohio Mom
Gene 108 said it better and shorter, I’m afraid my head will explode. Hoping the video allays those fears…but not too confident.
Betty Cracker
Will check it out later — it’s an important topic. Arne Duncan has been a disaster for reasons Kay has articulated better than I can, so I fervently hope HRC and whoever else runs on the D side will propose scrapping that approach!
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
I hope Kay will have a chance to watch it and comment since it sounds like it’s right in her wheelhouse.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Ohio Mom:
I read a lot about ADHD since I’m an adult with it, and a lot of parents are deeply concerned about teaching to the test and the elimination of recess and PE classes. It’s not unreasonable to think that kids without severe ADHD might be able to cope with school better without medication if schools were able to be more flexible in their teaching methods. That probably holds true for kids with all kinds of disabilities, both physical and learning. How the heck do kids with, say, dyslexia cope with the constant standardized tests?
Kay
I will watch it. I read the coverage (local-an Iowa paper) and I liked one of the questions Clinton asked a lot. She asked a 20 year veteran community college teacher how her current students were different than those of 20 years ago.
That’s a great question, because it doesn’t assume anything. I really appreciate when people put actual thought into this, because we all have a picture of “public school” or “college” that is based on our own experience, and I think it’s more difficult now for younger people- they have less room for error- it’s harsher and less forgiving of mistakes or wrong turns. It sometimes seems so serious and grim I feel sorry for them. If they veer even slightly off “college ‘n career” track they can’t get back on.
Cacti
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
My oldest son has ADHD and ODD, with an IEP for both. Over the past few months, the school had been withholding recess from my son as an aversive intervention for hyperactive/defiant behaviors, and I had a metaphorical brawl with the school administrators to have that changed. Eventually, I had to bring his pediatrician to the IEP meeting to tell them that withholding physical activity from a hyperactive child as a means of correcting behavior is medically detrimental and would have the opposite of the intended effect.
Even in the 21st century, among special educators, mental and behavioral health disorders can be poorly understood.
They also tried to tell me that I would need to keep him home on the state standardized testing days, because my son’s IEP-qualifying impairments would make things difficult for them. I responded by telling them that keeping my son home from school does not seem to match the “appropriate” part of “free and appropriate public education,” and that I would not be removing him from school for the sake of institutional convenience.
Now, mind you, all of the above difficulties have taken place in the liberal, blue state of Washington. Even under the best of circumstances, trying to get an appropriate public education for special needs children can be a battle, and I have the built-in advantage of being a lawyer. I pity the parents who are in even more challenging circumstances than my own.
sukabi
This guy’s going to be a target of the repub smear machine before long….
sukabi
Ok, so having trouble with discus linking, editing…. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/watch-terrified-tea-party-patriot-realizes-he-could-lose-obamacare-if-gop-wins-in-2016/
catclub
@Kay:
Then you hear a report about high school in Korea.
Kay
@catclub:
Families in Korea pay a lot out of pocket for those test scores. They pay in other ways too:
When they compare US public schools to the real test score standouts they forget to mention the cost of the tutoring- actual cost in addition to public funding. Maybe all US parents are willing to devote a share of the family budget to private sector test tutors, but we should at least try to make an apples to apples comparison of public PLUS private investment.
Aleta
@Ohio Mom: Thanks for the real life information. Well said/written. It’s good for me to remember just how profoundly that activism from the grassroots brought change. Also during the late 70s and early 80s, some tech activists began to tinker with portable ‘home computers’ (TRS-80, TIs ), trying to develop early speech synthesis/voice recognition and other communication devices, and navigation and vision-free devices that would attach to wheelchairs. (Since w.c.s could carry the battery packs, which were still heavy). It was revolutionary tech back then.
geg6
We did just that here a few years ago, but, sadly, the funding is gone (I can’t find my cites for this, but I’ll try to). I think there was federal funding (I believe around here it was called Regional Choice Initiative) that went through the state department of ed (this would have been after or around 2008 with funding running out in, I think, 2013). Our county intermediate unit got the funds and participating colleges agreed to offer the high school students half off tuition and the intermediate unit paid the other half. Students could take up to 9 credits (sometimes 10, if there was a 4-credit class they took), 3 credits per semester during the second semester of their junior year and the fall and spring semesters of their senior years. We were also able to offer some classes inside high schools that had a high enough population that wanted it, using full-time faculty. We still offer the half off to high school students, but they have to cover the rest of the bill themselves. The other way was better, obviously. More students could participate, a diverse group of students could participate and it gave all of the participating students a step up financially, academically and socially. This is why it had to go away, I guess.
Pell grants must go up. Work study is not a solution to anything whatsoever. It’s a nice program, provides pocket money and, sometimes, good work experience (we try hard to do this at my campus, but some jobs are just jobs). But they won’t solve any problems. The Teahadists are never going to let Pell grants get to the level that they should. What should be easy, however, is fixing the student loan system. Now, I’m not against the government making a little bit back on the loans. But interest rates should be no more than what Warren is advocating. My biggest bitch is that the current loan scheme doesn’t even allow students to borrow what they need to cover their costs and the costs are being piled on the parents at much higher rates, even for the federal PLUS loan. Many students and families turn to private loans because they may be able to get a co-signer (grandparent, uncle, family friend) after the parent gets denied a PLUS loan. This means that there is still a predatory lending system of private educational loan providers starring all the usual suspects: Sallie Mae, Citi, Wells Fargo, PNC…etc., etc., etc. ad nauseum. If we aren’t going to give them more free money (and I just can’t see this happening right now), at least let them borrow from the feds for a low rate and with the few protections that the federal loans offer, rather than putting their parents in danger of financial ruin (especially if they have to send more than one child to college) or relying on the bastards who are still apparently too big to fail and thus worthy of the same feature of not being discharged in bankruptcy as the federal loans are and which make up the vast majority of defaulted or in danger of being defaulted loans. Or not being able to buy the education we are all told is required to survive on a bit more than minimum wage.
I really worked myself up into a pissed off frenzy typing that last paragraph. I get so mad about how the media never makes it clear that the federal loan program, as bad as it is, is better at what it does than the MoUs of big banking and that the big student loan bubble is mostly the MoUs’ fault. As it always seems to be with bubbles.
Kay
@catclub:
I think they’re monitored and measured much more. One would hope that would mean they would get help or support or intervention but it often doesn’t- a lot of times it’s more of a ranking and sorting and disposing process :)
It’s reached the ludicrous stage in the juvenile justice system. “I don’t think you can come back from that criminal damaging/trespassing rap, Mr. High School junior- you’re career criminal now”.
I sometimes think half the population who is now over 40 would have spent time in a juvenile court under our current standards. It’s harsh.
schrodinger's cat
@Kay: MoU and the like praise countries like China and India when it comes to schools but fail to take into account the enormous price the students pay in a highly competitive environment.
For example in India every year when grade 10 and 12 results are announced there is a spate of suicide attempts. We are talking of 14 and 16 year olds.
Kay
@schrodinger’s cat:
That’s one cost, but for countries that rely on private sector tutors I think you have to take that out of the context of “public education”.
It isn’t public. They’re paying for it, in addition to whatever they’re paying for public education.
The US actually tried a version of this. Under NCLB free market frenzy, they gave public school funding to private tutors to get test scores up. It turned into a grifting, corrupt disaster in Texas.
They were pulling money from low income public schools and sending it to these companies. It went on for 15 years.
Keith G
I have always liked and respected her even when I felt she was dead wrong on this issue or that, but my god someone needs to tell her that she needs to spend more of her talking time looking at (or very near) the faces of those she is talking to. The amount of time she spent glancing down at the table does not translate well to the attendees or a greater audience.
Note, I am not saying “all the time” – that other extreme would be weird. She needs to practice shifting her gaze slowly from face to fave with an occasional downward glance. That would help promote a feeling of a secure, non-evasive personal interest.
Turgidson
In semi-related news, Chris Christie has locked down the Ron Fournier demographic with his bold, serious proposal to starve grannies and send Medicaid off to the states to die. As Pierce says in a post about this, Bobo and Scarbrough are probably fighting over who gets to be first to touch the hem of his garments.
And Ron “severe dementia” Fournier’s column extolling Christie’s bravery while undoubtedly blaming something on Obama’s failure to lead, should be up just as soon as he wakes up from having fainted from admiration.
Denali
At the risk of starting a riot in this animal friendly blog, and while agreeing the with the premise that children with disabilities deserve plalcement in public schools, I read today that the court has agreed that an autistic girl with epilepsy has the right to bring her service dog to school. This means that the dog must have handler to see that it is fed, watered and taken out; the child is a third grader. Should the school be required to pay the handler? What if every child with disabilities now decides to bring a dog to school? I can’t see how this is feasible.
Kay
@Turgidson:
He punches down. Consistently. Every single one of his bold, brave moves is actually an easy shot at people with less power and clout.
It’s really repulsive, and it’s repulsive that media admire it.
dogwood
@Kay:
It’s so important for everyone here to get over stressing about the MSM and how unfairly they will cover the Clinton campaign for the next 18 months. In the dozen or so states where the election will be decided, it’s local coverage that matters. And local coverage is generally much better that national coverage. Journalists write for their audiences. The NY Times, the WaPo, and the networks and cable companies are essentially trying to capture the imaginations of the majority of Americans who live in states that will never see any of these candidates.
dogwood
@Denali:
On a recent flight I was seated next to a young woman who had a comfort dog on her lap. I have some pet allergies. Dogs aren’t a serious problem for me, but cats are a definite no-go. I was a bit surprised that the airline didn’t ask me about allergies before assigning my seat. I would have agree to sit with her, but had it been a comfort cat, the answer would have been no. Nonetheless, I would have felt uncomfortable had I been seated with a cat, forcing me to make a seat change. It might have been a bit uncomfortable for the young woman as well.
Kay
@dogwood:
I agree. She got local coverage in PA and OH on the trip out and that was exactly what she wanted.
I think it works better as 50 state campaigns rather than a national, and that’s how presidential primaries work anyway, so she can just stick to that for the duration. It’s fun to watch if you’re in a swing state because you can see the two tracks- state and national- really clearly.
I thought it was a strong start.
RSR
@schrodinger’s cat: >>@Kay: MoU and the like praise countries like China and India when it comes to schools
I recall the picture just a few weeks ago of parents climbing outside walls of buildings to hand cheat sheets to their kids taking standardized tests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/03/19/these-indian-parents-climbed-a-school-wall-to-help-their-kids-cheat-on-an-exam/
Simply ridiculous that testing has reached such a make or break point.
Ohio Mom
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): To answer your question about testing accommodations, it depends, and I’m not an expert on the details — I mostly know about the accommodations my kid is entitled to. To get accommodations, you have to have ed-psych testing to document the need.
So a kid with working memory issues that slow him down can be given extended time; a kid with attention issues can take tests in a small group setting (less distractions); I’m guessing that depending on the level of severity, a kid with dyslexia might have the test read to him (woe to him though if he also has working memory issues, to keep and manipulate all that information in your head at once!). When you think about how unfair overall the high-stakes testing is though, these are just band-aids on gashes.
You are right about how the narrowing of the curriculum hurts kids with differing needs and learning styles. Funding cutbacks also hurt. A kid with attention issues is probably going to do better in a class with 18 or 19 classmates than a class with 29 others in it. He may also do better in a classroom staffed with an Education Assistant, who could swoop in as needed to redirect attention, help an overwhelmed kid, and the like. But small classes and extra adults cost money and are easy things to cut.
Ohio Mom
@Denali: The only kid on the autism spectrum who has a service dog that I know leaves his at home. But you question makes me wonder if there are any blind school kids with seeing-eye dogs — maybe only adults can get them? I used to read a blog by a blind college professor and he had one story after the other about people making his life difficult by not accepting his dog — for example, while visiting NYC, cabs routinely refuse him.
I also don’t know anything about the girl in the news story — this is the first I’ve heard of this story — but she may very well have an Educational Assistant assigned to her who could help out with the dog, and the student may be able to walk the dog and take care of it on her own, or to some extent. At any rate, sounds like taking care of a dog is an important set of life skills for her that she’ll at least have to learn. Who knows, maybe someone is adding goals and objectives for dog care to her IEP (individualized education plan) at this very moment.
There is a philosophy that much of what makes the disabled in fact “disabled” is society’s reaction. When society accommodates disability, by putting in curb cuts, adding closed captioning, making allowances for service animals, etc., the “disability” in question isn’t so disabling anymore.
And I refuse to consider any question about “isn’t this expensive?” We disability moms are always getting that, especially from the gifted and talented moms who think their kids would be getting their just due if only us disability families weren’t scarfing up all the money. Not falling for that divide and conquer stuff.