Marco Rubio a Demagogue

Leave a reply

Francisco Sola writes:

demagogue: a political leader in a democracy who appeals to the prejudices and ignorance rather than by using rational argument in order to gain power

Marco Rubio… asserted, without offering any evidence, the president is opposed to free enterprise. He spent much of his time attacking that government programs cannot help address problems of economic inequality. But then he turned around and acknowledged that his own family has benefited from government programs such as Medicare, Social Security and federal financial aid.

Marco Rubio blows his moment in the national spotlight

Mr President Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Leave a reply

The president can use an executive order to stop the unjust dividing of families — undocumented brothers and sisters — who contribute more than $70 billion to the economy and, through remittances, have held up the economies of other countries in Latin America (such as Mexico and El Salvador)

Do you know the quota for number of deportations each year? It’s the thing people aren’t talking about in immigration.

 By the end of today, 1,100 more people will be deported. 

 Mr. President, actions speak louder than words. its time to announce a suspension on deportations.

Standardized Tests and Charter Schools

Leave a reply

With the promotion of standardized tests and quantitative methods that evaluate the performances of both teachers and students, there is a diminishing of the space for the Teresa Villanueva (L) and her 11-year-old daughter Laritza receive help on their charter school application from Barrio Logan College Institute counselor Jennifer Pena (R) in San Diegocreation of democratic bridges between what is being learned in the classroom and the challenges of democratic decision-making in our communities. This trend is characterized by the growth of for-profit charter schools and companies that are redefining the meaning of education.

Special Report: Class Struggle – How charter schools get students they want | Reuters

Education that Advances Democracy

2 Replies

With the growth of a global economy, there is the need for a type of educational system that promotes civic engagement as a means of building new models toward a democratic society.

There is a trend emerging in our present educational system that wants to take us back to the days of reproducing individuals to fit a more authoritarian philosophy. This trend seeks to promote a managerial “banking” system where the power of disseminating knowledge is being transferred to the needs of the business and political establishments. This shift fits into the early 20th century industrial model of schools where students were socialized in assembly-like rows to be taught the status quo and not to be heard from. Continue reading →

CARECEN Press Release: Immigration Reform

Leave a reply

I like Carecen’s proposals below regarding Immigration reform (Angela helped in formulating this position).  I like that it begins from the premise of “what we are for,” and in the process of presenting what we are for — essentially drawing out the contradictions in the proposals that are being thrown around in Washington.  I think that it would be good for the Roundtable to look at this document and develop some dialogue.  In the future, I would like us to develop a process where we could also formulate collective news releases on a timely basis as the issues come up.

Continue reading →

Education that Advances Democracy

Leave a reply

A column appeared today in the Daily Bulletin that I wrote before the charter school issue at Pomona Unified.  To their credit, Pomona Unified school board members denied a proposal by one of these independent for-profit acadamies to open a K-12 charter school in the district.  The article is timely since I will be speaking to these issues today at a Claremont Colleges’ conference of twenty liberal arts colleges from throughout the U. S. on community engagement.  The link to my column is below:

http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_22493361/education-that-advances-democracy

or read the full text here.

District Attorney Asking Congress to Make DNA Collection Part of Immigration Reform

Leave a reply

San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos sent a hand-delivered letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asking that pending immigration reforms include provisions allowing immigrants’ DNA samples to be cross-checked against the FBI’s database.

This is just another obstacle that is being created to criminalize, rather than support, our undocumented immigrant community. It is another form of advancing a mindset, not of how many billions our undocumented immigrant brothers and sisters have contributed to this economy, but that they are all criminals.  At the same time, it is meant to add another requisite to placing our immigrant families at the back of the line, with so many requisites to meet, that they will be waiting “more years than life” to obtain a legalization that is just and equal.

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_22477847/san-bernardino-county-district-attorney-asks-congress-make-dna-collection-part-immigration-reform

Invitation to Latino And Latina Roundtable Retreat

Leave a reply

I am writing to request your presence at our annual Latino and Latina Roundtable retreat that will take place on Saturday, January 26th from 9:30 AM – 5 PM at the Pitzer College Broad Center, Room 208.  At this meeting, you can join the organization. Attached and below is the agenda for the meeting.  We are looking forward to having your participation at this most important meeting.

Sincerely,

Jose Zapata Calderon

To view proposed agenda click below.
LRT retreat for 2013