Tag: ‘education
Florida students ‘Walkout 2 Learn’: How to join their education revolution
Florida students are taking a half-day Friday, not in anticipation of the weekend, but to walk out in protest of recent moves by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state legislators to limit school curriculum.
The 12 p.m. mass demonstrations, set to take place at more than 300 campuses across Florida, are organized by Walkout 2 Learn, a Florida-based network of student activists leading an opposition effort across the country in protest.
“Black, queer, trans, and female-identifying people and their histories are the targets of government censorship. Florida’s government is, no exaggeration, leading an authoritarian takeover of its public education system. Our governor has forgotten that students have rights. We’re here to remind him,” the site reads. “This is an education, an activation, a revolution.”
Earlier in the week, DeSantis expanded the reach of the controversial Parental Rights in Education bill (also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) passed last year, which banned discussion of LGBTQ issues in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms. The latest expansion will forbid teachers across all grades from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity, “unless such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards…or is part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student’s parent has the option to have his or her student not attend.”
The youth organizers also are decrying Florida lawmakers’ introduction of bills to limit Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives at state colleges and universities, implement moderation requirements for school libraries, and restrict sexual health education.
The coalition of Florida students and organizations was connected by The Social Equity through Education Alliance (SEE), Teen Vogue reported, which seeks to empower youth political power through local community organizing.
Walkout 2 Learn was founded by 19-year-old Zander Moricz, who is also the mind behind SEE. He told Teen Vogue that organizers are hoping to garner attention from lawmakers who have been ignoring students for too long. “They are not dealing with our perspectives,” he said. Moricz has become an outspoken LGBTQ student activist since garnering attention with his high school graduation speech, which strategically skirted around his school’s prohibition on using the word “gay.” He’s also the face of Walkout 2 Learn’s TikTok presence.
How to get involved whether in Florida or afar
Moricz and the other student organizers are calling for supporters nationwide to join them in Friday’s action and have published a toolkit for those looking for guidance on organizing their own demonstration or otherwise supporting the cause before, during, and after the walkout. Resources include guidance on how to donate to the efforts, spread the word, and join coalitions and teams dedicated to continuing the work.
“Walkout 2 Learn recognizes the harmful fascism that Floridians are experiencing every day and will provide immediate, short-term solutions to every participant so that they may protect themselves and their communities,” it reads. “In the long-term, Walkout 2 Learn gives every participant avenues to build power and community so that the next time we have a chance at making our voices heard in the legislature, we’re ready.”
Interested students are encouraged to join Walkout 2 Learn’s Slack channel to connect with fellow organizers, find training, and get additional support. The coalition’s Instagram page is also hosting student story takeovers and will be resharing “Why I’m Walking Out” vlogs taken by participating students.
What makes the demonstration unique is that Walkout 2 Learn isn’t letting class just stop when students take to the streets. It’s honoring, but adding to, the demonstrations of Florida students last year by providing educational opportunities to students on the ground.
Attendees of Friday’s walkouts will participate in a five-minute, peer-led, banned curriculum lesson led in defiance of DeSantis’ educational mandates, says Walkout 2 Learn, with each peer instructor receiving instruction from Harvard educators. The organizers will also provide the option for students to enroll in a virtual, college-level African American studies course, which organizers are creating along with professors from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other institutions across the country.
At the end, students will be asked to sign an “Active Pledge” and make sure their voter registration is up to date. Follow-up rallies in several cities, including Miami, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Orlando, will begin at 6 p.m.
Walkout 2 Learn walkouts and rallies can be found by searching the online event registry.
Friday’s events have garnered the support of celebrities, like actor Beanie Feldstein, and popular TikTok advocates and educators like Griffin Maxwell Brooks, Khalil Greene, and Jory (@AlluringSkull).
The Florida Democratic Party and Rep. Anna Eskamani also have come out in support of Walkout 2 Learn, signaling a partisan outcry amid this week’s actions.
In the long term, Moricz told Teen Vogue that student organizers are approaching the state’s legislative future pragmatically, focused on building a strong foundation of outspoken students. “We need to provide ourselves with curriculum, with resources, with activations, with communities. It’s a short- and long-term strategy that allows survival and then, hopefully, a chance at reclaiming our state.”
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Rutgers University strike brings education to the picket line
A teacher’s work is never done, whether in class, at home, or on the picket line.
On Monday, faculty at Rutgers University — the oldest public university in New Jersey — officially went on strike. Following a year of unsuccessful bargaining between university officials and three unions representing faculty and staff, it is the first walkout in the school’s 257-year history.
Students soon joined nearly 9,000 educators who had formed picket lines at the three main Rutgers campuses in New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden. True to form, organizers have turned the action into an opportunity, imparting lessons through a series of organized teach-ins and educational events hosted online and across campus — bringing the classroom to the picket line.
Michael Smart, associate professor of urban planning at Rutgers’ Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, is a union representative and the organizer of the Bloustein Teach-In, a week of online evening lectures and conversation opportunities about topics related to organizing, labor, and economic and social justice.
“We don’t love teaching under bad conditions, but we do love staying connected to our students,” he said of the effort to provide teach-ins. “I think the teach-in is an act of love toward our students. All of this is about them and ensuring that they have good learning conditions. Our working conditions are their learning conditions.”
Each conversation is led by a faculty member who researches the topic at hand, structured in quick, 24-minute segments, followed by 24 minutes of discussion — an ad hoc labor seminar, of sorts. “The idea is that it’s as long as your favorite TV show, but better for you,” Smart explained.
Monday’s teach-in, “Organizing for Community Control of Land in New York City,” led by Dr. James DeFilippis, saw about 60 students in conversation with faculty, and Smart expects even more to show up throughout the week. The planned teach-in topics include “The Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights,” presented by Dr. Mark Paul; “Public Sector Unions & Black Americans: The Case of Public Transportation,” presented by Smart; “‘Share Your World’: Mobilizing Free Labor in the Spatial Data Economy,” presented by Dr. Will Payne; and “Co-ops, collective advocacy & affordable housing: wins & challenges across the world,” presented by Dr. Bernadette Baird-Zars.
Smart says faculty will continue offering the lectures as long as an agreement isn’t met. “We’re encouraging people from all over the world to join if they want to stand in solidarity with us, learn about these topics, or be there for our students to show support.”
The teach-ins add a focus on labor rights and organizing to other department initiatives across the campuses, like an MFA Reading Series put on by grad students on the picket line in Newark.
“We’re not abandoning our students,” Smart said. “We’re ensuring that the reputation of the university they’re getting their degree from continues to be good — that the university doesn’t degrade to a point where telling somebody that you’ve graduated from Rutgers is a mark of shame.”
In the days preceding the mass walkout, Rutgers spokespeople expressed their desire to work with union representatives to ensure the school remained open. “Our students’ ability to complete their coursework and earn their degrees is the university’s highest priority,” the university asserted in a statement about the strike. “Every effort will be made to ensure that the strike does not affect our students’ progress toward graduation.”
By Monday evening, however, the college’s leadership was suggesting legal action against organizers. In a Monday evening update addressed to the university community, Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway wrote, “If there is no movement towards an agreement, we will have no choice but to take legal action to assure the continued academic progress of our students and prevent irreparable harm. This is especially important for the thousands of students who are finishing their academic careers at Rutgers and are only a few weeks away from earning their degrees.”
The unions contested that the university had no legal grounds, saying, “Our picket lines have been and will continue to be a peaceful, nonviolent expression of our determination to make a better Rutgers for our students and workers.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called all parties to the Statehouse in Trenton shortly after, hoping to mediate a potential legal course.
“The precarity that the university puts people in is a race to the bottom,” Smart said.
Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Meanwhile, union educators, faculty, and staff have been met with awe-inspiring support from the student population, Smart said, part of what appears to be a growing pro-labor wave of youth support and involvement.
“I’m totally blown away,” said Smart. “It’s been so surprising how much support we’ve gotten from students, who are out in full force. They’re not at all on the sidelines, but a big part of it.”
More information and updates about the ongoing action can be found online or on the strike’s Twitter account.
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Jaded With Education, More Americans are Skipping College
Nationwide, undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022, with declines even after returning to in-person classes, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse. The slide in the college-going rate since 2018 is the steepest on record, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists say the impact could be dire. At worst, it could signal a new generation with little faith in the value of a college degree.
At minimum, it appears those who passed on college during the pandemic are opting out for good. Predictions that they would enroll after a year or two haven’t borne out. Fewer college graduates could worsen labor shortages in fields from health care to information technology. For those who forgo college, it usually means lower lifetime earnings — 75% less compared with those who get bachelor’s degrees, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. And when the economy sours, those without degrees are more likely to lose jobs. “It’s quite a dangerous proposition for the strength of our national economy,” said Zack Mabel, a Georgetown researcher.
In dozens of interviews with The Associated Press, educators, researchers and students described a generation jaded by education institutions. Largely left on their own amid remote learning, many took part-time jobs. Some felt they weren’t learning anything, and the idea of four more years of school, or even two, held little appeal. At the same time, the nation’s student debt has soared…. If there’s a bright spot, experts say, it’s that more young people are pursuing education programs other than a four-year degree. Some states are seeing growing demand for apprenticeships in the trades, which usually provide certificates and other credentials.
After a dip in 2020, the number of new apprentices in the U.S. has rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, according to the Department of Labor.
Community college is even free in Tennessee, the article notes. “Searching for answers, education officials crossed the state last year and heard that easy access to jobs, coupled with student debt worries, made college less attractive.” They also found that restaurant and retail jobs pay better than they have before, with other high school graduates being recruited by manufacturing companies that have aggressively raised wages in response to labor shortages.
One 19-year-old making $24-an-hour at a new Ford plant gushed that “The type of money we’re making out here, you’re not going to be making that while you’re trying to go to college.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.