Is this what Milwaukee Youth have become? This is too gangsta. Everybody wants to be a *worldstar but this ain’t how you do it!

Yesterday, the Shreveport Times reported on a recent school board meeting that dozens of upset parents and school board staff attended. In the meeting, many vented about the 313 jobs that are to be eliminated in accordance with the $50 million parish budget. After a public hearing, the final vote will be taken on June 21. The students of Caddo Parish as well as the staff have been handed the short end of the stick while the administration is still sleeping ever so lovely night after night.

These job cuts aren’t planning to come from Central Office but from the schools themselves. Instead of laying off Central Office workers who rarely interact with the public, secretaries, aides that are hands-on with students, parents, and teachers are being thrown on the chopping block. I, along with several other parents, staff, and even one board member, believe that the schools shouldn’t be touched and the cuts should instead start with the school board administration.

This is Ursula Brantley’s debut blog post on 99Problems.org. She’s a 25-year-old single mom from Louisiana with a passion for writing. Show her some love in the comments!!

A classic debate about the accountability in Hip-Hop and lack thereof. Imma have to go with Lupe on this one! “Miseducation is Miseducation, no matter if it’s coming through the radio out of a book or from a teacher.”

When state governments start calling out teachers for bankrupting budgets, think for a minute about what they really make…

IF you’re hiding under a rock and haven’t been paying attention to the controversy over the budget cutting in WI, you might wanna check out our Mad in Madison article.

What’s interesting is the amount of people who took off from work that day to show support or stand in ‘solidarity’. Apparently, school districts warned that teachers who missed time without prior approval or a doctor’s note could face disciplinary action, including docked pay for the days they were out. Someone must’ve thought, “why not have a doctor excuse booth with doctors on duty” because sure enough, there was a station there with active doctors distributing excuses to ‘stressed’ soon-to-be- unemployees.

Those same doctors who wrote medical notes over the weekend excusing protesters at the Wisconsin Capitol from work are getting slammed with angry phone calls and profane e-mails from people telling them they deserve to be thrown in jail, one doctor said Sunday.

READ FULL ARTICLE FROM JSONLINE HERE

Education as we know it is changing. Remember sitting in class and having your teacher yell at you for listening to music? No longer! If Run-DMC has their way, teachers will not only be encouraging music in the classroom but will be bringing in rap and hip hop of their own.

Darryl McDaniels, a member of the pioneering rap group Run-DMC, was invited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to attend a conference at the Summer Teacher Institute last week. While there, he spoke to teachers that had gathered from across the country about the importance of using rap as a way in which teachers could better connect with their students, saying that rap made school more interesting, relevant, and personal for students. All I can say is, why wasn’t Run-DMC saying this to my teachers when I was in school?

But seriously, he’s got a point. While he admitted that rap can be “raw,” he also pointed out that it is a form of social commentary and as such has the potential to become an educational tool and a medium of expression for kids who might not have another outlet. In his own words, “real hip-hop is information, education, communication and motivation, whether you’re rich, poor, black, white, Puerto Rican. Hip-hop is the total expression of the existence of what it’s like to be alive on the face of the earth.”

So look out students. This September, it could be your teacher that busts into the classroom with a few Run-DMC lyrics of their own:

One thing I know is that life is short

So listen up homeboy, give this a thought

The next time someone’s teaching why don’t you get taught?

( From Run-DMC:  “It’s Like That”)

It’s understandable to be rejected from college because of your grades, your SATs, or even your extracurriculars – but is it valid to be rejected because you need financial aid?

According to this NY Times article, Reed College in Portland, Oregon is doing just that. As a result of the recession, revenue is dropping at the school, which can’t financially commit to as much financial aid. Long story short, they’ve started rejecting students because they lack full ability to pay.
Let’s go into crippling student loan debt after the jump!

All colleges seem to follow the model that they will admit students on a need-blind basis, which means that if you are a suitable candidate, they will admit you regardless of your financial situation. If you are in dire straights, they will help you find a way to pay your bill.

However, Reed seems like the pioneer of a disturbing trend – the small liberal arts school in Oregon rejected “100 needy students before sending out acceptances, and [substituted] those who could pay full” tuition. Check out how the president of the college defended his decision:

“Like everybody, we are trying to start by trying to cut the stuff that is least likely to inflict real pain on the program,” said Colin Diver, Reed’s president.

“I keep trying to say, we are in the education business,” Mr. Diver said, describing the pressure to keep up with wealthier colleges and expressing a frustration rarely voiced publicly by college presidents. “The whole principle behind higher education is, we know something that you don’t. Therefore, we shouldn’t cater to them.”

(99P Editor’s Note: For you grammaristas out there, this is an actual quote from an actual president of an actually well regarded college. That bolding is mine.)

One can only wonder how many more private colleges – and maybe even state-funded schools – will fall by the wayside as a result of the economy. I mean, things have to get worse before they get better, but this is freaking ridiculous.

We’re serious about this. The Youth PROMISE Act is the biggest step we can take right now to keep the kids of America out of prison.

Please get involved; speak up for all the youth who’ve been given the right to remain silent.

Stand up for the leaders of tomorrow.

Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to start the discussion in your community.

Write your Congressional Representative to let them know you support the Youth PROMISE Act!

Here’s a revolutionary idea: get to know your town’s teachers. They’re pretty easy to spot; chalk on their shirts, rulers in hand. They’re the ones teaching our kids how to take charge of America.

Investing in education is an investment in ourselves. Moreover, it’s an investment in our businesses, in our technology…the minds of our children will enable the prosperity of tomorrow, and our schools will either discourage or encourage their dreams.

California is first in prison spending and 41st in spending on education. Therein lies the the root cause of the problems we see in our communities. Let us silence the violence and invest in education.

Update 11:00am PACIFIC:

MK and Sandy Take on Prop 13

Two of our organizers from San Francisco, MK and Sandy, sent us a video they recorded last Friday about the need to repeal Prop 13, a piece of California legislation that was passed in 1978. Prop 13 created a cap on property tax rates in the state, reducing them by an average of 57% and totally bankrupting our funding for schools. We need to repeal Prop 13 so we can get funding back to our broken schools!