Empathy and Compassion

Ann Romney has multiple sclerosis and had cancer.  Rick Santorum‘s baby has a major disability.  Both need medical care that is very expensive.  Ann Romney, as the wife of a multi-millionaire, has access to all the care that she needs.  Rick Santorum, assuredly has health insurance and most likely the insurance he was given by the American people as US Senator to cover his child’s health care. We are told their stories over and over to humanize them and to make the “likable” because they suffer.

Yet, Ann Romney is married to a man ,who if elected, has promised to cut the healthcare that is offered under the Affordable Healthcare Act.  Rick Santorum, showed no compassion or empathy with people who do not have access to health care and have sick children.  Before the Affordable Healthcare Act, children with severe disabilities faced the lifetime cap that precluded them from getting anymore coverage.  Some of the children reached the cap at an early age. Compassion and empathy without a commitment to some form of social and economic justice is an empty sentiment.  A cheap Hallmark card.  An empty gesture.

When someone seeks compassion and empathy for themselves and shows no such compassion or care of people who suffer the same condition and have few resources then that is simple sadistic cruelty. Santorum used simplistic analogies of people “expecting free medication”  yet they buy and iPad for $900.  This is exactly the kind of “folksy” oversimplification that is used against people to dehumanize them and to take away a social sense of compassion and empathy for our fellow citizens.  Instead, they become a caricature.

These self same politicians and their wives, want us to see them as humans with real pain and suffering. When you make your life’s work the demonization of your fellow citizens and of the people of other nations, do not cry and beg for my compassion.  Do not try to pull my heartstrings.   So, Mrs. Romney, I do not care about your struggles until I see that you face the heartless policies of your husband.

As far as I am concerned, you are nothing more than the wife of a mobster, Carmella Soprano comes to mind.  You choose to be with that man.  You have free will.  Your struggles are artificial and deserve little of my attention.  I will save my compassion for those who are left out without care, without protection.

Mr. Santorum, your parents worked for the VA, the biggest national healthcare.  They paid for your healthcare as a child from generous public benefits.   If they were so capable, why did they not work out in the private sector?  You have been on the public teet your entire life and you go around scolding others as if you are some type of self-made man.   I know a scoundrel when I see one, and you are one.

To the Republican Party and particularly the Romney household.  Your personal narrative of suffering should be repressed and kept private.  If you follow your core values, your fellow citizens do not owe you one ounce of compassion.    

The Casey Anthony Trial

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday, in the 102 degree heat, sitting on the easy chair with clicker in hand I took a tour of the TV nether lands.  An alien area where  people pick one crime, one incident, to re-enact all the social goo we love.  I would not be one to deny anyone their low brow entertainment, but there was something tragic and pathetic with the attention and the devotion to watching the trial.

I frankly know nothing of the case and the characters and do not care to find out. But, for sure, the accused has no chance.  The mobs outside have drawn and quartered her.  The TV announcer, in a sportscaster tone, spewed the highlights and the drama of the day in court.  If I was an alien from another planet, I would think this was the only murder of a child in America, ever.  Ninety percent of America fancies itself to be a forensic expert by merely watching some television shows such as CSI.  People across America are glued to this spectacle of  Roman Colosseum style justice.

Medeas have come and gone and they have alway grabbed our attention.  They offer one balm to the shallow thinker: ” Evil”.  A clear and true manifestation of all that is evil beyond the shadow of doubt, or argument.  It seems calming to offer up to the masses something they can all agree on:  an evil mother.  Annually about 1,400 children are killed/murdered, 60% of those deaths are committed by parents.  Yet, this woman is chosen for the drama.  This pathetic oddity who seems to have wanted to relieve herself from the burdens of parenthood.  So once again, we take our social problems and dilute them down to a melodramatic passion play.  A play that makes us feel superior and cleansed and united in a common social value system.

I am not making excuses for any parent who harms a child.  In fact, there are no excuses.  In the drama spectrum we have the Disney apotheosis of the orphaned child, the ultimate angel.  To the tragic cases such as this, the Medea, the mother that kills her child, the ultimate manifestation of evil.  As our moral compass is tested, time after time, we look for the easy black and white narratives to comfort us.  Our politicians have adopted this language of the grotesque to soothe our confused little brains.

GOP Jobs Double Speak: aka, “how to fuck the workers”

The Republicans speak of caring for workers.  Many workers believe that somehow the Republicans have their interests at heart.  But check this out:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.), along with Senate Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), are asking the White House to drop its demand to include an extension of the trade adjustment assistance (TAA) program as part of a package that would also include bills implementing long-stalled trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

What is the TAA?  Not just an acronym:

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program is a federal program that provides a path for employment growth and opportunity through aid to US workers who have lost their jobs as a result of foreign trade. The TAA program seeks to provide these trade-affected workers with opportunities to obtain the skills, resources, and support they need to become reemployed. The program benefits and services that are available to individual workers are administered by the states through agreements between the Secretary of Labor and each state Governor. Program eligibility, technical assistance, and oversight are provided by the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance.

The wholesale betrayal of the American worker in the name of job creation by the treacherous GOP leadership.  Get the trade deal for business, do it quick but don’t give anything to displaced workers.  The whores of the Senate, the GOP, at work.

The Loneliness of An American Lefty

As an American citizen with left leaning politics I am trapped in a small box.  I have no real political choices.  I have no chance.  Between the American Taliban and the pragmatists, we have shut down the voice of a legitimate American left. Yes, we still have Bernie Sanders, but where are the other voices?  Buried down in the layers of the noise machine.  The 200 Tea Partyers get first page New York Times coverage and the thousands who fight to protect the safety net, get little notice.

• I can vote for a Neo-Liberal free market centrist, Barack Obama;
• Not vote; or
• Vote for a marginal third party, or an independent candidate who emerges.

In truth, these are not choices.   In a Parliamentary system, I would be a member of a party that mirrored my political leanings.  I would vote along my party line and the winner, would have to probably enter a coalition with my party, the lefty party of my choice.  In the American political system, I am held captive.  I could choose a Green Party, or a Socialist Party  in German,  Greece, Italy, or France.  Cripes, Egypt will have more political parties in this election round.  In the end, yes the muddy middle wins and Neo-libearal (corporatist) economics prevail.

Vote for the Democratic candidate, or the American Taliban will be elected.  Your rights, actually your daughter’s rights at this time in life, the social safety net, the environmental policies, the human rights, in sum all your core values will be abolished by the fanatics.  So, unless I capitulate to the corporatist Neo Liberal economic policies and centrist social policies, of the incumbent, I will have to shoulder the responsibility  for the catastrophe. People still blame the Nader voters in 2000 for the Gore loss.  How democratic of you.

The political blackmail barrage will start:

• It’s about the supreme court.
• Save Social Security.
• The last drips and drabs of environmental policy.

In truth, I will get a mediocre Supreme Court, Obama will most likely overhaul Social Security to satisfy the big donors that will help him raise the 1 Billion, all the money will be spent to woo the “Independent” voters, the great bipolar middle, the right will get a chunk of Congress, and the left, will still be on the sidelines diddling with lofty notions of “reason”, “pragmatism”,  ”the excellent is the enemy of the good”, drone, drone and drone.

The left, by throwing its early support behind Obama, gave him a tremendous win.  In the process, it failed to create a left base, or voice.  In that respect, the right-wing, from the margins, was somehow better at patching together a voice via the Tea Party.  We can laugh all we want, but they got their distorted populist message out and ours, the real populist message, languished on the inter webs in meek voices.

Representative Democracies need multiple viable political parties.  This two-party system is killing our democracy.  It is merging all the voices into the status quo.  Without parties that offer real political agendas, we get this mish-mash of delirium and confusion.  Meanwhile, the guys who fund all the candidates, the corporatist, get all the access.

Workers have power via unions.  Voters have power via parties, voter blocks.  We, of the American left, were put in the dunce corner and told to be good citizens.  Our pragmatism and reason limits us to the role of saps.

Let me introduce myself:  I am Stella, an American lefty.  I could never be a card carrying lefty.  I always have to apologize and compromise.  Just once, let me vote my politics.

Austerity Double Standard

Greece was bad.  Consecutive Greek governments spent way beyond their means, we are told.  Greece was scolded and put in the corner by the prudent and thrifty leadership of the EU.   It was the public employees, yes.  It was the graft, yes.  It was the corruption, yes.  It was the culture, maybe.  It was that they are not as wise as the Europeans, define wisdom.  The list is endless.

One area that stayed under the radar was the military spending.  Here is a sweet little picture of the Greek military spending:

Greece’s serious financial troubles are going to affect their military spending. The highest in the European Union and second in NATO only to the United States, the Greeks spend 2.8% of their GDP on defense, compared to an average 1.7% in the other European NATO countries. Defense personnel account for 2.9% of the active population against an average 1.1% in other NATO member states.

One little graph from the Economist jumped at me today.  It seems the scolders were right at the table gorging with the guilty Greeks.  Look, Greece is Germany‘s number one customer.  France‘s number three.  Now that we put Greece on an austerity program, reigned in the pensioners, the universities, the hospitals and the sick, maybe we should see how the superior elders of the EU add to the problem.  Just maybe.

“Personhood”, the Reframing Of Pro-Life

Regroup and rename. It’s simple. The strategy of fighting the Roe vs. Wade was not going to happen via the courts. The anti-abortion foes have taken the battle to the states and the state legislatures.

In their own words, you can see how they see the battle shaping:

• Personhood Net: Pro-Life and Pro-Human Policy for the 21st Century.  They list their accomplishments, the initiatives in the various states.  Of course they use the issues such as eugenics, rights of the disabled etc, to conflate the real agenda.  Repealing women’s choice.
• Personhood USA, is the other site that lists and encourages the support for the initiatives in the various state.

The initiatives are on a wide national scope.  Only simpletons would think this is anything else but taking away women’s rights.  They will keep trying, they will fail at times, but they will keep pushing.  A particularly egrigious South Dakota bill, was shelved for later consideration.

Coming to a legislature near you.  Be aware and be prepared.

Celebrating The Egyptian Revolution

In the past 18 days, I have followed the struggle of the Egyptian people.  My interest is beyond the casual observer.  I was born and raised in Egypt, although I am Greek/Lebanese, ethnically, my family felt  Egyptian, first.  I watched a peaceful, non-violent struggle against the old order of tyranny, patriarchy and darkness.  A struggle for a democratic and  just society.  A society that respects the human rights of every Egyptian.   I watched as Mubarak and Suleiman used every trick in the repertoire to break down the spirit of the Egyptian people: brute force,  fear, then divisiveness,  paternalism.  None worked .  The game book failed.  The Egyptian people wrote their own playbook.  It was time to remove the tyrants who replaced the old foreign colonials.

The Egyptian people through a non -violent, home-bred “balady”, no charismatic leader and non sectarian revolution, toppled the regime.  Desperate voices from the outside  kept asking Egyptians:  ”Who do you want” ” Who are the leaders of the revolution?”.  One after one the Egyptian people kept saying:  ”We will see when we start the process of Democracy.”  ”When we have parties; when we have free press.”  ”We will see when we have a legitimate electoral process, constitution and we have choices.”

The idea of Egyptians having choices has alarmed many  in the world:   “What if they make the wrong choices?”   This is where the hypocritical talk about enlightenment and democratic ideals fails.  How dare you ask such questions?  How dare you deserve an opinion?   It is the choice of the Egyptian people.  I heard an ex-American administration official giving advice on how we should influence the process for outcomes that are beneficial to American interests.  No, thank you.

Authoritarian states are not stable.

I hear rumblings from the American right, that if not for the Bush Iraq war and occupation may have incited the people of Egypt towards Democracy.  This type of thinking is on par with the Mubarak delusional thinking.   Iraq was just another part of authoritarianism.  Treating nations like children.  A policy steeped in violence, force and brutality.  Egypt was the polar opposite of what Iraq was and is in every form.

For now, the Egyptian people and the world need to celebrate the spirit and the strength of  the Egyptians and the Tunisians.

Who is next journalists  ask?  The answer is simple, the people of the various nations get to decide who is next.  Can the world really handle self- determination?

Just as the wall of fear fell in Egypt, I saw as many people around the world, and here in America particularly, realized the human face of the Islamic/Arabic enemy they have been slowly trained to fear.  18 days of seeing real Egyptian men, women and children.  Listening to Egyptian voices beyond the caricatures that we were fed for years, broke down the fear of the  demonized “Arabic Street”.  For the first time, we went beyond the simplistic binaries that separate us and Americans got a chance to feel the humanity of the other.  Now, how do we go to the next stage?   People got to hear the human aspirations of the Egyptian people and gosh darn it, they are not so foreign, or scary.  They are the same human desires and struggles.

Imagine how hard it will be for politicians to fool us if we break down the years of demonizing other human beings?   It’s not easy to choose to oppress and kill people if you see the humanity you share.

This song is by a wonderful young Egyptian singer, Hamza Namira.

( I found the videos via 3arabawy)

Global Lessons From The Egyptian Revolution

This video is disturbing.  As demonstrators walk peacefully, a police car smashes into them and drives on.  This is exactly the state sanctioned behavior that the Egyptian Revolution is trying to stop.

Many “political pundits” speak of the Arab street.  What they don’t tell you, is that of the many who look at the street from their balconies.  When my mother was young in Alexandria, in the 1920′s, she told me she would look from her balcony as truck loads of Egyptian day laborers heading west.  From time to time one, or two would fall off the truck.  When they did, the the boss, under the eye of the English overlord,  would come out with a whip, and beat the men who fell off.  This injustice, lived with my mother.  She was not political, but she knew injustice when she saw it.  She saw it from her balcony.

We are now in the year 2011, almost 100 years later, and the Egyptian people are still treated with the same inhumanity.  And still, Egyptians, watch from their balconies, the same injustices.

The Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions  are the battle for freedom, democracy and human rights.  A battle for breaking down the authoritarian  model of oppression.  We replaced colonialism with a model of new-liberal economics and we think that tyrants will eventually democratize their societies.   We imposed our financial demands, our market rules, but we have failed miserably to have the same expectation when it comes to civil society.  Humanity is not just a set of economic rules and transactions.  De-buckling economic models from social and civic standards is a formula for catastrophe.

We can all have cell phones, computers and televisions.  But, if we are not free to say, write and see different points of view, or question our society, they are useless toys reduced to mind numbing chatter.  We can educate entire nations, but we cannot keep them submissive and numb.

Our Neo Liberal economics stands as a place holder to perpetuate the authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.  In truth, western societies did not advance because of the economic functions, they advanced because we had “Social Democracies”.  Democracies that nurtured civil society and the individual.  Social Democracies that did not just appear, social democracies that took a great deal of work to establish.

Tony Judt, in his last book, Ill Fares The Land, describes how we have placed a blind faith on the markets and we have allowed our values of Social Democracies to wither.  We have closed an eye to the most abhorrent violations of human rights in the name of economic gains.  Shame on us.  In fact, some are hell bent to regress from the core values of social democracies and just create states that are mere vehicles for commerce.

It is time, it is time that we look at the demands of the Egyptian people for self-determination, freedom, democracy and human rights.  The empty shell of exporting Neo Liberal free market economies as stand alones, corrupts everything and strengthens all the authoritarian tendencies of nations.  The Egyptian revolution is the next step to a true global culture.  A system that is not just free markets that help the few, a system entrenched in democratic values.  The young people are trying to smash this cloud of oppression.

The men from the balcony, in total frustration start screaming “sons of dogs”, ” sons of dogs”, then they go into the anti -Mubarak chants.  Do not be mistaken, that feeling of despair is starting to percolate here in America and in other parts of the west, we watch from day-to-day as our gains are taken away in the name of economic expediency.  My mother, could only tell me the story, these men could post it on You-tube using a cell phone camera.  Thank you for the tools, now, how do we keep the avenues open to use the tools for a purpose?

Time to stand up globally to all authoritarian practices that are justified in the name of economic gain and social stability.  Authoritarian thinking uses fear to keep nations and individuals passive.  Look at how fear is used to keep us from uniting and from standing up to those who brought the economic calamity?  As we feel weaker in our civil societies, yet the oligarchic interests are gaining power, we will fall into a state of entropy.  The Egyptian revolution and the young voices from Egypt are waking us up.  Telling us, there are values worth fighting for, values beyond fear and consumerism.

A Guide: How Not To Say Stupid Stuff About Egypt

The past few days I have heard so many stupid things from friends, blogs, pundits, correspondents, politicians, experts, writers that I want to pull my hair.  So, I will not beat around the bush, I will be really blunt and give you a handy list to keep you from offending Egyptians, Arabs and the world when you discuss, blog or talk about Egypt.  Honestly, I would think most Progressives would know these things, but let’s get to it.

• “I am so impressed at how articulate Egyptians are.”  Does this sound familiar?  Imagine saying this about a Latino or African American?  You don’t say it.  So don’t say it about Egyptians.   Gee, thank you oh great person who is of limited experience and human contact for recognizing that out of 80 million people some could be articulate, educated and speak many languages.  Not cool.  Don’t say it.  You may think it, but it makes you sound like a dumb ass.

• “This is so sad”:  No, sad were the thirty years of oppression, repression and torture.

• ” I loved Sadat”:  Mubarak was made of the same cloth of Sadat.  Same repression, same ill-treatment of their people, yet you were all in love with Sadat.  Hmm, where and when do you think the repression started?  The State Of Emergency?  Sadat was not loved by the Egyptian people.   Why do you love Sadat?

• “What they did to the Mummies is horrible”:  Yes, but who did it?  Think, Mubarak, for years has been playing the “I am the stabilizing force”.  The one thing you know about Egypt, the stuff that was underground and from the past, you will be distraught and find the protestors to be disgusting.  Yet it was not the protesters who did it.  In Alexandria, the young people protected the library.  Did anyone carry that story?  Statement from the Director of the Alexandria Library:

The library is safe thanks to Egypt’s youth, whether they be the staff of the Library or the representatives of the demonstrators, who are joining us in guarding the building from potential vandals and looters.  I am there daily within the bounds of the curfew hours.   However, the Library will be closed to the public for the next few days until the curfew is lifted and events unfold towards an end to the lawlessness and a move towards the resolution of the political issues that triggered the demonstrations.

• “The Muslim Brothers are Terrorists”  Maybe you should look at their English Website, or try something easy like this link Check this out:

The Muslim Brotherhood is not on the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. It renounced violence in the 1970s and has no active militia (although a provocative martial arts demonstration in December 2006 raised some alarm that they may be regrouping a militia.)

Nevertheless, the Muslim Brotherhood or Ikhwan Al Muslimun in Arabic, is frequently mentioned in relation to groups such as Hamas and Al Qaeda.

• “The Twitter Revolution”. No, this is the Revolution of the Egyptian people.  Egyptians resisted for decades.  They were tortured, jailed and repressed by the Mubarak and Sadat regimes.  Twitter and Facebook are tools.  They did not stand in front of the water canons, or go to jail for all these years to get the credit.  There were demonstrations all summer long and for a several years through out Egypt but they are rarely covered, because we are worried about what Sarah Palin said, or some moronic Imam saying something stupid.  Does it sound a bit arrogant to take credit for a people’s struggle?

• “The women are so brave”:  Egyptian women have always been brave.  If you want to know about Sadat’s Egypt, read Nawal El Saadawi’s memoir while in jail.  Memoirs from the Women’s Prison

• “Al Jazeera has come to its own”: Al Jazeera has been on it’s own, you just only noticed. .  Do you think you believed the Bush administration spin about Al Jazeera?  Just maybe you believed the bullshit?  They must be doing something right if all the factions on the ground want to shut them down.  The tyrants, the US and the Israelis.  Hmm, maybe they are speaking truth to power?

• “Mubarak kept the peace treaty”: So, what do you think, if the Egyptian people choose another government, they will go to war with Israel?  Maybe they will demand a few more things from Israel in how they negotiate with the Palestinians.  Maybe Gazans will get better treatment?  Maybe the balance of power will not be tipped over to Israel?  Egypt protests: Israel fears unrest may threaten peace treaty.   Hmm, so we should support the oppression of 80 million Egyptians for a false stabilization?

• “If they get Democracy they will elect extremists”.  Imagine if the world said that about America.  The Tea Party threatens world stability, as did the Bush administration.  How would you like if others used that as a threat to support an autocrat who made all opposing parties illegal?  In truth, US politics threaten world stability more than Egypt does.  Second, the implication is that democracy is not to be trusted in the hands of “certain” nations, people and religions is offensive, racist and ignorant.  You do not claim to value human rights, democracy and freedom and then you make exclusions based on race, nationality and religion.  Don’t say this shit.

• “The people are so nice”:  Yes they are, it’s your ignorant self that assumed they are all terrorists and fanatics.  What did you think?  Glad you went to Egypt and found the Egyptians nice.  After all, they do have a cosmopolitan civilization of over 5,000 years, yet you reduced them to “rag heads” , “jihadists”, “ali babas”, “terrorists”, the list is endless.  Imagine saying this about African Americans?  Asians?  Nope.  Just don’t fucking say it.  It’s patronizing.

It’s time Egyptians were heard.  It’s time the pundits and “Egypt hands” (old recycled western diplomats) were retired. These people were as good at predicting the current events as our economists were in predicting the economic calamity.  I am glad you all got to see things from Egypt outside your comfort zone.  Maybe now, you can give Egyptians and Arabs some respect.  The people in Egypt are struggling for human rights, dignity and freedom.  Like the rest of us, they want the economic means to care for their families.  Break down those closed ideas that dehumanize the Arab and Egyptian people in general.  That is all I ask.

America 2011: How To Bludgeon Teachers and Unions

Image via Wikipedia

“America has the worst educational system and it’s the fault of the union ” they keep repeating and we nod.  Is this true?  Or is  this another one of the lies? Like  Social Security is bankrupt lie,   tax cuts create jobs,  and many other lies, that our politicians and pundits engage in to confuse us?  All the anecdotal mythology about American education, how does it stand? Who is seriously looking at how we are educating our children, and who is seriously engaged in an agenda to eliminate Free Universal Public Education with a free bonus of bashing a few unions?

Right wing America is on a full frontal attack and has been to dismantle free universal education.  Unfortunately, many on the left, Democrats and Progressives join in the attack against public education without thinking:  The praise of Charter Schools, with little or no evidence, the privatization of the public schools movement are just some of the fads.  The fads to destroy what made America achieve a highly educated middle class, our Universal Free Public Education.   (Keep repeating those words, cause they made you who you are today).

The story is that it’s failing and we have to cut it off because it’s expensive and we cannot afford the expensive teachers.  No one ever really tells us how it’s failing, we just all join in on the “public schools bad” and “private schools good”,  ”tenure is bad”, “unions are bad”, “teachers are lazy”.  Never mind that the only way we can have a true democracy and a balanced society is by preserving the most egalitarian institution we have:  Universal and Free Public Education.

Take the mythology around how badly American students do in comparison of other nations.  I am not an educator nor do I have any credentials in looking at standardized testing.  This is only one test that is conducted on an International level.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):  Basically, this is a fifty year old international organization that  promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.  The basic idea is that if you compare and study economic and social indicators you can see where you public policies fall short and how you are doing in the world, or at least among the member nations.  OECD created PISA, The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an internationally standardised assessment that was jointly developed by participating economies and administered to15-year-olds in schools.  The test is taken every three years, from 2000, we have had four tests for comparison.

So, from all we hear in the media, America is on a steady decline.  An abysmal decline in standards seems to be the mythology that is spread to justify the bashing of teachers and teacher unions.  But, Bob Somerby has been following this issue in his columns and how this information is twisted .  It is twisted to create what he calls the bogus claims about education, that feed the march to obliterating Universal Free Public Education.

I finally went and read the PISA results for America, expecting some train wreck.  But, in fact the numbers are not on this purported steady decline here are just a couple of numbers:

• U.S. 15-year-olds had an average score of 500 on the combined reading literacy scale, not measurably different from the OECD average score of 493. Among the 33 other OECD countries, 6 countries had higher average scores than the United States, 13 had lower average scores, and 14 had average scores not measurably different from the U.S. average. Among the 64 other OECD countries, non-OECD countries, and other education systems, 9 had higher average scores than the United States, 39 had lower average scores, and 16 had average scores not measurably different from the U.S. average.
• On the reflect and evaluate reading literacy subscale, U.S. 15-year-olds had a higher average score than the OECD average. The U.S. average was lower than that of 5 OECD countries and higher than that of 23 OECD countries; it was lower than that of 8 countries and other education systems and higher than that of 51 countries and other education systems overall. On the other two subscales—access and retrieve and integrate and interpret—the U.S. average was not measurably different from the OECD average.
• Students in public schools in which half or more of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (50 to 74.9 percent and 75 percent or more) scored, on average, below the overall OECD and U.S. average scores (table6). Students in schools in which less than 25 percent of students were FRPL-eligible (10 to 24.9 percent and less than 10 percent) scored, on average, above the overall OECD and U.S. average scores. The average scores of students in schools in which 25 to 49.9 percent were FRPL-eligible were above the overall OECD average but not measurably different from the U.S. average.

What this cluster of data tells us, that if you really see America as being two Americas, the rich mostly white nation and the “other America” poor America, the real problem is that we are not educating our poor children.  Somehow, our teachers and the unions are doing a fine job for the higher income kids, but in poorer areas not so good.  Maybe, economic inequality is the issue for driving the educational standards down?  A Harvard educational study, concluded that schools districts with Union Teachers, perform significantly better:

“… a statistically significant and positive relationship between State teacher unionization rates and State standardized test scores after controlling for potential confounding factors.” In explaining the results, the authors state that unionized schools are more likely to have a lower student-teacher ratio, higher per -capita expenditures, higher teacher salaries, better working conditions, better teacher training, and greater worker autonomy.

I am neither a journalist, nor educational researcher.  But, when I hear a drumbeat, a constant thumping and bludgeoning of teachers and teacher unions, I get suspicious.  Our Public Education system has many problems, it has stagnated and it is pulled by every political whim and fancy.  So, are we serious about educational reform?  Or are we on a path of dismantling Universal Free Public Education?  Maybe our numbers would be higher if we just compared rich America with Finland of the same socio-economic standard, wait, they are higher.