deriving from state and local taxesdeclined to 64 percent in
2004 from74 percent in 1991. A number of uni-versity presidents are
calling thisdecline a de fecto privatization of theinsdtutions that
played such a crucialrole in the creation of the Americanmiddle
class (The New York Times,Oaober 16,2005).
New York City child care providerswere informed by a city
official thatthe city's massive new after-schoolchild care
initiative would pay lessthan needed and expect serviceproviders to
seek private funding. Thisannouncement marked the first timethe
city has articulated what previous-ly had been a quiet shift from
publicto private funding of the city's after-school budget
(www.CityLimits.org,December 12, 2005).
The U.S. Supreme Court ruledunanimously that the federal
govern-ment can deduct money from SocialSecurity checks to cover
long overduestudent loan debts. Since many ofthese loans were taken
out twenty tothirty years ago, their recipients noware often in
their sixdes and dependentupon Social Security {Chronicle ofHigher
Education, December 8,2005).
In "The War on Our Children" {InThese Times, December 19,
2005),Representative Pete Stark(D-California) writes that the Iraq
Warand the tax breaks given to the wealthi-est Americans have
placed almostimpossible hurdles in front of our chil-dren. Since
2002, nearly 7,000 HeadStart slots for low-income families havebeen
cut. The next targets are poormothers with children under six
yearsold. These mothers would have to dou-ble their work hours from
20 to 40hours to remain eligible for vocadonaltraining, yet not
gain the $10.5 billionneeded for the additional childcareWhen
children reach school age theywill be subjected to No Child
LeftBehind, which has shortchanged pub-lic schools by $40 billion
as of June,2005. If they reach college, studentscould be forced to
pay an additional$5,800 for collie. The U.S. has spent$250 billion
for the Iraq War and willgive American millionaires an averagetax
break of $41, 574 in 2006. Thesefunding priorities may be
costingAmerican students their futures.
46
As Congress moves to slash $40 bil-lion in spending, the college
loan pro-gram will be hardest hit, with almost$13 billion cut over
the next five yearsThe money taken from the studentloan program
would not be pumpedinto other education programs, butcounted only
toward reducing the fed-eral deficit (Associated Press,December 21,
2005).
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
On September 15, 2005 die director ofthe FBI announced the
creation of aNational Security Higher EducationAdvisory Board,
consisdng of the presi-dents and chancellors of several promi-nent
U. S. universides and designed tofoster outreach and promote
under-standing between higher education andthe FBI (FBI National
Press Office,September 15,2005).
Students, by just doing their home-work, are now having their
academicfi-eedom challenged. A high school stu-dent in North
Carolina had fulfilledhis senior civics class assignment bycreating
an anti-Bush poster illustrat-ing the student's right of dissent.
Whena photo of the poster was developed atthe local Wal-Mart, an
employeeturned the photo over to the SecretService, who showed up
at the highschool to confiscate the poster. Thestudent was not
indicted, and theSecret Service did not pursue the casefurther (The
Progressive, October 8,2005). At the university level, a UMassNorth
Dartmouth senior was visitedby agents of the Department ofHomeland
Security after he requestedthrough interlibrary loan a copy ofMao
Tse-Tung's "The Little RedBook." The student was completing
aresearch paper on Communism for aclass on fascism and
totalitarianism{Standard-Times [New Bedford, MA],December 17,
2005).
Professors as well are having theiracademic fireedoms
challenged. DavidGraeber, a Yale anthropology professorrenowned in
his field, has ignited aletter-writing campaign from profes-sors
worldwide when he was notrenewed by Yale. Graeber is an anar-chist
whose countercultural writingsare almost as popular as his
academicwork, carries an Industrial Workers of
the World (IWW) union card, andhas been arrested during
anti-global-ization protests (www.Newsday.com,October 23, 2005). In
Mexico, theSupreme Court has ordered SergioWitz, a poet and
professor of litera-ture, to fece trial after he published aprotest
poem ("The Country AmongShit") that proposed using theMexican flag
as toilet paper. If con-victed. Professor Witz could be sen-tenced
to a prison term of up to fouryears (The Chronicle of
HigherEducation, October 12, 2005).
In "Rogue Scholars" {The Nation,December 26, 2005), Tara
McKelveydescribes how professors from Har-vard's Alan Dershowitz to
University ofChicago Law School's Eric Posner sup-port torture in
various forms and havemade ticking bombs and waterboard-ing into
concepts in an intellectualgame.
The American Council on Educadonfiled a lawsuit challenging a
new feder-al requirement that could force collegesto overhaul their
computer networks sothat law enforcement agencies couldmonitor
emails and other forms ofonline communicadon Collie officialsacross
the country are saying that mak-ing the changes would cost billions
ofdollars and deplete budgets alreadystrained to the breaking point
{TheChronicle of Higher Education, Oaober24, 2005).
WORKS FROM MEMBERS OFTHE RADICAL TEACHER
COLLECTIVEBased on Pepi Leistyna's forthcomingbook. Class
Dismissed\s a documentarynavigadng the steady stream of
narrowworking class representations fromAmerican television's
beginnings totoday's sitcoms, reality shows, policedramas, and
daytime talk shows.Featuring interviews with media ana-lysts and
cultural historians, this docu-mentary examines the patterns
inher-ent in TV's disturbing depictions ofworking class people,
stereotypical por-trayals that reinforce the myth of meri-tocracy.
For further informadon, [email protected];
toorder, caU 800-897-0089.
In The Ellis Island Snow Globe, EricaRand, author of Barbie's
QueerAccessories, takes readers on an uncon-
RADICAL TEACHER NUMBER 75
