[officeholders] FOR COMMENT: Revised Public Education GPCA Platform Plank for Comments/Changes by Nov 2 2015
Alex Shantz
alexshantz at gmail.com
Mon Oct 26 09:58:51 PDT 2015
I'm scanning through it on my phone but see no reference to ethnic studies.
Our platform needs to explicitly advocate for ethnic studies.
On Oct 26, 2015 9:50 AM, "Mike Feinstein" <mfeinstein at feinstein.org> wrote:
> *From: *shane que hee <squehee at ucla.edu>
> *Subject: **[gpca-votes] Revised Public Education GPCA Platform Plank for
> Comments/Changes by Nov 2 2015*
> *Date: *October 26, 2015 at 3:21:56 AM PDT
> *To: *gpca-votes at lists.cagreens.org
> *Reply-To: *GPCA Standing General Assembly <gpca-votes at lists.cagreens.org>
>
> Everyone:
>
> Thank you all for your comments on the revisions of the GPCA Public
> Education platform plank.
>
> The Platform Committee took Sean Bohac's version as the basic template.
> Much of the original platform plank is still retained, much of it in a
> different order than the original.
>
> We have indicated by underlining the new changes, and striking out the old
> text relative to the original Platform plank so you can all assess how the
> revised plank relates to the original and if some things left out might be
> appropriate to retain.
>
> The Platform Committee has consensed on the below/attached revision, the
> 2 official Platform members support it, and it is offered it for more
> comment for the week Oct 26-Nov 2.
>
> The number of words has been reduced from 1291 to 901.
>
>
>
> ....Shane Que Hee, GPCA Platform Co-Co, Oct 26 2015
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *PUBLIC EDUCATION* Revisions: 100115,100915, 102115, 102315
> underlined=new relative to priginal GPCA platform plank;
> struck-out=deleted from original GPCA Platform plank
> We support lifelong public education *that is entirely funded through
> public funds to*, with an emphasis on giving our young people the tools
> they need to navigate their way through the sources of information which
> will enable *people* them to lead meaningful and productive lives.
>
> *We know that the public education experience is the primary social
> institution factor that young people encounter outside of the family, and
> that it exerts a tremendous influence on them.*An important purpose of
> education is to prepare young people for leadership and participation in
> the governance and maintenance of their communities. To do this well, they
> need experience in participatory democratic practices. Since *We believe*
> that a public good educational system
> is the most important insurance we have that our country’s
> *California’s* basic principles of social justice will be preserved. , we
> must allocate sufficient resources to our public school system.
> ·
> *is a basic right of all inhabitants of California, citizens and
> non-citizens*·
> *must occur in a safe environment for all*·
> *needs to provide knowledge, learning skills, and life-long learning
> opportunities *·
> *must foster creativity *· *must provide people the abilities to
> understand and use sources of information to be able to critique *what they
> hear and see in print and
> * is seen and heard in the media*·
> *must confer the tools to participate and be initiators in the democratic
> process, discourse, governance, and social justice *·
> *must be adequately funded and based on need (such as for schools who have
> students who are English language deficient and/or are in high poverty
> areas). The underfunding caused by the implementation of Proposition 13
> must be addressed as must the underfunding of community colleges (they
> educate more students than the University of California and the State
> University systems combined.and have historically served immigrants, women,
> people of color, the working class, continuing education students, and
> others who cannot afford the other systems). Optimization of the
> procurement and spending of federal and state funds needs to occur also.*
> · *must not rely on standardized tests to reflect educational
> achievement because of their biases that reduce education quality to the
> lowest common denominator. Instead *we support the use of tools such as
> the “learning record” that rely on the authentic assessment of a student's
> actual work *in terms of that student’s gifts and abilities*.
>
> Our public education system must facilitate people’s abilities to:
> We owe our young people the right to learn to communicate well
> · communicate (read, write, *listen,* *operate electronic media* *including
> spreadsheets* and speak), to
> · understand how the *physical* world works (*pure and applied*
> science*s that must include *mathematics, and ecology, and *environmental
> health*), to learn about the existence and
> · allocation of allocate resources (economics, *accounting*,
> civics, *politics*, *geology*, and geography),
> · *Teach basic life skills including economics, bookkeeping,
> budgeting, and the everyday use of mathematics that are essential to
> participation in any society and democracy*,. to
> · study the *wisdom and shortcomings of* people who came before us and
> those who now inhabit the Earth (history and anthropology), and to
> · understand health (nutrition,
> *medicine, physical education, physical and mental activity, and public
> health) *· understand human nature (nutrition, psychology, and
> sociology, *social and governance systems, legal and political systems,
> ethnic/gender/sexual orientation/race studies, and cultures*). We must
> also assure that they learn to value themselves enough. We must encourage
> them to critique what they hear and see in print and in the media.
> · *appreciate and enjoy* creative arts (music, dance, drama, fine
> arts), and *creative* vocations
> ·
> *design a balanced fulfilling life*· *nurture and empower all,
> with* parents wanting to send their children into the system, the
> teachers wanting to work in it,
> *and the children and adult students wanting to learn within it*·
> *fight the prejudices, biases, and stereotypes of our society *·
> *advocate for diversity, cooperation, and ending student segregation based
> on any classification or perceived classification but addressing special
> needs*· encourage the sense of belonging to a greater society
>
> Young people also should be exposed to the creative arts (music, dance,
> drama, fine arts) as well as physical education. Vocational education
> should be included in the curriculum as well.
>
> School has a tremendous influence on people's lives, because it is the
> primary social institution that young people encounter outside of the
> family. Schools reflect society's mores, including all of the prejudices
> and stereotypes that abound in our society. This too often results in the
> segregation of students by perceived academic and physical ability,
> language proficiency, religion, wealth, ethnicity and gender, and in the
> fostering of unhealthy competition. Young people are often tested and
> graded on meaningless drivel. All of this contributes to the alienation of
> young people and to feelings of passivity, powerlessness and hopelessness.
> We must end these practices and transform our schools into communities that
> nurture everyone involved with them. Our schools must become places where
> parents want to send their children and where teachers want to work.
>
> Every child should have equitable access to free and appropriate
> educational resources and opportunities in a well-maintained public school.
> Since equal state funding does not produce equitable educational
> opportunities, funding for schools should be related to need. Schools with
> students living in poverty require higher funding. In addition, schools and
> districts with high numbers of English language learners and special
> education students should be funded at higher levels because those students
> need and deserve enhanced resources.
>
>
> Since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, California budget allocations
> have slighted education. Because of insufficient funding, teachers are
> woefully underpaid. An entire generation's music, art and foreign language
> programs have been dismantled. This is true at the preschool and K-12 grade
> levels, and in the area of higher education as well. California's community
> colleges, which educate more students than the University of California and
> the California State University systems combined, and which particularly
> serve immigrants, women, people of color, and working class students,
> receive far less money than they need. We will never have a quality
> educational system until we provide adequate funding. Special education is
> a federal program that has received decreasing funds that has crippled the
> program since funding can only then come from the school general fund. The
> Federal Government must fund such programs at the level it promised to do.
>
> Another area of particular concern is the increasing use of mandatory
> standardized tests. High-stakes tests impose a climate of fear on students,
> parents, and teachers. They reduce education to memorizing disconnected
> facts - the very opposite of the thoughtful engagement in learning our
> children need. Standardized tests exhibit persistent racial, gender and
> economic bias. Reliance on test scores inevitably leads to students,
> teachers and schools being sorted along the lines of race, class, and
> learning styles. As an alternative to high-stakes tests, we should support
> the use of tools such as the learning record that rely on the authentic
> assessment of a student's actual work and have as their primary purpose
> improving student achievement. Meeting the needs of historically neglected
> schools in working class communities and communities of color should be a
> priority.
>
> *In addition*, the Green Party advocates the following *specific
> proposals*:
>
>
> - Oppose state or federal requirements to make significant decisions
> about schools, teachers or students based primarily on *standardized* test
> scores.
>
>
>
> - Increase compensation for teachers. Improve teacher support,
> training, mentoring and sabbaticals. Work to recruit and retain qualified
> teachers, especially *those* teachers of color.
>
>
>
> - Substantially increase and make more equitable state and federal
> funding for public education at all levels, from preschool and K-12 to the
> community college, the California State University, and the University of
> California systems.
>
>
>
> - ReaAffirm the value of public education and reject the *allocation *
> use of public funds to pay for students' attendance at private or
> parochial schools, or to pay any for-profit organization to manage or
> run a public school.
>
>
>
> - Decrease the student-teacher ratio in classrooms and increase the
> number of counselors, nurses, librarians and social workers Provide
> smaller, more personalized schools and a greater diversity of choices.
>
>
>
> - Advocate the design and use of a variety of developmentally
> appropriate assessment techniques that allow necessary accommodations,
> modifications, and exemptions and are bias-free, reliable and valid.
>
>
>
> - Advocate for the rights of parents to opt their children out of all
> mandated standardized tests without penalty for students, parents, teachers
> or schools.
>
>
>
> - Oppose any advertising or promotion of commercial products on a
> school site or in any adopted or recommended curricular materials or
> school-based Internet access.
>
>
>
> - Develop curricula that *reflect* make the connection between our
> rights as individuals, and our responsibilities to others and to *a
> healthy* *planet* the earth. New or expanded topics could include
> bioregional studies, cultural sensitivity, sustainable development, global
> interdependence, human rights, civics, sex education, public health,
> environmental justice, and peaceful conflict resolution.
>
>
>
> - Add before-school and after-school programs *and provide*
> nutritious, preferably plant-based organic breakfasts and lunches must
> be available for all students, subsidized according to *financial *
> need.
>
>
>
> - *Make all public education sites gun-free to provide a safe learning
> environment*
>
>
>
> - *Include* Promote self-defense skills in the physical education
> curriculum ability for children at elementary school *level*
>
>
>
> - Provide a curriculum *on* training in how students should interact
> non-violently interaction with peers and adults at the junior high
> school level.
>
>
>
> - *Advocate for the inclusion of curricula on ethnic studies at the
> high school level.*
>
>
>
> - Provide training in negotiation, mediation, non-violence skills *at
> the* , and in dealing with diverse peers/adults in senior high schools
> *level*
>
>
>
> - Mandate *Provide* researched-based drug, tobacco, and alcohol
> prevention in middle and high schools
>
>
>
> - *Include curricula focusing on* Schedule civics courses that include
> histories of how civil rights *history, actions, and advances* were
> achieved, and how current law can be used to achieve personal civil
> rights
>
>
>
> - Provide age-appropriate education on sex, Promote explain the roles
> of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and
> age, *and safer sex*. in the real world, as the maturity of the
> student allows
>
>
>
>
> Work toward putting fully trained teachers in every classroom.
>
> Work for free education eventually to be available from preschool through
> community college, university, graduate and professional schools.
>
> While high-stakes testing remains in use, support legislation encouraging
>
> Promote and fund bilingual and second-language immersion education with
> trained teachers and appropriate materials and support services.
>
>
>
> Vocational education high schools and vocation education programs in
> comprehensive high schools should be revived, expanded and fully funded.
> Training during the high school years should prepare graduating students
> for a variety of careers that pay a living wage.
>
>
> Educate children and their families as early as possible through role-play
> in how to recognize, prevent, and react to adult behavior that is violent
> and addictive.
>
> Promote creativity in children at elementary school.
>
> Offer small classes generally in senior high school.
>
> Educate children how and when to be individuals, and when to be team
> players.
>
> Expand special classes to address students' academic needs in light of
> their disability and language status. The state must enforce existing laws
> in this area by funding these programs, by increasing the accessibility of
> needy students, and by funding/training teachers in these special areas.
>
>
>
> *CLEAN COPY*
> We support lifelong public education that is entirely funded through
> public funds to enable people to lead meaningful and productive lives.
>
> We know that the public education experience is the primary social
> institution factor that young people encounter outside of the family, and
> that it exerts a tremendous influence on them.
>
> We believe that public education:
>
> - · is the most important insurance we have that California’s
> basic principles of social justice will be preserved.
> - · is a basic right of all inhabitants of California, citizens
> and non-citizens
> - · must occur in a safe environment for all
> - · needs to provide knowledge, learning skills, and life-long
> learning opportunities
> - · must foster creativity
> - · must provide people the abilities to understand and use
> sources of information to be able to critique what is seen and heard in the
> media
> - · must confer the tools to participate and be initiators in
> the democratic process, discourse, governance, and social justice
> - · must be adequately funded and based on need (such as for
> schools who have students who are English language deficient and/or are in
> high poverty areas). The underfunding caused by the implementation of
> Proposition 13 must be addressed as must the underfunding of community
> colleges (they educate more students than the University of California and
> the State University systems combined, and have historically served
> immigrants, women, people of color, the working class, continuing
> education students, and others who cannot afford the other systems).
> Optimization of the procurement and spending of federal and state funds
> needs to occur also.
> - · must not rely on standardized tests to reflect educational
> achievement because of their biases that reduce education quality to the
> lowest common denominator. Instead we support the use of tools such as the
> “learning record” that rely on the authentic assessment of a student's
> actual work in terms of that student’s gifts and abilities.
>
>
> Our public education system must facilitate people’s abilities to:
>
> - · communicate (read, write, listen, operate electronic media
> including spreadsheets, and speak)
> - · understand how the physical world works (pure and applied
> sciences that must include mathematics, ecology, and environmental health)
> - · allocate resources (economics, accounting, civics,
> politics, geology, and geography)
> - · teach basic life skills including economics, bookkeeping,
> budgeting, and the everyday use of mathematics that are essential to
> participation in any society and democracy
> - · study the wisdom and shortcomings of people who came before
> us (history and anthropology)
> - · understand health (nutrition, medicine, physical education,
> physical and mental activity, and public health)
> - · understand human nature (psychology, sociology, social and
> governance systems, legal and political systems, ethnicity/gender/sexual
> orientation/gender identity/race studies, and cultures)
> - · appreciate and enjoy creative arts (music, dance, drama,
> fine arts), and creative vocations
> - · design a balanced fulfilling life
> - · nurture and empower all, with parents wanting to send their
> children into the system, the teachers wanting to work in it, and the
> children and adult students wanting to learn within it
> - · fight the prejudices, biases, and stereotypes of our
> society
> - · advocate for diversity, cooperation, and ending student
> segregation based on any classification or perceived classification but
> addressing special needs
> - · encourage the sense of belonging to a greater society
>
>
>
> In addition, the Green Party advocates the following specific proposals:
>
>
> - · Oppose state or federal requirements to make significant
> decisions about schools, teachers or students based primarily on
> standardized test scores.
> - · Increase compensation for teachers. Improve teacher
> support, training, mentoring and sabbaticals. Work to recruit and retain
> qualified teachers, especially those of color.
> - · Substantially increase and make more equitable state and
> federal funding for public education at all levels, from preschool and K-12
> to the community college, the California State University, and the
> University of California systems.
> - · Affirm the value of public education and reject the
> allocation of public funds for private or parochial schools, or any
> for-profit organization to manage or run a public school.
> - · Decrease the student-teacher ratio in classrooms and
> increase the number of counselors, nurses, librarians and social workers
> - · Advocate the design and use of a variety of developmentally
> appropriate assessment techniques that allow necessary accommodations,
> modifications, and exemptions and are bias-free, reliable and valid.
> - · Advocate for the rights of parents to opt their children
> out of all mandated standardized tests without penalty for students,
> parents, teachers or schools.
> - · Oppose any advertising or promotion of commercial products
> on a school site or in any adopted or recommended curricular materials or
> school-based Internet access.
> - · Develop curricula that reflect the connection between our
> rights as individuals, and our responsibilities to others and to a healthy
> planet
> - · Add before-school and after-school programs and provide
> nutritious, plant-based organic breakfasts and lunches for all students,
> subsidized according to financial need.
> - · Make all public education sites gun-free to provide a safe
> learning environment
> - · Include self-defense skills in the physical education
> curriculum at elementary school level
> - · Provide a curriculum on non-violently interaction at the
> junior high school level.
> - · Advocate for the inclusion of curricula on ethnic studies
> at the high school level.
> - · Provide training in negotiation, mediation, non-violence
> skills at the senior high schools level
> - · Provide researched-based drug, tobacco, and alcohol
> prevention
> - · Include curricula focusing on civil rights history,
> actions, and advances, and how current law can be used to achieve personal
> civil rights
> - Provide age-appropriate education on sex, gender, race,
> ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, and safer sex.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> officeholders mailing list
> officeholders at lists.cagreens.org
> http://lists.cagreens.org/listinfo/officeholders_lists.cagreens.org
>
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