Attack on Journalists

PROTEST OF ANGST AND DESPAIR 

RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS UNDER ATTACK & PUSHED BEYOND

By Stephen Wilson

 

Irina Slavina a Russian journalist burned herself
to death after police harassed her.

            "Have you heard about the latest news? A journalist felt under so much pressure because of harassment by the police that she took her life. They had been harassing her for ages and raided her house taking away all her computers and equipment. That is like depriving somebody of their means to a livelihood. If this person was poor they couldn't afford to buy new equipment. I can understand why she was driven to take her own life. I mean if this pressure from the authorities comes day in and day out, it does something to your psyche. I can understand why she did this," stated a teacher to me who had also done a stint in journalism. I don't have permission to name this journalist and will simply call her 'Marina'.

But Marina, who expressed a lot of empathy about the journalist, told me she thought that the journalist had practically been pushed beyond the limits not to mention being placed on some sort of blacklist. It is a grim story. A Russian journalist, Irina Slavina, an Editor in Chief of Koza press News, went to a police station and burnt herself to death in protest against relentless police persecution. She had declared in a statement published on Facebook that, 'For my death I ask you to blame the Russian Federation.' 

The police had raided her apartment the day before her suicide. She complained that, "They took away what they found - all the flash-cards, my laptop, my daughter's laptop, the computer, phone,and not just mine, but also my husband's. A bunch of notes was taken. I'm left without a means of production.'

This police raid seemed to be the last straw. In an act of abject despair she killed herself. Well before this the police had often raided her home looking for any brochures, leaflets or invoices linked to the pro democracy movement of the exiled Mikhail Khodorkovsky. She also faced charges of 'disrespect for the authorities', and promoting 'Fake News'. {where have we heard this so many times? In Trump's America!} It was not just the raids, but the manner they were accomplished. They were done in an arrogant and humiliating way designed to demean her. Vladim Osechkin, a human rights defender, stated. 'The blood is on the hands of Putin and his officials. This raid obviously drove her to suicide. The fact this is a complete crime under article 110 of the Legal Codex.'

 

A WORSENING ATMOSPHERE

 

Doing serious political journalism in Russia is highly problematic. It is true that countless people in Russia criticize Putin and the authorities. But it is one thing to express such opinions and another to openly print a sharp criticism in the press. A journalist can be easily targeted, harassed, threatened, fired and in the worst cases, murdered by poison or guns. What has made the atmosphere in Russia more tense this Autumn are three major events:

1. The new sentence of historian Yuri Dmitri of Memorial to 13 years imprisonment on alleged charges of sexual abuse which had been previously refuted by courts.

2. The poisoning of Navalny, the opposition candidate that Putin has intimidated.

3. The recent suicide of the journalist Irina Slavina. 

And those incidents are just the most well-known cases. If you investigate further you will hear of constant examples of physical attacks, detention and harassment of opposition figures. All those attempts are designed to psychologically disorientate and demoralize any form of questioning. The aim is to foster 'a strategy of tension', in a war of nerves'. If people live in such fear, they will be loathe to express any disagreeable opinion never mind join any opposition movements.  

 

ENDLESS EX-JOURNALISTS

 

What you can't help noticing is the endless number of 'ex-journalists ' in Russia. Despite having trained as a professional journalist, they have given up or abandoned it. I have never encountered so many ex-journalists as in Moscow. There are so many that I wondered if it was some kind of stepping stone to another aspiring career. For example, one woman who trained as a journalist, Alesia Losminskaya, does not currently do journalism. Instead she makes toys and teaches Yoga. She once told me, "I don't want to work in a profession where I just have to write what others demand of me." And 'Marina' who has worked in journalism and stated political journalism was too dangerous. She also mainly teaches.

 

Doing any kind of investigative journalism here is hardly easy. When I try to interview people I often come across a lot of fear. "Don't mention my name. No I don't want you to write about me in relation to this case." For instance, when I tried to interview a supporter of the wrongfully imprisoned music teacher Konstantin Chavdarov who had been sentenced to 9 years imprisonment on allegations of sexual abuse, I was practically stonewalled. The person seemed so distrustful and paranoid that I felt I had met someone from another planet. She would not mention a single word about the case. I explained, "I'm a Scot working for a paper in Chicago," but was met with an incredulous, "How can that be? How can someone who is Scottish be working for an American newspaper?" It was a lost cause. 

And this is hardly the only reticent response. The standard answer is often, "A foreign journalist can easily leave, but we have to stay here". Well, I'm not sure it is that simple. Part of the deeply rooted fear is readily explicable because of the legacy of Soviet repression where so many walls had ears. The fear still goes on especially among the older generation. I recall all the difficulties in trying to arrange getting a new room in 1994 in Kishinev. The kindly old Russian kept whispering in cafes and preferred to talk loud only in secluded places. I was only wanting to rent a room, but this man was scared of being overheard and arrested for simply talking to a foreigner. You have to be born or have spent a long time in Russia to comprehend such fear. Andrei a Russian journalist told me that the relatively free press in Russia of the 1990's had largely disappeared. It is far more difficult to do any reporting in Russia than then.

 

MYTH OF PRESS FREEDOM IN AMERICA

 

A constant problem is that the western press oversimplifies the narrative of abusing the press in Russia. The crude presumption is that in contrast to lack of press freedom in Russia, you have press freedom in the West. As if Russian officials are the only ones to repress journalists. But in America, journalists have already been targeted for their 'fake news' and dubbed 'enemies of the people". Look at the fate of two Journalists who worked in Russia called Matt Taibbi and Mark Ames. Their genre of satire was not only eventually repressed in Russia, in 2009, but they have been even more viciously attacked in America. They have been accused of sexual abuse without any real concrete evidence or reference to facts. The journalists who made the allegations did not even carry out any investigation. The real reasons for a mass campaign of smear against the journalists is because their work sharply exposed the relentless corruption and abuse of corporate interests in both America and Russia. 

Those journalists did not take kindly to Matt Taibbi's work 'Hate, Incorporated, How and why the press make us hate one another'. Taibbi wrote 'Media is entertainment, and is designed to make us hate one another. Hate's a profitable business, by the way'. If satire is not a legal defense in Russia, it is hardly forgiven or so tolerated in 'the land of the free'.

Marina told me "Perhaps we can get away with writing on culture or safe subjects". Which might be one of the reasons why it is difficult for a Russian journalist to obtain a job covering film reviews or performances at the theater. Practically every journalist would relish such an opportunity.

 

Perhaps it is easier for Russians to write articles about local weddings or fishing trips in the village! Most of the former Russian journalists I have met have been working for marketing agencies or as teachers of Russian!  It is a bit safer than courageous and critical journalism. That is why we need to hold up a candle to tragic fighters such as Irina Slavina!

She was one of a kind!

CTU Win!

CTU wins legal battle to protect workers in unsafe buildings as two new schools report COVID cases — and one tragic death

By failing to listen to stakeholders or work with the Union to plan a safe reopening, Chicago Public Schools is impeding student learning at the same time the district has no plan for safe return.

CHICAGO, Oct. 2, 2020 — An arbitrator ruled today that Chicago Public Schools buildings are not safe for workers — primarily school clerks who the district forced back into buildings beginning on August 26. Today’s ruling comes amidst reports that CPS has instructed principals throughout the city to prepare for a hybrid return to classroom instruction.

The arbitrator’s ruling finds that the district’s half-measures are failing, in addition to its failures to share case reports with the public and the Chicago Teachers Union. This has forced rank-and-file CTU members to contend with both physically unsafe buildings and the fact that their employer is compounding the danger by downplaying the current risk in buildings.

CPS has consistently rejected Union demands to lay out its plans for contact tracing and universal rapid testing, which are essential components of any effort to mitigate the risk of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in schools and the community at-large.

The Union also learned this week of COVID-19 cases at a total of four schools — Lane Tech High School, and Canty, Mt. Greenwood and Funston elementary schools.

Funston teacher Olga Quiroga had gone into her building just before the beginning of the school year and worked through Sept. 10 to help distribute supplies to families and complete other duties. Her family took her to the emergency room on September 11. She passed away on Thursday, Oct. 1.

“It’s tragic that this ruling — which irrevocably establishes that CPS schools are not yet safe to reopen — has come too late to have helped protect Olga’s life or protect other workers from COVID infection,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey said. “We expect CPS to move immediately to protect the rest of our members in buildings by allowing them to begin working remotely today, as those workers did effectively from March through August.”

“The path to a truly safe reopening of our school buildings is through engagement with parents, talking to school communities and negotiating with the educators who know these schools best,” President Sharkey continued. “There are no shortcuts, and CPS' 'go it alone' attitude is reckless and inherently unsafe in the midst of a global pandemic that has claimed more than 200,000 lives in the U.S. alone."

The CTU spent two days in trial on this grievance two weeks ago, presenting more than a thousand pages of evidence, hundreds of pages of testimony from rank-and-file CTU members forced back into buildings, and extensive expert witness testimony. The arbitrator ruled that CPS violated article 14-1 of its contract with the Union by failing to provide safe working conditions for its employees. The ruling included a finding that the poor condition of CPS buildings increases the risk of catching COVID-19 for workers and others, and that CPS has not done enough to mitigate risk of contracting the deadly disease.

Amongst the arbitrator’s findings was the following: “Although the Board has made efforts to mitigate the risk, subjecting these employees to increased risk of COVID-19 infection for work that can be performed remotely does not fulfill CPS’ contractual promise that its employees work in ‘safe and healthful conditions.’ On this record, it cannot be determined that each school building is safe and healthful[…] it is better to err on the side of allowing remote work, where feasible, since the extent of the inherently hazardous conditions presented by COVID-19 is each school building is unknown.”

The arbitrator’s ruling that CPS buildings are “not safe and healthful” was built on extensive evidence of grave deficiencies in school buildings, 60 percent of which have no central HVAC system. Less than 5 percent of schools have any air purification system installed, 50 percent have non-functional critical components of their air circulation systems, and only 9 percent of CPS schools have air filtration systems that meet public health recommendations for COVID-19 safety (i.e., MERV 13 or portable HEPA filters). (NOTE: A fact sheet on the evidence around building safety can be found here.)

CPS and the CTU now have two days to come to an agreement on which duties cannot be performed remotely and must be performed in person. If no agreement can be worked out, the parties go back to the arbitrator for a more detailed remedy.

The Union has challenged CPS and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to put any return to buildings on hold until the district has remedied unsafe conditions in schools, and continues to demand that CPS reverse its refusal to bargain with the Union on safety, and instead, come to mutual agreement on necessary safety protections.

Good ventilation is key to protecting staff and students from airborne transmission of the virus, even as health officials are increasingly concerned that six-foot distancing in closed spaces is still not enough to prevent virus transmission under poor ventilation conditions. CPS, however, has refused to craft a plan to address grave facility failures in its rush to reopen.

“CPS could have avoided the tragedy of illness and death in our schools if only they’d agreed to bargain collaboratively with us as ISBE has proposed, and other districts across the state have done,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said. “It’s way past time for CPS to listen to us, agree to work with us, and finally put safety first and ensure that every building is equipped to protect our children and the educators who serve them."

Teaching the Invisibles: Chap. 1

Former Teacher Writes Book about What it's Really Like to Teach in Chicago

Second City Teachers is publishing a series of chapters from the book Teaching the Invisibles by former high school teacher Peter Nerad. It is a raw, funny, cynical and truthful account of what it is like to teach in the rough and tumble Chicago public schools. We begin with Chapter 1:

Teaching the Invisibles

A personal account of what really goes on in our inner city high schools

 Chapter 1

 

Going from alarming tragedy—to sheer stupidity—to skepticism—to verifying the heartbreaking occurrence—to numbness—to questioning the meaning of life.

And that was just Monday

 

Teaching in an inner city school or for that matter just walking around in one is to suddenly be an eyewitness to the rape of Nanking.  Your sense of common decency and basic respect for others will be assaulted at least a dozen times, and you’ll quickly discover that even the wittiest of gallows humor won’t prevent the emotional draining at the end of the day.

But sometimes I got hit with a tragedy so devastating it was like being tasered with your back turned. In the beginning of the year, a counselor gave me a head’s up that a sixteen-year-old student would be coming late because she was dropping her child off at daycare. It wasn’t ideal, but getting her caught up on what she missed wasn’t a problem because I soon saw she was serious about class and really a neat kid.

From what I could learn, she had two kids already, and surprisingly was very honest about being a lesbian. She came late quite a bit, but she’d also dig into the work and get it done. The class was a forty-six minute period of writing, reading, and grammar skills in addition to their regular literature class. A good idea since the average reading scores of our incoming freshman were at a fifth or sixth grade level.  

Brittany was a year older than the rest of the class and her extra maturity helped her discuss topics intelligently as well as thoroughly. One of the best times was when we were reading a story about a teenage mother, and she started sharing exactly what it was like. I figured it was a good warning seeing how the school’s “Mother’s Club” wasn’t an adjunct to the PTA but pre- and postnatal care for teenage mothers.

I remember her saying, “What it’s like? Are you kidding? My childhood is gone. I don’t have time for anything else except school and child care. I don’t hang out with friends.  I don’t have any time for myself.…”

When I tried sharing this moment with some coworkers in the lunch room, and believe me, when these moments happen you want to savor them, one of the young female teachers, of which there is always preponderance, immediately launched into a revealing discussion she had. In relating to other teachers in the school, although you barely saw them, you quickly realize everyone is not only competing with one another, they’re also running a continual public relations campaign that always ends up the same way, they’re all God’s gift to teaching. They’ve been around long enough to know that the “weak sister” teacher is the one the principal will go after when money gets cut or the board wants to know if the principal is firing the “bad” teachers. But most of the time it’s usually just a “hey, you’re not the only great teacher at the table here, mister.”

Brittany’s candor made our discussions much more interesting because the kids could definitely relate to what she was saying. The whole class liked her, which made her feel so at ease she began showing us her baby pictures and taking the students around her under her wing and helping them when they got stuck on an assignment. In the parlance of class management, she was a leader.

It was my favorite class of the day, and I suspect everyone else’s in there, and it was due to the luck of having not only Brittany, but also five smart and diligent kids whose energy rubbed off on the whole class.  Even the one student who was disruptive soon got reassigned to a special education class where she belonged.

But all of these factors wouldn’t have mattered a rat’s intestine if they’re had been thirty students instead of the twenty-two I had. Hit thirty and you hit the law of “critical mass”. Now there’ll be the proverbial “gang of six” that will feed of each other and fuck it up no matter how fun and entertaining you make it. Each one thinks they’re comically brilliant, and even after you separate them, put them in the front row, boot them from class several times, they’ll lay low like out-of-town mafia enforcers after a hit, until the coast is clear and they can begin again. 

But this small class was so cohesive I could even get them to do grammar exercises, the wolf bane of every adolescent. Even when I told them we were about to do it their groans were polite.

And oops, I almost I forgot. The students were on the same level of ability. I could teach and the smart kids wouldn’t get bored and the below level kids wouldn’t get frustrated and lost. And because there were only three special ed students who weren’t all that below a regular level, I could spend more time with them, and by the end of the year I could see a real leap up in their skills.

A class like this is unheard of. The usual class of any subject has a wide assortment of reading and writing levels stretching from sixth grade to sophomore competencies, with a smattering of special ed students, ESL kids, (ESL stands for English as a second language. Education loves acronyms more than the military.) a few ADHD kids and maybe an autistic. I even had one undiagnosed gifted boy who knew the class material better than I did.

This all begs the question as to why they don’t test the students beforehand and then form classes according to academic levels. That way whatever the teacher is doing actually helps everyone. Colleges do this. You take your English and Math tests at the start and then sign up for the right class. In the case of high school, the kids wouldn’t even know which class grouping they were in.

Only honors classes have everyone at the same level, so these classes can zip along and get something done, especially because honors students will do homework, and students that don’t get bounced down to regular classes.  For all practical purposes though, honors classes in Chicago are really a regular class anywhere else. But what time an honors class started was important. Fifty percent of the first period honors classes are flunking because they can’t get there on time.

Okay…a very round-about way of saying the class was a love fest. So much so that we used to meditate about once a week for twenty minutes at the start of class to help everyone concentrate better. (Once when I was getting frustrated, the kids told me, “Mr. Seeker, you better meditate.”)

But there was no way to prepare for the morning Brittany, the young mother, knocked at the door of the classroom in tears. She motioned me into the hall for privacy.  

“You broke up with someone, right?” I asked right away.

“No, Mr. Seeker, my baby died last night.”

“What!”

“My baby died last night.”

“Oh my God.  Look, go right down to the counseling office. Somebody can help you there.”

“I just came from there. They said they were all busy and that I should come back around noon.”

“Jesus Christ. Stay here for a minute. I’ll get a security guard to watch the room and we’ll go down there.”

She wasn’t lying. Liars go into profound detail to convince the listener. She never did. Her baby died. She came to school because she had nowhere else to go and her friends were here to support here. She went to the funeral. No details. The truth comes without them.

When I was student teaching, a teacher remarked one day that he had an old Irish aunt that told him God never gave a person more than they could handle. He used to believe that until he started working in that school. “Some of the stuff these kids go though nobody could handle.”

Now if this was a movie, the self-sacrificing, I’m-going-to-raise-holy-hell teacher would enter the counseling office and would raise holy hell. At the funeral there’d be a shot of the baby’s coffin and the weeping teen mother, but the teacher would be the main focus at the funeral helping everyone cope.

But this was real life. I took her down to the counseling office and explained the situation to the shocked secretary who told her somebody would see her right away. I was drained. I talked to more experienced teachers. They wondered if it was really the truth. I started wondering myself. I barely knew any of them. I only saw them in the classroom.

The baby, I learned, was her second child and lived with the father. He had come into town for a visit.  The baby was on a motel bed surrounded with pillows and had turned over and suffocated. 

I later started to understand how much assistance the school could provide in social services when I attended a state funded presentation for recognizing mental illness in teenagers. Great. This is good. After going over symptoms and other information, the major surprise being that adolescents with depression, unlike adults, actually get more energetic and begin acting out, I asked where we referred students for help.

“Well, unless they have insurance, the wait for the few county and city centers is several months, maybe more,” the speaker said.

“Couldn’t the student commit suicide by then?”

“Well, hopefully, they’ll get help before that happens.”

And how many students need some kind of therapeutic help? I learned the answer in a teacher’s workshop on essay writing. I merely asked during the session about good ways to have students write about their personal experiences, a common enough assignment. He answered adamantly, “Oh God no. Don’t do that. You’d have to refer the whole class to the school’s social worker.”

Chapter end note:  

My first class of the day was a likeable bunch too….when they were there. First period started at 7:50 am, usually there were only five out twenty on time. I called the fifteen homes of the habitually tardy. Twelve phones were disconnected, the other three didn’t have answering machines.    

Every year out of my five classes, I would have a charming class, two likable ones, one disengaged one, and one dreaded, “snake bit” group where they didn’t like me and I didn’t like them. In there, they hit me every day with hostile teenage comments and contempt, and I made little disparaging comments in return, I hate to say. The antagonistic class leaders dragged the rest of class down until I finally accepted it would be a long, painful journey.

 

You can order the book on Amazon Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Invisibles-Jack-Seeker-ebook/dp/B00C8GBB98

Teacher Book

Former Teacher Writes Book about What it's Really Like to Teach in Chicago

Second City Teachers is a news blog dedicated to investigating the crimes committed against teachers, especially from the ruling class that is hell bent on destroying public education in the name of privatization, Race to the Top standardized testing mania, closing public schools and opening up fraudulent charter schools that do no better, if not worse.

There are teachers who are also authors and they are writing intriguing books. We would like to highlight those books on this website. We highlighted Greg Michie who wrote the fantastic book Holler if You Hear Me about 20 years ago that detailed what it is like to teach middle school students armed with idealistic dreams to educate the working poor. My colleague Carol Etheridge wrote a wonderful fantasy book  called The Girl Who Howled at the Moon.

The next book we would like to highlight comes from my good friend Peter Nerad who worked as a high school teacher on the Northwest Side until he became a casualty like so many others who jumped into this noble profession to make a difference until the administration decided to ax his services based on a silly evaluation.

We highlighted Peter's story on this site several years ago when he was fired for trying to save a student's life, by grabbing the kid so he wouldn't run out into a busy street during a fire alarm drill. A teacher/ informer dutifully reported to the principal that Peter had aggressively handled the kid and substitute teachers have practically no rights. A substitute teacher fired - another feather in the cap for an education reform administrator looking to move up the ranks.

I found out that Peter wrote a book called Teaching the Invisibles about six years ago that really captures what it is like to teach in an inner city school. I have not read a book that really grasped our profession like Peter.

Peter Nerad knows how to write. He was an ad writer in his prior profession, and a playwright who wrote, produced, directed and starred in a fantastic play about two old Civil War veterans suffering from the effects of PTSD, a disorder than can effect teachers as well as soldiers who experienced traumatic events.

We decided that it would be best to provide our reading public free access to this book so that they can read and feel the day to day insanity, the joy and tribulations, the lessons that go well, while the student antics and their stories, all written from the teacher's perspective of what it is really like to teach today.

Teaching the Invisibles, available on Kindle on Amazon, is a fun, cynical, funny, heart-warming as well as eye-opening and oh my God, yes that is how we feel, well written tale of teaching in a Chicago public high school. The inside jacket reads:

"Teaching in an inner city school, or for that matter just walking around in one, is to suddenly find yourself at the Rape of Nanking. And even the wittiest of gallows humor won’t prevent your depression at the end of the day. 

"In 'Teaching the Invisibles,' a former ad man turned English teacher, loaded with happy stories and horror stories, catches on to the school reform ruse. A corporate scam that would make a conman wonder how he ever missed it. All it takes is another shitty charter school, a new and improved standardized test, or some other cure-all, and they've got a revenue stream flowing. (Funny how the suburban schools never need any competition or fixing.) And as our teacher gets the boot as a bad apple, he knows poverty kids won't learn a damn thing until their social problems get fixed. And the price tag for that will make Wall Street's bailout look like lunch money."

I thought these two reviews well summed up the book:

Al wrote: 

This was a breezy memoir. The writer goes off on tangents that are interesting. This looks like a free book, with lots of editing errors (and some homonymic spelling errors too). I can't tell if he is bitter that he lost his job after three years and ended up substitute teaching for some more. But his portrayals of students and teachers and staff are definitely zingers.

High school teacher wrote:

This book could have been written about my school hundreds of miles from Chicago! Seeker describes the ins and outs of the public school that is heartwarming yet sad. While there are hundreds of teachers who aren't doing their jobs, I believe there are more who are committed and dedicated like Seeker. There is hope for public education.

We begin with the Introduction which though written almost seven years ago, is as true today at it was then regarding the precarious state of our public education: 

Introduction

Or why bother reading this memoir and invective of what goes on in 

non-suburban schools

 

Hey, intros go in the beginning of the book, you freakin’…

Wow. I didn’t know you guys were so rule-bound.  Please be assured this intro placement is not a mistake. It’s a pedagogical device for what may be a more helpful reading method.

I’ve found that reading intros in fiction is best done after reading the book. You won’t know enough about the novel to know what the editor or commentator is talking about.

In nonfiction however, the intro contains important background information, as well as the author’s main argument and approach to the material. As to whether this rule contains an element of truth, The Buddha, when asked if he was teaching THE TRUTH, replied, “Try it out in your own life, if it works it’s true.” Then he said, “Jesus, do whatever you want, it’s not like I’m getting paid for this.”

 

 

Before beginning I had to decide if there was indeed a message that needed to be told.  After all, in the last several years education has been big time news. Even Hollywood has taken up the torch with movies like “Freedom Writers,” “Stand and Deliver,” and “Waiting for Superman”, the documentary on how charter school admission is run by lottery.

But notice that the messages of these films are about how to improve education. Now there are fewer and fewer sweet stories about a Mr. Chips, or a film like “To Sir with Love,” where a young engineer teaching temporarily decides he will stay and help improve the lives of lower-class Cockney kids. Or the classic, “Blackboard Jungle,” about how a high school teacher tackles gang members head on and saves the day. The difference with these fifty-year-old stories is that while the teachers in them are accomplishing great things, they’re not an indictment on the whole system.

Now, I’m not saying that a movie shouldn’t have a point of view. I’m pointing out how education, in fiction and the media, has gone from teachers as heroes and inspired guiding lights, to “Man, that one teacher is good. If we could get rid of all the shitty ones we wouldn’t have an education problem.” Well, that would take some work seeing how there are 7.2 million teachers in the country. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)  

As far as hard news goes, education has a daily section in the New York Times and is often front page news in New York, Chicago and L.A.  Like when Chicago Mayor Daley in Chicago announced he wasn’t seeking another term and his Superintendent of Schools quit in the middle of the year. The hell with finishing his new initiatives and consistency for the teachers and students. Business is business. Something education has turned into and won’t be going back from for a long time.

When New York’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, appointed his new board superintendent, she was a high-powered publishing executive, no education experience whatsoever. She was visiting an Hispanic school district in need of more schools for their rising student population. At the parent meeting–and I’m not making this up–she asked, “Haven’t you people ever heard of birth control?” She lasted six months.

Recently in Newsweek, they assessed the results of the sheer billions pumped into public schools by Gates and the other philanthropists only to find out that scores inched up a percentage point, exactly the outcome after the last instructional reforms of the 60s and 70s. In fairness though, there are of course initiatives and new curriculums that work, but they’re usually from education professors that have spent years in research. Not everyone is a teacher, we just think we are.

Even more disturbing, when the US and China had an educational exchange, the Chinese laughed and pointed out that the rote, fill-and-drill and test we’re doing is exactly what they’re leaving, because that method leads to a lack of original and creative thinking, a mental ball and chain for their economic progress, and they know it.

Every generation seems to have its “educational crisis.” This new one seems to be, “Gee, what’s going to happen with a thirty percent national high school dropout rate in years to come?”  Maybe this is why we have charter schools and standardized tests and formatted course plans. And why Corporate America is infiltrating the schools with profit making schemes.* Lots of dough to be made and all guaranteed by public funding.

I also get the feeling it’s just another way we like to solve things on the cheap. If we had to address the root cause, that one in five children is being raised in the kind of chaotic poverty that prevents learning, it would be a bill we’re not willing to pay. 

*One company peddling standardized tests got busted for bribing education district purchasing agents with trips for seminars to London and Switzerland. The school buyers insisted the excursions were necessary, useful, and in no way influenced their procurement decisions. Guess the testing company was only trying to help the schools out.

State legislatures have been lobbied for, and have enacted, new on-line schooling by private companies. And the GED test has recently gone from a government program that’s been around for years to one that is now partially privatized. A matter of time, one would think, until it’s all privatized.

Wow, one in five kids in poverty is trying to learn in school every day? Sounds like an Orwellian dystopia

Pretty much. There isn’t an education problem in America, there’s an educating-the-poor problem in America. That’s what this book is about. Digging into what the real problems are and what the state and federal governments should be trying to fix. 

You’re about to get an insider’s perspective, and perhaps therefore a wider perspective, on why one in three high school students drop out. And when you’re one of the 20% of poor children, the problems don’t have to be very big. An ear ache, a mere ear ache, can keep a child out of school for over a week because his or her family can’t afford a doctor or antibiotics.

But large numbers of kids missing a week out of class because of an ear ache is a dry fact. This book’s aim is to fill in the emotional reality behind those facts. It’s a tale of what it’s like to teach kids that go to schools with metal detectors that catch small razor blades hidden away for self-protection hidden in backpacks, with security guards on every floor, and two assigned policemen with their own office in the buildings. Schools that need six squad cars to prevent violence when the students are let out. That have racial and gang fights that force teachers and students to go on lockdown, and of course have nowhere near enough learning going on. All being run by teaching staffs, which instead of being supported and assisted, are instead antagonistically supervised and threatened with replacement.

They’re the schools attended by the kids we never see. The Invisibles. And this is their chance to be heard.

In a way it’s a little unbelievable we don’t know more about their lives. After all, most of us live next to a large city. And yet we don’t. And when you do, I suspect you’ll react the same way I did when I first began teaching: “I had no idea this was going on.”

 

Covid increases

NUMBER OF INFECTED SOARS AGAIN

FEAR OF SECOND WAVE

By Stephen Wilson

 

            'In Russia there is no second wave.This is because  the pandemic has not gone away anywhere. The epidemiological process continues as part of the first wave.The scenario of this virus before its demise is unknown: 

'Do Covid 19 and the flu strengthen each other? Do they replace each other? or  Do they weaken each other? Only time will tell the answer to those questions.' stated Aleksandr Gorelov, the Deputy Director of a research institute. 

This candid answer succinctly sums up the uncertainty of how events are unfolding. But whether you choose to label it a first or second wave one thing is evidently clear. The number of people infected in Russia has soared over the past two weeks. Whereas in August it had leveled out to just over 4000 a day, now it has climbed to beyond the 7000 figure. In Moscow it has shot up to 1500 a day.

 

Many people feel the intense stress more than others. When I recently spoke to an old neighbor Inna Tamarova, who lives in the Aeroport district of Moscow, she told me, "My  brother as a doctor is working in a Covid 19 Zone. Can you imagine? He often sees people who are dying. The situation is just terrible. I'm at my wits end and worried he can get infected and bring it home ... I feel there is no 100 Percent protection against this virus even if you wear gloves and masks. This virus is in the air. It can envelope and overwhelm you ". {Inna Tamarova helped out  refugees who had come from the war in Ukraine and we had cooperated on this 6 years ago}.

 

I spoke to Olga Stefanonva who also seemed worried. At School Number 1223, three classes were cancelled because children had contracted the virus. She stated, "I heard that of 5-6 children who were tested positive they showed none of the classic symptoms. But what disturbs me is that a ten-year-old pupil has been left alone at home without care because both his mother and grandmother were admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Since the boy  also has an infection many people will be reluctant to come and look after him. I don't know how he will manage. I'm wondering what we should do."

 

Local government officials are tightening up the rules. The local mayor has issued a warning where he strongly recommends that people with strong illnesses and those over 65 should stay at home and companies should encourage their employees to switch to on-line work.

The state inspectorate Rospotrebrnadzor closed down some supermarkets whom they had accused of violating the rules. As many as 48 shops belonging to firms such as Perekrestok and Magnoliya have been closed down. They found that staff and customers had not been wearing masks or gloves and not making a supply of masks available. If an inspector finds that a customer is not wearing a mask the company is still obliged to pay the fine. Unlike in Scotland, the staff in a shop must enforce the rules. This is sharply distinct from Scotland where managers of supermarkets claim that only the police can enforce such compliance. For instance, I received a report from Scotland where Jane told me that today in a Tesco supermarket a woman customer was shouting at the manager because some people weren't wearing masks. She reminded me of myself before my nervous breakdown. She seemed on edge as me! The manager told her only the police can approach people not wearing masks. She was really quite upset at this customer. Probably she was risking catching Covid-19 in Tesco as she was shouting for ages. People are pretty frightened as the number of infected people is rising again. 

The government response to Covid-19 has become more politicized. The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has won approval of 70% of polled Scots for her handling of the crisis in contrast to the perceived inept and hapless response of the British Prime Minister. According to a string of opinion polls, support for Scottish independence has slightly passed the 50% mark. The Scottish Minister seems to come across as very articulate, calm and caring. For instance, she expressed dismay at the tactless handling of the university authorities who have introduced stringent rules of banning going out, visiting pubs and even socializing with other students at Glasgow University.

 

One of the biggest problems facing the authorities, whether in Scotland or Russia, is how to enforce strict observation of rules. It is simply impossible to fine people en-mass and counter productive. If around 50 % of people using the metro are not wearing masks what do you? Usually the Russian police use gentle persuasion or might fine one passenger as an example.

The problem of the virus is confounded by the fact that this is the flu season. A massive campaign is underway to convince people to take a vaccination against flu. But some people are weary about this because they are scared of unforeseen negative side affects. In the institute of Power and Energy, teachers have been told, "If you don't take the vaccination against the flu you will be fired". {This threat in itself is illegal.} Teachers have to provide a medical certificate confirming they have taken the vaccination.  The Russian authorities have so far stated that they have no desire to return to a full scale lock down. They have attempted to reassure the public that no such plans exist. Nevertheless, as in countries all over Europe, Russia seems to be facing a dramatic rise in infections. We are still in the woods.

Book Review

BOOK REVIEW

JUST ONE MORE THING

 

Stories from my life.

Peter Falk  

Arrow Books, 2008, London.

 

Review by Stephen Wilson

'I have just written a book . Talk about change! Who would dream I would ever write a book! Not me ! Not my wife, not my doctor, dogs, family, friends, or acquaintances. Let me sum up by saying it was a blast! The funny stuff! Reliving it. Putting it on paper. If you had such fun reading it as I had writing it, you'll be dancing on the ceiling. For those of you still in your chairs, I'm delighted you 're still awake.' declares the legendary actor Peter Falk ,best known for playing the eccentric  but genius detective Columbo. 

The quote from the late actor's autobiography perhaps best sums up the style of the book. It is written in a very colloquial, chatty, warm and self depreciating way. But the book is full of many amusing anecdotes that it is just the medicine to cheer you up during those trying times. What I like about the book is just how generous the actor is when it comes to praising other actors, film directors and people who encouraged his career. Falk comes across not only as a great storyteller, but an unconventional actor who is his own man. He is full of admiration for  film directors such as Wim Wenders and John Cassavetes who break with standard notions of making films.

 

What emerges from his autobiography is that Falk did not always have an easy time as an actor. For years he was typecast as a gangster and was offered very minor roles in films which he often detested. Although Falk is largely known for his role as the detective Columbo, he played endless roles in the theater and in films such as 'Robin and the Seven Hoods',  directed by  Frank Sinatra, 1958, and Wings of Desire, 1987,directed by Wim Wenders. And this is to name but a few!

 

Peter Falk comes across as a childlike person who is often 'On the Moon'. His agent managed to arrange an interview with the head of Columbia Pictures Harry Cohn. The agent praised him as 'a second John Garfield. But the interview did not go well! Falk narrates the story as going:

'My agent was an enthusiastic young lady and she opened the meeting with Mr Cohn by pointing out that, "Yes- it is true Peter is a young John Garfield, but it is important for you, Mr Cohn to know that he is also a versatile actor and has done the plays of O'Neill, O'Casey, and Christopher. Mr Cohn's answer in the form of a question was designed to put an end to the subject of versatility: Young lady, do you think I care if Marilyn Monroe can play an old lady?" He then looked me straight in the face and said something that bewildered me: "Young man, I am concerned about your deficiency."

I had no idea what he meant. To me, if you weren't getting enough vitamins, you had a vitamin deficiency. I didn't think I had a vitamin deficiency, but even if I did, how would he know? "I said, 'I don't know what you mean'."

He looked as though he wasn't sure that I was telling the truth. He must have felt that this was sensitive, so he replied gently, "I think you do know what I am referring to'. I said again I had no idea.

Finally he came out with it - "I m concerned about your eye".

"Oh that - that's nothing. Not to worry . No problem."

But for Mr Cohn, it was a problem and Falk argued with the director. The director answered, "Young man, for the same price, I'll get an actor with two eyes". Falk, who had one of his eyes removed when he was three, correctly regarded it as irrelevant. In fact Russian viewers of Columbo have told me, "I didn't notice he had one eye". This was because they were mesmerized by his performance.

 

Another incident which indicates how Falk got into a misunderstanding is when, during an interview with the director Frank Capra,  he told him, "Mr Capra, do you read people?"

Falk meant "Could you give me a test?" Capra thought Falk was asking whether he could read his palms by fortune telling to discover whether Falk had a future as an actor!

 

Falk even tried to join the C.I.A. because he naively thought it would offer a life of adventure as opposed to landing a dull 9 to 5 office job. That interview also went wrong. The interviewer told him, 'You are the first and last man to be interviewed who built a railway for Tito." As a young man, Falk had visited Yugoslavia and helped to build a railway for Tito. He was also accused of belonging to a communist dominated trade Union.

 

On the eve of the Cuban revolution Peter Falk was arrested because the authorities thought he was with Fidel Castro. He was playing a minor part in the film 'Wind Across the Evergrades'. The role he called for demanded he wear a black beard, a mustache and mop of black hair and suit which just happened to be what Castro and his men looked like. After his arrest and release, Falk wrote, "I didn't hang around Havana. I was gone that afternoon, and three weeks later Castro and his men came down from the hills, captured Havana, and took over Cuba".

 

Readers who adore Columbo won't be disappointed, Falk devotes almost ten chapters to the character of the serial. You can read about 'How did the Columbo character evolve? and What is the toughest thing about creating Columbo?' The American Storyteller Daniel Ogan told me, "I think that the model for Columbo must have come from the detective in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment called Porfiry Petrovich." In deed, there is a resemblance to Porfiry 's interrogation techniques of disarming a suspect by using small talk and silly comments as a digression. For instance, Porfiry rambles on about his smoking habit, battles from military history and his office furniture. Columbo tells endless stories about his wife and hobbies. Like Porfiry, Columbo conceals his genius by pretending to be stupid. An 18-year-old student of Art, Natasha, told me, "I think Porfiry is a genius and he is so good natured. He wants to actually help the suspect rather than simply arrest him." Although Porfiry has something in common with Columbo, Falk makes no mention of him. 

Falk acknowledges that he is like Columbo is some ways. He is absent-minded, forever loses his car keys and does not care too much for his appearance. But Falk insisted that it was wrong to compare Columbo with other characters like Sherlock Homes because he is unique. He was invented and had to have an interesting character. This is because in the first five minutes of the show you already know who commits the murder. It is a 'Why dunnit?' rather than a 'Who dunnit?' 

Falk was astonished about how popular the serial was. When he was visiting the Andes he was pleasantly shocked to come across some Inca children running up to him and shouting "Columbo, Columbo,-Tenante Columbo " and asking for his autograph. Peter Falk finds that one of his greatest achievements was to have presented the most famous raincoats in the world. Falk is always wearing the same raincoat and in one scene from the serial while he is visiting a soup kitchen for the homeless a volunteer directs him to a table where he can be fed. Columbo is often mistaken for being a homeless person. The studios who made this serial did not like this raincoat, but finally agreed rather than get into a fruitless argument with Falk. Even the detective's car is a broken down Peugot. Such a character would have great problems in Moscow where to wear unkempt or shabby clothes is often regarded as short of a crime. 

It is interesting to note that in one scene from a film called 'Roommates' Falk tried to add a scene where a 90-year-old man bakes a great cake and takes it to a restaurant to try and get a job. Hoping to get work as a chef, he asks a potential employer to taste it. The cake is delicious. The boss who goes down stairs finds that the man, Rocky, is fast asleep. He has one look at him and says, "He is too old, forget it." A rejected Rocky goes outside and lays the cake next to a homeless man who is asleep and leaves. The scene was not allowed by the Studios and Falk was told to stick to the original script. Falk philosophically states, 'You can't win them all". But it says a lot about his compassion for the underdog that he would fight for such a scene to be added.