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Feb. 6, 2013 – ASUCR passes a resolution in support of the nationwide fight against the Citizens United ruling. For more information regarding the ruling click here..
Photos by Vincent Ta
California Schools Need More Teachers, Not Evaluations
February 6, 2013 By 1 Comment
The ongoing debate concerning how California’s teachers should be evaluated—by misleadingly simplistic quantitative analyses of student test results (as administrators prefer) or through more well-rounded (and administratively time-consuming) in-class observations–is a red herring. Looking at the facts behind the State’s educational priorities tells a much different story of where the problem with California’s educational system lies. With the highest student-to-teacher ratios of any state in the country by a wide margin, the biggest problem California’s schools face is not the quality of teachers. It’s a lack of teachers, period.
According to the NEA’s statistics for the last available school year (2010-11), at an average of one teacher to 23.1 students in daily attendance, California has the most overburdened teachers in the nation by far. Not only is that ratio 65% higher than the national average of 14.9. Incredibly, California’s ratio of teachers to students in daily attendance is 24% higher than even the next worst state in the nation in this category, Nevada, with a ratio of 18.6. When it comes to overburdening our teachers, California truly is in a league of its own. One can only cringe when imagining what these statistics would look like if Prop. 30 failed and the state’s K-12 schools had to make due with about 7% less revenue in 2012-3. [Read more...]
UCR Dr. Maletz on Society and Excess
June 12, 2012 By 2 Comments
UCR Medical Director Dr. Maletz talks to Spoiled Minds about his views on the current health care situation in the United States as well as future obstacles regarding health care legislation such as Obama Care.
Childhood Poverty in America
May 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A child’s assurance of not entering poverty relies upon the income stability of his or her parent. According to an article by Banes and Waldfogel, “work-family policies that address conflicts between employment and caregiving and allow parents to work more hours and gain higher earnings will be increasingly important in the prevention of child poverty.” Family stability does not rely on just the father’s income but on the parent having above-poverty income-earning skills. “It is also apparent that the major stumbling block to family economic security for many low-income families is not the absence of the father but rather the father’s low skills, employment, and earnings.” This implies that policies that encourage marriage do not suffice. Policies that address income-earning skills are more salient when addressing poverty rates, especially among children. “This suggests that policies such as tougher CSE and marriage promotion can play only a limited role in reducing child poverty unless they are paired with programs to address the low levels of employment and earnings among low-skilled men.” When one works, how does that person take care of his or her children? When a parent does not have to worry about taking care of the child during the day, then he or she has the opportunity to work.
Shortage of Water in California
May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It has been said many times that California is facing a drastic shortage of water in the future. The state, particularly the Southern California region, has few natural water sources to accommodate the almost 40 million people living here. As such, local and county governments have started to come up with a few solutions to eradicate this problem.
One of the solutions proposed is to streamline the flow of water, and the governance of it. Currently, there are well over 450 public water “agencies” in California. Think about that; 450 bureaucratic local, county and state agencies charged with utilizing water in the best way possible for the residents of the state. These agencies are supposed to oversee matters pertaining to infrastructure (which is in shambles), conservation (which is nothing but a dream at this point), renovating deltas (which have been crumbling for the past thirty years), and purity (which they fantastically fail at), among others. [Read more...]
May 11th Day of Action
May 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
On May 11th, a collective body of students marched from Unity Corner, located at UCR, to downtown Riverside in order to lobby for social services and higher education. Senator Emmerson, Assemblymember Nestande, and Senator Dutton all received lobby visits. The students demanded funding for social services like higher education and more specifically, voting for the Middle Class Scholarship Act in order to make education a priority for California once again.
March 5th Education Rally
March 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Today thousands of students, faculty, and supporters of public education rally in Sacramento to participate in a mass demonstration against the privatization of public education.
Here is the schedule:
10 am – March begins at Southside Park
11 am – Student association sponsored Rally to Fund Our Future
1 pm – People’s Assembly Inside the Capitol Building
4:30 pm – Nonviolent Direct Action Training inside the Capitol Building
5:30 pm – Afterwork rally in solidarity with Occupy the Capitol
Occupy Education and Refund California have asked for those participating to follow the statement below:
“The Occupy the Capitol action will be a mass nonviolent action.
Those involved in its organization will not engage in acts of property
damage either inside or outside the capitol and do not condone such
acts. Decisions about tactics will be made democratically.”
The news feed below will be updated throughout the day.
9:25am – Students arrive in the masses, numbers estimated to be 2,000 and counting.
10am – March starts at 5th and T street. Buses are still coming in.
10:27 March continues to the Capitol.
10:43 – Demonstration arrives at the Capitol building.
11:45pm – A variety of students and faculty speak out out against the privatization of education in the public sector as officials inside the capitol building look out from their windows.
11:45pm – 1pm – The numbers have gone from a high of about 11,000 to under 1,000. Some demonstrators went inside to occupy the Capital building. The majority of demonstrators have left.
5pm – RIOT POLICE have formed lines in front of the Capitol building. Their numbers are estimated to be about 50-60 police officers fitted in riot gear. The police are stating that the once lawful assembly is now an unlawful assembly. The reason being is because the assembly was only permitted to stay until 1pm.
6:14pm - Three helicopters are circling the area. Can’t i.d helicopters as news or law enforcement.
6:52pm UNCONFIRMED – 80 people have been arrested inside the Capitol building.
6:55pm - Police have shutdown a portion of the Capitol building. 25-30 protestors are on their way to the west entrance in order to participate in acts of civil disobedience.
7:38pm – Kennington Cung (Spoiled Minds Reporter) “People have not been arrested. Police have just given the final dispersement order.
7:59pm – OFFICIAL – Arrests have been made. Detained people are being taken out of the Capitol building.
8:34pm – Last Police Van has left the Capitol. 60-80 are estimated to have been arrested so far.
9:13pm – All persons inside the Capitol have been arrested. News teams have left the reporters. Demonstrators in front of the Capitol supporting those being arrested inside are slowly starting to disperse.
CALPIRG: Protecting Our Ocean
February 8, 2012 By 3 Comments
courtesy of University of Texas
CALPIRG, the California Public Interest Research Group, is a statewide, student-directed, and student-funding nonprofit group, a part of USPIRG (United States Public Interest Research Group). For 40 years now, CALPIRG has been conducting student-run political campaigns in its nine chapters across the state. Recent accomplishments include: mobilizing over 160,000 students to vote against and crush Proposition 23, the dirty energy bill; helping [Read more...]
Is African American History American History?
February 8, 2012 By 1 Comment
Image by Frank Cieciorka
As Black History Month is upon us, we remember and reflect upon the legacy of abolitionist leaders, of the heroes and heroines of the Civil Rights movement, and of the trials and tribulations of slavery. However, it is just as significant to study the rest of African American history. We have been labeled, oppressed, and viewed as inferior, and our accomplishments insignificant. To add insult to injury, our rich, diverse, cultural backgrounds and achievements are recognized and celebrated only in the – of course – shortest month of the year, as an invitation to overlook African American heritage the rest of the year. We as [Read more...]
Community Payback
January 29, 2012 By 1 Comment
In an article that was recently published in the NY Times “If It Feels Right” by David Brooks, he wrote about the conclusions of a research that asked 230 young people about morality and its importance in their lives. Brooks concluded that “we”, today’s youth, lack the diction to talk about moral issues. We are not only unaware of our own moral code, but are also unsure about what morality even is. I agree that we lack the knowledge of what it is to be moral. So, what does it mean to be moral? Our society is ever changing; has the meaning of morality changed with the new generations or have we as a society stopped caring about morals all together?
