Oakland Schools Teach-ins on Iraq a Huge Success!!

and amazing, amazing things happened throughout our District. I think many of us remembered why we became teachers, to change the world, to build a better future, to awaken a sleeping country of materialists and individualists, and help people see the beauty and power of community and working to make a better world.
I am so inspired by everyone I worked with and
everything I learned. The most powerful moment of an
absolutely memorable day was, as we were cleaning up I
was approached by an Arab-American presenter, she said
to me "Thank you for what you did today. There is
hope. There is hope." I am inspired and awed and hope
many, many people will join us in Oakland and around
the country to build upon what we did.

Jonah


Media Contact: Jonah Zern, Coordinator, Peace and Justice Caucus, Oakland Education Association 510.654.8613

Speaker and Resource Suggestions: Mary Prophet at 510.527.1222 or mlprophet [at] earthlink.net, (people of color especially encouraged)


Schedule a Teach-in at Your School (teach-ins are ongoing!): Judi Hirsch at 510.653.0776 or judih [at] ousd.k12.ca.us (Oakland Schools will be given priority, but any school may ask to receive assistance and speakers)

Teach-in Media
CNN (same as AP article below, includes pictures)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/01/15/teaching.peace.ap/
AP Press
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/15/state1056EST0038.DTL
Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,73591,00.html
Oakland Tribune

Oakland Tribune

Teach-ins provide forum for Iraq war debate
By Alex Katz
STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - OAKLAND -- Schools held 1960s-style teach-ins Tuesday against President Bush's possible war in Iraq, encouraging students to remember Martin Luther King Jr.'s message of nonviolence on his birthday today and urging them to march against war.
About 25 Oakland public schools had speakers in classrooms and assemblies, and most students were not shy about expressing their views on the subject of another Persian Gulf War.
"It's an attack, an outright attack," said peace activist Ying Lee during a press conference at Oakland High School. "Among civilized people, we don't do that. ... There's no question (Iraq President) Saddam Hussein is bad, but Bush is bad, and we don't want people bombing the United States."
School board members and Superintendent Dennis Chaconas declared themselves firmly against another Iraq war when the board approved the teach-ins in November. But all agreed the events would be non-biased and present all sides of the issue.
The problem, organizers said, was they couldn't find anyone to represent a "pro-war" side. Invitations were sent to the State Department and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, but were declined, said school board member Dan Siegel, who proposed the teach-ins.
There were students, however, whose thinking was more in line with Bush's.
"Why is the U.S. gonna take the chance that (Iraq) bombs here first and kills (a lot of) people?" asked sophomore Alfonso Rodriguez.
Even if inspectors don't find any weapons, that just means Iraq has hidden them somewhere, so we should bomb anyway, Rodriguez added. Iraq could attack U.S. cities with chemical weapons in any number of ways, using airplanes, submarines or suicide bombers, he said.
Groups scheduled to speak included Veterans for Peace, the Black Radical Congress and the Middle East Children's Alliance.
Still, the teach-ins were about education, not anti-war rhetoric, Siegel said.
"Our teachers and our students here in Oakland are too smart to be victims of propaganda," he said.
School board President Greg Hodge said some people questioned whether it was appropriate to talk about war with young children. The teach-ins were held at a handful of elementary schools, along with almost all the high schools and several middle schools.
"Was it appropriate for people to talk about four girls who got killed in Birmingham in 1965? Absolutely," Hodge said, referring to the bombing of a church in Alabama.
Remembering Dr. King
"It's Dr. King's birthday. Dr. King didn't die so we can take a three-day weekend and go skiing," Hodge said. King's birthday is Jan. 15, but the national holiday is Jan. 20.
Speakers said they oppose war against Iraq because it would take billions of dollars in resources away from schools, because of the irony of attacking a country the United States once backed and armed, and because of the inevitable loss of civilian life and other issues.
A report by Human Rights Watch estimated the number of Iraqi civilian casualties from allied bombs in the first Gulf War at between 2,500 and 3,000. Hundreds died in bombing attacks on bridges and marketplaces, the report states.
Bush warned again Tuesday that time is running out for Hussein to disarm, saying "I'm sick and tired of the games and the deception."
Political philosophy explored
War may be necessary to rid Hussein of weapons of mass destruction, Bush has declared.
In teacher Steven Moreno's world history class at Oakland High, students debated the issue of the day with San Francisco State University political philosophy professor Ann Robertson. Students compiled a list of arguments for and against a war with Iraq, and although the list was lopsided with arguments against war, a few students took the opposing view.
Freshman Marvin Thang gave this argument for war: "They have the oil, and we could use it. They don't need that much."
Pro-war students said their positions were not changed after hearing anti-war arguments.
Senior Maurice Williams spoke at Oakland High's press conference, holding an anti-war poster with a picture of a young Iraqi girl.
"She didn't wake up in the morning and say, 'I'm gonna buy some missiles' or 'I'm gonna starve my people,'" Williams said. War "kills innocent people for something they didn't have a part of to begin with."



AP Press
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/15/state1056EST0038.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com Return to regular view
Oakland, Calif., schools hold teach-in against possible war in Iraq
MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
©2003 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/14/national2117EST0773.DTL
(01-14) 18:17 PST OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) --
Oakland's schools hosted a daylong teach-in Tuesday on the possible war with Iraq, an event that drew criticism for its largely anti-war tone and from those who say the system should focus on its own glaring problems.
No one on the list of speakers supported the Bush administration's assertion that war may be necessary to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Critics also maintained that Oakland's first priority should be fixing its low test scores and multimillion-dollar deficit.
But organizers defended their efforts as a timely exercise in critical thinking for the district's 53,000 students.
"Our teachers and our students here in Oakland are too smart to be victims of propaganda," said Dan Siegel, a member of the school board that authorized the teach-in. "Our goal is to do education and to have people make up their own minds."
A similar effort stirred debate in San Francisco, where the school board was scheduled to vote Tuesday night on authorizing a day of public education on war with Iraq. Sponsors of that event had toned down their strong anti-war wording, but parents and the local PTA complained the event remained one-sided.
In Oakland, organizers said they tried to get different points of view, but couldn't find any pro-war speakers willing to appear.
During a morning session at Oakland High, speakers denounced military action, saying bombing Iraq would kill innocent civilians as well as U.S. soldiers and decimate the U.S. domestic budget.
"People are really missing the big part of this," said student Mohamed Mohamed, who has relatives in Iraq. "I've been to Yemen and Arabia and I saw innocent people with no education. All the education they have is the news they see on America, and all the news on America is all bad ... And all the news we have on Iraq is bad things about them."
The event raised little public opposition in Oakland, home of Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., famous for her lone vote in September 2001 against authorizing the president to use force against terrorists.
But elsewhere, a San Francisco Chronicle columnist blasted the school boards of both cities, and a policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., called the teach-in "yet another bright idea from the teachers of Oakland."
Oakland made national news in 1997 with the school board's assertion -- later retracted -- that ebonics was the primary language of some black students, and in 1999 with a teach-in on death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.
This year, officials say they'll need a $100 million bailout from the state to avoid bankruptcy, and students' test scores remain low.
"A better use of time obviously would be teaching those things the kids need," said the Heritage Foundation's Krista Kafer. "There's plenty of room in history class, social studies to look at current affairs, to discuss the war on Iraq."
But Maurice Williams, a student government leader at Oakland High, saw the teach-in as an example that students can rise above their circumstances.
"Here we are in Oakland. We've got so many different problems. We've got a homicide rate that's soaring. We got a huge hole in our education system. Health care is a mess. And yet we can gather together like this and say that we are concerned about something like this," he said.

On the Net:
Oakland schools: webportal.ousd.k12.ca.us/index.aspx
San Francisco schools: portal.sfusd.edu/template/sfusd.cfm
©2003 Associated Press

Teaching In
Friday, December 20, 2002
By Joanne Jacobs

San Francisco and Oakland public schools will conduct "teach-ins" in January on the potential war with Iraq, reports Asian Week.
Oakland Unified, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, will provide an optional program for 50,000 students; San Francisco will focus on counseling about the (non-existent) draft and persuading parents to request their children's names not be provided to military recruiters.
"If our government starts bombing Iraq, there can easily be tens of thousands of casualties as American citizens," (Oakland board member Dan) Siegel comments. "U.S. troops who will disproportionately represent poor communities like Oakland and working class, poor people and people of color will end up in the military."
...Board members will encourage teachers to lead students in a more lengthy conversation about poverty, systems of violence and the funding of the military/industrial complex.
But it's not mean to indoctrinate, says Siegel, a former anti-Vietnam War activist. Gosh, that's a relief.
Oakland kiddies already are educated on the issues, according to the Oakland Tribune.
Fifth-graders from Sequoia Elementary School spoke in favor of the teach-in at Wednesday's board meeting and read letters they had written to Bush opposing an Iraq war.
"When you go to war, you are setting a bad example for all the kids in the U.S.A.," one letter stated. "Wars and fights are not right, and bombing beautiful things is not right either."
The teacher said the students came up with the idea on their own.
The San Francisco school board's resolution was "inspired by community and grassroots groups such as International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), Not in Our Name, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition Against the War and United for Peace/Global Exchange."
No indoctrination here. No sirree.
Not a Lott for Civil Rights
The number one civil rights issue is the racial gap in academic achievement, argues Abigail Thernstrom, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in the New York Times. Desperate to save his job, Trent Lott is signing to the Democrats' failed agenda.
...the political left talks almost entirely of "re-segregated" and underfunded schools, and pushes for more busing and more spending, a strategy that has failed for decades. Democrats also believe in collective bargaining rules that allow dreadful teachers to retain their jobs. Their emphasis on "self-esteem" results in the dumbing-down of educational standards, what President Bush has rightly called "the soft bigotry of low expectations."
After an era of liberal leadership, the typical black or Hispanic student graduates from high school today with junior high skills, according to the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Lott says he's going to help blacks from now on. Resigning as Senate majority leader would be a great first step.
In a Wall Street Journal essay, Shelby Steele eloquently describes what's wrong with Old Lott and New Lott, and what the consequences are (dreadful) for conservative social reformers.
Drowning in Excuses
Black parents can't end racism, says William Raspberry. Parents can raise their children with the values that lead to success in school and in life. Raspberry's been reading John Ogbu's book, which primarily blames middle-class black parents for their children's lagging performance in school.
There is this picture in my head that won't go away: Thousands of black children are drifting downstream toward a deadly waterfall. And we black adults are standing along the bank reassuring ourselves: "Well, at least it's not our fault."
I have no interest in disputing the assertion. It really isn't our fault -- or at any rate not only our fault. My question is much simpler: What can we do to save the children?
Nobody -- except possibly Trent Lott -- wants to return to the days of Raspberry's youth, when blacks knew it was self-help or nothing. But, in any era, self-helpers do a lot better than blame-passers.
David Robinston, the San Antonio Spurs center, decided to throw a lifeline to those drowning kids. Robinson gave $9 million to start a private school to educate disadvantaged students on San Antonio’s East Side.
Carver Academy students -- almost all black and Hispanic kids on scholarship -- beat the national average in all subjects on the Stanford Achievement Test, and even outscored other private school students. Carver boasts that children start learning foreign languages -- Spanish, German and Japanese -- in pre-kindergarten and start on algorithms and negative numbers in first grade. Classes are limited to 15 students.
It all costs about $8,000 per student. Parents must pay at least $500 a year; 99 percent get full or partial scholarships. The rest comes from donations.
The March (in circles) of Knowledge
Today's college seniors display no more general knowledge than high school graduates surveyed by Gallup in 1955, according to a Zogby survey for the National Association of Scholars. College seniors in 2002 answered 53.5 percent of general knowledge questions correctly; in 1955, high school graduates scored 55.4 percent while a small sample of college graduates got 77.3 percent.
Zogby re-used the Gallup questions, or made slight modifications to deal with historical changes. Most questions were identical: What's the largest lake in North America? What profession is associated with Florence Nightingale?
Joanne Jacobs used to have a paying job as a Knight-Ridder columnist and San Jose Mercury News editorial writer. Now she blogs for tips at JoanneJacobs.com while writing a book, Start-Up High, about a San Jose charter school. She's never gotten a dime from Enron.



Oakland Schools to Launch Teach-ins on the Iraq Crisis on January 14, 2003

Media Contact: Jonah Zern, Coordinator, Peace and Justice Caucus, Oakland Education Association 510.654.8613

Speaker and Resource Suggestions: Mary Prophet at 510.527.1222 or mlprophet [at] earthlink.net, (people of color especially encouraged)


Schedule a Teach-in at Your School: Judi Hirsch at 510.653.0776 or judih [at] ousd.k12.ca.us (Oakland Schools will be given priority, but any school may ask to receive assistance and speakers)


The Oakland Unified School District will launch teach-ins on the Iraq Crisis on Tuesday, January 14. The Peace and International Relations Committee of the Oakland Education Association is assisting in providing resources and organizing this event in honor Martin Luther King’s birthday and will come just a few days before the next major anti-war march in San Francisco on Saturday, January 18.

There will be kickoff events at most high school and middle school sites and many elementary schools. We are working to provide age appropriate material. Here are some of the issues we plan on addressing through the teach-in; Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream for Global Civil Rights and Global Unity; War Spending vs. Social Spending; Military in Our Schools through the “No Child Left Behind Act”; Understanding Propaganda/ Media Literacy; Understanding Islam and Arab People, Stopping Attacks on these Communities; Know Your Rights and Defending Civil Liberties; Ways to Truly Make Our Community Safer; Understanding the "Crisis" in the Context of US History and Foreign Policy.











RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A DAY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
ON WAR AGAINST IRAQ
Cosponsored by Dan Siegel, Board Member and Sheila Quintana, President of the Oakland Education Association, Passed Unanimously on November 14, 2002

WHEREAS, the United States government states that it is preparing to initiate a war against the nation of Iraq; and
WHEREAS, an attack on Iraq by the United States would have enormous human, financial and political consequences in the United States and the world community; and
WHEREAS, it is essential that the people of the United States be well-informed on the causes and consequences of military action by their government,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education of the
Oakland Unified School District decrees that there shall be citywide public education at the school level concerning the background of the current crisis concerning Iraq, the options available to the United States government for attempting to resolve that crisis, and the likely consequences of a United States military attack on Iraq;
FURTHER, that the District's Division of Student Achievement shall work with the Oakland Education Association to develop a list of available resources and lessons that are appropriate for the classroom;
FURTHER, that schools may invite parents and other members of the public to participate in the educational programs; and
FURTHER, that no student or teacher who objects to participation in such educational programs shall be required to do so.























Bay Area Schools Plan Teach-ins about War
By Ji Hyun Lim | AsianWeek Staff Writer, Asian Week, Thursday, December 12, 2002
In an attempt to educate K-12 students in the Bay Area about the possibility of a war with Iraq, both the Oakland and San Francisco Unified School Districts unanimously passed resolutions to conduct teach-ins regarding the crisis in the Middle East.
Modeled after the 1960s Vietnam anti-war demonstrations, the intention of these teach-ins is to educate students about the causes and consequences of war, while making sure the information presented is grade-appropriate. Although the school districts will recommend a curriculum for instructors, the resolutions call for each school district to either integrate the subject matter in a discussion or provide speakers for older students.
Dan Siegel, an Oakland School Board member and former anti-Vietnam War activist, authored the Oakland resolution in late October and it passed in November. Oakland districts tentatively plan to conduct these teach-ins in mid-January, to coincide with Martin Luther King’s birthday.
Oakland plans to provide a program for some 50,000 students that will not be mandatory. Siegel points out that educating students from K-12 is important because the war has and will have significant impact on their lives. Because billions of dollars spent on the military budget are siphoning resources from less affluent communities like Oakland, Siegel points out that government policies will directly affect funding for health care, education and social services.
“If our government starts bombing Iraq, there can easily be tens of thousands of casualties as American citizens,” Siegel comments. “U.S. troops who will disproportionately represent poor communities like Oakland and working class, poor people and people of color will end up in the military.”
School board members and teachers agree that educating students should be a priority. Some argue that many students may not understand the scope of the crisis in the Middle East and a dialogue would provide clarity on the subject.
Teachers like Jonah Zern point out that such dialogue is often muffled by political rhetoric and media sensationalism about “terrorist nations.”
“[Students] hear about war and it’s essential that we help them understand it and stop them from developing feelings of hatred,” Zern said. “The main message is to stop prejudice and hatred.”
During a preliminary meeting to discuss the curriculum for Oakland schools, four committee members discussed the need to highlight the ramifications of war, terrorism, community safety, global unity, racial profiling and the threat to civil liberties.
Educators emphasized that students should be educated about U.S. relations with foreign countries and the history of the warring states. Board members hope to encourage students to discuss deeper issues of economics and freedom, security and safety and the conflicts that may occur as a result of a counter attack.
“We hope that our children can build a better future — one that is based on a common understanding and a common humanity rather than a winner take all mentality,” Zern explained.
Siegel points out that discussion with youth about war will be similar to discussion after the Sept. 11 attacks. However, the partially guided lesson plan will allow each school the flexibility to bring in both anti-war and pro-government policy speakers at the school’s discretion. Teachers are advised to present the materials in a way that won’t shock or upset younger children and provide a balanced and informative symposium of learning.
Siegel said: “We have to present a program that educates and allows the students and others to participate and make up their own minds. We’re not trying to indoctrinate or politicize people. We’re trying to educate them.”
The intent of the resolution is to foster discussion and allow students to understand democracy and the importance of their political voice, Zern said. Board members will encourage teachers to lead students in a more lengthy conversation about poverty, systems of violence and the funding of the military/industrial complex.
San Francisco School District is also planning a teach-in for students.
Board members Eric Mar and Mark Sanchez drafted a similar measure for SFUSD shortly after the Oakland School Board passed its resolution. Inspired by community and grassroots groups such as International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), Not in Our Name, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition Against the War and United for Peace/Global Exchange, San Francisco Board members proposed a more detailed agenda.
The San Francisco resolution tackles privacy issues and draft counseling. The proposal states that parents and students should understand their rights to privacy. In the resolution, the board argues that schools should not be required to provide names and addresses to military recruiters.
The resolution states that in accordance with the ‘opt out’ clause of the No Child Left Behind Act, SFUSD will comply with each parental request for non-release of student information and provide information about draft counseling resources.
San Francisco’s teach-ins are slated to begin in January. In the meantime, School Board members are continuing to meet regularly to discuss the curriculum. Both districts hope other districts will embark on similar measures to educate students.
Said Zern: “The major problem about U.S. schools is that they’re too removed from engaging student in the world around them. This is just one instance in how teachers should be engaging their students to see how history is not just something of the past but it’s something they create.”

Reach Ji Hyun Lim at jlim [at] asianweek.com


Anti-war school board plans teach-ins
By Alex Katz, STAFF WRITER, Printed Front Page, Oakland Tribune,
OAKLAND -- Students in kindergarten through 12th grade will learn about the proposed war in Iraq at 1960s-style "teach-ins," a vocally anti-war school board decided Wednesday.
School board member Dan Siegel proposed the resolution encouraging schools to set aside time to teach about the planned conflict to rid Iraq of what President Bush calls "weapons of mass destruction."
"I think the pending war with Iraq is a matter that has the most serious consequences for people in this country," Siegel said, citing the inevitable deaths of Iraqi civilians and U.S. military personnel, as well as the allocation of resources away from schools and toward war.
The teach-ins will be voluntary and open to parents. Each school site will determine when, or if, the events will happen.

Despite vocal opposition to an Iraq war expressed at school board meetings by board members, schools Superintendent Dennis Chaconas, teachers and students, Siegel said information will be presented in an impartial manner by teachers of all political stripes.
"We ask teachers to do that all the time," said Siegel, who led anti-Vietnam War protests as student body president at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969. "We have enough integrity and respect for the students to provide them the information and let them make up their own minds."
Fifth-graders from Sequoia Elementary School spoke in favor of the teach-in at Wednesday's board meeting and read letters they had written to Bush opposing an Iraq war.
"When you go to war, you are setting a bad example for all the kids in the U.S.A.," one letter stated. "Wars and fights are not right, and bombing beautiful things is not right either."
Teacher Betty Olson-Jones said the students came up with the idea on their own.
The students invited Bush to come to a weekly class at Sequoia that teaches youngsters how to resolve problems without fighting.
"It's not fair for other people (if) they get killed, because they haven't done anything to George Bush," said student Jennifer, whose parents did not want her last name published.
Bush "is only mad at one person (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein)," Jennifer said. "We think (Bush) should come to our class on Wednesday to learn some (conflict resolution) skills."
The fifth-graders showed they understood that the United States once supported Iraq militarily.
"We think it's strange to go to war with a country you taught war to," student Emma Styles-Swaim said. "We think it's strange because, well, it's weird."
A White House spokesperson was not available to comment Thursday. One official said the students could probably expect some kind of response from the White House.
School board member Bruce Kariya voiced concern about exposing children below fourth grade to "the ravages of war."
Other board members disagreed. As school board member Greg Hodge put it, Iraqi children below the fourth grade will lose their lives in any U.S. attack, so why shouldn't children here at least know about it?
"At the end of the day, it's not going to be Bush and it's not going to be (Vice President Dick) Cheney going off to war," board member Jason Hodge said. "They make the decision and then send our young people to war."