Andrew Cuomo Makes it Official: He’s at War With Teachers http://danielskatz.net/2014/10/31/andrew-cuomo-makes-it-official-hes-at-war-with-teachers
When will everybody just stop futzing with the stupid testing systems, teacher evaluations, test scores, common cores, NCLBs, etc and realize that it’s a total waste of time? Teachers are fine. Testing systems are fine. The only problem is that they are asked to perform functions that are not theirs.
Clarissa's Blog 
I hate Cuomo. When you feel you have to ask kindergarten students “Why does 1 + 1 = 2?”, you have failed utterly and completely. He’s been at war with teachers for his whole term, and very likely when he was in school. Someone should have him actually try to teach the Common Core to an actual class–oh, wait, he’ll just say he’s not qualified, and ignore the fact that teachers are the only ones qualified to make decisions like that. And it’s horrible because special ed students nearly always score lower, meaning that their teachers should, what? Lose their jobs for teaching students at the pace they actually learn at? What the fuck?
I apologize for the rant. I hate Cuomo. I despise Cuomo. There aren’t words for how much I dislike Cuomo. I once saw a graffitied rock near the NY/PA border that said “Fuck the Common Core.” Yes. Yes. Fuck the Common Core. It has never been the answer to the problems of the public school system.
LikeLike
I have no idea how one can work when there is always a bunch of utterly unqualified people looking over one’s shoulder and controlling one’s every move. Imagine a pastry chef or a dentist or a landscape designer having to work in such conditions. The result would be a very lopsided cookie, a tortured tooth or a miserable lawn. It is impossible to work under such scrutiny, impossible. Why can’t people just accept that a teacher knows what she is doing just as well as a representative of any other profession.
LikeLike
\\ The only problem is that they are asked to perform functions that are not theirs.
Could you explain which “not theirs” functions teachers are asked to perform?
LikeLike
Parental, parental functions. A kid whose parents don’t read to him, go for walks, play and talk with him will be handicapped even if he is surrounded by a thousand of world’s best teachers. But this is not a culture that is ready to accept that parents have a role to play in children’s lives that is not reduced to freaking out about horrible teachers.
LikeLike
Reminded me of Libby’s post about how
“I’ve looked at the boundary map for her school, and it looks like someone went out of their way to piece all of the poor neighborhoods together while leaving out the wealthier ones. And guess what? Someone did. I researched the backstory, and it turns out that my daughter’s school boundaries were drawn in the midst of some pretty heavy advocacy by some wealthy neighborhoods to stay out. Because apparently my children aren’t good enough for them to send their children to school with.
And I am angry. I am angry because this is about resource hoarding. It’s about the rich passing on all the resources possible to their children while depriving poor children of access to equal resources, and it’s disgusting. We give all sorts of lip service to equality of opportunity in this country, but in actually our social mobility is abysmally low. It is difficult for the children of the rich to fall into poverty, and difficult for the children of the poor to get out. And it is not this way by accident—it is this way because this is how the system set up.”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2014/10/yes-i-bring-my-poor-children-trick-or-treating-in-your-rich-neighborhood.html
Did you mean that “not theirs” functions are expecting teachers to create miracles despite lack of resources both in students’ homes and at their schools?
LikeLike
“We give all sorts of lip service to equality of opportunity in this country, but in actually our social mobility is abysmally low. ”
– Not true. There is no place on Earth with more phenomenal social mobility. However, no societal system, no government, no school, no anything whatsoever will substitute for the parents who read stories and played sandcastles with a kid in early childhood. It’s just what it is.
LikeLike
– Not true. There is no place on Earth with more phenomenal social mobility. However, no societal system, no government, no school, no anything whatsoever will substitute for the parents who read stories and played sandcastles with a kid in early childhood. It’s just what it is.
Actually the U.S. is not the most socially mobile place on earth. It is, however, the place where people believe in social mobility more than any other country. Claims about low social mobility in the U.S. tend to rest on comparisons to other developed nations in Europe and North America.
Obviously parental involvement makes a huge difference. I think though people will disagree as to how much of that is a function of time and money. Certainly there are very involved poor parents and uninvolved wealthy parents.
LikeLike
As for other developed countries, I have an experience of living in Quebec. The social mobility of an allophone immigrant there is a painful issue that I don’t even want to discuss. My aunt – obviously also an immigrant – lives in Nova Scotia, and has encountered zero social mobility. The neighbors in the village where she has been living for over a decade wouldn’t even open a door to her when she knocked during a downpour. Mind you, it’s a tiny village so it isn’t like she’s a stranger. She works at a fish factory and lives in complete isolation.
As for Western European countries, they don’t even want to have me, let alone afford me any social mobility. I haven’t heard or read of any country that would allow a penniless immigrant with zero personal connections the kind of mobility that I so easily achieved in the US. In Canada, I felt a lot more excluded than in the US. It’s a different world, in my experience.
LikeLike
Time and money are in contradiction here. The people who make a lot of money have little time. And the unemployed have nothing but time. The class of people with lots of money and no need to work is tiny. But the children of these families are extremely high – risk in terms of personal achievement.
LikeLike
I completely agree with everything you say about teachers. But I would suggest that “testing systems” are _not_ fine. K-12 students are _way_ over tested and over subjected to stupid standardized multiple-choice tests. Really wonderful teachers are being forced to give over class time that could be better spent in discussion and analysis in order to drill for ridiculous standardized testing.
When I was young, the state tests were administered at certain key moments: 4th grade, 8th grade, and 11th grade. That wasn’t particularly onerous and some sort of tracking makes sense. Now students are tested multiple times a year. It’s insane and truly destructive to education. Standardized testing are the bane of public schooling in this country.
LikeLike
The way people are trying to “improve” testing is by making it more, not less standardized and frequent. Of course, I’m in favor of less testing but since nobody is even thinking of moving in that direction, at least the testing could be left the way it is now, you know?
Ideally standardized testing would go back to the model you described but what are the chances of that right now? We will be lucky if things don’t get much much worse instead of just worse.
LikeLike
Although nobody has been able to explain to me what they dislike about Common Core just yet. I keep asking but people just react emotionally and give no concrete response.
LikeLike
Well the Common Core is so new, it’s hard to see how it’s all going to net out. There are some good things about Common Core. I for one think that a nationally adopted curriculum makes it harder for schools to teach things like “Intelligent Design;” so I support some national standardization. I also like that the Common Core increases analysis of primary texts across the curriculum. So those things are good.
One of the worst things about the CC is that it continues if not intensifies No Child Left Behind’s (one of Bush’s worst pieces of legislation) policies of frequent high stakes testing. I know that I for one had some hopes that when No Child Left Behind was repealed that some of the aggressive testing policies it began would also be repealed. But no such luck.
Many people also object to how the Common Core teaches math (I don’t know enough about that to comment on it.)
Another bad thing about the Common Core is that it is heavily sponsored by and was lobbied for ETS (Education Testing Service)– the company responsible for the SAT and GRE. So many people fear that this is imposing a for-profit model on public schooling. Again, time will tell how this all plays out. But it does make me nervous to think that ETS–not teachers– are deciding national educational policies.
LikeLike
” I know that I for one had some hopes that when No Child Left Behind was repealed that some of the aggressive testing policies it began would also be repealed.”
– These aggressive testing policies reflect a much more profound cultural phenomenon. They are not going away until there is a radical transformation of how this society views the role of parents and the role of schooling in children’s lives.
LikeLike
\\ – These aggressive testing policies reflect a much more profound cultural phenomenon. They are not going away until there is a radical transformation of how this society views the role of parents and the role of schooling in children’s lives.
You mean, till American society sees schooling as less important in children’s lives than now?
LikeLike
“You mean, till American society sees schooling as less important in children’s lives than now?”
– Schooling doesn’t have to take on the functions of parenting to be enormously important.
LikeLike
There are three elements to any bureaucratic educational system. Our system only worries about two of those elements. The hue and cry is that TEACHERS (element 2) don’t spoon feed the “learning” in palatable measures. The response is that students (element 3) are a.) too lazy or b.) unchallenged or c.) just too stupid to learn. The hue and cry misses the most important requisite for education — the parents (element 1). Teachers have a proscribed period during the school year to PRESENT and try to imbue information to the students in their classroom. And the students have to be there because “they have to be there”. It is a primary parental function to make sure their children understand WHY they are there — to try to learn what is presented because it is their job. It is a tripartite milieu. BUT the parents are the most important element in that mix. By the time the “kids” get to college, their “learning pathways” (expectations ?) are set. I suspect that many of them entering college have no idea how to respond to what is required.
LikeLike
Anonymous: a brilliant comment! I couldn’t agree more.
LikeLike
How do you view criticism of currrent school system? Some academics in education talk that schools were built for teachers (to let them lecture for 45 min) and not for students. That students are rarely truly involved / interested and thus quickly forget what they learned. That the system should be changed to promote learning by engaging the students’ interest, showing the relevance of what they learn and developing their creativity. They also talk about the “hidden curriculum” of f.e. not trying to be creative at schools. I want to stress that those academics don’t promote homeschooling 🙂 but think of ways to rebuild the existing system.
LikeLike
I am yet to see that mythical teacher who speaks for 45 minutes straight. I know quite a few secondary education American teachers, have visited classrooms, etc and never saw anything of the kind. This is a total strawman, in my opinion.
LikeLike
“I am yet to see that mythical teacher who speaks for 45 minutes straight. I know quite a few secondary education American teachers, have visited classrooms, etc and never saw anything of the kind. This is a total strawman, in my opinion.”
I completely agree with you. I don’t know any teacher who speaks for 45 minutes straight at the grammar and high school levels. I honestly know very few teachers who speak for 45 minutes straight at the university level– at least not in the humanities.
I am convinced this straw man is an invention of unscrupulous “educational technology” companies to promote the completely spurious notion that somehow technology will make classrooms more discussion based or experiential.
LikeLike
“I am convinced this straw man is an invention of unscrupulous “educational technology” companies to promote the completely spurious notion that somehow technology will make classrooms more discussion based or experiential.”
– Exactly! I’m so tired of seeing these endless articles about how horrible mean teachers and professors just drone on from a textbook (or their own textbook) for the entire class period. I’ve taken, taught and observed numerous classes in a variety of disciplines on different levels, starting from kindergarten level to the PhD level. And not a single time have I seen this kind of a class offered. And this is across different institutions, different regions, different disciplines, etc.
LikeLike
“They also talk about the “hidden curriculum” of f.e. not trying to be creative at schools.”
– I’m not sure what “creative” means in this context. My students draw, make up stories, act, play, etc. And I’m the more traditional and boring among my colleagues. We have a professor who comes to class in hand-made chainmail suit of armor, and people who do even more engaging stuff. Is this “creative” enough?
LikeLike
All this talk about the parents’ responsibility reminded of the new Israeli law proposal:
The parents are responsible
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has decided Sunday to levy monetary fines on the parents of Jewish and Palestinian children, who are in involved in public disturbance, mainly stone hurling at the police and innocent bystanders.
Furthermore parents, whose children are caught throwing stones at people or cars, will have to pay financial compensation to the wounded parties.
In its next meeting, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation will also discussed a bill proposal, initiated by the Justice Ministry, which suggests a sentencing of twenty years in jail for those who throw stones, or any other objects, at cars with the intent of causing damage. The bill also proposes a punishment of up to five years in jail for whomever throws stones at a police officer or police car, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/48806-141027-children-throwing-stones-parents-to-pay-a-price
LikeLike
“In its next meeting, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation will also discussed a bill proposal, initiated by the Justice Ministry, which suggests a sentencing of twenty years in jail for those who throw stones, or any other objects, at cars with the intent of causing damage.”
– Wow, this is some major overreacting right there. What is the sentence for murder, I wonder?
LikeLike
\\ – Wow, this is some major overreacting right there. What is the sentence for murder, I wonder?
Regarding murder, I am unsure, but think every country differentiates between “usual” crminal murder and terrorism. People, who throw stones, engage in the latter. Driving Jews have been killed and badly injured from stones before, including children in the cars.
From a right wing paper about today’s Jerusalem:
A quiet intifada in Jerusalem
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9859
LikeLike
I hope I don’t need to explain why this is a very faulty logic.
LikeLike
\\ I hope I don’t need to explain why this is a very faulty logic.
Which logic? The punishments are going to be increased because of the connection to Middle East conflict, unlike “usual” violence. Now found:
Firecrackers: the newest popular weapon, and the newest threat, in Jerusalem
Call it the Firecracker Intifada: The police suspect that Israelis are improperly selling them to Palestinians, who are using them as weapons in the riots.
[…]
On Monday, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch met with representatives of the Israel Security Agency (the Shin Bet), the Economy Ministry, the Justice Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office. He asked to look into the option of temporarily prohibiting the importation of the second grade fireworks into Israel.
In addition, on Sunday the cabinet proposed longer prison terms — as long as 10 years — for the use of firecrackers to injure. Police officials also decided to crack down on the importers and operators in an effort to locate the source of the firecrackers being used in the riots.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.624446
LikeLike
That throwing stones should be considered terrorism and punished with 20 years in jail because somebody else threw a stone and killed somebody on a totally different occasion.
LikeLike
\\ That throwing stones should be considered terrorism and punished with 20 years in jail because somebody else threw a stone and killed somebody on a totally different occasion.
And is it a coinsidence it’s always (often young) Arab men throwing stones at Jews? Viewing it as a kind of terrorism may be “a very faulty logic” in math, but not in life in my country. It happens often, not something new.
LikeLike
“And is it a coinsidence it’s always (often young) Arab men throwing stones at Jews?”
– A coincidence with what?
I’m really not sure what you are saying. That a person who throws a rock and doesn’t hurt anybody should go to jail for the same lengthy period of time that a person who throws a rock and kills a person? And what if the person throwing a rock doesn’t happen to be an Arab? These are not rhetorical questions. I just can’t imagine how this will be enforced.
LikeLike
Here:
The government was trying to curb the problem that has especially plagued the capital over the past few months, as rioters in east Jerusalem have targeted the light rail, as well as buses and private vehicles, with stone-throwing and other violence.
[…]
Around 1,000 indictments for stone-throwing are submitted each year, the preamble noted.
In addition to east Jerusalem, for years one of the largest categories of offenses in the West Bank has been rock-throwing, including a few cases that led to death, such as the Asher Palmer attack, or that which wounded baby Adele Biton.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/In-move-to-restore-order-to-Jerusalem-Up-to-20-years-in-jail-for-stone-throwers-380528
Should we see each rock throwing Palestinian as a unique figure?
LikeLike
“Should we see each rock throwing Palestinian as a unique figure?”
– As opposed to what? Punishing people for the crimes of others?
LikeLike
\\ And what if the person throwing a rock doesn’t happen to be an Arab? […]
– As opposed to what? Punishing people for the crimes of others?
Judges will be able, not required, to inflict stiffer punishments, from what I understand. I am sure no Jew would be send to 20 years for throwing stones at Palestinians, to be honest. Thankfully, those Jews are relatively rare.
If Arab population of Jerusalem is rioting / attacking now, do we see each terrorist as an individual? Who has ever seen each enemy as an individual at times of war? Can’t we see it’s a bloody national conflict and acknowledge extreme hostility of Arab population of Jerusalem? I am not talking now whether their hatred is justified, but that it is, is national and that strong desire exists among many of them to kill Jews.
Look at the below column and at the 3 excerpts. Look at the dangerous propaganda in the third and the claim of “inspired by al-Aqsa violence”. Why should each new Arab attacker be treated / seen out of context?
I was interested in this opinion column (by a Left wing author):
Israel must quell this third intifada immediately
The attacks in Jerusalem, which receive Abbas’ blessing, illustrate the need for Israel to separate the two populations in the capital, and give up the pretence of happy cohabitation between Jews and Arabs.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4588534,00.html
Yesterday:
FIRST
Terror attack in Jerusalem kills 1; Hamas claims responsibility
Van rams into pedestrians at Tomb of Simeon the Just in East Jerusalem, exits car and continues attack with metal bar until shot dead by police; after violent morning clashes on Temple Mount.
[…]
Ibrahim al-Akari, the terrorist behind the attack was identified by the police as a Hamas operative from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, and his brother his rumored to be a Palestinian released as part of the prisoner exchange deal that saw Gilad Shalit go free.
SECOND
Three IDF soldiers hurt in Gush Etzion terror attack
Mere hours after Ibrahim al-Akari kills Border Patrol officer in Jerusalem attack, a Palestinian vehicle runs over Israeli soldiers near a refugee camp.
[…]
Jerusalem police also decided to coordinate with the Jerusalem Light Rail’s managing firm, CityPass, to place concrete barriers near stations, in order to prevent further attempts at vehicular rampage. The first barriers were placed in French Hill stations in the late evening.
THIRD
Jerusalem terrorist’s son: ‘I’m happy and proud’
Family of Ibrahim al-Akari, who rammed his vehicle into a crowd of Israelis, praise his actions, claim he was inspired by al-Aqsa violence.
Unlike the previous attack, in which the relatives of the suspect denied any connection to terror, the family of Ibrahim al-Akari has shown no desire to claim that Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem was a mere traffic accident. To the contrary: they expressed pride in his heinous act.
[…]
Another brother, Dr. Mansour al-Akari, said: “The events at al-Aqsa Mosque hurt us all. It is not we who are the terrorists, but rather those who harm Muslim holy sites, and who forbid the entrance of worshipers to the mosque. We have no problem with any Jew in the world, but those who intend to harm holy places and step on our honor, must be punished.”
“The government of Israel and the Likud give a green light to harm al-Aqsa mosque,” he continued. “They are responsible for everything that’s going on in Jerusalem. This government is foolish. He who is interested in peace does not harm holy places. Al-Aqsa Mosque is for Muslims and not for Moshe Feiglin. I am a schoolteacher, my students always ask me what’s happening with al-Aqsa mosque, and what answer can I give? Should I tell them that the mosque became the Kotel?”
Sultan, a refugee camp resident, threatened that al-Akari’s action will not be the last: “There are many people who are ready to do what the martyr did because of what is happening at al-Aqsa Mosque. I, too, will be ready to do so if they keep harming the mosque. Today, we don’t throw stones. Almost every home has weapons.”
LikeLike
If you bring a person to court, you have to see them as an individual. A court system where a specific defendant is not judged as a specific defendant cannot function. Even at the Nuremberg trials this held true.
LikeLike
I think Arab part of Jerusalem should go to the future Palestinian state. The only significant minus is that moving our government from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv is unthinkable for many reasons and would signal exactly the wrong things to our neighbors. However, getting our government and citizens shot at by Hamas’s missiles from zero distance is also horrible.
Interesting whether Arabs of East Jerusalem would be for Lieberman Plan:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-defends-his-population-transfer-plan/
LikeLike
\\ I am not talking now whether their hatred is justified, but that it is, is national and that strong desire exists among many of them to kill Jews.
I meant
“I am not talking now whether their hatred is justified, but that it EXISTS, is national and that strong desire exists among many of them to kill Jews.”
Since Israel has released even Hamas terrorists with “blood on their hands” numerous times (*) and since attempting to jail all the rioters seems impossible and not in Israeli interests, I think the law was mainly intended to convey the message. For instance, I also read about a new law proposal that if Israeli govermnent helps an Arab family to support its children and those children participate in intifada (f.e. rock throwing), the family will get smaller child allowance in the future.
Btw, a pro-Palestinian site describes stone throwing thus:
“Resistance through non-violent acts – in the context of the Israeli occupation – are viewed as both a moral and legal right guaranteed by international law. Stone-throwing has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance movements. Penalizing such acts with hyperbolic sentences is an indication of how these stones have instilled fear in the hearts of the occupier.”
First of all, it acknowledges it’s a symbol, unlike your claim “why should we punish one for others’ crimes”. Second, it calls stone throwing “a non-violent act.” We all know what they will call it, if Jews threw stones into their cars, often with small children in them, right?
If you are interested, you may read here more about making the parents responsible (I thought you would be for this idea):
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.622447
(*) Now a new law passed that:
” adds another level of punishment beyond life in prison, which judges can choose in rulings on especially harsh murder cases, like terrorist attacks or murder of children.
In such a case, the murderer will never be able to be released as part of diplomatic negotiations and cannot be let out on parole until having served at least a 40-year sentence. “
LikeLike
There is enormous hatred on both sides. And if it exists , and for so long, it must be serving its purpose.
LikeLike
“For instance, I also read about a new law proposal that if Israeli govermnent helps an Arab family to support its children and those children participate in intifada (f.e. rock throwing), the family will get smaller child allowance in the future.”
– I’m against “child allowances,” which is one more reason I would not have been happy in Israel. I believe in paid parental leave shared equally by both parents. That would be civilized. Anything else is just going in the direction of Russian and Ukrainian cash gifts for babies which produce horrible social results. But I know that Israel is all about getting over the genocide and this way of thinking is very alien.
LikeLike
May be, you haven’t understood. Child benefit (children’s allowance) is a small sum of 140 shekels monthly. How is it like Russian relatively big cash gift? 140 NIS (shekels) is very little. For instance, a bread I like costs 13 shekels per loaf.
Previously, the sum grew for each subsequent child starting from 3rd, but recently it has been diminished to 140 NIS for each.
\\ There is enormous hatred on both sides. And if it exists , and for so long, it must be serving its purpose.
Trying to gain control over the land and developing one’s national identity. Is there something else?
\\ If you bring a person to court, you have to see them as an individual.
We have a break in communication. What is the problem if one says “this Arab man was throwing stones at Israeli police / Jews in a car, and thus participating in intifada”?
Now read an interesting poll of 1000 Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. Turns out “Less than half of the Palestinians (46.6 percent) support the recent unilateral diplomatic moves Abbas has been pushing.” More info in the link.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4588963,00.html
The battle over Jerusalem’s sovereignty
Analysis: All the Palestinian factions, without exception, have created a combined front aimed at shaking off the Israeli control of Jerusalem. In order to stop PA’s encouragement of violence, Israel can either resume peace talks or use more force.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4588907,00.html
LikeLike
“What is the problem if one says “this Arab man was throwing stones at Israeli police / Jews in a car, and thus participating in intifada”?”
– If the US had gone down this route, there would have been no movement for civil rights and we’d still all be sitting here in the Stone Age.
“An association fallacy is an inductive informal fallacy of the type hasty generalization or red herring which asserts that qualities of one thing are inherently qualities of another, merely by an irrelevant association. The two types are sometimes referred to as guilt by association and honor by association. Association fallacies are a special case of red herring, and can be based on an appeal to emotion.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy
“May be, you haven’t understood. Child benefit (children’s allowance) is a small sum of 140 shekels monthly. How is it like Russian relatively big cash gift? 140 NIS (shekels) is very little. For instance, a bread I like costs 13 shekels per loaf.”
– If the sum is purely symbolic, that is much worse than a big cash handout.
LikeLike
I am sorry, last comment, since I wanted to check again what exactly the law is, before we begin to discuss at all:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.624039
LikeLike
\\ – If the sum is purely symbolic, that is much worse than a big cash handout.
How so? The sum is symbolic since it was bigger and then was cut in 2013 since:
Social Affairs Ministry’s new director general wants to get ultra-Orthodox sector to stop relying on child allowances as a source of income.
[..]
“Unfortunately, there are populations that are living on child allowances,” he said. “It is more common in the Haredi sector. I think there are sectors like these and others, including the Bedouin community – people who also make a living off of this.”
[…]
“There is no doubt that the State of Israel has gotten to a critical point at which it needs to ask how much it is investing in growth and how much in social welfare. Everyone wants there to be more welfare, but the country could collapse if we don’t also invest in economic growth.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.538280
\\ – If the US had gone down this route, there would have been no movement for civil rights and we’d still all be sitting here in the Stone Age.
Does US care more about the rights of terrorists working against the state, especially those who aren’t American citizens?
Palestinian pov about Arabs of Jerusalem:
“The Palestinians of Jerusalem are totally stateless. Unlike the rest of Palestinians in the occupied territories, they are prevented from holding a Palestinian passport. Most carry a Jordanian passport without having Jordanian citizenship.
Some have opted to apply for Israeli citizenship, an option available to them after Israel’s unilateral annexation of the city in 1967, but even this option is not automatic.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/the-leaderless-political-_b_6071178.html
LikeLike
“Does US care more about the rights of terrorists working against the state, especially those who aren’t American citizens?”
– We are all very lucky that the habit of throwing around the word “terrorist” all of the time was still not in vogue during the civil rights era. 🙂 Or during the era of the fight for the suffrage. Imagine how easy it would have been to declare that the suffragettes were “terrorists.”
“Social Affairs Ministry’s new director general wants to get ultra-Orthodox sector to stop relying on child allowances as a source of income.”
– Good! The whole practice of paying people to breed is just wrong. These children are human beings. They shouldn’t be exploited because their parents are too lazy to work.
LikeLike