The Rouge Forum News Working Papers, Critical Analysis, and Grassroots News Issue #17 Fall/Winter 2010 www.rougeforum.org 1 Rouge Forum News, Issue 17, fall/winter 2010 Table of Contents From the editor p. 3 What is the Rouge Forum? p. 6 Why do you call it the Rouge Forum? p. 7 Marxist thought: Still primus inter pares for understanding and opposing the capitalist system Richard Brosio p. 9 Education versus schooling as a commodity fetish Rich Gibson p. 31 Use of multicultural children’ book and narratives in teacher preparation Blanca Caldas Chumbes p. 43 Plotting inequality, building resistance Adam Renner p. 50 Toward a dialectical materialist approach in education Faith Agostinone-Wilson (with Gina Stiens and Adam Renner) p. 54 Announcements A new text: Hip Hop(e) p. 61 The RF conference! p. 64 2 Rouge Forum News, Issue 17, fall/winter 2010 FROM THE EDITOR “At some point quantitative changes lead to qualitative shifts and we need to take seriously the idea that we may be at exactly such an inflexion point in the history of capitalism” (David Harvey, The Enigma of Capital, p. 217) As the sun set over the Pacific, the moon rose over the San Francisco hills to the east, as if attached, one at each end, to a lever. Up and down Ocean beach, fires became more visible, like flashlights poking up out of the sand, casting their light deep into the Milky Way. Crashing ocean waves were occasionally heard amidst the crackling kindling. The warmth of the fire met the gathering breeze. Fire – water. Sand – sky. Hot – cold. Sun – moon. Oh, and wine. And, so we’ve made the big move. This autumn, we find ourselves on the west coast, taking in the sites, culture, and vibe of the bay area. We do note that we’ve brought the chill of the east with us, though. The bay area has been experiencing unseasonably cool temperatures this fall, so we’re glad we had packed the space heaters—which get a nightly workout. I’ve left the academy for now, finding a space in the urban K-12 classroom and teaching math once again. This time I’ve opted for 9th grade Algebra in a unique public school in San Francisco. During these first few months back on the front lines of the educational endeavor, I can feel myself pulled between similar sorts of poles noted above: fire – water, sand – sky, freedom – discipline, improvisation – standardization, etc., recognizing that a distant conclusion will resolve in some sort of heretofore unknown synthesis. In my classroom, I search for the intersection of liberation, curriculum, and student experience (comprised of individual traumas, structural oppression, nine years of schooling, varying levels of confidence and skill, etc.). Sometimes, I feel like I’m circling a cul-de-sac. Our incoming students have preposterously low standardized test scores; the lowest in the city. Yet, on average, three quarters of them will find their way out of our school to four-year colleges and stay there; the highest rate in the city among non-selective public schools. This fact prompted a San Francisco chronicle reporter to come to our school a couple of weeks ago with one question: Why do people think the June Jordan School for Equity is such a good school when it has such low standardized test scores? Really? Of course the reporter’s story got it mostly wrong (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/20/MN131FGFBO.DTL), what with little understanding of education and a neoliberal agenda caging her consciousness. No superman in our building, just great teachers, great support staff, and evermore committed students. Not the story she wanted to tell. Yeah, but what about the test scores? What about them? 3 Rouge Forum News, Issue 17, fall/winter 2010 We’re trying to teach them community, social justice, independent thinking (www.jjse.org). Those are not on the test. But, sure, I have an algebra curriculum; one that I create. Daily. One that considers what they should know as a citizen, trying to get by in the reality of capitalism. One that catches them up on many missing skills. One that will eventually tether them to one another, helping them realize their interdependence and shed the glitzy lie of individualism. They are not individuals. They are being taught by the media, by religion, by the infiltrators among them to be sheep: believe in mysticism (your preacher/priest won’t lead you astray), listen to your I-pods (they will set you free listening to mass- manufactured, misogynist music), text on your cell phones as often as possible (your so-called friends are more informative than your teachers), buy the most fashion-conscious clothes you can (they will individualize you while you look like everyone else), etc. But, who can blame them. Many know they have already been left behind. And, this race is not intended for them. Researching zip codes in the 46 sq. mile city of San Francisco in my Algebra class, students realized that families living in the Presidio (mostly white) make twice as much their families living in Bayview, Visitacion Valley, and the Excelsior. What could their families do with twice the income? Later in this issue, I’ll supply a little more about the school and the curriculum I am constructing there. But, suffice to say, the move away from the university has been well worth it. And, I am learning a lot. This issue of the Rouge Forum News, like Issue 14, is dedicated to a few of the papers from the recent Rouge Forum conference, held in Williams Bay, WI in August. Faith and Craig orchestrated a wonderful retreat-like experience for the attendees at George Williams College, right on the banks of Geneva Lake. In this issue we are fortunate to have one of the keynote addresses from Richard Brosio, as well as a paper from Blanca Caldas Chumbes, which she delivered at the conference. As well, we’ve included some follow-up thinking regarding our attempt to formulate a Rouge Forum teacher education program. You’ll find the minutes from our meeting at the 2010 Rouge Forum conference as well as a paper Faith Agostinone-Wilson delivered at the Critical Questions in Education conference in November. Finally, Rich Gibson contributes an insightful essay arguing for why things are the way they are. This topic of digging into why things are as they are seemed off-limits at the recent statewide conference held at San Francisco State. As a follow-up to and continuation of the demonstrations and occupations last fall in California, as well as the March 4 demonstrations earlier this year, this conference was premised upon what we should do next, predicting that fee hikes were right around the corner (since the conference 8% fee hikes have been passed by the Board of Regents, piggy-backing on the 32% fee hike last year). Further austerity measures are sure to follow, which will further choke off spending on education in favor of bilking the poor and working classes to pay for their own mis-education. A few of us from the Rouge Forum, as well as some friends of the Rouge Forum, attended the meeting and were disappointed at the lack of discourse surrounding the current circumstances. While it was invigorating to gather with other activists for social justice, and the meeting organizers did a fairly good job of facilitating a complex undertaking, the utter lack of discussion regarding what has led us to the current moment was notable. You can read a more balanced and 4 Rouge Forum News, Issue 17, fall/winter 2010 nuanced account of our experience at the conference, co-written by Jack Gerson, Rich Gibson, and me (http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1768&section=Article). If we are to understand our current inflexion point, which Harvey suggests in my opening citation, then we need a rigorous discussion of what is happening and why. (1) The imperial project is going awry (lost in Iraq, losing if not lost in Afghanistan) though the project does not seem to be on the wane. Perhaps the latest installation of the imperial moment hasn’t been about winning, but testing new technologies—surveillance, drones, and otherwise. Oh, and whipping up fear. Full body scanner, anyone? (2) Jobs continue to be hard to come by while the more elite classes decide on whether or not to extend tax cuts for themselves and the capitalists who pay for their seats in the government. (3) What little health care rights, however watered down, have been able to be won are under assault from the new more conservative Congress—while they enjoy socialized medicine at our expense. (4) The race to the top continues while children continue to get left behind. And, we wait for superman. Pure poppy-cock. (5) ICE raids escalate while Arizona helps line the pockets of the private prison industry by locking up undocumented workers. The list could continue. I’ll let Richard Brosio and Rich Gibson extend the list and provide their keen analysis. Of course, for the Rouge Forum, our answer is at least in part a pedagogical one. David Harvey concludes his latest text, The Enigma of Capital, arguing that we need some sort of animating vision for this ‘radical circumstance’ grounded in a ‘rigorous application of logic’ that helps create new mental conceptions of our world. Thus, the Rouge Forum hopes to offer a space for such an application and a location for working out the possibilities.