Al Gore on California Education Funding

by: Julia Rosen

Wed May 21, 2008 at 16:57:27 PM PDT

(full disclosure: I work for Courage)

Vice President Al Gore recorded a video and wrote an email to Courage Campaign members about the importance of investing in education even during a time of economic crisis.

In it Al Gore asks for people to respond back to him directly on Current.com with either a video response or text. They have a pretty nifty tool that will detect a webcam on your computer and let you respond right there, just scroll down to the bottom.

On Monday, I went to the capitol and filmed 18 different Assemblymembers responding to Al Gore. Dave has been cutting them into individual videos and uploading them. Below the fold is the rest of the email from Gore. I had hoped to be able to embed those videos from the Assemblymembers here, but the code from Current is not playing nicely, so you will have to click the link to see.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino AD-44, Assemblywoman Betty Karnette AD-54, Assemblyman Dave Jones, AD-09, Assemblyman Kevin DeLeon AD-45, Assemblyman Ed Hernandez AD-57, Assemblyman Hector De La Torre AD-50, Assemblyman John Laird AD-27, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine AD-40, Assemblyman Lori Saldana AD-76, Assemblyman Sandré Swanson AD-16 and there are a few more coming including Speaker Karen Bass.

Dear Julia,
I don't write emails like this often.
But, with Californians facing a massive budget crisis and potentially devastating cuts to education, I feel compelled to speak out. As members of the Courage Campaign community, I hope you will speak out as well.
I recorded this one-minute video for the Courage Campaign on Current.com. Please watch it and let me know what you think by recording a short video or written response of your own.

Julia Rosen :: Al Gore on California Education Funding

Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, asked me an interesting question in an interview a few months ago:
"How do we engineer the sweeping social and political and industrial change that we need in a short period of time, from top to bottom?"

My answer is that we must create a shift in consciousness -- and, education is the catalyst for this shift.
That's why I recorded this video for the Courage Campaign. Please watch it on Current.com and, if you feel so inspired, respond with a webcam video or text response of your own.
Education is not a partisan issue. It is a crucial building block toward creating a more informed democracy. We can solve the climate crisis, and every other problem facing our nation, if we begin by transforming America's priorities on education.
As parents, teachers and students speak out about these proposed cuts, they need your support, now more than ever. Please forward this message to your friends who care about the future of California and our country as much as you do.
I hope you will take a moment today to record a short webcam video or write a response to my video. Your voice, and the voices of your friends, can change the conversation in California.
Thank you,
Al Gore

Lots of thanks to Steve Maviglio for help getting the legislators to come give their responses to Gore.

Tags: Lori Saldana, Lloyd Levine, John Laird, Hector de la Torre, Ed Hernandez, Kevin DeLeon, Dave Jones, Betty Karnette, Anthony Portantino, Courage Campaign, education, Budget, Al Gore, (All Tags)

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Al Gore on California Education Funding | 2 comments

The comment that got to me (0.00 / 0)

There are a lot of interesting comments and videos over at Current in response to Gore's video. But this is the one that struck me the most:

I spent several years paying off the student loan that I used to get my Masters Degree in teaching. I never missed or was late making a payment. Since obtaining my degree I have worked as a part time community college teacher for several years, and I currently make $17.00 per hour. I do not get paid for my preparation time, which equals the time I spend in the classroom, so my actual wage is $8.50 per hour. My current monthly income is roughly $250.00, and I am in danger of losing my apartment.
I teach people how to use computer applications, how to read, write, and do basic mathematics. I have also taught GED classes which enable people to get better jobs.
I have no medical or retirement benefits, and although I have always had excellent performance reviews from my students and my supervisors, I have not been able to find a teaching job which will pay me a living wage. Full time positions with benefits are rare and there are hundreds of applicants for each opening.
All my life I have heard people, starting with my schoolteacher father, talk about the need for a better educational system. I no longer believe anyone gives a damn about teachers except for their students and their immediate families.
I am in the process of leaving my teaching job this summer to go to work as a wilderness ranger at $12.73 per hour so that I will be able to afford rent next fall. When a country treats its teachers as indentured servants and makes them live like beggars, it is no wonder that the children do not learn as well as they should.
* Cosmo_Plavix

Disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign. These opinions are my own and are not necessarily those of my employer.

by: Eden James @ Thu May 22, 2008 at 02:08:31 AM UTC

It gets worse (0.00 / 0)

Here's another one, excerpted from a longer comment:

Every year, California's teachers are expected to do more with less. Parents abdicate any responsibility for educatiing their child, and in my district, for feeding them, clothing them, and in some cases even providing shelter for them. District administrators decide what to teach and how to teach it, and pile on the new programs that will "fix" everything, while eliminating everything that makes learning interesting and fun. It's a very sad commentary on society when I have to be subversive to teach my students basic science, or history, or even to just enjoy learning.
To all those politicians who will go along with the Gov's education funding cut, I have only this to say: The kids you're underfunding are going to be the adults who are your surgeons, your pilots, your bankers, your car mechanics. You reap what you sow.

There are many long, passionate comments at Current right now that are heartbreaking to read.

And then there's this "response":

Disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign. These opinions are my own and are not necessarily those of my employer.