スマトラ沖地震でも同じことだ。津波で壊滅した海岸沿いの無数の漁村が、今では一大ビーチリゾート地になっている。パニックに乗じてそれら全ての土地が、地元の人々との交渉もないまま海外の企業家たちにタダ同然の値で手渡されたのだ。それもその筈、スリランカ政府が復興事業を委託するために立ち上げた外的機関Task Force to Rebuild the Nation (TAFREN)のメンバー10人のうち、5人が観光産業の要人だったのだ。(詳細はTourism Concernのレポートを参照のこと。ちなみに、現在ミシガン州で新知事スナイダーにより初の「非常事態宣言」が発令され、町全体が企業の管理下に置かれようとしているBenton Harbor。知事によりそこの非常事態マネージャーに任命された人物は、何年もの間、町の人々の唯一の財産であるビーチラインの公園を一大ゴルフリゾートにするために立ち上げられたNPOの理事を務めてきた人物だ。詳しくはこちら。)
『ショック・ドクトリン』の中で、ナオミ・クラインがスリランカ政府の声明を引用している。
“In a cruel twist of fate, nature has presented Sri Lanka with a unique opportunity, and out of this great tragedy will come a world class tourism destination”
“We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did it.”
「とうとうニューオーリンズの公団を片づけることができた。我々はできなかったが、神がやってくれた。」
復興作業がいつまでたっても進まないために避難したニューオーリンズの多くの人々が戻れない状態が続き、空き家になっている家々は次々と没収されていった。カトリーナから一年が経過した2006年9月には、St. Bernard Parishの4000の家が壊され、一年半後の統計ではニューオーリンズの人口はカトリーナ前の約半分の444,000人に減っていた。明らかにアメリカ政府が貧困層の人権を守る努力をしていない状態を見て、とうとう国連が2006年7月28日に非難声明を出したほどだった。(詳細はTeaching the Leveesから。)
今年の2月フロリダ州の教育省は、大手出版社のHoughton Mifflin Harcourtに、Douglas ReevesとRobert Marzanoという二人の著名なコンサルタントの研究に基づいた教員及びリーダーの評価システムの制作を依頼した。この契約には学区がこのシステムの導入をするサポートや、地域色に合わせてシステムを改変するサポートも含まれる。フロリダ州がHoughton Mifflin Harcourtにいくら支払うのかは明らかにされていないが、かなりの額であることは間違いない。Race to the Top助成金を得た12団体はほぼ全て、得た資金の半分以上を請負業者への支払いにあてる模様だ。
Economist.(April 20, 2011 ). A good place to start: The devastated north-east could be a test bed for opening up the economy. The Economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/18586786?story_id=18586786&fsrc=scn/tw/te/rss/pe
ニューオーリンズがハリケーン・カトリーナによって水没してから約半年後の2006年2月、メディアや民衆、上院・下院など、国のあらゆる側面から圧力を受けたブッシュ政権は、The White House Katrina Reportを公表し、その未曾有の被害は国の対応のまずさから起きたものであったことを認めた。
しかし、カトリーナ後、一週間経ってもまだ被災者が崩壊した家の屋根から救助を求め、避難所となったスーパードームの外では死体がそのまま放置されているテレビの映像には、「対応のまずさ」だけでは理解できないものがあり、世界中を驚かせた。CNNのレポーター、Sanjay Guptaは「これがアメリカなの?」と問い、ボストンの有力紙、Boston GlobeのDerrick Z. Jacksonも、
“Here’s the wealthiest nation in the world—gave a Third World response to a major catastrophe”
「世界で最も裕福な国が大災害に対して第三世界並みの対応をした」と酷評した。
では実際にどのような状態であったのか、アカデミー受賞監督、スパイク・リーの2006年作のWhen the Levees Brokeというドキュメンタリーフィルムが見事に映像として残しているので是非機会がある人は観て欲しいと思う。
Buras, K. L. (2009). 'We have to tell our story': neo-griots, racial resistance, and schooling in the other south. Race Ethnicity and Education, 12(4), 427-453.
Crocco, M. S. (Ed.) (2007) Teaching the levees. New York: Teachers College Press. New York: Teachers College Press
Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. New York: Metropolitan books.
Saltman, K. J. (Spring 2007). Schooling in disaster capitalism: How the political right is using disaster to privatize public schooling. Teacher Education Quarterly, 131-156.
By Gewertz, C. Education Week, (Apr 11 2011) 教育評価担当:美馬
ピアソンが、アセスメントのオンライン化に関するWikiサイトをオープンさせた。目的は、2014年から統一アセスメントが実施されるにあたっての情報収集。 現在、“Race to the Top”助成金からの資金提供を受け、5つを除く全ての州が2つのチームに別れて統一アセスメントの開発をしている(詳細は過去の記事へ)。アセスメントのオンライン化はそのどちらのチームでも鍵となる要素だ。
ピアソンのWikiサイトには、今のところわずかな疑問しかあげられていない。しかし担当者によると、今は人々がアイデアを出すきっかけを提示したに過ぎず、最終的にはオンライン化に向けた確実な指針を得ることを目指しているという。ピアソンではこれまでも、National Assessment Governing BoardやACT Inc.、 the College Boardなどの団体と協力して国家のアセスメントの開発及び運営を行ってきた。 ピアソンの担当者Shilpi Niyogi によると、アセスメントに関する問題は必然的に学習標準やカリキュラム、指導方針の問題と関わってくるため、アセスメントについて展望を持つことは困難であり同時に重要であるという。Wikiサイトを通じてこれらの問題をあわせて検討し、アセスメントのオンライン化が、改革戦略の推進要素になればいいとの考えだ。どのようにインフラを作り上げるかという大きな問題もある。 その他の大手出版社やアセスメント会社と同様に、ピアソンも、2つのアセスメント開発チームの提案に基づく開発業務を受託しようとする可能性が高い。Niyogi曰く、入札するしないに関わらず「オンラインテスト化の取り組みに協力すれば、みな何らかの利益を得るだろう」とのことである。
*This is a project proposal for the above Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund sponsored by The US Department of State. This project emerged from this blog “US Education Today” and was recently chosen as one of the 137 finalists out of about 700 projects. Please read our proposal and join us if it interests you! Also, if you are a (Department of) State Alumni, please vote for us @ https://alumni.state.gov/aeif2011/finalistWe are now competing for the final survival.
US Education Today: Creating Knowledge-Sharing Spaces for Educational Change
Project Description:
What can the world learn from the success and the failure of the US education reforms? This is a 1-day conference for scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and students interested in pursuing such a question. Initiated by a group of Japanese graduate students in the US which disseminates the latest education news and research in the US to the Japanese audience, this project seeks to expand the knowledge-sharing space for change by inviting individuals from diverse schools and institutions. Given the recent and ongoing crisis in Japan, a special attention is given to educational challenges in post-crisis situations. What are some of the challenges that educators, researchers, and policymakers need to overcome in such a moment of disruption, tragedy, and tremendous needs? How can we get our children to invest in humanity, and life? What can we learn from the US experiences? A keynote speaker will be invited from the US to touch on these essential questions.
Goals and Objectives:
The primary objective is to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds interested in learning from US school reforms. We seek to achieve this by collaborating with various group partners such as JAAES and universities. We also aim to create cutting-edge, research-based virtual spaces to which education researchers and policymakers could refer. The conference will offer workshops to create such knowledge-sharing spaces, and participants are asked to create them in their own languages.
Timeline and Activity List:
May 30 – Jun 13:Blog Management (Committee Formation à Launch)
May 30 – Jul 7: Selection of Keynote speaker (Committee Formation à Confirmation)
May 30 – Oct 7:Selection of presenters (Committee Formation à Approval notifications)
May 30 – Dec 7: Creation of online program (Committee Formation à Distribution)
January 7, 2012:One day Conference
Other committees (Treasury, Registration, Technological Support, and Volunteer)
Outcomes:
1. Inviting diverse individuals, it will help bridge the gaps among practice, theory, and policy to form vibrant learning communities for educational change.
2. Creating knowledge-sharing spaces for educational change, it will promote educational dialogues on a global scale to promote better informed educational practices, researches, and policies.
3. Its emphasis on how the US has responded to its own crises will promote better understandings and readiness for post-crisis educational challenges.
Team Members (Implementers):
19 State Alumni including scholars, graduate students, undergraduate students, and private sector individuals interested in making an educational change.
Individual Partners:
Include 11 members (2 professors, 7 graduate students, 1 educator, 1 journalist)
Group Partners:
Japan Association of American Educational Studies (JAAES) as well as students from 2 universities in Japan.
*Possible presenters/panelists include scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and university students interested in the US education.
*Possible audience include scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and university students interested in the US education.
Region:East Asia / Pacific
Location:
The conference will be held at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. (This location is subject to a change to another institution in a different city in case of a deteriorating nuclear power disaster.) Although the actual conference will take place in Japan, this is a global event that allows online participation from various countries. We have state alumni expressing their intentions to participate online from countries such as Brazil and Portugal.
Innovation:
- Regardless of how other nations evaluate them, today’s US educational landscape is full of innovative, and often provocative, education reforms that are largely driven by market principles. Given this increasingly globalized economy, it is of many nations’ interest to observe these experiments conducted in the US. However, there hardly exist cutting-edge, research-based virtual spaces to which researchers and policymakers could refer in their own languages. One major innovation of this project is the creation of such virtual spaces. As a result of this conference, participants will create, in their own languages, blogs, mailing-lists, Twitter and Facebook accounts that are designed to be hubs for the latest education news and research in the US. Linked as sister sites, they will together provide a powerful knowledge-sharing space for educational change.
- In this sense, this will be an ongoing and sustainable project with a great potential for further growth. The conference is just a start.
- Originally conceptualized by graduate students and brought into realization by the strong support from scholars, this initiative creates a wholly fresh, inclusive learning atmosphere that fosters and capitalizes on young energy. Undergraduate and graduate students from at least two universities are going to participate. Moreover, this conference will be co-sponsored by Japan Association of American Educational Studies.
- In order to be cost-efficient, this conference will allow participants residing outside Japan to join virtually through Skype rather than providing airfares. Moreover, we will broadcast the conference live on Ustream. Providing such measures are especially- Regardless of how other nations evaluate them, today’s US educational landscape is full of innovative, and often provocative, education reforms that are largely driven by market principles. Given this increasingly globalized economy, it is of many nations’ interest to observe these experiments conducted in the US. However, there hardly exist cutting-edge, research-based virtual spaces to which researchers and policymakers could refer in their own languages. One major innovation of this project is the creation of such virtual spaces. As a result of this conference, participants will create, in their own languages, blogs, mailing-lists, Twitter and Facebook accounts that are designed to be hubs for the latest education news and research in the US. Linked as sister sites, they will together provide a powerful knowledge-sharing space for educational change.
- In this sense, this will be an ongoing and sustainable project with a great potential for further growth. The conference is just a start.
- Originally conceptualized by graduate students and brought into realization by the strong support from scholars, this initiative creates a wholly fresh, inclusive learning atmosphere that fosters and capitalizes on young energy. Undergraduate and graduate students from at least two universities are going to participate. Moreover, this conference will be co-sponsored by Japan Association of American Educational Studies.
- In order to be cost-efficient, this conference will allow participants residing outside Japan to join virtually through Skype rather than providing airfares. Moreover, we will broadcast the conference live on Ustream. Providing such measures is especially important as they will enable online participation as well as knowledge sharing for students and educators who were directly affected by massive disasters.
- After the conference, the project members will host a casual social gathering to share their experiences as State Alumni with Japanese university students interested in studying in the US.
Detailed Budget:
Key categories
Honorarium
Conference venue
Refreshments and Expendable goods
Itemized Expenses
Honorarium
-Airfare (US - JAPAN): $2,000 x 1 = $2,000
-Accommodation: $350 x 2 nights = $700
-Meals: $80 x 3 days = $240
-Stipend: $2,000 x 1 = $2,000
= $4,940 x 1 person = $4,940
2. Conference venue $5,000 (including rental equipments) x 1 day = $5,000
3. Refreshments and Expendable goods
-Soft drinks: $1 x 300 persons = $ 300
-Program (supplies and printing): $1 x 300 persons = $ 300