Category Archives: Education

The Republican tax plan puts graduate students, scientific research and the future of America in peril

By Mark | November 19, 2017

As we’ve discussed, House Republicans have passed a $1.5 trillion tax cut that, if signed into law, would, among other things, take health care coverage from 13 million Americans and raise taxes on the middle class. You would think those two things alone would be enough to motivate people to call their elected officials and […]

The University of Michigan, with an increasingly wealthy student body, sets out to return the “common man” and increase economic diversity

By Mark | November 9, 2017

Politico has a really interesting piece today about the increasingly wealthy University of Michigan student body, what that means in practical terms when it comes to economics and politics in the state, and what University leaders are doing to reverse the trend, and increase economic diversity on campus. And, interestingly, they’ve decided to tell the […]

Also posted in Ann Arbor, Photographs, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged 1%, American aristocracy, Ben Edmondson, Detroit, dismantling of public education, economic segregation, Go Blue Guarantee, HAIL: High Achieving Involved Leader, higher education, inheritance tax, inherited wealth, Jake Croman, James Angell, Politico, public education, ruin porn, Southfield, student debt, Tap Room, threats to public education, threats to the middle class, tuition, University of Michigan, wealth inequality, Wolverine Pathways, Ypsi High, Ypsilanti International Elementary School | 33 Comments

Washtenaw Intermediate School District leadership weighs in on the battle over Ypsi’s International Baccalaureate middle school

By Mark | October 30, 2017

On the evening of Tuesday, October 17, members of the Ypsilanti Community Schools Board of Education, without any public debate, voted 4-2 in favor of a plan to hand over control of Ypsi’s Washtenaw International Middle Acadey (WIMA) to the Washtenaw Educational Options Consotrium (WEOC), the organization that currently operates the regionally-funded, and Ypsilanti-based Washtenaw […]

Also posted in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti | Tagged Bert Okma, debt, diversity, East Middle School, economic segregation, extractive colonialism, International Baccalaureate, Maria Sheler-Edwards, Naomi Norman, opportunity index, public education, school consolidation, schools of choice, Scott Menzel, segregation, threats to public education, Washtenaw Educational Options Consotrium, Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Washtenaw International High School, WEOC, West Middle School, WIHI, WIMA, WISD, YCS, YIES, YPS, Ypsilanti Board of Education, Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti International Elementary School, Ypsilanti Public Schools | 23 Comments

The Great International Baccalaureate War of Ypsilanti

By Mark | October 23, 2017

Earlier this summer, I heard that the administrative staff and teachers at the Washtenaw International Middle Academy (WIMA), Ypsilanti’s International Baccalaureate middle school, had begun advocating for a plan that would see them leave Ypsilanti Community Schools (YCS), and join the Washtenaw International High School (WIHI) beneath the umbrella of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District’s […]

Also posted in Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged Betsy DeVos, charter schools, for-profit charter schools, International Baccalaureate, Maria Sheler-Edwards, Washtenaw Educational Options Consortium, Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Washtenaw International High School, Washtenaw International Middle Academy, WEOC, WIHI, Willow Run, WIMA, WISD, YIES, Ypsilanti Board of Education, Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti International Elementary School | 31 Comments

I’m too busy to blog properly tonight, but can someone please explain to me how lowering taxes prevents hurricanes?

By Mark | September 13, 2017

Let me help you out this that, @realDonaldTrump. Here's what I think you meant to say. pic.twitter.com/fP3n6EDCOa — Mark Maynard (@MarkAMaynard) September 13, 2017 Yes, in case you missed it, the top tweet, minus my suggested edits, of course, really was sent out by Donald Trump today. Apparently, what we all saw play out across […]