By Louise Derman-Sparks with Merrie Najimy What messages are you hearing from the mainstream media about the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt? What about the fighting in Libya or the government crackdowns in Syria and Bahrain? If the messages and images of Arabs and their countries are confusing to you, imagine what children are picking […]
Something like an open letter to the children’s publishing industry
In 1986, poet/activist June Jordan published a brilliant essay titled “The Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America: Something Like a Sonnet for Phillis Wheatley.” I taught this essay in my course on black women writers; I revisit it often and especially when I am feeling disheartened and demoralized by the publishing industry. Unlike some, […]
Unions, Work, and Class in the Early Childhood Classroom
Fostering Young Children’s Thinking About Fairness and Cooperative Action By Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards The political struggle in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and several other states over the right to unionize has thrust working people into the limelight. The threat to unionized labor, and the economic and health benefits supported by unions, also threatens […]
