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March 15, 2010
GED TEA PARTY IS NEEDED
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
GED=Adult Education=Education for Gang Members=Workforce Development. Yes GED happens to be education, essential education that helps parents eliminate their poverty, helping their children in school. This is a key to greater parental involvement and better communities. New York City and Brentwood-Central Islip need help badly and they will get it.
I personally thanked Yoav Gonen of the New York Post the other day for his articles on GED and education or is it education or GED or is it just education since GED is the orphan of education. Christine Quinn and everyone else can learn that this part of Gonen's article is critical and not the rest. The governor of Arizona is calling for the total elimination of adult education money and people fear this means eliminating the GED. I doubt that that will happen there since people pay $95 to take the GED. The good news for New York is that the system will stay afloat with the $2.4 million. There is lots of bad news. Brentwood is the home of several murders caused by gang violence. There were three stabbings the other day (George Washington H.S. and Newtown H.S. being accounting for two of the stabbings, and IS 302). Not all violence is caused by gang members inside and outside of the schools working together as gang members, but they are making things really bad throughout our nation. We need a "star search" to find the gap in GED funding and we are not going to find it on television. Now we can see what the city council is made up of. Can that city council work with state officials and find the funds from foundations and corporate America? Mayor Bloomberg allegedly put $20 million of his own money into fighting poverty in New York, working with the Robin Hood Foundation and others. Where is the private money for GED testing? Albany and New York City are both failing its people and there is never an end to this.
We need new leadership. I have proposed that the federal government take over all GED testing and do things my way. Instead of $2.4 million for testing, we could get $22.4 million if we need it and get it each year until we make all Americans educated. The Brentwood community killed me when nobody came to the plate to help reopen the GED testing center in the Sonderling - Brentwood H.S (the GED testing staff wanted more money and did not get it) and nobody came to plate to help me do a youth conference. I knew what was coming and I know what is most likely going to happen all over New York City. Compounding matters is the great heroin problem on Long Island that the police are finally dealing with. Compounding things even worse is the fact New York City has spent about a $1 billion on workforce development and delivering a meager 11,000-13000 GED diplomas annually to the city's residents. We need more GED diplomas from the workforce money. The same thing has to be going on all over the United States and this is surely one of the biggest spending scandals I can think of.
You have read that the GED should be free and funded to the maximum. Short of that, the best method is for people to pay to take the GED, the way it was back in the day when the fee was $35. People on social services did not pay and we could certainly use the same system in a more effective way, but we should make sure that the current $2.4 million is used for people on welfare, people coming out of jail, gang members, AIDS victims, domestic violence victims, loved ones of veterans who have served in the wars, and people in depressed economic areas of the state. That would be a win-win situation if we cannot restore the GED funds now. Take care of this problem and I will do my best to take care of the rest. In fact, I can do it.
The state Board of Regents proposed this week to shrink New York's GED budget to $2.4 million in 2010-2011 -- a 40 percent cut in funding from 2008-2009.
Much of the $300,000 in newly proposed savings would come from eliminating a $20 reimbursement per test-taker given to groups that administer the exams.
This includes funding for 22 testing sites in New York City -- where program operators said they'd be forced to test fewer people.
Look at this. Who said what?
Who said this?
More than four million of our young people between 16 to 24 are out of school and out of work. The number of these disconnected youth has grown an alarming 18% between 2000 and 2005. The situation of the 1.4 million young African American and Hispanic men who are out-of-work and out-of-school today is particularly troubling. These young men are less likely to graduate high school, more likely to end up in prison and are often left jobless and poor.
Who said this?
Help Youth Connect with Growing Job Sectors: Barack Obama will create the 5-E (Energy Efficiency, Environmental Education and Employment) Disconnected Youth Service Corps. This program would directly engage disconnected and disadvantaged youth in energy efficiency and environmental service opportunities to strengthen their communities while also providing them with practical skills and experience in important career fields of expected high-growth employment. The program would engage private sector employers and unions to provide apprenticeship opportunities. The program also encourages summer high school students to stay in school, and provides GED help and other wrap-around social services for drop-outs.
Who said this?
Improving the City's GED Testing System
"Creating more jobs isn't enough. We have to make sure that New Yorkers have the skills and education they need to get those jobs. We still have 1.6 million New Yorkers who are out of school and don't have a high school diploma - and they're more than twice likely to be unemployed as someone with a college degree."
Speaker Quinn proposed concrete steps aimed at improving the city’s GED testing system, which is currently fragmented and inadequate in assisting New Yorkers lacking a high school diploma. The Speaker’s reforms address New Yorkers who are unemployed and face the greatest obstacles in finding a job. The three-tiered plan will help New Yorkers take the first crucial step towards employment.
• The Council, together with the Department of Education and the Department of Small Business Services, will create a citywide pilot at Workforce 1 Centers that will connect individuals without a high school diploma to GED testing and test preparation courses.
• In order to ensure that those who take the GED are adequately prepared, individuals who sign up to take the GED will first take an Official Practice Test to assess their preparedness.
• The Council will work closely with the Literacy Assistance Center, DOE and SBS to better coordinate the GED system, with a goal of streamlining access to services so that individuals can build skills, obtain a GED if needed and receive assistance in their job search.
The first one was Senator Hillary Clinton.
The second one was Senator Barack Obama.
The third one and only from this year was Councilwoman Christine Quinn (NYC). Wake up New York City and the White House. The GED Tea Party is needed.
MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK 11749
631-348-1341
GEDHOTLINE@AOL.COM
New:
www.mygedhotline.com
www.geocities.com/gedhotline
www.ahorre.com/ged
www.ahorre.com
Profesor Martin Danenberg March 15, 2010 09:22 AM