Critical Education Articles Placed in the Teacher Staff Lounge While I Was a Teacher, Part Twenty-Two: The Need for the Working Class to Defy the Law When Necessary

This is a continuation of a series of posts on summaries of articles, mainly on education. When I was a French teacher at Ashern Central School, in Ashern, Manitoba, Canada, I started to place critiques, mainly (although not entirely) of the current school system. At first, I merely printed off the articles, but then I … Continue reading Critical Education Articles Placed in the Teacher Staff Lounge While I Was a Teacher, Part Twenty-Two: The Need for the Working Class to Defy the Law When Necessary →

The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part Six

The following issue deserves a separate post. As I have tried to stress throughout these posts, unions in Canada (and undoubtedly elsewhere) are inadequate organizations for representing the interests of the working class The issue illustrates how union reps limit the development of a critical approach to a society dominated by a class of employers. … Continue reading The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part Six →

The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part Five

Introduction Before I obtained a so-called permanent teaching position (I will explain in a much later post why I use the word "so-called"), I worked for a number of years as a substitute teacher (with short periods of term teaching positions). I became an executive member of the Winnipeg Teachers' Association (WTA) (in the province … Continue reading The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part Five →

The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Four: The Myth of Creating Socialist Spaces

Professor Noonan, an academic leftist, argues that the Nemak return to work provides lessons for the left. Indeed, it does--but unfortunately he fails to draw further lessons from the situation. He says the following: As regards work, the structural dependence on paid employment is what makes people working class. This structural dependence is what, above … Continue reading The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Four: The Myth of Creating Socialist Spaces →