Feminist Weekly: How Education Reform Impacts You

Editor's Note: Every Thursday, I'll be rounding up my favorite pieces from the past week so that PolicyMic Pundits can more easily read and comment on the great content being written about sex, sexuality, gender, and race in politics and culture, in addition to updates from our community and GIFs galore! You can subscribe to get updates delivered straight to your inbox.

Highlights This Week:

Embarrassingly, I'm a huge Ramones fan, making me one of maybe 20 people my age who ever saw the 1979 musical comedy Rock 'n' Roll High School. 

But while the Ramones may not care about history, I do. This month, as thousands of young Americans begin another school year, PolicyMic wants to know how the education reform movement which began in the '80s affects you, today.

Former TFA corps member Noam Hassenfeld writes, "I thought I might be interested in teaching as a career but I joined [Teach For America] because of broader reasons: I wanted to help people, investigate an interest in education, and be part of national movement. I wanted a job (and a prestigious one, at that). These were not good reasons to join one of the most demanding professions in the world. Even if I'd been more sure of my ambitions, the right desire says nothing about possessing the requisite skills for this line of work."

(Read the rest: "This Former TFA Corps Member Thinks You Should Join City Year Instead.")

We expect a lot from our educators — even more from their students — but we rarely pause to hear what they have to say. Whether you're a young teacher struggling to meet the needs ofbilingual students, or a student trying to exercise your ever-shrinking civil rights, we're interested in stories from the real, live humans trying to make sure everyone can have an equally outstanding educational experience – and from the real, live human beings who have been unequally impacted by our existing system.

Join our discussion at PolicyMic between 9/24 – 9/26. You can learn more about what we're looking for here. Do you have ideas for topic areas we should cover, or people we should invite to the table? Let me know on Twitter: @sameier12

Updates From Our Pundits:

Congratulations to PolicyMic pundit Renee Davidson (and contributor Wagatwe Wanjuki) on being nominated for the 2013 Women's Media Center Social Media Award!

Jewelyn Cosgrove hit the airwaves this week to talk about suicide prevention with KLVZ Denver. If you missed it last week, be sure to read her piece "Suicide is the Third-Leading Cause Of Death Among Millennials — Here's How I'm Trying to Stop It."

What did you do last week? I'll share any outstanding writing achievements in our community, and highlight the great work that all of our Pundits do offline as well. If you have anything you'd like for me to include about yourself or a fellow PM writer, please send it along. 

As always, help us continue to grow our section by sharing our call for new writers! Recommend any friends or colleagues who you think would be interested.

Must Reads From Last Week:

These Gay Rights Activists Are Out For Blood (Hope Miller, @hopemiller) — Their own.

Poverty: It's About the Money, Stupid (Eli Hager, @EliBHager) — How to win any argument on the root causes of poverty, free-market style.

9/11 Anniversary – The Soldiers' Perspective, From the Front Lines (Laura Dimon, @LauraDimon) — Our troops have been at war for 12 years now — the longest period of combat in our country's history. Millennial veterans represent about 65% them, but some of them don't even remember 9/11.

This Feminist Revolution Will Be Televised (Suzanna Bobadilla, @suzbobadilla) — But it won't assume that women are only interested in yogurt, shoes, and/or birth control.

The Next Big Thing in "Ex-Gay" Therapy (Dan Peltier, @djpeltier) — Ex-gay pride – it's a thing.

Teens Are Actually Having Fewer Babies Than Ever (Senti Sojwal, @PopDevProgram) — But they're definitely not having less sex.

What It's Like to Be a White Woman Of Color (Daniela Ramirez, @DanRam910) — No matter what you decide you are, others will disagree.

A "Halo" Developer Called This Female Avatar "Disgusting" (Abdul Siddiqui, @A_R_Siddiqui) — 343 Industries designer David Ellis expressed disdain for Hideo Kojima's scantily clad female character design for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Singer Mary Lambert Says 'Same Love' is An "Anthem For Allies" (Jared Milrad, @JaredMilrad) — The "Same Love" singer opens up about the Macklemore/Le1f controversy and fat shaming. But she really just wants to give you a hug.

Why Millennials Are Opting Out Of Opting Out From the Workplace (Vicky Plestis,@VickyPlestis) — The generation before us "opted-out" and now they want back in. But we don't have to make the same choices.

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