Michael Klonsky

Michael Klonsky

Mike Klonsky speaking at Loyola University, Chicago, 2007.

Michael Klonsky (born 1943) is an American educator, author,[1] and political activist. He is known for his work with the Students for a Democratic Society, the New Communist Movement, and, later, the small schools movement.

Contents

Political activism

Klonsky's father, Robert Klonsky, a World War II veteran who fought as a volunteer against the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, had been arrested and convicted of "conspiring to advocate Marxist views" Smith Act during the McCarthy period.[2] The Supreme Court later overturned the case.

In the late 1960s Michael Klonsky became the national secretary of the Students for a Democratic Society,[3] which he joined as a student at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge).[4] He was one of five S.D.S. members arrested on May 12, 1969, when prank phone calls sent police and firefighters to the S.D.S. offices in Chicago.[3]

In the 1970s he became a leader of the New Communist Movement which broke away from the older Communist Party USA and its allegiance to the Soviet Union. He headed the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist),[5] in which role he was one of the U.S. political activists who visited the People's Republic of China.[5][6] Klonsky later became critical of Marxist dogma but stayed active in civil rights, anti-war and educational reform politics.

Education research

Klonsky became one of the leaders of the modern small schools movement which has done much to transform the face of secondary school education in the United State. His early research [1] on issues of school size and its impact on student achievement, school violence, and dropout rates, helped pave the way towards the development of thousands of new small and charter schools across the country. Klonsky is now a retired professor of education after teaching at several universities, including the University of Illinois, Chicago[7] and the Fischler School of Education at Nova Southeastern University.[8] His academic work focused on small school size as a solution to the problems of inner city schools. He is now the director of the Small Schools Workshop, a school outreach program associated with UIC.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ Klonsky, Michael (2008), Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-96123-3 .
  2. ^ "9 Philadelphians Convicted as Reds; Leaders Found Guilty of Plot to Overthrow Government – Trial Ran for 71 Days", New York Times, August 14, 1954 .
  3. ^ a b Janson, Donald (May 13, 1969), "5 in S.D.S. Seized by Chicago Police; Scuffle Occurs as Officers Answer False Alarm", New York Times .
  4. ^ Moreland, Pamela (April 22, 1988), "Legacy of Turmoil: CSUN Looks Back at Years of Activism at Former Valley State College", Los Angeles Times .
  5. ^ a b "Westerners Meet Chairman Hua", New York Times, August 26, 1977 .
  6. ^ Mathews, Jay (September 7, 1977), "China Rolls Out Red Carpet for Tiny Pro-Peking Groups", Los Angeles Times .
  7. ^ Bruce, Allison L. (July 28, 2003), "Small schools within large schools help students focus", Charleston Post and Courier .
  8. ^ "Dr. Michael Klonsky, Director of the Small Schools Workshop, Becomes Visiting Professor at Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University" (– Scholar search), Florida's Choice: Electronic Newsletter of Florida Voluntary Public School Choice, November 7, 2006, http://www.schoolofed.nova.edu/choice/newsletter/archive/winter2007/klonsky.htm .
  9. ^ Biography of Klonsky at SSW web site. Retrieved August 19, 2008.
  10. ^ UIC Partnerships in Education. Retrieved August 19, 2008.

External links