Edutoons: A Jumpball Melee of Editorial Cartoons About the Politics of Public Education (1) (Editorial Cartoons by Ron Hill)

From the unique combineed profssional vantage point of an educator/journalist, Ron Hill employs his considerable illustrations skills to comment on what he sees as the steady politicizing of education. Hill presents his first collection of editorial cartoons, all published between 2009 and 2015. This book deals with issues that concern the general public, targeting specific education issues in each community. However, these topics are so universal, every reader across the country can relate to such problems as school funding, standardized testing, and safety in our schools. The steady incursion of state political mandates taking over what have traditionally been local control issues such as labor negotiations, teacher and student assessment, and technology in our schools are also subjects all states are grappling with. The cartoons are all reproduced from the originals, and they are divided into four chapters: funding, politics, safety and testing. In each section they are presented in the order they were published, and contain researched captions for many of the issues to provide regional and historical context. This is the first of a planned series of themed editorial cartoon collections. Ron Hill has been an editorial cartoonist since 1999, and currently provides editorial cartoons to six regional newspapers in Northeast Ohio. Every week he writes and draws 6 different cartoons, and has won a Cleveland Press Society Award for Excellence for his work. Hill also taught Interactive Media at Alliance High School from 2002 until 2015. His Interactive Media program was a career-technical class in a public high school that focused on graphic design and media careers. Ron Hill graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1982, and has worked in advertising, illustration, comics, design, education, and journalism. He is currently President of the Northern Ohio Illustrators Society, and member of The National Cartoonists Society and The American Association of Editorial Cartoonists.