My article with the title above appeared on CNN.com.
They heard from you. They invited me to respond and this is the article I wrote.
I think that if we all speak up again and again and again and again, and tell the truth, supported by facts and experience, our voices will be heard.
Write letters to the editor, comment on blogs, speak up at public meetings, do what you can, when you can, where you can.
Your actions will encourage others.
And that is how a movement is built.
From the ground up.
Not with billions of dollars, but with millions of willing hands and hearts and minds.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Now you need equal air time on their network….thank you for writing in support of all teachers.
For anyone who has not see this, please watch…finally Rhee is challenged. Watch the smirk get wiped off her face:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18592185
Wow. It took going to London to actually receive a challenge. This makes me have less faith in the American media when it comes to current education trends.
Thank you, Linda. I think we need Mary Bousted here!
Mary Bousted for NEA President!
Rhee is wrong, but she is not misinformed – she is DELIBERATELY saying and doing these things. To think she is misinformed is to give her the benefit of doubt, when her “stellar” record is consistent. What baffles me is why ANYONE, especially politicians and a few academics, who should KNOW better, listen to anything she says. It is all factually incorrect, it is all fabrication, easily disproved with the most rudimentary of inquiries to the established research literature.
And to describe her as “charming” is unbelievable – she is the opposite of charming – she is mean, vitriolic, and irritating. And I am being nice.
Wonderful article. let’s all use the power of social media to share this article. Get to work people, share!
Great article! I left my comment asking CNN to put you ON THE AIR with Rhee.
Now what I’d like to see is a grassroots effort to make you the NYC Schools Chancellor for the next mayor of NY (assuming Bloomberg doesn’t buy another term).
Awesome article, Diane. You have the uncanny ability to hit the nail on the head whenever you put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). I think you are right: if enough people take the time and effort to raise their voices, the resulting sound will be loud enough for many to hear and hopefully be addressed. I’m glad that myself and others took just a moment out of our schedules to contact CNN and ask that they allow redress of Rhee’s interview points. Thank you for all you do for public education and the students, teachers, and parents. It is greatly appreciated – mostly because it is the right thing to do.
Diane: Thanks so much for being the public face of disenfranchised, marginalized, and demonized teachers and administrators. Don’t forget to mention the sleazy and questionable (personal and professional) ethics of Mr. and Mrs. Rhee.
BTW- DC’s OIG released the DC-CAS 2010 report. I’m in mourning. It’s sad and pathetic.
http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Press+Releases+and+Announcements/Press+Releases/Chancellor+Henderson+Releases+Inspector+General%E2%80%99s+Report+on+Testing+Integrity+in+2010
Thanks, I try to stay away from personal attacks.
As so many of your posts do, I find myself again moved to tears. Thank you Diane for your tireless efforts to speak the truth on behalf of educators, students, and parents. ‘Grateful beyond words.
Bravo, Diane! Great post to cnn. Still, we have to insist that cnn put Diane on the air each time they have a Rhee, a Duncan, a Gates, a Canada, or some other rep of the billionaire boys club. Blogs online are very good but the premier way to lead opinioin is through broadcast media, which is why the right wing and corporate spokespeople are the only regulars allowed to address the American public via airwaves.
Given Rhee’s pattern of mendacity (false claims about her success as a teacher, progress in the DC schools under her leadership, etc.) I don’t think it’s a personal attack to point out that her dishonesty borders on the pathological.
Warren is absolutely right: the woman is not misinformed, but a liar. Pointing that out is a simple, easily verifiable fact.
I try to be civil. When dealing with someone who bullies others, it is hard. But in my experience, bullies are usually cowards.
Michael, I agree with your take on Rhee.
I also agree that it’s best to avoid personal attacks, and that is generally my rule too- but Michelle and Kevin are special cases. I tend to believe that their behavior generally matches up with a variety of disorders that can be found in the DSM. http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html
In the February/March publication CFA, http://www.analystforum.com/article/cfa/are-you-a-financial-psychopath psychologist Christopher Bayer mentions that while 1% of the general population has been diagnosed as a psychopath, he believes that 10% of the employees on Walls Street are psychopaths. In the US population it is believed that sociopaths comprise 4% of the population and psychopaths about 1%.
I’ll also mention that in recent years there have been two books published for a general audience that address antisocial and dissociative tendencies. I’m about to start reading The Sociopath Next Door (Martha Stout) and Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us (Robert D. Hare, PhD). I’ll be starting both shortly.
Thanks, Mark.
I’ve pointed to these very same studies in various blog comments, and have frequently been called hyperbolic and incendiary as a result.
However, the reality we face is that the cynicism, hypocrisy and venality of corporate ed reform almost cannot be exaggerated (or even satirized).
Thank you Diane for your tireless efforts. We are approaching that special time of the year, late summer, early fall, when the media go bananas (a veritable anti-public education feeding frenzy) over education issues and we hear again and again how terrible our schools are and the usual suspects (the Rheeformistas, Bill Gates, Arne Duncan, Joel Klein, Chris Christie, Chris Cerf) will be tsk tsking about the need for reform and alternatives to the “status quo.” They will say that we are a nation at risk because of all those terrible unionized public school teachers who represent the status quo and stand in the way of Bill Gatesian REFORM. Oy! Folks, we can’t put it all on Diane’s back, she’s doing the best that she can. Where are the other high profile people of Diane’s caliber countering Rhee’s baloney? They may be out there but the mainstream corporate media are just not covering them.
Yes, please! Enlist Linda Darling-Hammond; Richard Rothstein; Carol Burris; Leonie Haimson; and everyone else with the willingness to go out and take on the Establishment, the reigning status quo.
We the teachers of America really need to step it up. Write letters, petitions, viral videos, blogs, blog posts, and engage in active civic participation at public meetings and hearings (e.g., budget, policy, curriculum, etc.)
As Franklin so eloquently stated, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately”.
Mark,
First we need the support of our union leaders who are now signing on to these reforms. They are the ones we need to petition and protest so they know the rank and file are not happy.
Lastly, it’s great that parents are stepping up. People like Leonie and Rita are fighting the fight and are making headway. Texas parents are making headway against testing. Right now the power is with the parents, and it’s nice to see them supporting us. Even in Chicago, there was a media campaign to get the parents to turn on their teachers. But they refused.
We are so lucky to have Diane. And others are right. She should get network exposure as well. She deserved a full hour on Charlie Rose!!
yes, you are public educators. Educate the public!
How about Alfie Kohn?
You are too kind in describing Michelle Rhee.
I wanted to stand up and applaud after reading this article on CNN.com. Simply fantastic.
Thank you. Now let us all tweet and email this article to everyone we know!
Dr. Ravitch, you are awesome! 🙂
Rural states provide the perfect opportunity to refute Ms. Rhee’s claims. Because of sparse population density and poor public transportation, school choice is largely impossible. Therefore, reform must take a wildly different face than the current trend of school choice and charter schools. Perhaps, instead of trying to convince people using theory and evidence of their own failures, rural states could become laboratories for a new kind of reform.
Rhee frightens me more than many of the others. My impression is that she is a true believer, and that she sincerely thinks what she is up to is best, and also that her mendacity and duplicity are justifiable in her mind. The others are clearly looking out cynically for profits and political advancement but Rhee seems like a zealot.
you must never be afraid of a bully. It only encourages them.
I guess “disturbed” would have been a better word choice than “frightened.” she arouses more anger than fear.
Thank you for speaking out in behalf of the children, parents, teachers, and communities who so highly value and depend upon our public schools. As of this writing, there are over 400 comments posted in response to the CNN article and they display quite a wide range of understandings and opinions about education. The horses have been led to the water, now we must help the ones who fell in and don’t know how to swim. 😉
What I find amusing are the comments on that CNN post. Looks like a lot of people want that Subway gift card 🙂
Would like to have you on TV too. Guess we’ll have to keep writing. 🙂
Yes! Everyone please keep writing and calling to request that CNN have Diane on.
“Teachers need tenure so they have academic freedom to teach controversial issues.”
K12 classes have no need and no charter for teaching controversial issues, ever. None, zilch, nada. As an example, evolution might be considered a controversial issue to a specific community, but evolution is not a controversial issue within its own domain. All teachers should be allowed to teach a controversial issue to the extent that the issue itself is proscribed by the curriculum.
David,
You just defeated your own assertion.
Every piece of knowledge worth teaching will be controversial in some community or other.
There are people who say that π = 3, and even cases of politicians passing bills in state legislatures declaring that π = 3, simply because they interpret some passage of scripture as saying that.
All it takes is one person with the power to fire you who believes some looney theory to make a controversy you can’t refuse.
Proscribed means forbidden or prohibited. The ALA supports intellectual freedom and maintains a Frequently Banned and Challenged Classics Booklist that includes Brave New World, Animal Farm, 1984, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and many others. Would you have us avoid all those titles on the list? What should be taught instead?
A big RAH, RAH for Diane! A big RAH, RAH to those who contacted CNN and voiced your opinion! Numbers do make a difference and it doesn’t all have to be monetary numbers.
Wonderful article. I became certified in EC-6 (Texas) 20 months ago at the age of 44, yet due to cut backs, I’m still not employed as a teacher yet. I’m starting to think that it was a waste of time and money. I strongly dislike Texas education system, and am sorry I moved my daughters here. I have 2 semesters left in my master’s program and then I will become an adjunct. Public education, and teachers, have lost respect from the general public.
Nice essay; well done.
The CNN website, in it’s “School of Thought” section, has 10 recent articles.
1. My View: Rhee is wrong and misinformed – by Diane Ravitch
Comments 786
Facebook Recommend 4,900
Tweets 422
Published 18 hours
2. Education Secretary Duncan takes on bullying – by DaShawn Fleming
Comments 25
Facebook Recommends 77
Tweets 75
Published 32 hours
3. Opinion: Why do school sports start before classes do? – by LZ Granderson
Comments 6
Facebook Recommend 3
Tweets 3
Published 33 hours
4. Louisiana school reconsiders policy that can force students to take pregnancy test – by Tom Watkins
Comments 3
Facebook Recommend 15
Tweets 7
Published 38 hours
5. My View: The looming ‘classroom cliff’ – by Adam Frankel
Comments 8
Facebook Recommend 9
Tweets 36
Published 42 hours
6. N.J. Gov. Christie signs bipartisan reform of nation’s oldest teacher tenure law – by John Martin
Comments 16
Facebook Recommend 45
Tweets 11
Published 2 days
7. My View: Chicago school day: A teacher responds – Xian Barrett
Comments 155
Facebook Recommend 446
Tweets 139
Published 2 days
8. My View: One-year change in test results doesn’t make a ‘trend’ – Aaron Pallas
Comments 0
Facebook Recommend 13
Tweets 20
Published 3 days
9. Rhee on saving America’s schools – Schools of Thought Editors
Comments 193
Facebook Recommend 289
Tweets 41
Published 4 days
10. Back to school: How soon is too soon? – Donna Krache
Comments 23
Facebook Recommend 37
Tweets 26
Published 5 days
Since the world seems to be obsessed with data, I think we can clearly point to the article that has sparked the most reader debate. Shouldn’t this information alone warrant some air time. Perhaps a regular spot on CNN? Or does CNN believe their “School of Thought” staff has a better handle on education issues than Diane Ravitch?
Send this to CNN to make sure they read their own data! Then ask them to put Diane on the air, pointing out that she has the greatest number of respondents and recommendations after just 18 hours.
Therefore, this should translate into greater viewership, and isn’t that what air time is all about? More viewers to watch the ads!
Wow!
Do I get a free gift card if I post the most blog comments (a la StudentsFirst)?
Yes
Apply to StudentsFirst
Blog early and often
I live near a high school. When it lets out, I see that some of the students are carrying large backpacks full of heavy books, while others aren’t carrying any books at all. This has nothing to do with poverty, and everything to do with personal responsibility.
Very, very true; hence why there is no one cause to the issues that plague education. Poverty is huge, apathy is up there, too – as is/are the family, technology, consumerism, video games, social media, neglect of the academic basics, not balancing academic instruction with social instruction (especially in the younger grades), television, drugs, alcoholism, gangs, physical and mental abuse, homes without books, etc…the list goes on and on and on. But they are real reasons, not made up excuses. When a structure is in disrepair, you repair it – even if it has multiple issues. You don’t knock it down if the foundation is sound and there is good material left to build upon. There are amazing successes happening in our school systems every single day. It is time to capitalize on the good we have and make it better.