Richard Rothstein recently gave a commencement address to the graduates of the Chicago Loyola School of Education.
What do you say to new teachers, embarking on their careers in these perilous times? What do you say to those who have chosen a profession that is under siege?
Rothstein is a deeply knowledgeable and fearless scholar. Read what he said.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A wonderful commencement address by Richard Rothstein, many thanks.
Provides lots of ideas for both new and veteran teachers to consider, and to contest the specious arguments made against public education. My personal favorite advice: “Instead of searching for systemic failure where it does not exist, we should have been trying to figure out what we have been doing right, so we can do more of it.”
I can’t think of a better college commencement for Rothstein to have made this incredible address. I received my doctoral training there and taught in their Teacher Ed program, so I know very well that they have a strong commitment to social justice at this wonderful Jesuit university. I have every confidence those future teachers will take this insightful speech to heart.
I cannot stand finding out about such articles after the comment period has closed –especially when someone dominates the discussion board with teacher bashing and inane ideas about parents. Grrrr
Why were comments not permitted for at least a full week?
recently? this is one year old…but still to the point and valid
Wow. Good catch! Didn’t notice the year. Explains a lot. Thanks!
I love this address. I hope to see more in the future.
Diane, for some more very honest and hard-hitting words from a great teacher, I wanted to share this blog post with you:
http://pomegranatebeginnings.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-little-truth-in-graffiti.html
She is a former student of mine and I so admire her choice to go into the field of teaching (and what a great teacher she is!) – but now standardized testing may prevent her from being able to really teach. What a nightmare.