The most reactionary and anti-union of the major foundations–the billionaire Walton Family Foundation–has awarded $20 million to Teach for America to send bright, ill-prepared new college graduates into the nation’s classrooms. The largest contingent –700–will go to Los Angeles.
That city has a large number of nonunion charter schools.
TFA aids the Walton ambition to privatize public schools and rid them of union teachers. As such, they are a mainstay of the privatization movement.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Please stop shopping at Walmart. They don’t need us or our money. Boycott!
Agree!
Who gives more millions to destroy public schools, Gates or Walton? This year alone, Gates gifted Denver Public schools with ten MILLION, down from their usual 25 million. The money goes mostly CHARTER SCHOOLS that are the corporate raiders faux educational devotion! They are a dismal failure the vast majority of “schools,” although the Denver Post will never reveal that fact. Gates may parade as a humanitarian, but his support of Monsanto, destruction of our school system never seem to make the toady presses attention. Make that the press covers their devious “interests.”
Gates is a sick man. He keeps bullying people and ignoring facts. Can you imagine the size of his ego? The charters are inferior and provide inferior pay and benefits. He is totally destructive and the news media is worthless for supporting his ideas. He just goes around the country buying and bullying and he calls himself a “philanthropist”.
You got it! In fact, so many deformers are Indeed just mentally ill egomaniacs.
I stopped buying things at Walmart over a year ago. It wasn’t bad enough they killed all the mom and pop stores, now they are trying to kill public education.
Unfortunately, Wal-Mart has a stranglehold on many small towns and rural areas. Like Diane said a while back when she was traveling and needed a toothbrush. A few weeks ago I was camping with a friend and needed some supplies I forgot – guess what, Wal-Mart was the only choice.
Too bad they give money to outfits that are already wealthy instead of giving directly to needy schools.
Their goal is to profit, not help the needy. When a corporation opens a non-profit charter school in an underserved community, it will double its investment within 7 years. Hiring cheap teachers (TFA) means a lower overhead. Long story short, there is no such thing as a NON-profit.
I stopped shopping at Walmart 2 years ago, after shopping there for 13 years, because of their employment policies and attitudes towards women. But it occurs to me, the Walmart foundation gives millions of dollars to try to increase the number of charter schools and place ill-equipped people in schools to “play teacher”. I wonder whether their higher goal is to turn out under-educated people so they will always have a workpool who will be grateful for minimum wage?
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Nancy! I think you just mighta hit on a very real point. However, they don’t PAY minimum wage at WalMart, DO they? I was under the impression that if you had any related experience, you would start at more than that. ???
I guess I am learning a thing or two from reading through these comments. 1) I did not know what TFA was 2) I did not realize they were where the charter school teachers come from – although, I KNOW that is not 100% true as my son schooled through a GREAT Charter school where the school’s REGULAR teachers also taught through there. They were super too.
I’m quite certain SAM Walton would NOT be too happy with his “family” for the direction they have taken his business. 😦
Who actually hires the TFA’ers?
Public school district administrators hire them.
Need I state the obvious?
Sorry, how would public school administrators hire TFA people since the charter school is separate from the local public schools and is independent of the local school boards and local public school administrators? Charter schools have their own administrators, their own principals and their own board of directors. They don’t have to answer to the duly elected school boards. Charter schools are almost like separate school districts unto themselves.
Not sure what you mean. I have worked with TFA’ers (all of whom i remember fondly) who were hired by our school district. ( and all who left as soon as their two years were up)
My point is that public school district administrators are complicit with privatizers in the marginalization of teachers.
Oh OK, I am speaking from a NJ point of view, where the chancellor of ed, Chris Cerf, imposes charter schools on school districts. You are speaking from actual experience, so you have made a valid point. My bad.
Thank you for clearing that up Joe. I was about to reply in opposition. I’m in WI and the charter school I had experience with was IN the regular local public school and their teachers taught at both places. 🙂
This thread has been rather enlightening thus far. 🙂
Better yet, patronize Walmart, consume whatever goods you buy to whatever extent you can and choose to, hold onto your receipts, and then RETURN the merchandise for a full refund, using “dissatisfacation” as the reason.
You’d be playing by their own rules and not giving them your money. . . . .
If most everyone were to do this, it would be a wonderful way to drive the Waltons into the ground.
But wouldn’t that be dishonest? Your lord and saviour says do not return evil for evil.
(Chuckle) . . .
I needed a good laugh today, Harlan. It was such a rough day today, so thanks!
But, Harlan, doesn’t Walmart represent the epitome of “free market” capitalism that Tea Partiers so revere?
Harlan, I appreciate the new Harlan and his civil but firm tone. . . the old Harlan was fun, a real wild ride but, alas, far too intense and disprespectful.
So thank you.
I am wondering about your last comment to me here.
Who do you assume my “lord” to be, and what do you presume about the extent of my faith and sprituality? I’m not sure where you’re coming from.
I’ll take my conscience and sense of morality to be my best “lord and savior”, thank you. I’m not into obseisance to any one spriitual or theological entity. Of course, I’m not telling anyone else what to feel in this regard. . . only clarifying where I’m coming from following your fascinating and new Harlan-styled comment.
More than anything, I worship a sense of right and wrong and the collective good of all humankind. For me, they occupy the highest and most sacrosanct of alters . . .
Now Mr. Fiorillo,
Don’t you go picking on Harlan. He’s my new best friend, and I won’t tolerate your meaness toward him . . . . .
🙂
I am mean to Harlan sometimes because, as someone with a lot of information who then draws largely erroneous conclusions, he can be very exasperating.
Call me petty, too, but sometimes he makes himself an easy target.
Nevertheless, I’m glad he’s here, because in a policy realm filled with so much cant and prevarication, I think his views are genuine, and that he comes by them honestly.
HARLAN: I appreciate your contribution. I was thinking something similar: the suggestion is vengeful. It made me laugh, I have to admit, but I would never DO such a thing.
The only thing I would have done differently in your response was to say “according to God’s word (the Bible) we are not to repay evil with evil.” That way Mr RENDO would not be able to come back with a legitimate retort like he did.
We are EACH free to worship Whom and HOW we see fit. We don’t have to AGREE to ACCEPT the differences between us.
SAM WALTON was a Christian man, and he would be devastated to see what his heirs have made of his business.
Dlyn Kimmel,
“. . that way Mr RENDO would not be able to come back with a legitimate retort like he did.”
I had no idea one would not favor the ability to approach conversations with legitimacy.
Ms. Kimmel, I apologize for my legitimate retort. I was out lf line.
From now on, If you and Harlan prefer, I can respond with illigitimate retorts, although I don’t know how Diane would feel about that . . . . They’re a lot more fun to write, but they have their social limitations.
I don’t think “according to . . . “, which you posited to Harlan, would really empower your argument because it still presumes a deference to the bible and the tenets and dogmas therein. Not all of us defer. You might be surprised to find that sort of think on a wide spectrum in the realm of human perception and behavior.
But thank you for chiming in. I enjoy those who participate with Harlan. In that regard, he is mostly by himself, and it’s good, I think, for him to have some company. He is honest about the way he feels.
You seem to be a Sam Walton fan. . . . if what you say is true, I wonder how he would feel about his heirs and their approach to educating children, not to mention his heirs’ motives, Christianity aside.
Walmart gives no many to the real public schools, the ones with unionized teachers. That speaks volumes. So their goal is not really to improve education but to destroy the public school system and the unions. For the Waltons, it’s not about education but it’s really about their far right wing libertarian ideology which hates unions and hates public institutions that are for the common good.
They might hate unions but might challenge the notion that the public school establishment promotes the common good.
Harlan has an excellent point here. I’ve been learning a thing or two along the reading of these comments. I THINK I now have just enough info to declare MY position! LOLOL – maybe.
Our public schools have been going STEADILY downhill for a LONG time now – more than a couple decades. WHERE the Walton’s make their donations is NOT what is destroying them.
We have to STOP dumbing down our students – the grading scale alone has been lying to many for EVER it seems. When I was in school (and I’m NOT old by any means – in my 40s) the grading scale looked like the LEFT column and NOW is like the right:
A = 94-100 90-100
B = 87-93 80-89
C = 80-86 70-79
D = 73-79 60-69
PLEASE tell me you see what I see. Just because the LETTER grade says C or D now-a-days, don’t think it’s the same “C or D” as students once earned. SHOOT! They took the entire C section and threw it in with the Bs, took all the Ds and even a couple Fs and call them Cs now….. and 60-69 = D????!!!! oh boy….
And if you will note, I have NOT said even once that I agree with the way Sam’s business is being run today. 🙂
This is all so interesting and disturbing to say the least. The Waltons do not want the citizens of Washington, DC to earn a higher minimum wage, but they will give 20 million dollars to TFA. Hmmm……
Walmart imports far too many of its products from Third World sweatshops, discourages its employees from unionizing, wrecks small businesses, and funnels its fabulous profits into trying to destroy public education. What a nice wholesome family of pirates. — Edd Doerr (arlinc.org)
Walmart also wants to turn inward within its own American borders to transform the citizenry into sweatshops of low wages, no benefits, and gravely poor cognition.
The fact that 5 Waltons who have financial interests in the company possess the equivalent of 40% of all Americans’ wealth combined shows how obscene and decadent our society has become.
I am for an “ownership” society and individual accumulation of wealth, but when the scale gets so radically tipped to the point where the majority can’t even have a dignified piece of the pie, then it’s time to destroy the kitchen, fire the pastry chefs, and start a new eatery. . . .
New diet, new menu, new portion size . . . .
Amen. And Hallelujah.
And our founders are turning over in their graves.
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington, John Adams, et al., would probably lead an armed rebellion if they suddenly appeared.
Question is: do we have the wherewithal to be true to our country’s founding spirit and documents?
Brutus2011,
If we do not swing back the pendulum in reasonable time, I would guess that generating the means to be “true to the spirit of our forefathers” may no longer be an option to put on the back burner.
What do you call your new violent revolutionary movement against wealth above . . . wait, you haven’t said what limit you would put on wealth accumulation. Before I join up, I’d like to know up front whether you’re as radical as, say Fidel Castro, or only as radical as Obama. How about “The Red Roberts” or possibly “Rendostration.” or “Rendosity,” or “Rend Unto Rendo.”
Harlan,
I do not understand your point? Violence?
I have never advocated violence. Any rare and extremely infrequent allusion to it has been used striclty as metaphor, that’s about it. I have speculated that there will be riots in the next three years in major cities, but that is an informed speculation, not an advocacy for such an arrangement.
I am allowed a bit of poetry in my thoughts?
Obama is radical in the interests of coporate America and now Surveillance America. So are his friends in the CIA, FBI, and some of them in the House and Senate.
Castro was Castro. . . . Many loved him, many loathed him. I’m glad I did not have to live under his rule, but our Obama and NSA seem to be having a field day with all our privacy.
Speaking of your perceptions of my hatred of personal, private wealth, how are your social security checks coming along? I do hope you’re receiving them on time. The notion – just the sheer imagery – of a tea partier like you cashing these checks and using them as income is delightful and just plain delicious.
Better than a Mad Lib! Zanier than Cantinflas! Even funnier than Kristen Wiig.
I liked the snappy new titles you’ve proposed. . . .I think Rendosity is already taken.
Would you be interested in respresenting me as my agent? I’m in the market for a new one.
Harlan, you did not answer me.
I feel rejected.
Walmart destroys communities.
I just heard that Tony Bennett just resigned in Florida! PLEASE TELL ME IT’S TRUE!!
Donna Devine Sent from my iPhone
True! Bennett has bailed! Yeah.
Headlines: Amid grading controversy, Florida education chief Tony Bennett resigns
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/01/3535902/amid-grading-controversy-florida.html#storylink=cpy
Donna,
It’s true. . . . Phase 2: Let’s get him offically investigated.
Walmart: The Promise of Profits . . . .