Bridget, a frequent commenter, added this thoughtful note. She reminded me of how often I have wondered whether President Obama or Secretary Duncan care about public schools and whether they are determined to standardize children and call it “reform”:
Part of this problem, as I have stated before, is that we as educators are being forced by legislators to participate in this demise of public education in our nation. We are participating in our own demise because we are rule followers who do as we are told. By removing the historical local decision making from local communities we have allowed corporate interests to take over. Our political environment has been sold to the highest bidder. We as voters have lost our voice because corporations are now considered people. As long as we continue to allow our legislators to make decisions that are in the best interest of corporations, at the expense of what is in the best interest of the 99%, the gap will continue to widen.
I struggle daily with balancing what we do in our schools to improve education for our students with that which is in direct opposition that are the mandates required for testing and accountability required by state and federal laws. I see a generation of teachers and students who are slowly being trained to do as they are told, even as I recognize that there is no research to support these unproven mandates. We talk about teaching critical thinking and problem solving, while we mandate tests that measure just the opposite. How do I justify the fact that I am required by law to put these things into place, while I know that these mandates are harmful to students and teachers. Here in Louisiana we are being subjected to an experiment in education reform that has no basis in research.
I am doing my best to improve outcomes for students by empowering teachers to continue to improve as educators. I spend my time researching best practices and educational innovations that are founded in research. I look at all innovation with a critical eye and an open mind. When all is said and done, we as educators must face children everyday. The EduDeformers have removed themselves from the realities of what is happening in schools. Our president and Mr. Duncan have not spent enough time in public school classrooms to know that they are harming children. Each day I wonder what we are producing in this generation of future adults who will eventually be the democratic citizens of our nation. I have hope that a rebellion will occur that will bring balance back and restore some semblance of sanity. I refuse to believe that greed will win over common good.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Amen!
I agree that greed will not win out.
But we can’t sit back. We have to figure this out.
Very well said and why so many including myself have left. It divides your spirit to do the harmful things that are now required.
Teachers must stand together to oppose the actions taken by legislators. It has always been difficulr to get teachers to break the rules and stand up for what they know is right. After many years of teaching, I have come to the concusion that the only way to do it is to stand together and to drown the media with letters and essays, especially to their local media.
We should also take advantage of parent support and meet with parents to explain what is happening. I would bet that the NBC “education nation” week has no progressive (or even moderate) voices. That would be a good opportuntiy to send thousands of emails to the station to complain about one-sided reprortage as well as point out the deficiences and errors in what their guests are touting.
I believe that teachers should not be afraid to state their positions. To be a teacher is not to be an automoton. Teachers must be allowed to be creative, spontaneous, curious, and to build relationships with their students. The thought of the insufferable oppression of testing and the one-size-fits-all mentality makes me want to cry. but then I want to stand up to these corporations and legislators. They do not know what they are talking about and are destroying the sytem.
Carol, I agree. Parents will be the key to turning this around. We are educators and we must educate our parents as well as our students. They need to hear from us. They can be our best ally or our worst enemy. I am banking on them being my ally. We have been having parent meetings to inform them. They are concerned about Common Core and testing mandates. They see the stress it is causing on their children. We do our best to inform them. We also tell them to be advocates for their children. The media will not do it for us. We have to do it for ourselves. Our legislators are no longer listening to voters. They only listen to money. We need to stand together as one…parents and educators…for the sake of our children. For our future.
Thank you for your comments Carol and Bridget. As a parent, I can speak to the desire of many of us to change the system. Though I live in one of the wealthiest, most educated cities in the Northeast, many parents I speak to feel we have to take what we’re given, despite worrying about the effects testing and other issues are having on our children.
Please keep reaching out to parents — many of us need to be reminded that we can make a difference!
Did Arne Duncan go to Harvard on a basketball scholarship? In a continuing education course I took once, the professor said to be aware of folks who think that they know how to run schools because they went to one. Does the word nuance or hard data or age appropriate mean anything to these folks. People are not objects to be categorized as units that are all the same. Children are certainly not. I always thought of school and teaching as controlled chaos, in that despite our best intentions, lesson plans and fabulous classroom management, there is always that unknown something or other that will creep in to put a wrench into your perfect day. One has to have the maturity, knowledge and experience to make use of this aside and go on with the business of the day. Each day is different and within a structure, one must have the creativity to venture outward into other subjects, ideas and realms and draw from them to make teaching a holistic experience. This background makes for a more enriched and evolved student.
One that we wouldn’t have if we all “followed other’s rules.”
By the way, money or power does not make one an expert at everything.
Arne should stick to basketball, Obama should stick to running the country, Bloomberg
should stick to making money and Gates should go back to his computer.
Judy
Judy, I couldn’t have said it better!! I am retired now after 38 years in education and my heart breaks when I see what’s happening in public school. The mentality that anyone can teach is ridiculous, this is why these decisions to improve education will not work…children are not “widgets”!!!
Judy – Thanks for making me laugh about Arne and the basketball scholarship.
After 24 years of teaching At Risk teens, many of whom are homeless, I’m done. Leaving as soon as I hit the day of my 25th year. I’m sick about this, love my job and the kids, but the whole thing is feeling just way to creepy and controlled now. Could not agree more with the sentence that we are all having to work towards the demise of public education. It’s ethically repugnant to me and the divide just tripled this year with CCSS. Since our district starts back in early August we have had a month of CCSS and the exodus of talented, dedicated teachers at just my school will jam up the exit doors with the rush to leave.
Michael Fullan says it all: There are four main ‘wrong drivers’ in ed. reform:
Number 1: accountability: using test results, and teacher appraisal, to reward or punish teachers and schools vs capacity building;
Although the four ‘wrong’ components have a place in reform, it is a mistake to lead with them – and that is exactly what we are doing in the U.S.
Click to access 13501655630.pdf
Click to access Fullan-Wrong-Drivers1.pdf
Reblogged this on Parents of PVMS.
You have to have sympathy for those who for years worked rationally, have their whole lives on the line and suddenly crazy people get in control. Now they have to balance ruining their and their students lives against the crazies running the asylum. This is a tragedy. How many comments have we read of those able to retire and are because of this when they are now in their prime. Waste of everything. Rob those children of the most experienced teachers. This is destruction not reform. LAUSD tried to tell us they were the “Reform Board.” Yep, that is why it was only 14,500 or 2% when LAUSD had 86,000 more students enrolled. Now it is 117,000 or 17% with a loss of revenue of over $1.25 billion and the loss of over 4,000 teachers jobs just on lost students. They really care don’t they. Now today in the L.A. Daily News is a story on the big deal of saving maybe 4,000 students. Good, but who cares when there are 117,000 and the district is refusing to implement a computerized plan that reduces truancy by 50-60% where it is implemented. On top of that a high school student,Zack Kukof, and his friends created a software program which interconnects to the districts first class attendance and instantly text messages the parent or guardian in real time. That might also really help. Where it is installed it works.
Talk is cheap, show me the beef.