Mercedes Schneider has created a test question for corporate reformers.
She proposes a compare and contrast between Martin Luther King’s original “I Have a Dream” speech and the vision of “reformers” who claim that their tactics to leave no child untested and no public school undisturbed is “the civil rights issue of our time.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Reformer’s” dream …
“I have a privatizing vision that one day this nation will give up and live out the true meaning of its greed.”
Mercedes has done it again.
She sure has!
Yes and note his address in New York after which he was castigated for his stance on the war in Viet Nam etc.
I just read a Daily Kos article that said that the most important thing MLK did was to teach Back Americans that together they could break the yolk of white terrorism:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011562/-Most-of-you-have-no-idea-what-Martin-Luther-King-actually-did?detail=email
My parents were afraid of MLK coming to town. They were afraid that white haters would stir up violence. I was not allowed to go hear him speak. I am white. He taught a people how to stand up to injustice in spite of their fear.
I read Mercedes’ poem on WBAI radio today at 4:30, on MLK day.
Go Diane on Ed Show! You do MLK proud. Thank you.
Great interview on the Ed show! Finally someone on MSNBC hops on tbe bandwagon — I hope!
GOD BLESS YOU D.R., AND GOD BLESS ‘ED’ FOR CARRYING THIS MESSAGE!!!
Awesome, again, Dr. Schneider!
If only MLK had had Powerpoint so he could have prepared an effective presentation! (LOL)
And if only he had had, himself, the Revelation to Achieve so that he would have understood, as Michelle Rhee does, that the way to end black poverty in the United States is the Powerpointing of U.S. education–turning education into no excuses mastery of the Coleman bullet list!
Here’s what I think Dr. King would have said about the education deform movement:
“There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” –MLK, Strength to Love, 1963
I’m a white guy born and raised in Oklahoma, named after MLK. Naming me Martin after the great man was my Mother’s wish; and while my Baptist minister Father was not a racist he preserved the peace with his flock by telling them I was named after Martin Luther. I guess lucky for him Mom didn’t named me Malcom.
MLK’s influence even reached into the backwoods of rural white Oklahoma.
If only there were more principled people like MLK Jr., Diane and Bernie Sanders, who have a conscience that is stronger than the vacuum forces of their wallets.
I relate this to the last post “Critique of Coleman Reading of Ltr from a Birmingham Jail” where Coleman presumably interprets text omitting critical thinking. Schneider’s version of corp reformers’ standards is a result of interpretation without careful research, analysis, and relating the findings to self, others, and world effects, She truly reflects on corp reformers misguided beliefs and their misinterpretation of Dr. King’s beliefs. For that they get a 1 on my rubric scale.
Corporate reformers have a self-indulgent dream turned reality. It has nothing to do with equality, civility and peace. Their dream is to dismantle and destroy public education. It’s hard to imagine that they have sustained a strong hold in exploiting our ed system for over a decade with nothing to show.
If MLK could emerge… he would be saying, “I have a dream… a dream that real educators with classroom experience, who actually care about kids no matter what their race or parental income… real educators that have a thorough knowledge of childhood development actually lead this nation’s public education policy forward… and let it start with parents having living wages, workers rights, decent housing, health care and food on the table…”
I read this piece in the Onion and immediately thought of David Coleman being the “pilot” in this piece…
http://www.theonion.com/articles/pilot-tells-passengers-hes-about-to-try-something,34934/
Thanks, Diane for all these posts honoring the spirit of MLK.
I find it ironic and despicable that TN reform leaders came out and with statements about race and separatism being acceptable for charter schools a day after our nation’s observation of MLK holiday. This was a headline on our NPR station out of Nashville this morning. http://nashvillepublicradio.org/blog/2014/01/21/dont-blame-charter-schools-for-lacking-diversity-says-top-tn-reformer/