Several readers asked whether my reply to Alexander Nazaryan of Newsweek would be reposted where more readers might see it.
Nazaryan took Louis C.K. to task for criticizing Common Core. I explained patiently to Alexander why I agreed with Louis.
Happily, Valerie Strauss saw the post (which I spend a few hours writing at a time when I should have been icing my damaged knee), and she reposted in on her Washington Post blog today.
As for the knee, it is not looking so great right now.
I have many complications facing me, in large part because I am on blood thinners and I have to suspend their use for the surgery.
That puts me at grave risk because the most dangerous part of knee surgery is blood clots, which are life-threatening.
It is all too much to deal with, let alone think about, so I was glad to have the diversion of writing a letter to Alexander.
I must say he was extremely generous in his Tweets in response. He said in one of them that his wife agrees with me, and I tweeted back that his wife is brilliant.
Isn’t it a strange new world that we live in, where strangers communicate via Twitter and other social media and have friendly (and sometimes unfriendly) exchanges?
I think Alexander is an intelligent man, and I don’t really believe he wants schools to be joyless.
I believe he will keep thinking about these issues and come to see that learning and joy are not mutually exclusive.
Sometimes the problems that are hardest to solve are the sources of the greatest joy.
And sometimes I think I should just go ice my knee.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And sometimes the victory is stepping into the challenge, not walking away. Yes now go and ice your knee!! Take care of yourself!!
Please ice your knee and stay well. You must continue these blogs that have invigorated me and several colleagues. Your voice inspires ours at the local level – and we have to hang in there. Older teachers don’t have all the answers, but the difference between us and the millennials, who seem to be implementing the reforms lock-step, is that they think they do. Dialogue as we know it, i.e. intelligent discussions among professionals, seems to be lost in this reform hysteria.
Michele, I’m still here. You hang in there and so will I.
Alexander called me a shill for the UFT and told me teachers like me were why people no longer respected teaching. The man is clearly a deep thinker.
Arthur, it is clear that Alexander doesn’t know you. Apparently, anyone who doesn’t hate unions is a shill. I am called that too, and I don’t belong to a union.
Isn’t it pitiful that he even gets to write garbage and have his voice heard. He knows nothing and has never interviewed large swaths of teachers to find out what is going on in this country. He is another clueless fool.
Very sorry to hear about your knee, and I hope you get well soon.
I always think about what I would rather regret. I know a lot of people who have have more trouble after surgery than they had from the original condition. Have you thought about what would happen if you didn’t have it? I hate to think of you suffering because of your injury in the line of duty. We have too many fallen soldiers as it is.
I hope all turns out well for you no matter what. And thank you for your tireless efforts on behalf of children and their schools and teachers all over this country.
LHP, I thought I could skip the surgery. I had no pain. Then last night, my knee buckled and I went down. When I finally got off the floor, I knew I needed a new knee.
That’s awful. Best with all this, Diane!
Dear Diane,
I often feel wobbly in the knees when encountering anti-education policies the reformies dream up–they are so anti-children and learning that they fill me with dread. You use your deep experience to wade through bad idea after bad idea every day–no wonder your knee needs some healing!
I think of you often and say my own, little prayers for your speedy recovery and good health. Be well and know that total strangers care deeply for your well being.
Thank you, Christine. You are kind.
Sorry to hear your knee problem is creating more complications. I hope everything turns out well.
As for Alexander….he also sent the following tweet to Arthur Goldstein “People like you are the reason teaching isn’t respected more.” Obviously Arthur got under his skin so that’s good news. As for me, I think journalists aren’t respected any more due to their one-sided reporting when it comes to Reforms.
Yes, many journalists these days are nothing more than puppets for whatever corporation owns them. He is a prime example of someone who has done absolutely no in depth journalism. How many of America’s real teachers has he interviewed?
He probably calls up people like Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee and asks, “Hey what would you like me to write about education and teachers this week?”
Re: the concept of joyless schools for the already joy-deprived (read “common core”, “rigor”, “grit”, “standardization”, “raising the bar”…you know, the things those with death grips on obscene wealth do when they refuse to acknowledge the power of equity in building a nation strong in moral fiber and character-not just equipped with data warehouses, drones, and nuclear powered aircraft carriers)
This is the one thing that has me questioning the value of “hanging in there”.
Joy is already so lacking in the lives of a growing number of children coming into public school classrooms-and it is more and more evident in the youngest kids. Once upon a time you had to wait for the jaded adolescent to maybe give up and grow distrustful of adults and distance themselves from peers, but the failure of trickle down economics policy to work, and the refusal of those in power (on BOTH sides of “the aisle”) to admit this failure and their own reasons for sticking with it has led to a deteriorating morale and deteriorating economic and emotional security that DOES trickle down…right onto and into the hearts and heads of our youngest.
The privileged and pompous who would offer themselves as fit to reform the rest of us need to have their power and privilege taken away.
When true equity in opportunity becomes the goal; when we stop revering “investors and job creators” that have done little more the raze the public commons; when bankers, lobbyists and politicians are as accountable as the rest of us; when the middle class families that made this country great are employed and empowered to be at home to model, guide, love and tuck their children in at night…
Well then, our nation will truly thrive and joy will return to our schools-not just those cushy charters and private schools-but the one I teach at and my little girls attend as well!
I hope they live to see it.
TAGO!!
May I suggest an ottoman, stool, or chair to put your leg up on comfortably with ice targeting your knee, while you type on your computer? Please take care of yourself!
Ice your knee, for God’s sake!
Now you KNOW you’re a teacher Diane. When one is walking the fine line between putting 110% into educating versus trying not to neglect one’s own basic health/safety needs, you can consider yourself a teacher.
Hannah, I am honored.
well said, Hannah!
I’ve heard bags of frozen peas or other small veggies work even better than ice cubes or ice packs.
true. corn, peas, etc or a gel-type ice pack. Cubes are too chunky and don’t conform as well to the shape of the injured location.
Oooh, medical device shopping is something positive to do when you can’t get your mind off it.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=653&q=therapeutic+gel+ice+packs&oq=therapeutic+gel+ice+packs&gs_l=img.3..0i24.2347.12420.0.13790.25.25.0.0.0.0.186.2328.20j5.25.0.ehm_loc%2Chmss2%3Dfalse…0…1.1.42.img..0.25.2317.gU0I7498pEc#hl=en&q=orthopedic+gel+ice+packs&tbm=isch&imgdii=_
Diane,
Please TAKE CARE of your KNEE! We will still be here. Your health is most important.
Yvonne, I will post blogs in advance so you won’t know I’m gone!
RICE we need you on the front lines ASAP!
Let us miss you and worry about you a little bit. You are like a mother who makes sure the freezer is full of everyone’s favorites before she goes away. I want to worry about you! I just don’t want you to worry. 🙂
Peter Greene points out the irony and hypocrisy of reformists (who have little to no education experience or credentials) complaining that Louis CK should be ignored because he is not in education:
http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/05/sorry-newsweek-but-youre-wrong-about.html
Alan: an old dead French guy nailed them long ago—
“Hypocrisy of the homage vice pays to virtue.” [François de la Rochefoucauld]
And to the owner of this blog—there are many many of who are grateful that you fit an approving observation by an old dead Greek guy:
“And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.” [Homer]
However, a not-so-long-ago American guy also reminds us:
“The first wealth is health.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson]
Take care.
😎
Correction:
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
😕
I’m glad they ran that someplace where people can see it. Nazaryan doesn’t deserve all the attention. Knee replacement.
As soon as you’re stabilized after the surgery, they’ll start you on the blood thinners again. It’s looks scary, because a day or two after the surgery all the bruises start appearing from their operating room tools, but everything turns out to be fine. They have ultrasound machines that can visualize the blood flow in your legs to monitor for any clots. They brought one to my rehab hospital after I transferred, but you could get one of those brought to your room, I think, and just keep it there so you don’t have to worry so much. Because you’re a Very Important Person.
Also, about the pressure stockings. You need to make sure there’s somebody there who actually knows how to get the right size, and put them on correctly because it’s hard to reach your feet. Don’t let just any stray aides do that, and get your medical team to give very clear instructions to the patient caregivers, so they won’t be hurried or untrained in specific protocols.
It is indeed tough, and then it’s done (which is the best thing about it).
Thanks, Chemtchr. It all sounds very scary to me, and I don’t scare easily.
Surgery is always scary, but you are going to be in very good hands, and you will be amazed at how the body heals. Meanwhile, keep icing! It really makes a difference. Then may I suggest you print out this beautiful piece and have it nearby after surgery to inspire you: http://teachersofconscience.wordpress.com/position-paper/
New York City teachers really are amazing!
A friend of mine is having “minimally invasive” knee replacement soon. I don’t know what that is or how it’s even possible, but I’m not a doctor and, unlike the rephormers, I trust professionals to know their profession. Is something like that possible for you, Diane? Might be worth asking about, if you haven’t already.
In any case, let me be about the thousandth person to beg you to please take care of yourself. We are all pulling for you.
Make me number 2002, in wishing Diane Ravitch an excellent outcome from her surgery. I think she is part of a cosmic plan to save democracy. No wonder her knees are buckling, it’s the weight of the world. : – )
As a working journalist myself, I often wonder if my colleagues in the fragile news business have thought it through when they repeatedly shower large groups of people with contempt — teachers, union members, public employees, people getting or hoping to get pensions. Nazaryan’s public blasts at Louis C.K., and by extension the many parents who share his concerns, raise that question again. Is Newsweek really in such a stable position that it can afford to heap people with public disdain? Is there any fear at all about reaping what it sows?
Now, Diane, go ice your knee!
please get and stay well. we need you ‘education strong…’
i hope you feel better Diane! I am a special ed teacher in BK (hate my job), your blog gives me hope.
Never lose hope, Mary. It is our life blood.
My friend who taught in Bkyn said, “Love my work, hate my job.”
Carry on.
that is sweet of you, thank you.
My brother (who has had more surgeries than I want to think about) had knee surgery (patellar tendon I think that one was) and was given this dandy icing cooler contraption by the hospital. You fill a modified small to medium sized ice chest with water and ice and then you put the cuff (like a blood pressure cuff with velcro strips) around your knee and plug in the cooler. It has tubes that send the ice water through the cuff to ice your knee in 15 minute intervals. It supposedly speeds healing and ices both the front and back of your knee. My brother swears by it. Do you want to borrow it? I’m on Long Island but I’ll gladly deliver it to you!
Diane you will definitely want to borrow that ice machine!
In our culture of celebrity worship, a person like C.K. (whoever he is) gets more attention than an expert in education. Isn’t that sad? Remember when Matt Damon was trying to save public education all by himself. What does Matt Damon know about education? His mother was a teacher…OK? We teachers are the sergeants in the trenches with big classes, fighting the big fight on the ground level. The administrators are sipping coffee, preparing their “1” opening PowerPoint on the welcome back day. We teachers prepare 5 50 minute presentations a day!
Brilliant response, Dr. Ravitch! We teachers thank you for giving us a voice. I am in one of Newsweek’s top 100 public high schools, and the morale has never been lower. We have fantastic, veteran teachers who are leaving or waiting to leave. They’re sick of it. Mid-career level teachers like myself need to survive the “purges” and keep going. I just concentrate on my classroom and ignore everything else. I recommend all teachers to do the same. I do the absolute minimum on everything that doesn’t concern my classroom.
I will be pulling for you as you enter this scary new knee surgery phase. I understand it takes time to heal.
The work you have been doing is inspiring many. Get those peas on the knees and take care of yourself. We need you.
Diane, best wishes for a successful surgery and recovery. Your doctors and nurses, I am sure, will take good care of you. Blogging is an excellent complement to recovery, but be sure to listen to your medical professionals!
Diane,
I admire and respect you. Thank you for your wisdom and support for public education. Listening to you speak in person is at the top of my bucket list. Get well soon so you can come to Madison, WI. Both of your speaking engagements were canceled due to the blood clot and knee injury. I am praying for a speedy recovery. You are my hero!!!!
Pamela, I will recover and look forward to giving you a hug.
😀
Your article was amazing. Thanks for giving teachers some dignity and understanding. That sure seems to be on short supply these days. Please take care of yourself. I know your surgery will go perfectly.
Ice that knee!
Senior citizen with hip replacement wishes all the best. Let people help you. And be super diligent on the rehab. You will learn more about your anatomy than you ever wanted to know., and if you are on blood thinners you already know more than you probably expected.
Knee first please!! You deserve the best Doc’s/PT’s there are. If you do end up needing surgery, my friend had same issues with blood thinners and was monitored very closely for a successful hip replacement.
Dear God, Bless this “eshet chayil,” this woman of valor, on whom so many depend for insight, wisdom and guidance. Please keep her healthy and strong for many more years to come. May she one day soon enjoy the fruits of her labor and arrive in the Promised Land, along with the many teachers, parents, children and grandchildren she seeks to protect from the formidable throes of power elites, charlatans and capitalists gone wild. Amen.
Please ice your knee and take care of yourself. Wishing you a speedy recovery from the surgery. 💐💜
So glad that this piece is getting wider circulation. It’s superb.
Please, please, please, take care of yourself.
I’m sure many, many people will be thinking of you and praying for you, Diane. And, although I’m not a particularly religious person, I think that fact really DOES matter. You have shown so much compassion for others. And that love doesn’t just disappear….it carries on, being shared and growing. Look at all the people you’ve already brought together through your writing and trips across the country. Once you get clear of this latest challenge in your life your heart will be that much stronger. I imagine you in a short while relaxing in a lawn chair somewhere with your knee up healing, as you enjoy the summer sun -finally after this long, grueling winter. Of course, you’ll probably be typing away, too. You’ll truly be a force to be reckoned with then, Diane Ravitch! Take care. -John O.
Godspeed
Ice the knee! I want you to get better so your energy isn’t sapped by knee and back pain. What a combination. Anyway, we want your knee healed so you can keep on kicking the stuffing out of the so-called reformers. Can’t do that as well with a brace on your knee. May your doctors quickly figure out how to solve the blood thinning problem. Surely, they’ve faced it before? And surely, unlike TFA, they’ve had more than 5 weeks of “training.” 🙂
Diane, Please take the best possible care of yourself that you can! You are as close to indispensable as exists in the field of public education and advocacy thereof. Rob
I agree. Please preserve yourself. You are a national treasure.
Diane:
I am so sorry you’re having pain and complications. We are thinking positive thoughts about you, your knee and all else.
Love, Harriet and Tom