Today is a day to count our blessings and to be grateful for our family, our friends, and our freedoms.
There is so much happening in the world and in our nation that is alarming. There are so many nations and regions where the great majority of people don’t have personal security, where every day is a struggle to survive, where life is cheap, where men with guns threaten everyone daily. We can be grateful to live in a nation where most people most of the time are not in constant danger.
Clearly, we have serious problems to address in our own country, especially the fact that so many live in poverty in a land of abundance. We must commit ourselves to rectifying that terrible wrong so that all can be assured of enough to eat, a good place to live, and appropriate medical care. Or as Franklin D. Roosevelt put it so eloquently in his address to Congress in 1941:
“For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:
“Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
“Jobs for those who can work.
“Security for those who need it.
“The ending of special privilege for the few. The preservation of civil liberties for all.
“The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.”
This was the speech where he enunciated The Four Freedoms:
“The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.
“The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants- everywhere in the world.
“The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.
“That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
“To that new order we oppose the greater conception—the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.”
Words spoken 74 years ago, a vision of a world that still eludes us, a vision that we must not abandon.
I am grateful to live in America. I am grateful for my family and friends. I am grateful for life and health.
I am grateful to the educators who dedicate their lives to helping children gain the skills, knowledge, and character to build a better world.
To all of you, parents, teachers, social workers, psychologists, health workers, and political activists who fight for children: Thank you.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Diane! Thank you for sharing your living room with all of us, and thank you for your tireless research & support.
HOW BEAUTIFULLY expressed. Thank you, dear colleague and friend of all teachers, for working so tirelessly. Be well.
I hope you all remember to post your “Eating Objectives” for all family members to see and be sure to point them out at least three times during the course of your meal.
Be extra thankful that you entered a helping profession that is stronger at its foundation than any corporate reform movement, stronger than any charter chain, stronger than all of the common core shills combined, stronger than any kool aid drinking, ladder climbing, mercenary administrator, stronger than any no-nothing consultant group, stronger than any politician more concerned with their career than the parents and children they should be serving, and stronger than Duncan, or King, or Gates, or Coleman, or Brown, or Cuomo, Kasich, et. al.
Be thankful that public education will out last them all.
We are blessed to have you Diane, You are a light in the darkness!
And as I thought about the meaning of thanksgiving, I thought about all the incredible educators, students, parents, and dedicated people who read our blogs – and work so hard to make a difference in their worlds – and in their honor, I posted one of my favorite Non-Common Core Tolkien quotes on my blog http://www.jonathanpelto.com
“Some believe that it is only Great Power that can hold evil in check.
But that is not what I have found.
I have found that it is the small every-day deeds of ordinary folk
that keep the darkness at bay.
Small acts of kindness and love.” – Gandalf
Back at you, Diane. Thank you.
One of our nation’s blessings is to have you, Dr. Ravitch, dedicate your life to advocating for the best public schools we can provide all of our children. I believe we are beginning to push back the corporate interests in privatizing our children’s education, and you are the leader in these victories throughout the country. Thank you, Dr. Ravtich.
Thank you, Diane, for this blog and to all who blog here. I’ve learned so much from all of you – even from those with whom I disagree. I consider everyone my teacher!
By the way, I just finished reading Diana Nyad’s autobiography Find A Way. It is a wonderful read and beautiful story in many ways. A great teacher she is.
Agree with you Mamie about learning from all the activist commentators here.
I am thankful for Diane’s body of work to make this happen, and for her tenacity to fight the good fight.
And am so grateful for all the wonderful educators and supporters of public education I have met here over the past few years. Hope you all have a peaceful and joyful feast today.
For those of you who are worried about your effectiveness, don’t let down your guard this Thanksgiving: http://nyceducator.com/2015/11/the-danielson-guide-to-highly-effective.html
Happy Thanksgiving!
I love it! Thank you, DIenne!
Dienne Wonderful.
Happy Thanksgiving to all
An Especially Happy and Hopeful Thanksgiving!!!
Dear Diane,
Thank you for your beautiful and apt words!
This site/space you have created provides enormous support for and confirmation that I am not alone.
For that, I am forever grateful.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(and I’m laughing right now because it was such a reflexive move to check out what new news there may be posted here this morning, even though it’s a national holiday. My family is a tad dismayed…)
Happy Thamksgiving to you and yours, Diane!
My thanks to you for opening your living room to us, for your wry humor, your moral indignation and your indefatigable optimism.
It is very interesting Happy thanks giving to all.
Happy thanksgiving, Diane, and thank you fro all you do to support teachers and students everywhere. You are a tremendous blessing to education.
Optimism, fueled by courage and the ability to articulate the difference between the way things are and the way things should be in education. Thanks for your work and this blog.
Best to you and yours on this Thanksgiving day.
Thank you for your continued support for a better education for all students.
Happy Thanksgiving Ms. Ravitch to you and your family.
I read your blog every day and I am thankful for your support for teachers. Thanks for being a bright light in a difficult time in education.
And thank you, Diane, for your steadfastness and courage in defending public education. While it may indeed be like drinking water from a fire hydrant, I read your blog posts religiously each day, and gain great fortitude and strength by them. Happy Thanksgiving!
Having a marvelous day. Same to everyone else on this blog.
Best to you, Diane. Stay safe and warm.
This Thanksgiving, just like on past Thanksgivings, I am very grateful for you, Diane, for all of your insights and for your sustained fight for what we know is right and best for children, educators, families and our democratic society.
I am thankful for all the people who are involved in this battle and the resistance as well.
I am also very grateful for my Jewish community, which has been generously providing the roof over my head, all of my meals and a team of specialists to help me, including many doctors who are taking care of my health problems, all for free.
What you and they are doing is truly a mitzvah. Bless you all!
Homeless Educator,
I wish you a change in your fortune. A good job, economic security, a roof over your head, good health, and someone to love you and care for you.
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” [Mark Twain]
“Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discuss better education for all.”
Color me, and many others, gratified and astonished!
😎
Thank you ever so much for your kind wishes, Diane. Hopefully, on all matters of great import, there is a direct line from your mouth to God’s ears…
Diane
To all on this blog who are like minded (that’s 99.99% of you!), I wish to express my gratitude to all of you who make a difference each and every day in the lives of activists like me, and in the lives of families, teachers, administrators, and children.
As Professor Ravitch has stated so many times, we are many, and they (privatizers) are few. Together, we will save public education.
I am reminded how fortunate I am to be part of this on/off line community, and I don’t take it for granted. Gratitude in the context of political activism and being proactive are a good combination, I have learned.
Thank you also to Diane who created and is sustaining this blog.
To all, a very happy Thanksgiving, with many bolts of positive, empowering lightening-like energy sent your way.
In solidarity and with warmth,
Robert Rendo
NBCT, Educational Leadership Candidate
Thank you, Diane. You inform and inspire us to keep up the battle.