More evidence, this time in the Chicago Tribune, that Wall Street hedge fund managers and Obama Democrats are pouring money into the fight against the public school teachers of Chicago.
I know that Republicans get a hearty laugh when they see Democratic mayors like Rahm Emanuel and Cory Booker and Antonio Villaraigosa at war with the teachers’ unions in their cities. I am on several conservative mailing lists and I can practically hear they snickering and cheering every time a Democcratic mayor praises school choice, privatization, and charters while warring with the teachers.
I wonder if any of the people at the White House pause to wonder how these district-level battles will affect the election in 2012? Remember, the Presidential election?
Will teachers who have been pounded into submission by Rahm Emanuel and Obama operative and Wall Street titans vote for Obama? Maybe they will hold their noses and vote, but will they knock on doors, will they call their friends and relatives, will they volunteer on election day to help the same people that are now bullying them?
Just asking.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Well if the unions didn’t become partisan HACKS!!! Parents like me have NO sympathy for the union heads who put partisanship above the teachers and the students.
I understand that there is a WAR ON TEACHERS. That war began with the Race to the Top when it focused on tying a teacher’s evaluation to a ‘test’. Who does the union endorse?? The very people who stabbed the teachers in the back: Obama.
The unions need to start caring about the teachers and the students more than their POWER.
They spout Marxist ideology, endorse politicians who’ve targeted teachers and are almost silent on the reform efforts that do nothing to improve academic excellence.
I despise the Obama Admin’s war on teachers and disappointed that some Republicans really don’t see the big picture. But if you think I’m going to sympathize with partisan Marxist union leaders, it’s not going to happen.
My concern is for the teacher who is there to do their job and make a difference in a child’s life. Those are the ones I see as the “target” right now by Duncan, Obama, Marc Tucker and Bill Gates.
Jeez, MOM: I am a state union leader and this has never, never been my experience in 40 years of teaching and union activism. Marxist ideology? Really? Where I come from, we only endorse politicians who are supportive of kids, schools, public education, and of course, education employees like teachers, paras, secretaries, food service workers, bus drivers, librarians, school nurses, etc., etc. etc. We work hard to support school improvement–I refuse to call it school reform–as we have done for decades. I really cannot imagine to whom you refer as partisan, Marxist union leaders. I know the 50 other state leaders–including Department of Defense leaders–and not one of them strikes me as having this bent.
You know, there are teachers who are Marxists but I have never actually met one (no, I did meet one once).
I have met many thousands of teachers and they are no different from you and me.
They love kids, they love to teach, they love their country.
They are the salt of the earth.
Our society couldn’t grow and prosper without them.
I am amazed at how they are able to handle a classroom of 25 five-year-olds or 35 teenagers.
I have heard teenagers say the vilest things to their teachers, and they take it and keep teaching.
I think you are too smart to fall for this wacko claim that our teachers are teaching Marxism.
That is unfair, untrue, and damages the good names of millions of dedicated, hard working teachers who are doing God’s work.
Diane
Yes, that “Lesser Of Two Insanities” thing will force the compos mentis among us to vote for Obama one more time, but it has become clear that it will be a long hard fight at every local to national level before we can restore even so much as small “d” democratic rule in this country, much less cure the soul of the big “D” Democratic Party.
Funny you should post this, Dr. Ravitch. Everytime I get an e-mail from the Obama campaign I reply with exactly what you say in your last paragraph. I cannot walk the streets, or donate to the campaign because of their attack on teachers and their own ties to Wall Street. I sure hope others are replying too. (I always get a thank you, but if they really read my replies, they won’t be thanking me. 🙂 )
I do the same. They sent me a survey asking about my “support” – I’m voting Green 🙂
I also have replied as you, saying that I will once again support, volunteer, donate & vote the ticket WHEN–& ONLY when–1.Arne Duncan is replaced w/an ed. professional (I specify Dr. L.D.-Hammond or Dr. Ravitch!); 2. RttT is repealed; the testing is
STOPPED, & the $$$ allocated to Pearson for testing (each yr.) is
put back into the schools; 3. The D.o.Ed. is either streamlined or abolished. Lots of $$ saved to put into Ed. funding. AND–this has to be accomplished by the end of October, before the elections.
However–to be effective–ALL of us out there need to do this. They need to get hundreds of thousands of these.Otherwise, no attention will be paid, I am sure.
Obama doesn’t want a strike in his home town before the election, and teachers don’t want to strike either. The difference is, we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure high-quality classrooms for all +400,000 students in CPS. We have NEVER before been so organized as to get 90% of 22,000 teachers to approve of the Union Strike Authorization Vote. Never before have Chicago parents been so galvanized with the CTU that they have gone door-to-door, precinct-by-precinct to get a referendum for an elected school board. This mayor, this president and their paid-for corporatist administrations have set the tone for a fighting Union, and a city that backs it. It’s time to call the bluff for all Unions across America.
I agree with you that the Chicago teachers really are fighting for all Unions. It’s been said that the movement to bust unions and shrink the middle-class (and let’s remember that effort to dismantle public schools is but one part of this bigger movement) began during the Air Traffic Controllers strike, specifically when the other unions refused to support the strike and crossed the picket lines.
If it comes to a strike, I hope your union receives the broad based support it deserves. Perhaps your fight will be the bookend to the Air Traffic Controllers Strike and serve to reverse the course we are on.
While I would like to think that Obama is a good person, I do not believe he surrounds himself with decent advisors. His stance on public education is one of several reasons why many consider voting against him or not voting at all. In response, I would like to take a second to define where the fight for public education is losing. We simply do not have the funds to match the corporate donors which support privatization. Those funds are seen in the increasingly numerous attack ads against anyone who supports public education funding. This is happening on every level, local, state, and federal. Since the Citizens United ruling in January of 2010, billions have been spent to insert corporatist candidates in key offices.
Let’s reflect on the lessons learned from the 2010 mid-term elections:
– Corporations and billionaires successfully bought elections, proving how easy and
profitable it is to do.
– State and local governments passed legislation and no-bid contracts which highly
favored their campaign financiers.
– Increased attack advertising had the effect of increasing voter apathy, which favored
those who had large campaign coffers.
– Congress failed to come to consensus on obviously needed legislation while passing
laws which further allowed investment banks to commit fraud.
– As the candidate requires more funding to secure a position, they become more
dependent on the good graces of their financiers. Federal politicians are more likely
than local ones to stand firm against anything which would negatively affect their donors.
When partisanship is purchased, political compromise for the people is rare.
I would ask people to remember that this election may decide our fate for generations to come. The Supreme Court currently leans conservative, with two of the justices, Thomas and Scalia, ruling on cases in which they had blatant conflict-of-interests. Both regularly attended Tea Party functions and Mrs. Thomas received over $600,000 from the Heritage Foundation before the Citizens United ruling. The two ways to reverse the ruling are to pass a constitutional amendment or for the president to shift the Supreme Court. Since most congressional politicians are getting paid by the very interests which want to allow corporate personhood and endless campaign financing, it is unlikely that a constitutional amendment will be passed. The only way for the people to regain their voice as constituents is to re-elect Obama and pray that he pushes for a liberal Supreme Court.
Until the Citizens United ruling is reversed, we will never be able to match the campaigns of the privateers and corporate shills. Public education will fall along with consumer, worker, and environmental protections.
Thank you for all that you do for public education, Mrs. Ravitch. Your tenacity helps inspire many of us who might otherwise fall into despair.
Sincerely,
Michael
Loving husband of a 3rd grade teacher
“The only way for the people to regain their voice as constituents is to re-elect Obama and pray that he pushes for a liberal Supreme Court.”
THIS.
Seriously? He hasn’t done enough damage yet?
In response to MWAB – The question really isn’t whether Obama or Romney would do worse for education. They have both indicated they will push for privatization and testing.
Understand that those who are running the game have been playing it for 30+ years, infiltrating both sides and playing us all against each other. We have few, if any, politicians who truly appeal to their constituents instead of their contributors. The states which had campaign financing laws no longer have the right to apply them, leading to a massive injection of corporatist politicians in our local, state, and federal positions.
If the teachers want public education to continue to exist, they will need to support measures which eliminate corporate personhood and the conflation of money and speech. Between the ALEC, Heritage Foundation, CATO Institute, Reason TV, Americans for Prosperity, and other such groups funded by the Koch brothers, there has been a massive push to privatize education. The same groups, which claim to be libertarian while pushing for corporatocracy, pushed heavily for the Citizens United ruling so that they could inject massive sums of money into our political campaigns. They have been in trouble in the past for illegal campaign contributions from a foreign subsidiary, so they figured out how to do it legally.
“A foreign subsidiary of U.S. corporate giant Koch Industries acknowledged making thousands of dollars in illegal contributions to state candidates between 2005 and 2009 and agreed to settle a case brought by the Federal Election Commission.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/foreign-company-admits-illegal-cash-donations-us-state/story?id=13979521
Romney has already stated that he would shift the Supreme Court further right with justices similar to Clarence Thomas and Anthony Scalia, both of whom ruled on the Citizens United case under extreme conflict-of-interest.
“As a candidate, Romney has pledged to nominate judges in the mold of the Supreme Court’s four most conservative justices.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/19/us-usa-campaign-court-romney-idUSBRE83I18U20120419
If this happens, corporate rule over our politicians, and therefore our taxes and how they are spent, will be solidified for at least a generation.
If I don’t drive, why should I pay taxes to repair the roads? Why not privatize road repair?
You may not drive, but the odds are fairly high that you receive cheaper goods and services because those roads are in place. In the same manner, even if someone doesn’t personally have a child they benefit greatly from a society which makes quality public education a priority. When students do not successfully graduate from high school, their options become very limited. They can join the military, get a minimum wage job (if they are lucky), get on welfare or turn to crime. We can rule out starting a successful business for the majority of them as they usually do not have access to startup capital.
If the graduation rate decreases, the average income level of a city follows suit while the crime rates increase. Medical, car, and house insurance premiums increase while home values decrease, making it more difficult for the average person to afford their existing lifestyle. This all happens at the same time the need for welfare and prison services increases. While I expect that we will soon see dramatic cuts to welfare funding, I doubt the prisons will have the same. If the average cost per student is $11,000 and the average cost per inmate is $22,000, then we end up saving significant money through public education. That doesn’t even account for losses of property or the significant opportunity cost per criminal.
Contrary to popular belief, it is much more ‘fiscally responsible’ to properly train the next generation of adults than to defund the public schools and privatize the market. I could go into detail regarding the specific reasons why privatizing education leads to increased costs and decreased quality, but for now I’ll leave that to Mrs. Ravitch.
Let’s keep up the needed fight. We can not keep money winning! Stand behind the CTU.
Sometimes you need to have your party lose an election to remind them to support their base.
This is where I get confused. Support them HOW? Financially?? Because they can pay you more and you’d still be screwed with all of the reforms they are instituting.
Common Core IS an attack on teachers. It shifted the attack from schools to teachers.
Maybe the BASE should be rallying against the entire reform effort and explaining WHY this is not only bad for teachers but students too.
I recently read a blog post that I wish I had saved. It was written by a budding journalist. He argued that there was no need for a 3rd party since the contrasts were so clear between the two current parties. (I believe he’s one of the early casualties of NCLB)
With each passing day, I’m starting to believe the old Vietnam adage/strategy of having to destroy the village to save it. I’m holding out hope, but like you -it doesn’t look good.
I absolutely agree! President Obama & the DNC need to know that we are NOT going to vote for him again UNLESS he changes education policy. (I am voting for candidates
this year, not for parties. For the first time, I voted for some moderate Republicans in recent state elections–the Democrats running were simply not qualified.)
And. let’s be honest–the Obama Administration has, unfortunately, done even more damage to the American public school system than even the previous administration–& it CONTINUES to do damage.Do they not listen to us at all?!
Therefore, Carol, you are 100% correct.
What a shame! No hope or change, as promised. Now “Forward”. Where I ask? I’m in a quandary. I’ll probably vote, but probably not volunteer. My Dad who helped integrate the State Department with his hiring practices was so happy and proud to be able to vote for Obama. He thought he was an exceptional guy and believed that he would do well. So to did I. Imagine my shock at the teacher bashing, the failure to prosecute Bush war criminals, Wall Street financiers and bankers, “kill lists”, NDAA and an abject march towards dismantling public education. Too bad this isn’t a dream. Too bad we’re living this nightmare. Too bad we’re left with this Hobbesian choice. Too bad there isn’t a viable alternative. Maybe that will change in 2012. We deserve better.
Prosecute Bush? The Democrats rolled out the red carpet for the war in Iraq. You can’t impeach a President you helped !
We are in the midst of Crony Capitalism and shockingly, the only person I’ve heard address this is…drumroll….Sarah Palin. Go read what she says about crony Capitalism.
The Corps now have to jockey for political power the same way as the Union heads and the poverty pimps. This is your master and you better learn how to play the game.
The corps learned, the union heads learned, the poverty pimps learned but we simply do not have the political power.
The power USED to lie with the people. However when you give more and more power to the Govt. you then have to go to them begging and pleading for the crumbs they are willing to dish out.
You gave them your retirement through Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, free housing, food stamps, free education which is no different than Bank America wanting free taxpayer money.
The feds will not give up control of the classroom until you shut down the U.S. DOE . They simply do not trust the teachers or the parents. Democrats pay off the unions and the unions continue to sell out the teachers in the process.
The unions learned how to play the game just as the Corps did.
Until we give the power back to the people, nothing will change. Teachers will continue to beg and plead for their crumbs just like everyone else. They will throw you that crumb once in a while. If you aren’t paying attention you will think you were empowered. But you’ve only been thrown a crumb by your master.
I must, sadly, agree with some of what you say,MOMwithAbrain. Games are being played, people are making money on the backs of us all. Insofar as unions are concerned, however, I compare their leaders to the candidate situations. As I’d previously stated, I am scrutinizing candidates on their own merits, not parties. So, too, are some union leaders good–the members voted for the right one–CTU & Karen Lewis as a good example. The NEA, however, hasn’t been great–in fact, an early endorsement of Obama-Biden last year left its membership stunned. In that same vein, some people in Chicago think Randi Weingarten (AFT President) is great, because she showed up to support the CTU. However, ask NYC teachers, & you’ll get a completely different story–read some of their blogs (NYC Teacher is a great one), & you’ll find out about the horrible position NYC teachers have been put in, getting no support from the UFT.
We all have to remember what we learned in math (courtesy of teachers!)–99% IS greater than 1%, so let’s get OUR leaders, & DO something…like the CTU.