This is one of the sharpest commentaries I have read about the depredations of the Jindal-White gang in Louisiana, who are intent on destroying public education in the state as well as the teaching profession.
Everyone can pick their favorite line; there are many.
What I appreciate is the writer’s slashing criticism of the silent education professors, who have lost their tongues, unable or unwilling to defend the people they trained, mute in the face of the vandals at the gate.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Gates Are The Vandals …
I can see it now. 19 year-olds teaching high school kids. After all, no college degree will be necessary to teach in LA. Maybe they will require a high school diploma, maybe not. Maybe kids can drop out to become a teacher!
We have several subbing in my school now. One is actually teaching a math class while the district seeks math teachers. Too bad they lost quite a few to retirement and threats of reduced pay. Accountability based on bogus tests with class sizes over 40 don’t help either. They have the nerve to say they can’t afford math teachers unless teachers take a near 20 percent pay cut while they spend millions on new tests, a superintendents “communication department,” and other wastes of money. An arbitrator ruled against them on their claims, finding they were hiding assets. When caught they admitted the truth, teachers are not a priority in their spending. Theyalso hired hundreds of TFA teachrs, costing more than the average teacher. I don’t see how these people can sleep at night.
My favorite line:
How low will Louisiana education go under Gov. Jindal? As low as an eel’s belly in a sewage pond.
Perhaps you mean “sharpest” in a crude sense–that it’s cutting and insulting. I certainly hope you aren’t equating this with sharp, substantive writing. This is all ad hominem. Didn’t you just ask for civility on the KIPP discussion?
I always strive for civility in my own writing. But when something is happening that is so loathsome and so dangerous to the future of the children of Louisiana–when politicians pander to money and privilege and zealotry–well, I say, let them have at it. One cannot rouse the citizenry to the peril of their public institutions by tiptoeing around what is happening.
I disagree. It’s an astute analysis of what is really going on. The commentary of White’s attire was reasonable – the author posits that it is part of the TFA brand which is young and hip. Wouldn’t you expect a high level education official to be dressed in an appropriate manner? What message is he really sending?? I thought the piece was brillant.
Same outfit when he spoke in our district, and same patented lines. Wondering now if we will be the next to be “reformed” by this machine after a hurricane? Jindal and White’s response is swifter than FEMA’s and carried along by a much bigger wind. Scarier than Isaac itself.
This people, is a war, another battle in the war by the elites against the masses in this country, and we are losing. It’s almost too late to salvage this country.
It’s never too late. We can’t give up. We are losing the battle, but we have to keep fighting the war. Write and call your legislators. And then do it again. Your voice matters. We have to elect legislators who actual represent us and are not bought and paid for by big corporations. Pay attention to who you vote for and not just along party lines. Do you really know what your party stands for? Do the people you vote for actually support what is important to you? Do your homework!
As someone said the other day, you don’t fight because you expect to win, but because you must fight for your dignity.
What party would you have me vote for? What party supports real education? The Socialist Party, maybe, but it’s hard to find candidates running in that party. That’s the saddest thing about this whole mess – both parties are in on it.
Wow. I thought this site would now engage in civil discussion. No more attacks on people you disagree with as being thieves, vandals, liars, or profiteers. That kind of discourse does not happen on other ed blogs, left or right, and it should not happen here. Stick to the issues.
I don’t censor other people. I only censor myself.
To seekingtruth –
TRUTH can be hidden, veiled, misrepresented, suppressed, distorted. . . but the truth about John White and Bobby Jindal requires, as we say here in Louisiana, the SLAP YA MAMA kind of treatment. If you want more proof of what they have stolen, vandalized, lied about or how they have profited from their unethical, immoral and argumentatively illegal rape of public education and the right of Louisiana citizens to participate in a state government that belongs to and was paid for by them, read some blogs written by those of us in Louisiana. Even the main stream pressed has become disenchanted as a result of the voucher debacle. http://www.louisianavoice.com, http://www.geauxteacher.net and more
To call a spade a spade is still speaking the truth.
This is gonna be great fer Louisiana. Everyone teaching there will be as well trained as Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ron RayGun’s fave pioneer grrl teechur in the Little (Libertarian) House books.
But they are thieves, vandals, liars and profiteers here in Louisiana! They are also people I disagree with. I disagree with them because I disagree with rating teachers on student test scores. I disagree with them on ACT 54 and value added. I disagree with them when our Governor and education secretary intentionally ignore the facts and twist the data to spread lies about Louisiana teachers, students and schools. I disagree with ignoring the real issues of poverty, school quality, teacher qualifications and standardized testing. I disagree with elected public officials lying, cheating and profiting from the destruction of the lives of the children of our state.
I come here for the discussions, I come to hear people express the truth and if what is happening here is not civil discourse, (I think it is quite civil for the most part and the occasional attacks are quickly rebutted or patiently ignored) then I guess we will have to agree to disagree on what civil discourse is and should discuss if the time for statesmanship has passed in this battle and it is time to change strategy?
I sometimes feel as if teachers are prisoners of this war and need the allies to arrive; I just do not know who the allies are. I thought they would be parents, education program professors, student teachers still in school, the Wongs, NIH scientists, associations like ACSD, NSTA, NTMA, Kaplans and others who write all the books, journals, seminars we attend and buy and programs we use. If they run an organization for professional teachers and there are no more professional teachers who do they think their membership will be? The graduate schools of education, doctoral programs and certification providers. Why are they silent? All the experts we go to listen to at conferences and national meetings, the employees in the state departments of education(surely they believe what they do is important?) school board members, PTAs, PTOs and governmental organizations like NASA, NOAA, US Geological Survey, and hundreds of other agencies whose resources and outreach we use. What about the United States Military branches who are constantly short of qualified, educated, diploma holding troops? Does the Department of Defense intend to recruit graduates of virtual schools, students from charters taught by people who are not certified and maybe have college degrees? Do they want to depend on the for profit companies who are even now submitting their applications for Louisiana’s Course Choice program intended to remove even more students from Louisiana public high schools. Will these programs free of accountability and totally opaque to the parents and community produce men and women with the skills and commitment for national defense? Do they not see that the destruction of public schools will eventually make them obsolete? Do they not all have a stake in collaboratively helping teachers make our schools the best and able to meet the needs of the children we serve?
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
I’ve often wondered what the hook was for the Gates Foundation’s unrelenting involvement in (and the dissemination of propaganda about) K12 education and I was never quite sure. I think I may have just found the financial incentive. The Microsoft IT Academy Programs have been expanding into K12 education and they will begin this fall in 21 Louisiana districts: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/22/4747605/louisiana-launches-microsoft-it.html
Microsoft IT Academies are literally all over the globe, with “10,000 Microsoft IT Academy Program members in over 160 countries”. The Gates push for online learning probably isn’t just about getting kids ready for the 21st century global economy, when Microsoft has a vested interest in expanding elearning in the K12 market. It looks to me like Microsoft benefits from licensing agreements. (They have an endorsement disclaimer.)
Still, Microsoft has had this training program in place for years, so why would they claim they’ve had to make special arrangements to bring in workers from India to fill positiions, due to a lack of qualified workers here? Cheaper labor? How to obtain that here? Train American high school kids?
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/itacademy/ita-locator.aspx
May not be the type of journalism that one would see in more widely read publications, regardless, the piece was truthful and very to the point of what we are facing in Louisiana. We started the 2012 hurricane season long before its actual beginning customary date. It started with the election of Bobby Jindal for a second term and then the appointment of TFAer John White as state superintendent. The eye became bigger and more compact with the Jindal appointments to BESE and the well financed campaigns of other Jindal favorites. These two have caused a huge breach in the foundation of Louisiana’s public schools.
Diane,
I am an education professor and just retired as head of a school of education and I am outraged by what the policymakers are doing to education. Most of the attacks have been of P-12 public education, but they are also being aimed at teacher educators and teacher education. When the governor of Michigan presented his education reform message last year, I began trying to address these attacks with truth and reason. I wrote letters to the governor and legislatures and meet with others to try to stem the tide of these destructive reforms, but it seems clear the political machine is moving ahead with its agenda. They are not inviting or allowing discourse on these issues.
I believe in the power of truth and have tried to address the falsehoods that are being touted in the name of reform. I am not sure why there has not been a groundswell of education professors speaking up against these wrongs and using their knowledge and position to assist the cause of education. I wish more would. Like other teachers, they may feel helpless or so beaten down that they do not feel that they can do anything. Even if the reforms that will deform education move ahead, I do not want to have sat by and not done what I could to do what I thought was right.
I admire your spirit and am amazed by your prodigious effort, reasoned approach and keen intellect. You are doing much to give voice to those who know what is happening is wrong, but do not know how to address it. In my effort, I have contributed two books and several blogs online that I have made freely available to everyone to show why these reforms will not work and what is needed if we truly what to improve education. I am hoping that others will make decisions based on facts and reason and do the right thing for our children and their future. Even it they do not, at least I have done what I thought I could to protect the integrity of teachers and education. If anyone would like to look at and use what I have written, they may go to http://rodclarken.wordpress.com/published-works/
May you be aided in your efforts to serve truth and justice with your balanced, caring and thoughtful observations.
We in elementary schools were your canaries in the mines. I think your colleagues may have waited too long. We needed your help as our mentors to articulate to the public the truth from your still respected positions as scholars. It may be too late, we may have to rebuild education after this mess runs it’s course and collapses under it’s own weight. We are in for a long hard fight. Churchill was right, we should have joined this fight a whole lot sooner! Join Us!
Parents and teachers must unite and find creative ways to fight back. Both Democrats and Republicans are in a race to see who can mortgage our public education system to corporate interests first. Both Fox news and CNN and other media outlets in between are owned by many of these same interests and aligned against us. Reason won’t work and they will just continue to delete anyone who disagrees with them, and provide free infomercials for lowlifes like Michele Rhee.
Tru Dat …