I was honored to be invited to speak to the Chicago City Club today.
The invitation was arranged by Governor Pat Quinn, who introduced me.
I spoke about two visions of school reform, one grounded in reality and evidence, the other grounded in ideology and wishful thinking.
I put the Chicago teachers’ strike in a national context.
This post has a link to the video.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Your speech was brilliant. It pretty much says everything I have come to believe and backed it up. I could write the perfect letter to the president if I quoted every other sentence of your speech.. Perhaps you could just send him a transcript of it? Thanks for continuing to fight!
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Thank you!
Diane
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This was fantastic. I can’t help but think if everyone could hear this speech, rational thinking could begin to prevail in the field of education. Everything you say is so full of common sense in an education world filled with insanity. Thank you so much for your steady work to get this message out.
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I just heard your speech now and it was very helpful in helping me understanding watt i is at stake in education in US. I’m from Portugal and I teach in Lisbon School of Education that prepare future educators (kindergarten) and teachers until 6 grade.
In that spirit of ‘reforming’, each new government come with, let me say, new ideas and destabilize all system. Things are going towards concentration of small schools in communities into great centralized ones with thousands of students. Teachers are not valued in society and are ill payed. Privatization is under way. The huge amount of money in fees that a student must pay to take a university degree is just unbelievable just few years ago. Books, student’s transportation to schools and so on, take a huge amount of families’ income.
They are destroying public schools. The struggle in their defense continues but the ideological prejudice is huge towards a idea that what is public is worst than what is private.
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Diane,
Thank you for posting. I sent to many. Where are you next?
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I spoke in Columbus, Ohio, this morning. Met tonight with superintendents in Michigan whose districts include almost half the children in the state. Tomorrow, I speak to legislators and more superintendents. Then I fly to St. Paul, Minnesota, to speak to largest state gathering of teachers.
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Wow! You must be exhausted. We can’t wait for you here in CT/NY.
Take care of yourself! I was excited about the possible title of your book and I can’t wait to pre order.
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