Many of us have wondered whether President Obama hears the voices of teachers. Many have wondered whether he understands that educators–not only teachers, but principals and superintendents–despise Race to the Top and see it as a calculated effort to undermine professionalism and advance the privatization agenda. And many have wondered whether the President knows that he may be jeopardizing his re-election by turning off an important part of his base.
I would add to all this wondering that a lot of us will have to swallow hard, forget our passion for education, and vote for Obama. The alternative is too alarming to contemplate.
Mark Naison, who blogs regularly, has written an important column about these issues, which I reprint here:
How to Lose a Close Election
Virtually ever poll now has President Obama and Mitt Romney embroiled in an extremely close race. The President could very well win this election; but he could also lose. And if he does lose, I will have to go back to something I first started saying nearly three years- namely that turning off the nation’s teachers with educational policies which silence their voice, and put them under extreme stress, is not only bad for the nation’s schools, it could cripple the President’s re-election efforts.
Many of you have read some of my blog posts which made this argument, and have seen the “Dump Duncan” petition which I helped to draft which called on the President to remove his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, incorporate the nation’s teachers into Education Policy discussions, and stop requiring schools to ratchet up the number of standardized tests to receive federal funding.
But what you haven’t seen, or known about, is my private efforts to engage people close the president in conversation about teachers disillusionment, efforts which were totally unsuccessful. The President’s inner circle, from what I could gather, refused to bend on support for Race to the Top and Secretary Duncan. They were not only convinced that these policies would end up improving the nation’s schools; they felt that the political gains to be made in terms of support from large funders and influential journalists was far greater than any losses that would occur in terms of teacher enthusiasm, particularly since they knew the largest teachers unions would support the President no matter what policies he chose to implement.
Now, at crunch time, when it’s too late to change course, I can tell you that this judgment was a severe miscalculation. Not only have the President’s policies failed to narrow testing gaps by race and class, they have contributed to teacher morale in the nation to be the lowest it has been since pollsters began measuring this trait. But the political consequences may have been even more serious than the educational ones. Most teachers will probably end up voting for the President, but from what I have seen, in both New York and around the nation, they will not be manning phone banks, canvassing in their neighborhoods, travelling to swing states on the weekends and generally giving time, money and energy to assure the President’s election the way they did in 2008.
Many pundits attribute the Obama victory in 2008 to an incredibly strong “ground game” composed of huge numbers of volunteers, as well as paid staff, working to get out the vote in battleground states. Many of those individuals, including me, my wife, and many of my friends, were teachers, professors and school administrators. During this election, I know of few, if any educators putting in that kind of heroic effort, almost entirely because they are feeling betrayed by the President, indeed, by the entire Democratic Party, on educational issues, even though they support the President’s positions on reproductive freedom, gay rights, taxation and medical care.
There is no way of knowing whether the phenomenon I am describing is will be a “game changer” in this election. But based on what I have seen in 2008 and in this campaign, there is a chance it could be. And if it is, the Obama brain trust has no one to blame but themselves, because they have had ample opportunity to change course, and indeed have been pleased with by many of their supporters to do just that.
Mark Naison
October 22, 2012
Mark D Naison
Professor of African American Studies and History
Fordham University
“If you Want to Save America’s Public Schools: Replace Secretary of Education Arne Duncan With a Lifetime Educator.” http://dumpduncan.org/
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Mark- astute as always.
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Good Morning- I can tell you from all of the teachers and principals that I have spoken to, most of whom are women, WILL NOT BE THE FEET ON THE STREET for the Presidential election, nor will they support Governor Cuomo should he decide to run for President in 2016 with Pearson Publishing perhaps being a major contributor to his campaign. Dr. Jill Stein , of the Green Party has come to the forefront in many discussions. Teachers realize this will cost President Obama precious votes; however, they feel that their livelihood is at stake. Many women teachers feel this growth model influencing their evaluations is DISCRIMINATION. It isn’t a pretty sight. Marge
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I’ll start at the end – hell will freeze over before I’ll EVER vote for another obama – clinton DLC Third Way New Dem lying yuppie sell out. period.
Under my 52 year old belt I have 8 prior POTUS elections, all for the Dem.
I have 3 careers, including 8 in this high school math teacher thing. I was a cook in Boston for 5 years in fancy fine dining places & I made enough money to go back to school risking my neck cooking on Berring Sea fishing boats and tugs. I worked in support at Microsoft for 5 years after I got my math degree.
I was a teenager on welfare in the 70’s, I’ve been on unemployment and retraining and student loans and financial aid and 20 different ‘health’ plans, including Cross Your Fingers too often.
I voted FOR these phake moderate sell outs cuz I thought they were going to use all their high level degrees, credentials, rolodexes, job titles, and paychecks to really really change on government worked – so that the blatant lies of the Raygun-Cheney-Newt-Mitt-Perrry-Palin crowd would NEVER have any credibility.
Instead of getting 15% of what I want, the lying thieves get 90% of what they want. To hell with the sell out branch of the Democratic Party, and the “leaders” who try to frighten me with their LOTE (Lessor Of Two Evil) crap can stuff it.
Next.
rmm.
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Obama and his advisors refused to listen to the entreaties of teachers and continues to push forward with RttT because doing for “support from large funders.”
Do we need any more evidence of the triangulation and duplicity practiced by this administration? Should he be re-elected, Obama will also needlessly cut Social Security and Medicare in the interests of these same “large funders,” aka The Overclass.
Obama is a Trojan Horse, vetted and chosen to impose IMF-style austerity and structural adjustment policies that were first used against developing countries, have currently migrated to Europe, and are coming here immediately after the election, no matter who is elected.
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The “Grand Bargain” which is also rumored to include Medicaid. For a blueprint look at the Simpson-Bowles. Things are likely to get ugly. This is result of a neo-liberal President who wants to be liked by corporate interests and to hell with the rest of us. Too bad we got scammed by this Progressive fellow in 2008. It will most likely happen again in 2012, although with a little research we can find his “Blue Dog” leanings in 2009 and 2010. A strange conundrum for a kid raised by a single mom a few notches above poverty. Here’s something to read and contemplate today and this weekend: The Sham of Simpson-Bowles – Reuters/Rep. Jan Schakowsky http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/10/24/the-sham-of-simpson-bowles/ The CEOs’ Tax And Deficit Hypocrisy What are we to make of the fact that the CEOs of more than 80 of the nation’s largest corporations, including Aetna, AT&T, Dow Chemical, GE, Merck, and Microsoft have signed on to a statement calling for a deficit reduction deal that includes both money-saving reforms to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and a “pro-growth tax reform” which lowers rates and raises more revenues? http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/10/25/the-ceos-deficit-and-tax-hypocrisy/ Simpson-Bowles http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Issues/Simpson-Bowles/ “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson
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As a woman, a mother of four children in public schools (if you include one in the public university) I sincerely believe that we must re-elect Barack Obama. I wrote a letter during Anthony Cody’s letters-to-the-president campaign in which I said that I was too busy this year fighting corporate reform (in which he is an accomplice) and protecting my kids’ and other kids’ public schools to make phone calls or knock on doors as I did in 2008. I understand the deep disappointment that many Obama supporters have felt. But to say there is no difference between Romney and Obama is a dangerously narrow view. Since becoming involved in the fight to save our public schools, I have scarcely thought about anything else and I understand that obsession. HOWEVER, Romney and his supporters value a society in which it is every man, woman, and child for him or herself instead of the collective sense of social responsibility for one another that we parents and educators hold so dear. They would take away health care which all educators and parents know is essential to learning. They would take away unions which educators know gives some kind of collective voice for teachers to advocate for children. They see no problem with women’s concerns over equal pay and a myriad of other issues which may or may not be appropriate to vent here. Suffice it to say, the worldview of Romney and his supporters sincerely believes that business interests are the key to betterment of all; making the rich richer is not a problem to them, it is an economic goal. If you believe in social and racial equality, vote for Barack Obama and then let’s get ourselves organized across the country, as we have quickly been doing, to fight the corporate reform and bring about the change we believe in. The alternative raises my blood pressure and brings tears to my eyes when I look at my kids.
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Beautifully stated Cathy! I wholeheartedly agree with you. The alternative scares the you-know-what out of me. Though I’d prefer to not operate on fear, I’m rolling that fear into action and it will not paralyze me. We have to get Obama back in office and then organize.
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I agree with your analysis, with two additions. First, Romney-Ryan may promote every man for himself, but women will not be on their own. They will need “permission” for basic health care, contraception, and abortion choices. They may or may not receive equal pay for equal work. Second, the fundamental and precious right to participate in our democracy will be undermined, both by right-wing voter ID requirements and an increase in the avalanche of corporate and billionaire spending that already skews elections. Anyone remember Romney saying “Corporations are people”?
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I hate to say it, but the truth is RI teacher may not vote for Mitt Romney but they will definitely not pull the Obama level either. There are too many RI teachers who I know are very disillusioned with Obama’s stance on edcucation. They are also disgusted with Arne Duncan. Arne Duncan, Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Obama make up the Chicago crew that teachers here do not appreciate being thrown under the bus by these 3 arrogant politicians & obstacles to public education. They will not be voting for Pres Obama on Nov 6th which is unfortunate for they have been life long Democrats with ideals and beliefs they have held their whole lives to which Obama has thrown them under the bus for having… Obama criticized the Central Falls, RI teachers and applauded when Duncan said he was glad they were all going to be fired. Obama’s negative behavior did not endear him at all to RI teachers- both working and retired. He has lost many votes here. As for your question, does Obama listen to educators…the answer is NO. He listens to money. He listens to what the Chicago clan tell him. He listens to the corporate CEOs..He does not listen to credentialed and distinguised educators. If he listened to educators we would not be in the corporate power struggle we are currently in. Obama sees money in privatization and what he thinks are quick free enter prise solutions–not in public school teacher & student concepts, ideas and real resolutions…..
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I, too, was part of Obama’s election army. Little did I know I was contributing to the demise of my profession and my 40 years of investment in public education. (Not unlike voting for Cuomo only to realize he’s a Republican).
Fool me once…..
I will not repeat that mistake.
Jill Stein will get my vote. Clear conscience on Nov. 6.
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Good call on voting for Jill Stein! Also,congratulations on 40 years of service to public education.
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Romney could have siphoned off a lot of (primarily) women voters in a predominantly female occupation… if he had run as the reliably moderate Mitt. Since he didn’t do this, it leads me to believe he really does hold the same views of the extreme social conservatives and is especially aligned with their attitudes toward women as being irrelevant and of no particular consequence.
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This is the last regarding the off topic austerity cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. This is an interesting site for trading political predictions and futures: http://www.intrade.com/v4/home/ Rentier CEOs Advocate Austerity for America http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/10/rentier-ceos-advocate-austerity-for-america.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29#1vtVcFglZ6muelM0.99 Now- its off to class I go!
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Be the game changer, vote third party!!
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Agreed! I just wish more educators would not vote against their interests…
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If you vote for Obama and you are a teacher, he is against you. If you vote for Romney and you are a teacher,he is against you. Don’t buy into the “the lesser of two evils” B.S. consider voting for either Jill Stein on the Green Party ticket or Rocky Anderson on the justice party ticket. They won’t win, but I would rather be on the side of someone who wants to help students and teachers instead voting for someone else who will continue to treat education with little respect
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Tell us more about Rocky Anderson, please.
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He’s the former mayor of Salt Lake City and is he running on the justice party ticket. His views are pretty much the same as Jill Stein, but his website did not have a section on Education. However, I figure his view for education is pretty similar to Stein’s. Here’s his website: http://www.voterocky.org/. Also check out Stein’s website if you have not already: http://www.jillstein.org/
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I am with you all the way. I will never vote for evil, lesser or not. If evil still wins, I will continue fighting until evil loses.
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If you’re an educator, you have to at least take solace in the fact that Obama and his administration have made education a priority. He’s mentioned it in every debate and understands that social policy affects the economy. But right- we want more than this. I detest the elitist school of thought on standardized testing and can see first hand how RttT is affecting my own child: more worksheets, more drill and kill, gotta hit those Common Core Standards. This is a culture- and it’s a right of passage for many in the elite, because they know they have an economic edge in this culture. No educator in their right mind is voting for Romney because of education. So – we have a problem. How do we fix it? We can only fix it by educating ourselves, and asking ourselves: what is public education for? Let’s start by watching Seth Godin’s latest TEDx Talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpbONjV1Jc
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The key takeaway here – the Obama people knew the NEA and AFT would support them no matter what, so they decided to consciously and purposely make their Wall Street and hedge fund moneymen happy and keep shoving corporate reforms via RttT and the NCLB waivers down the throats of the states and districts.
I have said over and over – if they can take a constituency for granted, they will.
That the Obama administration and Obama campaign felt they could take the NEA and AFT leadership for granted shows just how big a failure appeasement by the unions has been.
Quite frankly, a call to Axelrod telling him no GOTV unless Duncan is fired and RttT ended would have been more effective.
Ans make no mistake, with the election fairly close nationwide (though the EV count is a bit more lopsided in Obama’s favor), they would have paid attention.
Instead the unions are trying to gin up support and GOTV efforts for a president who despises teachers, doesn’t much like unions, cheered the firing of educators in RI, and has put in place reform strategies meant to undermine the public school system and privatize many schools.
Until the union leadership either learns that appeasement with the Take No Prisoners reform movement and the Dems they put into power is not a viable strategy or, better yet, the current teachers union leadership is replaced by a leadership that knows and understands that, teachers and teachers unions are going to continue to be abused by these corporate Dems.
I would add, until individual teachers and supporters of public education learn that same lesson, the abuse will continue as well.
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Amen.
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I agree with Prof Naison. However, there is a larger pattern of disengagement with Obama that concommitently relates to dissatisfaction over his education policies AND his economic policies, at least for educators like me. It’s not a difference of ideolgy but of actions. The president and many factions of the Democratic party are now bankrolled by corporations and, therefore, they have been kowtowing to big business in a wide variety of arenas. Rather than address poverty, or even acknowledge it, as a matter of policy, they have adopted the practice of blaming teachers for an achievement gap that has long been known to be related to low income and out of school factors over which educators have no control. Scapegoating teachers now provides an acceptable path towards deprofessionalizing the field, as well as defaming, defunding and destroying public education, so that corporate sponsors can benefit from the privatization of schools. The schools of choice are to be places where teachers don’t need credentials and won’t be unionized, so they will have no job protections or academic freedom, as are necessary in order to be able to teach controversial matters, such as science rather than religious dogma. (See Louisiana, which Duncan heralds as THE model of education.) Once, Democrats were clearly on the side of democracy and labor and they supported elected school boards and unions. This is not the case now. Democratic mayors appoint school boards in many big cities and they oppose unions. This is in keeping with the interests of their corporate backers. Corporations, many of which outsource to foreign countries, are opposed to paying livable wages to workers in the trenches, since that cuts into profits. We already have many college educated people who cannot find jobs that pay a living wage today and are the working poor http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-college-graduate-glut-evidence-from-labor-markets/32997 including those with STEM degrees http://www.nationalreview.com/phi-beta-cons/301704/glut-stem-degrees-jay-schalin as well as lawyers http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-23/glut-leads-lawyers-to-surprise-sue-law-schools and the majority of college professors in this country: https://junctrebellion.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/how-the-american-university-was-killed-in-five-easy-steps/ . South Korea http://sg.news.yahoo.com/young-south-koreans-face-jobless-woes-graduate-glut-045231500.html and China http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443545504577566752847208984.html both of which also strongly encouraged their people to pursue a college education, have this problem as well. And yet, our president and Duncan continue to prescribe education as the sole route out of poverty. As long as there are just not enough decent paying jobs for most people, education cannot be presented as the solution to poverty. Trickle down economics has been shown to benefit just the 1%. Low-Wage Workers Employed Mostly By Large, Highly Profitable Corporations: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/low-wage-workers-_n_1687271.html I don’t agree with the president’s plan to lower corporate taxes, when we have so many profitable corporations that are not paying taxes at all: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/22/the-dirty-30-are-the-top-u-s-companies-that-managed-to-pay-no-taxes.html It’s hard to buy into the notion that lower corporate taxes will be balanced by closing tap loopholes, since billioinaires can so readily buy the legislation they prefer now. Our Harvard educated president and his Ivy League cronies are part of the 1% and I think they are too smart to not get what’s been happening due to the education and economic policies they support. If they believed differently, I would think they’d have stepped forward and distinguished themselves and their priorities. At the very least, they should have taken a strong stand against ALEC and the purchasing of legislation that benefits corporations. However, Democrats in tune with today’s party line are entrenched too far right of center and profit from that legislation as well. So, for the first time in my life, I see my party as virtually indistinguishable from Republicans on matters of education and economics and I will not be voting for a Democratic president. I plan to vote for Jill Stein of the Green party. And I really wish such an abundance of Democrats would stop sending me so many emails everyday asking me for money, when I am one of the highly educated working poor who they choose to ignore.
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Thanks! Went to Columbia w Mark (great tennis player!) … He may be right on the election— it will be decided by 200,000 voters in 3 (4?) States… and as he notes there may be a fall-off of ’08 support and that could be important… Obama is so ‘off’ on ed vision, reform and policies that I wonder, really, about his overall mind-set and capabilities… I am sorta used to terrible candidates who are good on one issue, say Israel :)… but in this case, Obama is just terrible on education and that is mind-boggling to consider when you think about: who is he?, what does he believe? and where is his ability to be creative and forward-looking in educational matters, esp K-12?, etc. And— for some, it may be a deal-breaker even if they will not vote for Romney, who is a unique ‘wild card’ (ie. chameleon). (FWIW, Romney gratuitously tossing overboard Big Bird, Jim Lehrer— ie. PBS!… and teachers’ unions! was disgusting.) Best, Neal New post on Diane Ravitch’s blog Will Educators’ Disgust with Race to the Top Affect the Election? by dianerav Many of us have wondered whether President Obama hears the voices of teachers. Many have wondered whether he understands that educators–not only teachers, but principals and superintendents–despise Race to the Top and see it as a calculated effort to undermine professionalism and advance the privatization agenda. And many have wondered whether the President knows that he may be jeopardizing his re-election by turning off an important part of his base. I would add to all this wondering that a lot of us will have to swallow hard, forget our passion for education, and vote for Obama. The alternative is too alarming to contemplate. Mark Naison, who blogs regularly, has written an important column about these issues: How to Lose a Close Election Virtually ever poll now has President Obama and Mitt Romney embroiled in an extremely close race. The President could very well win this election; but he could also lose. And if he does lose, I will have to go back to something I first started saying nearly three years ago- turning off the nation’s teachers with educational policies which silence their voice, and put them under extreme stress, is not only bad for the nation’s schools, it could cripple the President’s re-election efforts. Many of you have read some of my blog posts which made this argument, and have seen the “Dump Duncan” petition which I helped to draft which called on the President to remove his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, incorporate the nation’s teachers into Education Policy discussions, and stop requiring schools to ratchet up the number of standardized tests to receive federal funding. But what you haven’t seen, or known about, is my private efforts to engage people close the president in conversation about teachers disillusionment, efforts which were totally unsuccessful. The President’s inner circle, from what I could gather, refused to bend on support for Race to the Top and Secretary Duncan. They were not only convinced that these policies would end up improving the nation’s schools; they felt that the political gains to be made in terms of support from large funders and influential journalists was far greater than any losses that would occur in terms of teacher enthusiasm, particularly since they knew the largest teachers unions would support the President no matter what policies he chose to implement. Now, at crunch time, when it’s too late to change course, I can tell you that this judgment was a severe miscalculation. Not only have the President’s policies failed to narrow testing gaps by race and class, they have contributed to teacher morale in the nation to be the lowest it has been since pollsters began measuring this trait. But the political consequences may have been even more serious than the educational ones. Most teachers will probably end up voting for the President, but from what I have seen, in both New York and around the nation, they will not be manning phone banks, canvassing in their neighborhoods, traveling to swing states on the weekends and generally giving time, money and energy to assure the President’s election the way they did in 2008. Many pundits attribute the Obama victory in 2008 to an incredibly strong “ground game” composed of huge numbers of volunteers, as well as paid staff, working to get out the vote in battleground states. Many of those individuals, including me, my wife, and many of my friends, were teachers, professors and school administrators. During this election, I know of few, if any educators putting in that kind of heroic effort, almost entirely because they are feeling betrayed by the President, indeed, by the entire Democratic Party, on educational issues, even though they support the President’s positions on reproductive freedom, gay rights, taxation and medical care. There is no way of knowing whether the phenomenon I am describing is will be a “game changer” in this election. But based on what I have seen in 2008 and in this campaign, there is a chance it could be. And if it is, the Obama brain trust has no one to blame but themselves, because they have had ample opportunity to change course, and indeed have been pleased (sic????? what is this) with by many of their supporters to do just that. Mark Naison October 22, 2012 Mark D Naison Professor of African American Studies and History Fordham University “If you Want to Save America’s Public Schools: Replace Secretary of Education Arne Duncan With a Lifetime Educator.” http://dumpduncan.org/ dianerav | October 26, 2012 at 8:12 am | Categories: Duncan, Arne, Obama, Race to the Top | URL: http://wp.me/p2odLa-2Gb Neal H. Hurwitz NY, NY
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This all depend on how you view the election–using reported sentiments or polling predictions. As Paul Krugman notes (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/triumph-of-the-electoral-nerds/), the latter show Obama very likely to win:
If you’re new to this, there are two basic approaches to election analysis at this point. One is the campaign reporter style, full of impressionist reporting about who won the news cycle and who has “momentum”, whatever that means (politics ain’t beanbag, but it ain’t billiards either). The other is poll-based. And that mostly means state-level polls at this point: there are more of them, and we have an electoral-college system, not a popular-vote system.
The impressionistic style has been all about Romney on the rise, a narrative that is to a large part being fed by the Romney campaign itself. But the state-level polling doesn’t show it.
In fact, the state polls pretty much say that Obama would win if the election were held right now, taking Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and quite possibly Virginia. Florida is a dead heat, too. (See the Pollster map). Nor is there any sign of movement in Romney’s direction after his big post-first-debate bump.
So, I expect Obama to continue to ignore the teachers and especially if he thinks they’ll vote Democrat anyway. The only threat is to leave the Demolicans and vote for a third party–Green or Justice.
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and due to his education policy, threats and blatant disrespect of teachers, the “Grand Bargain”, NDAA and drones to name just a few…I expect the party to leave more of us. Not the Hope and Change I was expecting…but if he isn’t re-elected, he has only himself to blame…not the change I’m sure he expected either.
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Romney advocates for many frightening things. It is so hard to predict what politicians will do when elected. Richard Nixon was not an environmentalist, yet we got the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the EPA during the Nixon administration. A President Romney could move towards the middle trying to get re-elected. Even though he supports vouchers and charter schools, if he obliterated NCLB and RTTT, he would help students. Maybe white male Democrats would be less destructive to the students and teachers in public education if educators and parents had more of a relationship with Republican candidates.
By voting for a third party candidate, I would be making a statement [if I did it].
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The only way education is going to change in this country is if there is a revolution. Teachers need to band together and do what is necessary. We need to stop electing politicians who go along with the corporate ed. reform, and replace them with individuals who actually care about what happens to public education. Teachers need to storm state capital buildings and demand a seat at the table when it comes to policy that affects the children in their classroom. We also need to plan a day when every teacher in America walks off the job, and not return until the correct education reform is created. This may sound radical to some, but I believe it may have to be done in order to preserve public education in America.
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Andy, I have advocated what you have been saying for a long time…since Duncan’s ed policies mirror Romney’s and how he is throwing teachers under the bus. In fact, what you are suggesting should be the job of Randi Weingarten in my opinion. She makes big bucks and for what? She has not influenced Obama except to say that she and her union support him. And that is not necessarily true. She should have told Obama that the AFT will support him with conditions put in place: like get rid of Duncan and his policies. I bet not many people know that Arne Duncan only had a bachelors degree when he became education secretary. He got the job by being Obama’s Chicago pal…just like Rham Emanuel is Obama’s Chicago pal. I see ALEC principles being pushed in state legislatures and corporates in every state trying to taking over education with state laws like the newest concept, the parent trigger law- these corporate with their wealth dangle their millions- to money hungry politicians and superintendents in states who want a piece of that money. These billionaires like Gates, Walton, Broad, want control over schools and run education like a free enterprise corporation. Billionaire Bloomberg, Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, The Gates, Waltons, Eli Broad, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, etc, etc., .since when did they become educators? And where is Randi Weingarten and the big AFT UNION in all of this educational upheaval? Movies like Waiting for Superman, Won’t Back Down, and who knows what will come next, are backed by the money of Rupert Murdock and Philip Anschutz with their own agendas: charters and vouchers, online learning, and other schemes for the sole purpose of making windfall profits for themselves and their investors. Look at the salaries of the charter school principals. They are 3,4, 5 times more than public school principal salaries and when the charters go out of business, these charter administrators still retain much of their salaries… Where are the Union based movies to fight back? Where is the P/R to fight the propaganda put out there against teachers? I see nothing but teachers being vilified in my state by the politicians, by the corporate republicans and by the media -in commentaries from local paper to online blogs. But Andy what you and I advocate what happened and I will tell you why. Call me biased but teaching originated as a woman’s profession and they are not militant as male unions are. That’s why we are the laughing stock union..the ineffective union…the wimpy union where teachers won’t rustle feathers for fear of losing their jobs and being labeled “troublemakers.” That aggressive aspect you talk about does not exist any more-especially with younger teachers. Although I am impressed reading Diane’s blogs with the pockets of hard working frustrated and ethical teachers who have had enough and are willing to fight back, out in the open… As a former union person, on local level, we couldn’t even get teachers to go to a protest rally at the local school. I agree with you but unfortunately I don’t hold much hope that this will happen. They are afraid of their own administrators…..sigh…..
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I think teaching started as a male dominated field and at the time, comparable to other professions, was paid quite well and highly respected. When it became female dominated, we dropped in status and pay. I’m not sure about the aggressive nature of unions versus not… if you perceive “laughing stock” nature of the union.. I think it’s generally true of all female-dominated professions. Look at nursing. We live in a sexist society and that is much of the context, I imagine.
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Your article couldn’t be more accurate or timely. That said, I believe Pres Obama will win reelection by a good margin and it will be teachers who actually put him over big. Teachers and educators in general seem to be showing symptoms of Battered Person Syndrome and like the victoms of BPS they will usually support the very person doing them the most harm. Like abuse victoms, teachers seem to have the inability to place the responsibility for their mistreatment on the actual offender. Indeed, after repeated cycles of hostility and reconciliation, many teachers think the hostile actions are actually their fault. The only alternative at this point is just to get out of the situation any way possible and if that means Pres Obama loses then so be it. After all, at some point we have to ask ourselves is it better to actually know who the enemy is or continue to be deceived by the current abuser.
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I plan to vote for President Obama; and no, I do not have Battered Person Syndrome. What I do have is an analysis. In addition, as someone who is over 60, I have experience in many other political movements including opposition to the Vietnam War and support for women’s rights, human rights, environmental protection, and arms control. Fundamental to any attempt to change policy is access to the political process and some rules of fair play with respect to that process. If Romney-Ryan win, you can count on reactionary public policies along with restrictions on voters’ rights. It is not a coincidence that Republican governors and state legislatures are cutting back on early voting, knocking people off voters lists, and demanding forms of ID that many elderly and poor people do not have. A Romney-Ryan victory would usher in an unfettered plundering of public resources by unregulated corporate/billionaire interests. Who would pay in the short term? Those with “pre-existing conditions” who would be denied insurance coverage (including a member of my family). Those who need food stamps. Those who live in poverty, including a quarter of our children. Who would pay in the long run? All of us.
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It really comes down to one central and simple question: Do you believe that public education is the literal foundation of liberty and the backbone of democracy? I do, and because I do, I put the education issue above all else. Simply stated, no other issue is as important to the literal survival of democracy as the preservation of public education. Constant and persistent attacks on that most important of institutions should not be rewarded with another four years of havoc on the very system that makes our way of life possible.
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I believe the foundation of our country is the Constitution. The rights embodied therein are the foundation upon which all else rests. Thus, I give primacy to civil rights.
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“I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness… Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish & improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [tyranny, oppression, etc.] and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.” Thomas Jefferson
The above quotation and more insightful quotes on educaton from Jeffererson can be found at his Monticello website: http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/quotations-education
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Gary Pastoor, Are you a teacher? I doubt it. I don’t think tthat any teacher would write that teachers have “Battered Person Syndrome”. In fact, I would guess that you are likely a Romney supporter, trying to help your candidate win by telling teachers not to vote for Obama, while trying to fool us about your motives. The Repubs and their superpacs are hiring a lot of people to write posts all over the Internet, in all kinds of discussion groups, forums, and blogs, trying to advance Romney’s chances by any means necessary, including deception.
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I don’t think we have a choice but to vote for Obama. We havew no idea what Romney would do about education (or anything else), but from the few statements he has made (like criticizing Obama for not being more critical of the Chicago Teachers Strike), Romney would be at least as bad, and likely worse about education. Also, there are other issues to consider (besides education).
I do think that teachers should vote for Obama.
However, on the other hand, I think we should be very clear to Obama, that although we support his re-election, we are very unhappy with his education policies, and would like him to replace Arne Duncan (“Dump the Dunc”) in his second term, and hire a good Secretary of Education. (Diane Ravitch? Linda Darling-Hammond?)
It is not at all realistic to think that if Obama does not win re-election, that anyone but us would attribute that to his education policies–which unfortunately are popular for those of both parties. (We need to do better at getting our message across.)
However, that said, I was unhappy to see a flyer I received from NEA urging me to vote for Obama. Although I planned to do that anyhow, and will do so, this flyer spoke very glowingly of BO as a great supporter of education, etc. Not a mention of Race to the Top and how harmful it is. In fact, since as a teacher in LAUSD our local union UTLA is affiliated with both AFT-CFT and NEA-CTA, and each teacher can choose which national organization to belong to, I am thinking of switching to AFT, (I think NEA President Dennis Van Roekel might be too chummy with Arne Duncan.) I found the flyer outrageous.
Yes, we should vote for Obama, but we should also also make our unhappiness with his education secretary and his policies very clear, and demand a change.
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That flyer annoyed the heck out of me! Race to the Top now seems to be the 800 pound gorilla in the Democratic party’s living room.
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Mark, Good petition. I will sign it, and will encourage others to sign it as well. I don’t think it good though, to encourage folks not to vote for Obama, to think that would improve education. Not voting for Obama (even not voting at all) is a vote for Romney, who most likely would be still worse for education. We need to vote for Obama, but also to urge him emphatically (such as per your petition) to change, and to dump Duncan. I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries in 2008. I think she most likely would have been much better on education. A lot of people didn’t agree with me though. We will never get a perfect president though, and politics is always the lesser of two evils, like it or not. If Obama loses re-election, I can assure you that no one in the media, and hardly anyone in the country (other than a few writing here), and certainly not Obama or anyone in politics, would attribute his election loss to his education policies. A Romney win would only make bad policies become still worse, and would not have the slightest positive effect on education. Please readers–vote to re-elect Obama, but let him know what you think of Duncan and his so-called “reform”. Sign Mark’s petition, and any other way you can make your voice heard. See my previous comment for more info.
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I hope you are all right in thinking that he will win. We’ve had disastrous, internationally embarrassing and dreadful before and there are thousands (more?) dead as a result of his administration’s recklessness and war mongering. I can hardly think of George W. without cringing. I just don’t think you are going to get a revolution yet. Maybe I’m naive or cynical. The people I know have very little idea about the connect-the-dots-picture which is educational reform, corporations, and politicians. I have spent a year working with a small group of dedicated citizens trying to raise awareness in my neck of the woods and we are far from passing out pitchforks and torches. I don’t know what it takes. But even as this Frankenmonster storm comes barreling toward the states, I still can’t vote for the Green Party without fear that between the disillusioned progressives, apathetic and tired swing voters or middle voters, voter ID suppression of votes and Romney’s son owning the company that makes the vote tallying machines in Ohio (?), I cannot in good faith risk Romney in the White House. It’s not only about education, I guess.. and it’s not only about my one focus. It’s about what it would do to women to have have Romney win, what it would do to what little regulation we do have of the corporations that are attempting to control education, and everything else. I think many teachers (and parents) can see that the Race to the Top is destroying public education. But I think they also have big concerns about health care, women’s rights, as the person said above, voting rights, a social safety net, the environment and so on.. Just as one person’s conscience leads him/her to vote for the person s/he believes in most, another person’s conscience dictates that a third party candidate is not going to win and risking a Romney presidency is too high a cost to make a statement. I think it’s mostly done (the vote for Obama who, with Duncan,
has sent us on this path in education) very thoughtfully and at times, with some inner struggle. I don’t believe that BPS is at play. But this is a great conversation and I find it interesting and engaging to read everyone’s viewpoints. I hope we can have the best possible outcome and it will be good to re-evaluate after the election and talk about where we go from there.
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Obama has blinders on. I just received his response to the letter I sent him on October 17. Just a form letter praising Race to the Top. The mantra is:
“Race to the Top focuses on what is best for our students by engaging state and local leaders and educators in turning around our lowest performing schools, developing and rewarding effective teachers, adopting meaningful assessments, and tracking the progress of our students.”
Say it as many times as you need to until you believe it, but do not question it.
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Lies, lies,lies…..propaganda….there is not difference between that letter and the Wont Back Down crap. I received it three times. Obama spoke recently about Malia not using Facebook because he is worried about protecting her privacy. What about the privacy of all the other children in our country and all of their school data? I am sick of having a different set of standards for the poor and middle class vs. the so called elite. His letter is bullshit…complete and total bullshit.
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I received the same letter twice. I second the bullshit adjective. I was on the fence, but those letters tipped me into Jill Stein’s camp.
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I sent this e-mail to the DLC who were asking for a donation:
Hello Meghan,
I have decided not to contribute to the DLC or any Democratic party sponsored activities and refuse to work for the Democratic party or the president’s re-election. Thousands of my education colleagues have withdrawn from this election as well. We are not making phone calls or traveling to the swing state of NC to work as we did in 2008.
The reasons are summed up here:
1. Arne Duncan, Race to the Top and the privatization of our public schools.
2. There is no valid research basis supporting ANY mandates in Race to the Top or in the NCLB waivers.
3. Race to the Top & the NCLB waivers are increasing segregation for ALL at-risk children, particularly children in special education. Martin Luther King must be rolling over in his grave.
4. The testing mandates are damaging children. In TN, Children are coming home from school in tears and having anxiety attacks. They feel like failures because they haven’t made some arbitrary cut off score that determines their future recommended by the Milken Foundation or Bill Gates or Kevin Huffman.
5. The test scores and value-added models are being misused and abused for purposes they are not designed to measure (e.g.,teacher quality, student learning, and school quality.) and are now resulting in sorting children into tracks, long ago refuted as effective school practice.
6. The in-school professional development and teacher evaluations are so poorly designed by National Institute Excellence in Teaching (NIET) it is embarrassing to the profession. I suspect the Milkens were better as Wall St. fraudsters than as educators.
7. Huffman recommends evaluators read a book from business about “How to have Difficult Conversations” so we all know how to gently fire teachers. I guess his ex-wife Michelle Rhee made the public firing of a principal look too abusive for his delicate sensibilities.
8. Firing staff, closing schools, and turning them over to private operators is not sound educational practice. It disenfranchises families and children in impoverished areas who need stability and predictability from their neighborhood institutions. These families certainly have not been offered any stability from the business round table. Their employment options are low paying, part time, service, fast food, or retail jobs; the same job options predicted to increase in the next 20 years according to the stats from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
9. The dumbing down of teacher education by allowing untrained temps from Teach for America is illogical in the face of increasing teaching standards. Five weeks of cramming does not prepare educators for the demands of classrooms.
10. Charter schools’ secret edu-recipe is expelling difficult to teach children and those in special education. Yet they still underperform public schools.
11. No amount of propaganda will change the facts in spite of the hype and spin from CAP, DFER, KIPP, The NYTimes, etc.
12. It’s not the kind of education Arne Duncan or President Obama chose for their children and it’s wrong for our public schools.
Duncan has not listened to expert educators so I don’t assume this letter will make any difference to him or the WH. However, if Obama looses the election most of us feel that with either candidate, conditions can’t get any worse for public education and our children. Attached is a photo of Joe Biden, Michelle Rhee & Kevin Johnson that adds support to our assumption.
Don’t bother sending me a form response advising me of all Obama has done for education. I already understand exactly what he and Duncan are doing TO our children.
Sincerely a former supporter and long time democrat,
Joan Grim
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Joan,
I have sent the same Biden/Rhee photo many,
Many times in response to Obama “we need a donation” emails that I receive several times a day.
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Any teacher who is thinking of voting for ANY Republican only has to look at the actions of the Republican governors around our nation, (for example Louisiana gov. Jindal).They are destroying public education and making a mockery of our profession. Their legislation is a mirror of what will happen to public education in our nation if a Republican president is elected. Pay attention class, Do your homework.
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It is happening now under both parties and it will continue under both. We have two different brands and both are controlled by corporations. They are not concerned about any of us: teachers, parents or students. Yes, do your homework and don’t be fooled by either party. The only difference is one will implode faster than the other and both will destroy our public school system and our country.
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Bridget, I agree with you. Both parties are bad on education, but the Republicans are far worse. Our Democratic governor here in CT has led the way with RTTP nonsense (and insulted teachers along the way), but the Republicans have a much more extreme agenda — on education and many other important policy issues.
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Oops, typed too fast. I meant RTTT. On the other hand, my RTTP typo could refer to Race to the Past…
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The Democratic governors of Illinois and New York are just as bad as any Republican governor.
I voted for Jill Stein, and recommend that other educators do so also. This is not only because Obama’s education policy has been such a catastrophe over the past four years, but because we will not get any Democrats fighting for us until Obama is out of the White House. And that includes our national unions, who have thrown their dues-paying membership under the bus so they can support the draconian education policies of the chief Democrat–policies they never would have supported had McCain won the presidency four years ago.
Back when Bush was president, our unions fought tooth and nail against merit pay and tying test scores to teacher evaluations. The unions’ fight against those policies kept them from being widely implemented. Now the NEA and AFT support those and other anti-teacher policies, and those policies, which were once Republican pipe dreams, are now sweeping the nation. I want my union to support me again, and that, more than anything else, is why I would never vote for Obama.
And please don’t tell me that I am the union, and that rather than vote against Obama I should personally, single handedly, change the union. People keep saying that to me, and when I ask them how I can throw Van Roekel out and replace him with someone who is not in bed with Arne Duncan, they suddenly get very silent. The only way I can think of to change the union is to get Obama out of the White House, so Van Roekel will be forced to end his unhealthy relationship with Duncan, and maybe start defending the teachers he was supposed to be supporting over the past four years.
It’s ironic, but the NEA’s support of Obama probably played the biggest role in my decision to vote for Stein.
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I will not vote for Obama either….write in Jill Stein. Our union has done nothing for us, but throw us under the bus and back up over us repeatedly. I am done!
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To middle school teacher,
You have a great crusader in your state…Jonathan Pelto with his blog
Wait, What? Blog..He is a plugger and trying to expose the corruption that goes on in your state and I hope th epeople in your state appreciate him and his herculean efforts of exposing the pay offs and deal makings from your Gov Malloy all the way down to the superintendents of the various cities who are there for themselves…
I live in the neighboring state and we have nothing but corruption in our state house where the politicians
have self centered agendas…We are going through the 38 Studios debacle right now. The elected officials also
get free ALEC subscriptions paid for by the state….which I resent since i am a taxpayer! New York has Diane, NJ has Jazzyman
Conn has Jon Pelto and we in RI have no one…. 😦
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Yes Jo Ann, we do have Jonathan Pelto! I follow his comments and appreciate his reporting. Hope RI finds its own blogger to cover the local scene. I am so inspired by hearing about efforts in different states to fight privatization.
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I can tell you right now I will not be voting for Obama. I also will not be voting for Romney. My vote will go to a candidate that speaks openly for values I agree with. I am easier with an honest enemy I can fight than a pretend friend undermining my efforts. I am sad about this, because I enthusiastically voted for him in ’08. He has let me down.
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I could not agree more! It’s gone way past the just “the lesser of two evils”. Actually, it’s more like the “evil of two lessers”. Jill Stein at least, makes sense.
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Although I am very unhappy with Arne Duncan’s “Race to the Top”, I don’t see what we could hope to gain by helping Mitt Romney win the presidency, by withdrawing our vote for Obama.
The result of that would certainly not change anything for the better. Romney is likely to be still worse for education, as well as on all other issues. Just imagine Supreme Court nominations. Have Obama and Clinton nominated justices been better than Bushes? I sure think so. Do we want the court to turn even more reactionary? Abolish Roe v Wade? Health care reform thrown out? Privatize social security? On education, Romney has criticized Obama for being “too nice to teacher unions”. No, the two are not the same.
I think we need to do better at getting our message out there, regarding the harmfulness of the high stakes testing. I will write about this more later, in another thread. But in no way should we let our unhappiness with Obama’s education policies help; Romney to win.
We should however, very strongly let Obama know that we are unhappy with his education policies. .(I think the petition mentioned in the OP is a great idea.) Let us have a major campaign after Tuesday to have Obama dump Duncan. By the way, I think Obama is a decent guy. He has just listened to the wrong people (especially Arne Duncan) about education, and unfortunately believed what they tell him.
Diane (Ravitch), if you are reading here, have you ever met with Obama? If not, could you (assuming he is re-elected on Tuesday) request a one-on-one meeting with him (Arne Duncan not allowed!)? I ask you, because most of us could never get a meeting with him. As you are a nationally known figure in education, your request might be accepted. In a private talk with him, you just might be able to show him the problems with Duncan and the “reform” movement. I think that is worth a try, if you have not already done it,.
Yes, politics always involves choosing the lesser of two evils. It has always been that way, and always will be. Politicians are not saints.
We cannot allow Mitt Romney to win. Please vote Barack Obama for president, while also telling him to change his education policies.
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The polls continue to show that this is a very tight race. I wonder what would have happened had Obama not hired Arne Duncan and put through RttT. Those generous in spirit suggest that Obama simply does not get it. I think he gets it and just doesn’t care about how teachers feel about RttT.
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To the general public, who are not present in classrooms, talk about “accountability”, “reform”, “high standards’, “parent choice”, “educational equity”, etc, all sound good. Human beings ae very easily taken in by pleasant-sounding words. Obama is a human being, not a saint (as some seem to have thought he was in 2008) (I never thought that), he is a politician, and it seems very popular among politicians of all parties these days to embrace the “education reform agenda” Mayor Villaraigosa here in LA, considered very liberal, is another one. (We are fortunate to have Brown as Governor, one of the rare politicians who has not fallen for that nonsense.)
Frankly, I don’ t consider Bill Gates an evil villain either. I think he sincerely believes he is doing good in education, but has been misled. (His foundation is also working on the world hunger problem, malaria, etc.) (Not that there aren’t some villains out there, like Michelle Rhee, and perhaps Arne Duncan as well.) But we should not demonize everyone who goes along with this stuff. To people who hve not worked in a classroom, it sounds good.
We have been losing the PR war, and I think need to do a better job of getting our message across. I will write about that some time, not now. One thing that woudl greatly help–would be if more parents became very involved and vocal about it,, speaking up in national media, opting their kids out of the standardized tests, etc.
One thing I am 100% sure would not help one bit though, is what some have been advocating here, refusing to vote for Obama. I can assure you that not one political commentator, not one politician or news reporter, would attribute Obamas loss to “teachers being mad at him about RTTT. Np one woudl think that but a few people on this board. (And I am not sure that some who have advocated that here might actually be Romney hacks, trying to bring down the Obama vote. And a Romney presidency would most likely be worse on education, and everything else. I think that if we speak up very loudly to Obama about this, there is some hope of change in his position. (I don’t guarantee it, just say there is some hope.) While I do not see any hope of a better educaton policy from Romney, only a worse one. (He has criticized Obama as “soft on teachers”.) Romney speaks so negatively about teacher unions–he might very likely try to bust public employee unions, including teacher’s, a la Scott Walker in Wisconsin. What would you folks think about that then,who withheld voting for Obama, helping Romney to win? How would you feel if environmental regulations are killed, because Romney doesn’t like anything interfering with business? Social security privatized? Roe v Wade overturned by a Romney Supreme Court? Do you really want to be responsible for that?
Anyone here vote for Ralph Nader in 2000, because you didn’t like Gore? (I didn’t like Gore much either, yet I voted for him. Until God himself runs for office, we have to choose between the politicians we got, those who really have a chance of winning.) If you voted for Ralph Nader rather than Gore, you made a wonderful statement, showing how “pure” you are, and you probably felt good about that decision. Well, that decision of yours gave us eight years of George W. Bush, who caused great havoc on the nation. Great thing that your statement of purity brought to all of us. (There is no doubt that in 200, if the Ralph Nader voters had voted for Gore, Gore would have prevailed by a long shot.) The Nader voters are to thank for giving us Dubya. Thanks a lot, purists!
Similarly, any liberal or progressive who does not vote for Obama in this election, is in effect voting for Romney,.
PLEASE—VOTE BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT! (But tell him to dump Duncan!)
(If in California, make sure to Vote Yes on 30 and No on 32. (One thing I also say, although the unions don’t like it, is to also vote yes on the PTA School Funding Initiative, 38. Most important to vote yes on 30 though, in a very tight race.)
.
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Short PS–
I also think it possible (note–not saying likely, but I consider it possible) that after-re-election, without him having to worry about being re-elected again, that B.O might be more open to hearing what we have to say, to dropping Duncan and his “reform agenda”, etc.
Why? Because quite unfortunately, the so-called “reform” message has become quite popular with the general public. (As I wrote before, this is quite troublesome, and wee need to figure out how to get our message across better to the public. That is a discussion for a different thread though.)
It is popular, unfortunately, all across the political spectrum. Do folks recall when Arne Duncan was travelling to schools on a highly publicized tour, accompanied by –Newt Gingrich (considered a very conservative Republican) and Rev. Al Sharpton (considered a very liberal democrat). The reform BS message seems to be bamboozling folks of all political stripes. In any case, it being popular, BO may have felt it necessary to keep on that course, or lose votes of independents, etc., accused by Republicans of being “soft on teacher unions”, etc.
After re-election–he will never run for office again, does not have to worry whether an action of his will be popular or not when he runs for re-election, etc. That will be over, and I think he might be more open then to hearing our message. (Again–not saying that is probable, but I think possible.) (Whereas with Romney, I don’t think there is any chance at all of him hearing even one word we have to say.).
Yes, there is a difference, and the lesser evil is better than the greater evil, no doubt.. A Gore presidency would likely have been much better than the GW Bush one was. I think every indication points to the fact that a Romney win tomorrow might be very bad for the country, possibly for eight years. We cannot risk that,. Vote for Obama tomorrow, if you have not yet voted
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