A reader comments from Georgia:
“Mr. Norreese Haynes and I of the Metro Association of Classroom Educators (MACE) here in Georgia are putting together a book that we have written, decrying the fact that the Socialistic Left and the Capitalistic Right have joined together to take the teaching profession hostage. Classroom Educators are used as Levitical scapegoats for all of the ills in public education. But, at MACE we know that you can’t have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions.
We are now putting up one chapter per day for the month of July. MACE is beginning its 19th year here in Georgia, and our message has not changed one scintilla. Teachers don’t give a rat’s ass about tote bags and spelling bee contests. They want protection and empowerment. They want to be freed up to do their jobs! They want to be creative, and they want the snoopervisors to leave them alone.
The incompetent, petty, angry, and abusive administrators have ruined public education, and now they are supported and emboldened by the likes of Arne Duncan, Bill and Melinda Gates, Eli and Edyth Broad, the Walton Foundation, the Pearson companies, ALEC, etc. A union has to kick ass for teachers! I tip my hat to BAT!
I am Dr. John Trotter, and I approve this message! Ha!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So glad to see a more aggressive tone here. Finally! Perhaps a call for a nationwide strike by teachers would get more attention outside those in the profession. I believe if the public understood well what is really going on they would rebel against all these “reformers”.
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Yes, Michael. Every worker has a right to strike under laws higher than those written by politicians for their corporate paymasters! Lws forbidding strikes are criminal infringements of natural rights.
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A strike in NC equates to “YOU ARE FIRED.” Can’t strike in right to work states.
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Breakdown of states in which striking by teachers is legal. There aren’t many left.
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http://www.nctq.org/tr3/scope
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Thanks for the nctq article, Robert. I read it.
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http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/Teacher-Strike-Changed-Labor-in-Florida–170236516.html
Unless ALL Florida teachers strike, those who do can face major life changes. 😦
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The correct URL for the Manifesto is:
http://themacemanifesto.com/
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Who is the socialistic left referred to in MACE’s manifesto?
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Having read the Manifesto, they seem to think the Department of Education is the “socialistic left”. If this is the case, it is a misunderstanding because the Department of Education under Arne Duncan is at the forefront of corporate education reform.
Many people like Michelle Rhee, Eli Broad, and Bill Gates consider themselves “liberals”. They tried to portray themselves as the next civil rights movement. Given the school closings and austerity budgets which are starving public schools, people are getting wise to this canard. There is nothing progressive about anyone in corporate education reform.
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I think it’s because you cannot be politically liberal unless you are personally (relatively conservative). In other words, liberals have to keep themselves in check on morals and the perspectives of others. I don’t think these “liberals” have done that.
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I have not officially joined BAT yet (hung up on the name, but I’m sure I’ll get there)–but I think it is kinda funny that the NC Administrator Webinar today on the new NC Educator Evaluation system had to be cancelled because the technology did not work.
Maybe Arne will send NC some technical assistance too.
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They want to be freed up to do their jobs! They want to be creative, and they want the snoopervisors to leave them alone.
yes yes yes yes yes
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It’s time teachers replaced the so-called “leaders” of their so-called “unions” with people who actually believe in teacher empowerment, with people who are not willing tools of the deformers and their totalitarian, top-down, standards and standardized testing regime.
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I am not, of course, referring to MACE.
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Speaking of “unions”: NEA voted overwhelmingly to support CCSS but approved in a new business item to join AFT in a one-year moratorium of testing outcomes. Leadership of NEA wants to increase dues by $3 for each member. Money will not be used for salaries, but to further the advancement and support of its members. Did you know that NEA has lost 234,000 members since 2010, and 201,000 members lost were classroom teachers?
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The Knights of Labor had about 750,000 members before it collapsed. Reasons for the collapse include autocratic union leadership that did not represent the best interests of the workers.
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See this article for some union leaders affiliation with The Broad Foundation. See the later part of the article “The Broad Foundation and the unions”.
Who is Eli Broad and why does he want to destroy public schools?”
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/
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In my haste to post a comment to support BAT, I guess that my fingers were hitting the keys too quickly! Ha! I hit a wrong key but thanks to “philaken,” he posted the link correctly.
http://www.themacemanifesto.com I hope that this will get you there.
@ KenS, we would be referring to the likes of Bill Ayers who were/are involved intimately in pushing for Common Core. It is really unusual that these two different groups from the left and the right are gathering together around the trough of public education. Neither side wants to waste a crisis that both have, in our opinion, had a hand at creating.
John Trotter.
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