In a series of Twitter posts last night, Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado called me “an evil woman.” He said that my ideas were harming public education.
This is puzzling. What do I do that makes the rich and powerful fume and blow their cool?
I have met him twice in DC. The first time, I met with members of the House Education Committee and described my last book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. He listened impatiently and at the end of my 15 minutes of talk, he threw my talk across the table at me and demanded his money back. Another Congressman paid him, not me. I was stunned.
What do I propose that is “evil”? Early childhood education? Reduced class size? Pre-natal care for poor women? Arts in every school? Physical education every day for every child? After-school and summer school programs? Health clinics?
Gosh, he is a powerful Congressman, and I am a woman with a pen. What is his problem?
Jersey Jazzman here reprints the beginning of the many tweets that were posted (in another, he said I am “sweet” but still “evil”). And Jersey Jazzman has some sharp words for Congressman Polis.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Very odd. I might think you are right, but you may be wrong, but evil? Oh well I guess he is an attention hog.
Looks like the offending tweets have been taken down. Looks like Mr. Polis is not only offensive, but also a bit of a coward.
Diane Ravitch Derangement Syndrome is all too real, I’m afraid.
Edit: the offending tweet, singular (the one that calls her evil)
The personal attacks on Diane are the best evidence of a solid book.
deutsch29: I am 98% sure that Bill Gates would stamp your comment with ‘Highly Effective’ if he read it.
But don’t blame Congressman Jared Polis for his hilariously hostile reinterpretation of the well-known Marxist maxim:
“From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.”
Yep. Groucho.
But let’s not be hating on the congressman because he assumed he was just following Mark Twain’s advice:
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”
Although in the Common Core section on American culture I have been told that this was meant as a chastising Admonition, not good Advice.
But both words start with the same letter, and as you know better than anyone else, riffing off the greatest numbers/stats figure of this or any other century: “Men lie and women lie but letters don’t.” [I refer, of course, to Dr. Steve Perry]
Need I say more?
Should I say more?
🙂
To answer your last two questions: NO! YES!
Very true!
Diane:
I suppose you really know the answer, at least deep in your soul, but the simple truth here is that our current plutocracy is desparate to have us recognize their superiority. The ultimate sign that they are great is not their wealth, but our admission that their wealth is truly justified in our minds, not theirs. Legitimacy is powerful force not only in politics but in the psychology of power, and your work threatens it.
It is not, and never has been, a trivial thing to observe that the Emperor has no clothes. Especially when their bodies are so corrupted and deformed by the way they live.
Steve Cohen: Thank you for your very clear and accurate words here. You’ve hit the nail on the head, my friend.
I expect everyone in Washington D.C. is feeling the pressure from the people. Thanks again for leading our movement. His time in power is close to done.
You’ve probably seen this, but for others. This is why we fight!
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-september-16-2013/robert-reich
I bet a lot of people in Washington call Jon Steward and Robert Reich evil too. 😉
It’s interesting that Stweart’s program gets far bigger audiences than do any of the traditional TV news programs.
Here’s hoping he has Diane Ravitch on again soon!
Great. More of this. Controversy sells books. Then people read them. Then, the truth, once known, cannot be unknown.
You have taken on very powerful forces, Diane Ravitch. Our courage is a model to us all.
Your courage
Typo. Yikes.
Maybe it is “evil” in his eyes to prevent profiteers from continuing to provide substandard service to students because he is more interested in making money than in real education. Or, maybe he isn’t interested in teaching the whole child. Or, maybe he is a supporter of alternative views of what education should be, preferring propagandized teachings.
There is a great deal of money at stake in The Great American Education Fraud, and Diane Ravitch threatens that. Good.
Polis LOVES Charter schools and has one.
Has one?
Jovian P4, Polis’s biggest campaign contributor, is Polis’s own company. The second-largest contributor, Jovian Holdings, is Polis’s private equity firm. Polis appears to be yet another huckster for charter schools. The following is from the bio of someone named Shepard Nevel, VP of Policy, Evaluation, and Communications at the Colorado Health Foundation:
“Jovian P4’s activities included managing two nonprofit organizations, launching charter schools to serve at-risk high school students, providing access to technology for low-income youth and administering a portfolio of philanthropic giving.”
Polis has two charter schools, actually, one of which, the New America School, has three campuses in CO, one campus in NM and one new campus in NV. The other is in CO and called the Academy of Urban Learning. All are high schools and non-profits. (That doesn’t say much to me, since I live in a state where every charter must be a non-profit, but a lot of shenanigans take place anyways.)
No one is saying that supporters and founders of charter schools can’t open up their own private schools on their own dime, but they are not rushing to do that. This just goes to show that it really is all about feeding at the public funding trough. (Why it’s not seen as a conflict of interest when politicians have skin in the game is beyond me.)
The other option, of course, is for these same politicians to deregulate the public schools, so they have the same opportunities to innovate as charter schools do, instead of strangling them with mandates and trying to push people out (and into charters). Oh wait, that would mean setting reasonable working hours and paying teachers decent salaries. And then there goes all the revenues for the Common Core aligned curriculum and tests and data warehousing for their corporate cronies… It really is all about money and power.
I have no issue with anyone starting or using a private school. Bully for them. However, I have great issue with using/funneling public school money into for-profit hands.
The for-profits are not the only charters for whom public funds are a cash cow. In my state, where there are no for-profit charters, non-profit charters are given buildings for free and huge state grants. One charter management organization here got $98M and they turned around and gave jobs and no-bid contracts to friends and family. And they typically pay their non-educator executives much more than what superintendents who run hundreds of schools earn (and more than Arne Duncan’s salary), while teachers are paid very for little for much longer hours.
Another non-profit charter chain here makes hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by charging students for behavioral infractions. No way would that be permitted in public schools!
Ah, well, the pen is mightier than the sword. Edward Bulwer-Lytton:
“True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — itself is nothing! —
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless!”
“Evil”? That is just bizarre. What is worse, however, is that he cowardly took it down without an apology. If you are a US Congressperson and you publicly call someone “evil” at least have the courage to stand by it. Otherwise, don’t say it at all! Do men like this really expect us lowly parents out here to take their views on public education seriously with this kind of behavior? It seems like he missed Kindergarten 101 himself!
Diane, first-they will always hate you because you woke up to your real roots and that is what is best for the child and society. That is a no no for them. You are now evil. Second-you decided to have a place for discussion from all angles which there certainly are here and that is good for thinking and that is a no no. You are evil. Thinking is evil.
So, what they are really saying is “YOU ARE RELEVANT.” It means that what you are doing and because you are driving ahead “Fearlessly” the “Snowball Effect” of this and all the others doing the same for the same reasons has given them a bad case of the “FEARS.” Public knowledge and participation is the billionaires greatest fear. At the same time they are doing this to you they put a full on attack on the new LAUSD School Board of 5 former lifetime teachers now in charge under the presidency of Richard Vladavic who has also been a superintendent of another district in L.A. County. They used social media on you and they cut off the T.V. on Steve Zimmers Committee of the Whole which was the first one in years and the first time in years a real discussion and information which was real was presented. Amazing isn’t it the lengths they will go to. Unfortunately for them as long as these instances come out for all to know they lose.
Diane, keep posting every time they slime you so it backfires on them and let them give us more ammunition to use on them. This is martial arts at its finest and the Art of War in one package.
By accident, without knowing until almost the end of the meeting, I videoed almost the entire meeting anyway. So, it is still there and when loaded it is worth watching.
I think it’s a like a golf tournament, per the money at stake.
When you are playing golf for a purse, your opponent seems evil.
Which is why, perhaps, money and education (other than for true services rendered), don’t mix. Tearing something down in order to offer “services” for pay, is disingenuous. Building on something to improve it (without tearing it down) is offering true service and a proportionate compensation makes sense (such as paying a teacher, paying a company that puts out books, buying paper, etc).
I think the ones who already had this figured out (like the ones who originally set up the profession of teaching, albeit in stages) were just that. . .they had it figured out so as to prevent these type wars (whereby somebody wants to usurp everything and make money on it). There is a serious lack of respect for what was already present. . .no sanctity about public school to many folks. You are not evil, but because you saw sanctity where others saw a reason to destroy, rebuild and then charge for it you are evil to them. . .you stand in the way of them winning. Dismantling public school means reinventing the wheel. Some of us are trying to save it, and prevent having to reinvent (rather, we would rather improve)– others want to make money reinventing it, when it wasn’t so bad as to require absolute demolition and rebuilding to begin with.
You are evil to your opponents. They have made themselves opponents because they want to mismantle, rebuild, and get paid for that.
This reminds me of Chris Rock, who says one of the things a wise person with a girlfriend will learn to say quickly is “I told you she was evil!” 🙂 We are all evil, to somebody.
?
I don’t know much at all about unions. They are not something I deal with. I do know many folks who think they are moderates and that Dr. Ravitch is extreme left. But I think they are not who they think they are.
Actually, I don’t know. But I know I don’t think Diane Ravitch is evil.
and by “evil to them” I mean in their eyes—not that you are actively evil.
Do they consider you part of the axis, I wonder?
I think you should challenge the Congressman to a televised debate. If he is so sure you are “evil”, and misguided, he will welcome the invitation…Ha ha ha ha ha! Pigs are flying.
I am a Colorado Democrat–this news about Jared Polis surprises and angers me.
Who cuts pizza out of school lunch?! Looks like Jared Polis knows a thing or two about evil.
Back when I went to Denver Public Schools, when it was pizza day or taco day, the excitement was palpable. God bless those lunch-uh-food service workers.
Why does Jared Polis call you evil?
Psychological Projection: “… A defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously rejects his or her own unacceptable attributes by ascribing them to objectsbrmpersons in the outside world.” (Wikipedia)
Deep in the muck of this foolish man’s mind, he’s aware of what he and his co-conspirator’s are doing.
Excellent point.
Interestingly, this is CCSS Kindergarten standard 1A:
I am rubber and you are glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.
Kathryn Schulz, in her wonderful book “Being Wrong,” identifies three basic ways that we dismiss those who disagree with us without really addressing their ideas:
1. They’re wrong because they’re ignorant, poor dears
2. They’re wrong because they’re stupid
3. They’re wrong because they’re evil.
Use of the Third Rejection is reserved for the most articulate, well-informed and intelligent critiques, because of course 1 and 2 are ruled out. Polis can’t pretend you are either ignorant, or stupid, so he has to go with 3. It’s a compliment, if you think about it.
Mind you, perhaps if I read “Death and Life” backwards by candlelight during the Winter Solstice, I’ll get messages from Satan. I must have a go.
Must receive a lot of money from the reformy crowd, period.
With Democrats like this who needs mouth breathing Ayn Randian, libertarian, rabidly right wing tea party Neanderthals? This guy is rude, crude and vicious.
While Diane Ravitch has no trouble handling this sort of response it is increasingly effective at local school board meetings, etc., where a ferociously angry (usually) male will throw such a temper tantrum that many reasonable folks back away.
Diane’s analysis threatens his revenue sources.
It’s interesting . . . I once read a statement by Adolf Hitler stating that anyone who opposed him was evil. Sounds kind of like the bleating of the reformers!
Diane, I appreciate everything you have done for the cause of stopping corporate education reform! I appreciate everything you are doing to restore real education. God Bless you!
Diane: What does this mean: “he threw my talk across the table and me and demanded his money back.” Do you mean he threw your book across the table?
As Jersey Jazzman points out, Polis is the 7th richest member of Congress (minimum net worth: $72.09 million) , and perhaps like other wealthy oligarchs in the education reform business, he doesn’t like comparable peons to contradict him or present the facts showin how the policies he supports are undermining our schools. Not only does he own a portion of his family’s greeting card business, Blue Mountain, but accordin to the article below, he “ holds dozens of positions at outside organizations, primarily venture capital funds and investment firms at which he is a full or limited partner.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/1025/Who-are-the-10-richest-members-of-Congress/Rep.-Jared-Polis-D-Colo
“Diane: What does this mean: “he threw my talk across the table and me and demanded his money back.” Do you mean he threw your book across the table?”
Did this guy really throw something at you or in your general direction?
If that is the case …beyond uncivilized.
I just cannot with that.
Jovian P4, Polis’s biggest campaign contributor, is Polis’s own company. The second-largest contributor, Jovian Holdings, is Polis’s private equity firm. Polis appears to be yet another huckster for charter schools. The following is from the bio of someone named Shepard Nevel, VP of Policy, Evaluation, and Communications at the Colorado Health Foundation:
“Jovian P4’s activities included managing two nonprofit organizations, launching charter schools to serve at-risk high school students, providing access to technology for low-income youth and administering a portfolio of philanthropic giving.”
I assume Diane meant the handout normally provided with a presentation, that sometimes provides all the content of the talk.
Here’s the low down on his motivations for this incident. http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/09/19/colorado-congressman-calls-americas-leading-public-education-advocate-diane-ravitch-evil-woman/
“Evil?!” Next he’ll be calling you an “intellectual”!
Wouldn’t that be redundant, David?
The reformers hate intellectuals. They think of knowledge and skill as a set of discrete, countable items, that you can put into a taxonomy of numbered, hierarchically arranged pieces. You can then test for acquisition of each piece and put into your inBloom database just where everyone stands in his or her race against others to acquire those pieces. Intellectuals have a visceral antipathy for such a view.
What we are seeing from the deform movement is an attempt to turn education into so many bulleted lists. Who needs textbooks? Powerpoint will do a much better job. Here, Grapes of Wrath:
Oklahoma farmers fail to hedge against risk
* Dust storm discontinuity
* Banks reclaim their property
* Farmers get what they deserve for being so stupid
Next slide: The Wretched of the Earth in four bullets
Does he know what the term “ad hominem argument” means, by any chance?
“Gosh, he is a powerful Congressman, and I am a woman with a pen. What is his problem?”
Sounds like a serious case of Pen Envy to me …
Ms. Ravitch may very well understand my comment – I was educated in a Pre-Reaganomics paradigm. Mr Polis was not.
I was educated in a Public School that required a second language to be learned (starting in 3rd grade and going through one’s senior year) , required gym from kindergarten through senior year; that required English, Literature, Creative Writing (all individual classes); that offered Art to every child, Music, Drama, Woodshop, Cooking, Fashion Design, Secretarial Skills training (not anymore – everyone is expected to be prepped for more education even though they cannot afford it), Mechanics, Accounting, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Current Events and Politics, Civics, History – European History, World History and American History, Philosophy and mathematics taught from kindergarten and every year thereafter with advanced classes available in Trigonometry, Algebra,Calculus, Geometry, and Earth Science, Biology, Anatomy and so very much more.
I had the advantage of living in a fairly wealthy district but the curriculum was set for every school in the state. Every child educated in reasonably sized classes with sufficient materials, heat, and safe classrooms and parent assistants, All children starting with equal footing; and all children focused towards life – not every child can go to college and those children deserve to get the benefit of learning skills that will assist them in finding a job beyond a fast food service clerk.
Ms. Ravitch is only asking that children be given the same, if not better, education than we received and that Mr. Polis did receive (as a benefit of his top 1% status) at La Jolla Country Day School (one of the more expensive schools in the nation overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the wealthiest neighborhood of San Diego).
Mr, Polis is actually being a bit of a” classist” in his stance on education. His willful ignorance of the realities of education across the nation seem to be based on his very limited experience and knowledge (Mr. Polis, I submit, Boulder, CO, is not equivalent to Brooklyn, NY, nor are Fairview High School or Boulder High equivalent to, say, Erasmus Hall High School).
That is one of the funniest and truest videos I have ever seen. You must all watch it.
this politician is another one that deserves “the people’s justice”
So who pays him to say and “tweet” such things? Come to think about it, not sure the Obama people are any different in their thinking. Good work Diane. You are lighting a fire under the lies.
OK, for the sake of conversation here, I am hoping someone will respond to this; I am curious how regular readers here interpret this in light of Diane’s new book. If you look at this statement from the Hunt Institute, it puts perspective (maybe?) on why some have convictions to the contrary of many readers on this blog. They tie their ideas on education in with the economy (aside from the tie I have heard to national security); what of the global economy catch phrase?
The website states: “Education is more than the cornerstone of our democracy. It is also the engine of a thriving economy. But as the demands of increasingly global markets require a skilled workforce with highly technical knowledge, America is falling behind.
Once the envy of the industrialized world, a public education in the United States is now on par with that of emerging nations. If this downward trend continues, we will thwart the chances for our young people to compete in this global economy, and the status of the United States as a great power will be a memory.
To reverse this crippling situation, The Hunt Institute equips leaders to make informed decisions that create and maintain educational standards that are second to none in the world. We believe that governors, lieutenant governors, legislators, and other key policymakers are in the best position to effect meaningful education reform. The outcome we seek: improving the lives of all American children through quality education. Please join us in this critical fight.”
??
Read Diane’s book.
I am waiting for it to come. I ordered one.
I can accept that as an answer. And now I am even more eager to read it!
As a teacher I say BUNK….we have a parent problem! As poverty and the welfare state has grown so have the education problems…no support at home, lives in constant turmoil, drugs etc. or the issue with those who don’t speak the language…parents don’t know the language many don’t care to learn and you as a teacher are left to do the best you can…The govt or district direct funds away from the classroom and teachers are left buying pencils and paper.. no arts, no field trips, no music etc.I watch on lin
e videos where teachers are using smart boards and I’m fighting to get pencils. Education is like the “real world” those who have will do well…those who don’t will be lucky to work as greeters at Wal-Mart
PS the Chinese have more students in their gifted programs then we have students…or so I have heard…
I couldn’t agree more. Here in Hartford, the previous superintendent, Stephen Adamowski, cut most special education teaching and paraprofessional positions, cut most ELL teaching and para positions, abolished the alternative schools (bringing the criminal element back into the schools, and instituted full inclusion (contrary to the provisions of IDEA to mainstream SPEC ED to the maximum extent of their abilities). He deleted honors courses to facilitate all of the above. Then, he falsified graduation rates through grade inflation and prohibited schools from failing students.
He then sat back and loudly proclaimed that we were a failing district.
The last thing we should do is make this “teachers vs. parents”, even if all the points being brought up are well-taken.
This is the deform equivalent of speaking in tongues. It has no content.
Thank you.
So is it all just an excuse for meetings and retreats?
I wish more policy people spent time in classrooms.
Nice one Robert!
Joanna,
Here are their past and present funders and collaborators:
Past and Present Funders and Collaborators
Atlantic Philanthropies
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Carnegie Corporation of New York
North Carolina General Assembly
Pumpkin Foundation
State Farm Companies Foundation
The Broad Foundation
The Lumina Foundation for Education
The Southern Regional Education Board
Wallace Foundation
Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
Achieve, Inc.
Alliance for Excellent Education
College Board
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
Data Quality Campaign
GE Foundation
Georgia Afterschool Investment Council
International Center for Leadership in Education
Jobs for the Future
National Association of Zipper Interest Sycophants
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
National Education Association
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
National Lt. Governors Association
National Research Council of the National Academies
North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs
North Carolina Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center
Public School Forum of North Carolina
South Carolina Afterschool Alliance
State Legislative Leaders Foundation (SLLF)
Target
The Education Trust
The Future of State Universities
The Park Foundation
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education
The edudeformers have the sound bytes down pat as your quote shows. The proof is in the what they promote and it’s just about everything that has been shown to be harmful to public education. Need I list all the deformations? The proof is in the above list.
Actually the more troubling phrase is the one about governors, lt governors, legislators being in best position for meaningful education reform.
There was also a quote by Hunt on there about education not being possible without leadership or something that seemed like stating the obvious and trying to make it look profound.
It is hard to realize the leaders of your youth, whom you respected in 8th grade, might not actually stand for what you thought. I tend to talk about myself in my comments because this last year of learning about education reform (mostly on this blog) has been a huge disillusionment for me. It has been like going through my parents’ divorce (the preacher, mind you) all over again.
I hope my copy of Reign gets here tomorrow!!!
Maybe the edudeformers are right about the Common Crap Sic Standards and the inability of the population to “closely read” a text. Or maybe the folks here just didn’t care to comment on the list.
Duane, can’t tell who that is aimed at. I read the list. I had read it before you posted it.
But there is so much crossover and mixing of who is funding what and so forth, I can’t tell just by a list what philosophies drive a group. I can get a hunch, but I was trying to dig a little deeper here.
Joanna,
On what evidence do you base your comment that American education is now on a par with that of emerging nations? If you state that your evidence is standardized test scores, your will show your ignorance of what those scores mean.
Bill I pasted a quote. Those are not my words.
Bill:
reread what I wrote and you will see the quotations at the beginning and end of the comment part that is a quotation. I think you just zoned in on one paragraph, neglecting to see the quotation marks.
Is this you?
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/edhd/directory/sis/page57229.html
ASU, huh? That’s where I was trained to be a teacher.
Joanna,
I sincerely apologize! I did not see the quotes. Unfortunately, I am not the William Morrison you are asking about, I am William H. Morrison, Ed D, Ph D.
I believe the person who posts under the name democracy has written several times (lengthy detailed posts!) regarding how public education does not correlate with international economic competitiveness.
I will look back. Thank you Ang.
He should have to back it up. We’re going on 2 decades of reform. Show me how existing public school systems have benefitted. Show me how the 95% of schools that are traditional public schools have benefitted from reform.
We were told reform was intended to strengthen public schools. Anyone think public schools are better and stronger as a result of reform?
We’ve had 3 full decades of reform. This all started in 1983 with the publication of “A Nation at Risk” by the DoE under the Reagan administration.
Looking at his Wikipedia entry, I understand his anger: he is a major edupreneur and owns several charter schools and cosponsored RTTT with joe liebean.
There’s our answer.
Definitely not evil. Delightfully wicked at times, though. 😉
Like! 🙂
I’m not surprised some one-percenters think of Diane as “evil,” but Polis lacks the wisdom or self-control to keep it to himself. Bad-mouthing moves through all sides of politics behind-the-scenes, but in public discourse, smart advocates clean up their acts and stick to data and issues and cleverly manipulative rhetoric. There is one dimension of public discourse which is built on ridicule and other personal attacks, right-wing talk radio and talk TV, which travels the nation daily without a competing progressive alternative(Bill Moyers is the best; he, Stewart and Colbert are small in comparison to the brigade of right-wing talkers on the air.)
Polis’s “evil” gaffe is what political ethnographer James Scott called “the hidden transcript of the dominant,” by which he meant the speech of the powerful among themselves when the rest of us can’t hear them(what goes on at the Bohemian Grove or at Davos in huddled talks and everywhere face-to-face). Hidden transcripts also move among those not in power, and get things done in private that you can’t do in public. Romney uttered his famous gaffe about “the 47%” during the ’12 campaign to pose himself as the defender of the rich donors sitting there in closed session(he thought) and that too was “the hidden transcript of the dominant” meant for the ears of assembled allies only, but it’s harder these days to control info. Whenever the mike on the podium is left on and the powerful up there forget about it, snippets of their “hidden transcript” leak out. Polis sent his dumb remark out for all, so he lacked the smarts to know the limits on what even the powerful can say in public.
What makes Diane “evil” to a 1%-er like Polis? Her exceptional competence, deeply credible track record, and ability to reach a large national audience. Diane’s critical discourse does threaten the powerful who are used to their own corporate media protecting them from exposure, distributing only their messages, silencing the messages of the opposition. Silencing Diane is very hard if not impossible; she influences a critical mass(not yet a majority, not yet consolidated, but full of promise)which can complicate the plans of power. This is why a Polis can think of her as evil, a force he can’t reckon with which threatens the sweet status quo he and his friends have built for themselves.
When I think of Diane Ravitch, the kinds of adjectives that come into to my mind are reasonable, cautious, careful, thoughtful, informed, mindful, and learned.. She is characterized by precisely the opposite of the heedlessness of those driving the deform bus. She is the antithesis of the “flake” and so cannot be dismissed as part of some lunatic fringe. Duncan and Rhee and the rest of the deformers can’t paint her as a crazy, as they try to do to their opposition generally.
It’s simply obvious that she’s the sanest person in the room.
Diane Ravitch speaks reason to power. She is the Ida Tarbell, the Ida Wells-Barnett, the Upton Sinclair, the Cady Stanton of our generation. She’s scary if you fear the truth being known.
And here’s the thing about the truth: once it’s known, it can’t be unknown.
Perhaps like all edufrauds pursing $tudent $ucce$$ he cannot tolerate being between the hard rock and the hard place that Dr. Steve Perry has placed him in: “Men lie and women lie but numbers don’t.” Are the Holy Edumetrics of book publishing driving his contemptuous rage?
Diane Ravitch/REIGN OF ERROR (hardcover) on Amazon, 9-19-13, 2:25 PM, PST:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#1 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy
#1 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Children’s Studies
#2 in Books > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > Reform & Policy
And don’t discount that age-old problem faced by the members and beneficiaries of the status quo in every era and place:
“Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” [Mark Twain]
So take a chill pill, Congressman Polis.
If you keep this up we’ll have to start calling you strident and loud and shrill.
🙂
Mr. Market speaks, though the so-called reformers only listen when it’s to their advantage.
This looks like a bunch of the same group that funds Edwest who is running LCFF for the California Dept. of Ed. and is a joint powers authority of 4 states funded by the feds and 4-700 other concerns and they are running, illegally I might add according to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) rules and regs. and the Greene and Bagley-Greene Acts. When CORE-CA brought this up at the Bakersfield hearing suddenly the comment period instead of shutting off at noon that day was indefinately extended and this is on video. You buy and sell what you want on the cheap now. They are laughing at us it is so cheap. It is all about cost/benefit analysis.
Vile man. And to think I bought some of those overpriced Blue Mountain online cards!
Let me get this right: He THREW your book at you, Diane? And then, over two years later, calls YOU “evil”?!?! This guy sounds more than a bit unhinged.
And this guy claims to be a “progressive”? He sounds more like an overgrown adolescent, the type who is full of himself, “Misstra Know-It-All” type, flashing his cash, and expecting others to always be at his beck and call because of all his money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He's_Misstra_Know-It-All
I’m calling his office now for an explanation, and I’m posting on his Facebook page, and spreading the word to my friends and family to do the same.
I intend to be polite and professional and I suggest all of us do the same. But I will be firm in demanding an explanation, first for throwing the book and screaming at Diane, then for tweeting that Diane is “evil” and finally for his obsession with Privatizing Our Public Schools. Why does he as a person with hundreds of millions—maybe now billions?) of dollars want to hurt public schools and turn them over to private businesses?
You can call Jared Polis at 303-484-9596 or 970-668-3240 or 202-225-2161 or comment directly on his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/jaredpolis.
Again, I urge everyone to be direct and firm, but courteous and respectful, unlike Polis himself. We can get our message across without juvenile temper tantrums and descending to his level.
I’m impressed that nobody’s demanding that Polis apologize. Not that that’ll save us from the inevitable statement in which he apologizes for his “poor choice of words” and clarifies that what is really evil is denying kids the opportunity for a good education.
I just tweeted/asked him when he was going to apologize to Diane.
Me too. On his Facebook page.
Actually, now I demand an apology. I’ve had ELO’s “Evil Woman” stuck in my head since seeing this post, and somebody’s got to pay for that.
Beats having Cliff Richard’s “Devil Woman” stuck in your head.
Speaking my language now. That is funny.
May I suggest Santana: Black Magic Woman.
That should clear away “Evil Woman” and anything else from ELO
Good luck
Your condition is definitely serious.
Or the Hollies; Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress:
You are really getting under the skin of the corporate powers. Keep up the good work!
Polis is the evil one . . .
Despair not, Diane.
I have always believed that if one wants to judge how kind a person I am, look at the number of friends I have made in my lifetime.
If you want to judge how effective an advocate I’ve been . . . . . .
. . . . . look at the number of enemies I have made.
Wear Polis’s impetuous fury as a gold badge of honor.
Here: I’m pinning it on your lapel . . . .
I declare thee Diane, Dame of Public Education . . . .
A very poor choice from the Congressman. Those Republicans always forget about the internets.
unfortunately, the jerk is a Democrat from my state.
There’s a difference?
Seriously, Congressman Polis is tweeting ridiculous and incorrect tweets about Dr. Ravitch? Wouldn’t his time be better spent in making sure that his constituents in the Boulder area are surviving after the devastating flood.
Check this out. Appears our top GOP don’t think we should protect students against resegregation.
I live in Polis’ district and can tell you we’ve tried to talk with him but he showed disdain to us in a small meeting and at a larger meeting. The specifics of our conversations with him were horrifying. Still, this extreme surprises and saddens me. We all know he bought the election in the first place.
How much did he spend? And did he hold any office prior to this one?
We have a similarly slick, deceptive, and duplicitous state legislator who is ALWAYS posting on his social media sites, items about his “concerns” over public schools and their “addiction to small, incremental change”, and how some outside authority might need to come in and force some “big changes” to save all of these destitute, dependent black and Latino children from the “status quo”.
He’s now also suggesting that pretty soon there “won’t be enough money for our public colleges as we’ve known them” and that it might make sense to “grab your morning cup of coffee and sit down and read about the inevitability of online college and how it might even be better for our kids.”
He, of course, doesn’t mean HIS four children when he talks about a future with Online College For Everyone; he and his surgeon wife will see to it that their precious progeny end up at Mount Holyoke, Northwestern, Stanford or Brandeis.
No doubt.
Oh, but of course, he’s pro-gay marriage, pro marijuana legalization, anti death penalty and (on the surface) environmentally friendly.
These guys know that a lot of the public is still caught up with the symbols of “liberalism” from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
But none of the above cost their buddies and benefactors in the 1% any money. And that’s their Real Bottom Line, protecting the people who own yachts and live in gated communities near the water, with the hope that if they don’t already live there themselves, they’ll be able to join them in time…but only if they’re the kind of politicians who …go along…
Isn’t this the way with all of these guys who’ve spent a lot of time hanging out with tech billionaires? They actually believe that they’re still “Democrats” even when their economic and education policies are right in line with The Bush Boys, Scott Walker and most of Wall Street.
“Cory Booker Democrats” are what I call these people. And we ALL have to start “calling these people”.
Calling Them OUT, that is, for the liars, phonies and posers that they are!
Congressman Polis introduced a bill this past summer that would have made it easier to expand charters. Here is a link to the test scores of one of his New America Schools’ charters:
http://www.greatschools.org/colorado/denver/2447-New-America-School/?tab=test-scores
I wonder if he thinks his charter school chain is successful?
The only one evil, Diane, is this Congressman. He should have to now answer his own tweet and say, specifically, using “text-based details,” what exactly makes you an evil person?
Has anyone asked Rep. Polis to provide data on the schools he started in Denver?
A current co-worker was at one of his New America schools the last 2 years. I can say with about 99% certainty that no one reading this post would even consider sending their kids to that school.
They not only deliver a joke of an education, but treat the teachers like dirt and have an incredibly high turnover rate. A true gem off a man.
I am sorry If I have missed something here.
Or if I am belaboring a point.
But I want to understand.
Did a grown man, an elected official, actually throw something at you (or even in your general direction)?
And then pitch a fit demanding his money back (I gather money for the talk you had just given?)?
What kind of person does that?
Good question, Ang.
What kind of person makes the lips of dozens of small children bleed and finds it an amusing anecdote to tell her subordinates—and has no regrets about it either?
What kind of person leaves school districts large and small in ruins but blithely comments “I go in, fix the system, I move on to something else”?
What kind of person fires an entire class to make his charter school look good but denies doing it because it’s bad PR?
What kind of person pretends to be against the ‘excesses’ of high-stakes standardized testing but is the Promoter-in-Chief of the worst extremes of this hazing ritual?
What luminary of the numbers game is so convinced of such drivel as ‘teachers are against being evaluated’ that he repeats this nonsense on the world wide web as if it were Holy Writ?
The edufrauds are simply the latest version of a type that has been with us for a very long time. But don’t doubt their sincerity. One of those old dead Greek guys had them pegged long ago:
“A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.”
🙂
Krazy,
they just left out a step.
I go in, wreak havoc, fix it as I see fit, and move on to something else.
A very disturbed, emotionally immature, pre-adolescent mentality, stuck in the body of an increasingly pudgy, irate, self-obsessed middle aged, wealthy, arrogant man.
And, just to be clear, this man calls himself a “Democrat”, representing large segments of the most progressive parts of Colorado.
National Association of Zipper Interest Sycophants………………too funny.
Ah, somebody did a “close reading of the text”.
You win!!!!
Don’t know what you win, but it’ll have to wait til Monday since I am broke until then (payday-once a month, don’t you love em)!
Q: Why Does Congressman Jared Polis Call Me “Evil”?
A: Because he is a vain, self-obsessed, cloistered, ultra-wealthy miscreant that is disconnected from average families and believes that he knows more about absolutely everything than anyone—even experts recognized by thousands of their peers.
And, when his delusions of grandeur are challenged, he attacks instantly and viciously.
Shame on him. What an unfit member of Congress. He’s only there because of his money.
Who voted for this person anyway?
Jonathan Pelto has gotten straight to the truth of why this fool of a turd politician called Diane evil. It’s as simple as usual, follow the money. His business interests (and ego) are threatened.
http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/09/19/colorado-congressman-calls-americas-leading-public-education-advocate-diane-ravitch-evil-woman/
Those who are ineffective…are ignored.
Those who have no influence…are ignored.
Those who cannot change what most people believe…are ignored.
Those who represent no threat to the existing power structure and the status quo…are ignored.
Diane, the day that you’re no longer being attacked in such egregious, vicious and personal ways is either the day to begin worrying OR the day where who love public education can declare victory, celebrate and go home. (At least for a while.)
Given that you greatly threaten the status quo and the powers that be through very effective arguments based on flawless logic and evidence, and how, once those arguments are heard by parents everywhere, it will shift the ground and the very terms of the debate, don’t be surprised to see these attacks intensify and become even meaner, more mendacious and more desperate.
All of which is a prelude to the inevitable.
Keep the faith, Diane, and please, keep ‘preaching to the choir’, because we love the music and we’re getting bigger ever day.
Well said, PSP,
Polis has significant financial conflicts of interest related to pro-charter legislation since his foundation supports two charters in Colorado. How was he appointed to the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce?
http://polis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=163508
http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/about/membership
I’m imagining my reply (if any) to the message on my phone from someone in Polis’ office wanting to talk about the concern I emailed to them related to this topic.